Monster movies follow a similar formula, and after the iconic movie The Thing, directed by John Carpenter, premiered in 1982, many films were inspired by the story. The film is famously a movie inspired by H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulu mythos, which isn’t uncommon within the horror genre. Starring Kurt Russell, The Thing follows a group of researchers in Antarctica who slowly turn against each other and are killed by the mysterious entity, “the Thing.” Key features of the film include the thing’s ability to imitate the physical appearance of anything it comes in contact with.

Additionally, it’s not only the monster to be feared in the movie, as the characters’ paranoia is their ultimate undoing, unsure if they can trust others or themselves to be who they say they are. While there are harsh realities of rewatching The Thing over forty years after its release, the essential parts of the plot hold up. This is why so many horror movies still use it as a blueprint. Like all great horror movies, The Thing holds up a mirror to the audience and comments on the rampant distrust and anxiety of 1982 during the Cold War.

7

Under The Skin (2013)

Directed by Jonathan Glazer

Jonathan Glazer’s underrated early work, Under The Skin, shouldn’t be called a ripoff, as that term has harsh connotations an original movie like this doesn’t deserve. However, the central monster of the story, who also serves as the protagonist, can be directly compared to the titular creature in The Thing. Scarlett Johansson plays the alien whose invasion of Earth begins by taking on the appearance of a young woman and using this body to capture her prey. It’s a departure for the actress, but one that works for her, as the small amounts of dialogue don’t carry the atmospheric movie.

As one of Glazer’s best movies like Zone of Interest, Under The Skin builds tension slowly throughout the story, never resorting to overt acts of violence or extremely gory imagery. This is reminiscent of The Thing‘s pacing, as it takes its time before showing the audience the true purpose of the film. However, the biggest similarity between the films is Johansson’s character, and it should be noted how innovative a choice it was to follow the monster’s perspective and allow the audience to gain empathy towards it.

6

Leviathan (1989)

Directed by George P. Cosmatos

For all its campy ’80s movie magic, Leviathan gets pretty scary as a submarine crew quickly gets in over their heads after discovering a Soviet experiment gone wrong. In many ways, it’s impossible to discuss Leviathan without bringing up The Thing. They are practically the same movie in different settings. However, even the settings are comparable, as the extremity of being deep below the ocean’s surface and stranded in the frozen wasteland of the Antarctic similarly isolates the characters. Coming out only a few years after The Thing, Leviathan is in conversation with many of the same themes.

Peter Weller plays Steven Beck, the hero, who is an amalgamation of Russell’s character in The Thing and Ripley in Alien. One by one, the crew is overtaken by the titular Leviathan, which proves to be capable of taking over the bodies of the people it touches. Unlike The Thing, Leviathan doesn’t leave its ending ambiguous or up to the audience’s interpretation. The monster is definitively the work of government scientists, and the survivors witness the creature’s death in the end. This is more akin to the popular ’80s action movies that ensured the good guys made it out alive.

5

Blood Glacier (2013)

Directed by Marvin Kren

Occasionally, glaciers will release a flood of iron-rich water that takes on a dark red color, which may have inspired the visuals in Blood Glacier. The story follows the same format as The Thing, down to the cold and remote location. Though not Antarctica, the scientists in the film are high up in the mountains when they discover an evolving species that uses animal bodies as hosts to grow themselves in. It’s difficult to compete with the high-budget horror films that hit theaters these days, but Blood Glacier shouldn’t be overlooked merely because it’s an homage to The Thing.

Where Blood Glacier differs from The Thing is in its purpose. Blood Glacier‘s characters are studying the effects of climate change, and the monster is a species that began as a normal part of nature but evolved into something terrible because of what humans are doing to the planet. In recent years, climate change has been a recurring theme in media, as it’s one of the most pressing real-life horrors that humanity is living through. However, Blood Glacier doesn’t comment on climate change so much as use it as an excuse to play with gruesome imagery and evoke dread.

