The Thing (1982), dir. John Carpenter. Thursday, January 12 at the Parkway Theater.

I guess context is everything, right? In the summer of 1982, which you might call the first full summer of the Reagan administration, since in ’81 he and his team were still trying to figure out what the fuck they were doing (it could be argued that they never figured it out), America was absolutely bursting with optimism. Gone were the dark days of cinema–forget Altman and Coppola and Scorsese, now it’s time for Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis (soon). Sadly, two of the greatest sci-films of all-time were released in ’82, and both were neglected: Blade Runner and The Thing.

The Thing was actually lambasted. Critics hated it. It actually has a reputation as being one of the worst reviewed big studio films of all time. Look, you can dislike this movie all you want, but calling it incompetent (as many critics did) actually reflects a lack of understanding of how good films are made, because The Thing is an extraordinarily competent film–it’s as solid as it comes.

But E. T. and other fun movies were out, Michael Jackson’s Thriller was slated for that fall, and America didn’t want bleak movies with obscure endings (even if they’re really not that obscure) and so The Thing went away. But 1980s America also meant VHS tapes, and people hungry for straight-to-video gore ate this one up, because, holy shit, it’s not only the bloodiest thing on the shelves, it was actually damn good, going on to influence a number of filmmakers, including Quentin Tarantino. It endured. Better than E. T., even–that movie doesn’t hold up at all. And I doubt we’ll be seeing that one at retro screenings anytime soon.

(The best example of the disinterest in E. T. is the fact that last year was its 40th anniversary and I didn’t notice a single screening. There sure was for Blade Runner and The Thing, though.)

I saw it on cable as a kid and it freaked me out, then didn’t see it again until I married Janice, who loved it, and we’ve watched it many times. Never on the big screen though, so last Thursday’s screening, with mediocre trivia beforehand (if you’re only going to ask 9 questions, maybe make them about the movie we’re watching, not comic book characters with the same name as the movie we’re watching), and in 35mm, was astonishing. People laughed in the wrong spots for about five minutes, and then the intensity of the film took over, and we were all mesmerized. That our city looks as miserably cold as the proceedings onscreen only made it better, as did watching it with two friends who had never encountered it before.