A research team in Antarctica is hunted by a shape-shifting alien that assumes the appearance of its victims. A masterpiece of paranoid sci-fi horror, The Thing’s cultural significance lies in pioneering, groundbreaking, grotesque practical effects, subverting the heroic tropes of its predecessors. The film succeeds as an allegory for profound existential distrust, body horror, McCarthyism, and invisible, infectious threats, while also tackling transformation, and identity. The cast includes Wilfred Brimley, T.K. Carter, Keith David, Donald Moffat, and Kurt Russell.