4

Life (2017)

Directed by Daniel Espinosa

Jake Gyllenhaal and Rebeccas Ferguson star in Life alongside Ryan Reynolds in a surprisingly serious role for the comedic actor. Their characters are astronauts among a group of researchers exploring the possibility of life on Mars. Initially, they think they’ve made the biggest scientific discovery of their time when they successfully recovered an organism they believe to be from the barren planet. However, things get dangerous when the alien evolves rapidly and begins taking out the crew. It’s then that their goal goes from recovery to preventing the alien from reaching Earth’s surface at all costs.

Life is a great example of a movie that blends sci-fi and horror, but it received criticism for how close the story is to The Thing and Alien. Though the spaceship setting and intelligence of the monster are more similar to Alien, the parasitic nature of the creature and the cliffhanger ending are reminiscent of The Thing. Unfortunately, Life doesn’t have much to make its story unique, but the strong performances from the cast do much to save it. It’s easy to care about the characters, even in the short time the audience knows them, adding stakes to the plot.

3

Splinter (2008)

Directed by Toby Wilkins

What begins as a crime thriller quickly evolves into a terrifying body-horror film rooted in reality by a gritty aesthetic. Made on a small budget using practical effects and a tight cast, Splinter embodies much of what makes horror such an effective genre for getting grassroots productions off the ground. The filmmakers were aware of the story’s origins and reveled in taking liberties with the original themes laid out by classics like The Thing. Unlike other survival horrors, the characters in Splinter are bonded by a shared passion or goal until the creature attacks.

The terror of a parasitic organism was well-worn territory by the time Splinter was released. Using the splinters as a means of controlling the host’s body was an innovative choice. Additionally, the characters prove themselves to be resourceful and clever at every turn, even if they aren’t the traditional scientists who are so often centered in these types of films. Their ability to outsmart the monster and display their value in the group makes the dynamic more compelling. There is little pressure for them to contain the creature for humanitarian reasons, as their primary aim is to survive the night.

2

Phantoms (1998)

Directed by Joe Chappelle

In Ben Affleck’s lesser-known foray into the horror genre, he plays a small-town sheriff in over his head when something called the Ancient Enemy attacks. His guide on this journey is Peter O’Toole’s Timothy Flyte, a man who knows everything about the terror threatening to engulf the community. At first, the monster appears similar to a winged beast. However, it’s quickly revealed that the monster is no overgrown fly, but the same type of parasitic beast that consumes the bodies and knowledge of its victims while taking on their appearance.

In Phantom, the Enemy can make copies of itself that appear as phantoms to collect information. This is an effective way to split up the core group and ensure there are multiple points of action happening simultaneously throughout the plot. Both a critical and box office bomb, Phantoms is widely forgotten for good reason. Even including an iconic actor like O’Toole couldn’t save the script from its inadequacies. Of all the movies that came about in the wake of The Thing‘s legacy, Phantoms is one of the worst for how unoriginal it is.

1

Harbinger Down (2015)

Directed by Alec Gillis

Following in the footsteps of The Thing and Alien, Harbinger Down has a lot to owe to the horror movies that came before it. The director, Alec Gillis, used these movies as inspiration for the plot and the central monster. One of the most impressive aspects of Harbinger Down is the practical effects used throughout the film and how effectively Gillis uses what the audience can’t see in the frame to build suspense. Unfortunately, Gillis drew too heavily from his sources and created a film that, while intriguing, doesn’t capture the elements that make movies like The Thing so enduring.

For a movie that came out in 2015, it has irrevocably strong connections to the genre films of the 1980s. It even begins with the crash landing of a Soviet ship in the sea where the characters will later discover the monster. Harbinger Down attempts to root itself in the contemporary era by using climate change as another framing device. However, the references contradict each other as one is vastly outdated and the other current. The characters fend off the creature using a supply of liquid nitrogen, which sets the tone for the spotty science Harbinger Down relies on.