[WAID]

I remember taking a date to see the double feature "Alien" and "The Thing." I liked both although I had heard enough about the chestburster scene that it was anti-climatic.

I really didn't know much about the "Thing" remake and I loved it. Unlike some of the previous posts, I think the characters were fleshed out pretty well. I think I connected to this movie because rather than teenagers doing stupid things and getting killed, this movie had characters who had to think things through and the dialogue was credible for the situation. I remember thinking near the end of the movie when Kurt Russell yells "F*** you too!" that I could see myself saying that as well.

If the characters weren't fairly well defined the tension and paranoia wouldn't have worked as well. And as great as the special effects were, the movie works because of the characters. When the sherrif is tied to the couch and starts calmly talking about the stress and quickly loses it about being untied, that I think is as effective as the gore.

And who doesn't love the documentary on the DVD?!