'the thing' by john carpenter is thirty years old?

i found a new favorite horror blog, the paradise of horror, and this week they have been doing a tribute to a movie by one of my favorite directors john carpenter.  'the thing' is thirty years old, which is unbelievable to me.  but i do love this movie!

in a remote location in antartica, a group of scientists discover an alien life form that wants to take over...starting from inside any living thing.  you can't tell when it takes over, until it blows out of your body in a grotesque way!

it stars kurt russell and i love the spooky darkness, and the make-you-jump scenes!  but i have a fun memory of this movie...well, a little bit evil, fun memory. 

when i was younger, and my children were small, we used to watch monster movies at my dad's house a lot. (yes, i let my kids watch monster movies when they were small...yes, it scarred them for life...yes, i am a bad mother.)   well, my two oldest children were born two years apart, and my little brother was born in between them, so they grew up together playing and fighting a lot...mostly fighting.  my brother was the youngest, and only boy in a family of 5 girls, so he turn out a little spoiled, (which is a gross understatement.) 

"what does that have to do with 'the thing'?", you say?  well, my little brother used to watch pretty much anything, and it never bothered him, even though he was only like about 4 at the time.  but 'the thing' TERRIFIED him!  so sometimes, when he would be behaving particularly badly, (which was a lot, unfortunately)  we would pop 'the thing' into the vcr, and he would run screaming from the room.  and we would have two hours of peace!   so, we got to watch 'the thing' quite a few times back in the day.

so last year, i had not seen 'the thing' for many years, and i decided to watch it.  but i texted my brother..."i am watching 'the thing' right now!"  he texted me back..."you are so evil!"  hehe...maybe i am!  by the way, my brother turned out to be a very lovely person, no hint of the little terror he was as a child!