‘The Thing’ has been voted one of the scariest movies of all time and the arguing has been over its position in the Top Ten. If you haven't seen it, I recommend it. If you have, here's where to get it.
The special effects have not dated much despite it being made in 1982, and it's still damned creepy. As an additional bonus, the DVD contains a wonderful feature length commentary from John Carpenter and Kurt Russel. In parts, they wind up doing a Mystery Science Theatre 3000 and heckle their own movie. The additional features on the disc are all top notch.
And the movie itself is a great watch. It IS early John Carpenter, so the dialogue can be clunky in places. My suggestion is to watch it yourself at night when you're alone in the house. Watching it with friends means moral support dilutes the fear factor and emphasises some of the sillier dialogue. Alone, it should get to you just fine.
I don't know why ''The Thing' is now rated M. The game of ‘The Thing’ is rated R16, and the movie is much more graphic. I have the same disc and version and it's R16, so the censors must have changed their minds. I'm not sure why they'd have done this, because the movie is messy, classic horror that hasn't lost its bite with time.