The movie wasn't exactly terrible in spite of its messy editing and characterization issues. As bad as it was, though, The Thing isn't really about what happens in the movie; it's about how bad things can be when they happen in real life. That doesn't mean it isn't scary or tense or grimly tragic; but it doesn't mean that there aren't interesting ideas at play here. If nothing else, this isn't some cynical horror flick where everyone ends up dead and nobody lives to tell