(pb; 1982: movie tie-in novel)
From the back cover
“TWELVE MEN
Trapped in the Antarctic.
“ELEVEN
Discover the intruder.
“TEN
Battle the alien force.
“NINE
Agonize for the answer.
“EIGHT
Desperate to be spared.
“SEVEN
Consumed one by one.
“SIX. . . FIVE. . . FOUR. . .
THREE. . .
“They will all die.
Unless something stops THE
THING.”
Review
Foster’s movie novelization, based on Bill Lancaster’s original screenplay, like its filmic counterpart, is compelling, paranoid, brutal, horrific, and freezing (in its implications, stakes, and setting). In Foster’s book, though, the characters’ backstories and inclinations are more explicit (e.g., Macready’s acknowledgment of his Vietnam experiences) than the movie. Also, the characters’ relationships are shown more—in the book, Childs and Macready are friends; its theatrical counterpart reveals a terser (prior to their current harrowing circumstances) relationship between them. Not only that, the fates of certain characters (no spoilers) are considerably different than the movie version.
The Thing is one of my favorite remakes (check out the fun, also-great source, 1951’s The Thing from Another World), and Foster’s fast-paced, immediately immersive, and character- and backstory-delving expansion of it makes it one of my all-time favorite flick tie-in novelizations. Out of print, and possibly pricy, it’s worth getting, not only for its relative rarity, but Foster’s consistently worthwhile writing—Foster, for a while, seemed to be one of the busiest book-adaptation authors in the genre, and for good reason.
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The excellent counterpart film was released stateside on June 25, 1982. John Carpenter directed it from a screenplay by Bill Lancaster.
Kurt Russell played Macready.
Wilford Brimley, billed as A. Wilford Brimley, played Dr. Blair. Keith David played Childs. Donald Moffat
played Garry. Richard Masur played Clark. T.K. Carter played Nauls. David Clennon played Palmer. Richard Dysart played Dr. Copper. Charles Hallahan played
Vance Norris.
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