Directed by - John Carpenter

Starring - Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley, T.K. Carter

We start out with a guy in a helicopter chasing a dog through the barrens of Antartica while the passenger tries to shoot it. Unfortunately for him he can't hit the broad side of a barn door. This guy's so bad he throws a grenade out and still misses the dog. Of course everybody's rooting for the dog since it looks like some kind of morbit sport hunting thing. The chopper lands just outside the American outpost.

We begin thinking that maybe it's more than just a game when one crazy bugger tries to throw a grenade at the dog and misses blowing up his own chopper along with himself. The other guy puts a bullet through one of the Americans leg while trying to shoot the dog. Did I say he couldn't hit the broad side of a barn door? Maybe I should have said the broad side of a mountain. One of the Americans puts a bullet through the guys eyesocket ending the morning's excitement. They decide to keep the dog.

When they discover that these two nutbars were from the Norweigan encampment a couple of guy's hop into their chopper and fly over there. The place is a burnt out shambles. They find one guy that has commited suicide and some kind of a weird carcass that they bring back with them. A stomach churning autopsy is performed on the carcass and it's found to have normal human insides but the outside cannot be identified.

When the dog is placed in the kennel it goes through some kind of metamorphosis but is burnt to a cinder by a flamethrower before it can complete the cycle. However, one little piece of the thing escapes unnoticed.

While viewing some video brought back from the Norweigan camp it is discovered that they had found a spaceship and body frozen below the ice surface. The Americans come to the conclusion that whatever was onboard the ship has thawed out and can assume the identity of any type of lifeform, including humans.

Now the paranoia sets in deep. Nobody trusts anybody. People get bumped off by each other or by the monster. This goes on until there's only two guys left.

Although not as suspenseful or claustrophobic as the 1951 original, it's still pretty good. There may be a bit too much gore for those don't like that type of thing. I definitely would not advise you to eat supper while watching it. But it's worth a rental.