‘The Thing’ Is Considered a Christmas Movie This Year

We've all seen the 1982 John Carpenter classic/remake "The Thing", right? Today, I am here to tell you that "The Thing" is considered a Christmas movie this year. Allow me to explain.

"The Thing", based on the 1938 novella "Who Goes There?" by John W. Campbell and a remake of the 1951 film "The Thing from Another World", tells the story of a group of American researchers in Antarctica who encounter the remains of a strange creature. The Americans take it to their base and deduce that it is an alien life form.  After a while it is apparent that the alien can take over and assimilate into other life forms, including humans, and can spread like a virus. This means that anyone at the base could be inhabited by "The Thing", and tensions escalate. Who is infected already, and who can be trusted? Helicopter pilot R.J. MacReady, played by Kurt Russel, sets out to find the answers to exactly that.

So how does this tie in to Christmas? Welcome to the 2020 pandemic. While temperatures are finally dropping in the borderland, many have been staying indoors since March! The demand to stay home is starting to take its toll on people. Despite cases going down, many are still growing distrustful of people in their community- trying to figure out who has this virus. I can't really blame you, I'm seeing a lot of house parties on SnapChat! Here's hoping not everyone has a flamethrower like Mac does in "The Thing". But I digress.

This holiday season, "The Thing", a movie about a group of people who don't even remotely like each other, stuck together in a snowbound location trying to figure out who has a terrifying infection and who will be taken next because of it now counts as a Christmas movie this year. Thank you for coming to my TED Talk. If you're looking for other monster Christmas movies, check out my lists of perfect horror Christmas movies from 2018 and 2019. Merry Christmas, and remember to stay home, don't let "The Thing" get you.