You need to have a strong stomach in order to enjoy movies like The Thing, which focus on gruesome body horror and practical effects that aren’t designed for the faint of heart.
John Carpenter’s 1982 classic takes place at a remote Antarctic research post, where a group of Americans are slowly assimilated by a parasitic extraterrestrial creature.
People were appalled at the time by the bleak and cynical tone, not to mention the wince-inducing gore, but over time The Thing became a firm cult classic, and many of the following ten titles will undoubtedly follow suit if they haven’t already..;
10 Gruesome Horror Movies Like The Thing
1. Alien (1979)
Not many movies can be called all-time greats in two genres, but Ridley Scott’s classic is firmly entrenched in the pantheon of both sci-fi and horror classics.
Sigourney Weaver is phenomenal as Ellen Ripley, backed by a supporting cast of recognizable character actors as the crew of the Nostromo battles against a rampaging Xenomorph.
Packed with the scares and body horror found in many other movies like The Thing, Alien is essentially a haunted house movie in space but far more innovative than that would suggest.
2. The Void (2016)
A cult traps the unfortunate patients and staff inside a hospital that doubles as a gateway to hell in Stephen Kostanski and Jeremy Gillespie’s gripping supernatural horror.
An unashamed throwback to the 1980s heyday of movies like The Thing, the low budget works in The Void works to its advantage as it unleashes a confidently old school assault on the senses.
The reliance on practical effects marks a welcome change in a sea of interchangeable CGI creature features, and The Void deftly balances the old with the new.
3. Life (2017)
Daniel Espinosa’s glossy sci-fi is another movie like The Thing that keeps the audience guessing the entire way while an alien life form engulfs their spaceship.
There are many similarities to The Thing in the tale of an extraterrestrial life-form that constantly evolves to the terror of a manned space mission, but Life embraces the B-movie comparisons.
Jake Gyllenhaal, Rebecca Ferguson, and Ryan Reynolds provide plenty of star-power in an effects-driven sci-fi thriller that breaks new ground and holds plenty of merit.
4. Event Horizon (1997)
A spacecraft long thought vanished suddenly reappears in Paul W.S. Anderson’s cult classic, although the titular ship has returned with an uninvited guest in tow.
Laurence Fishburne and Sam Neill lend an extra layer of gravitas to the proceedings, although it eventually falls into the same traps as many movies like The Thing by relying on style over substance.
That being said, there’s plenty of flashy visuals and gruesome body horror to be found in a glorified B-movie that fails to maximize the potential of the concept but still manages to entertain.
5. The Blob (1988)
The remake of 1958’s early Steve McQueen effort, The Blob hails from journeyman director Chuck Russell and follows what happens when high school students discover a deadly substance.
The Blob wasn’t designed to receive critical acclaim but deliver solid B-movie thrills, and on that count, it most definitely delivers in a sea of effects-driven mayhem.
Movies like The Thing often have a tendency to rely on the visuals at the expense of the narrative, but in this case, it benefits The Blob.
6. The Thing (2011)
Next on my list of movies similar to The Thing is the 2011 remake, which is vastly inferior to John Carpenter’s classic but hits all of the expected beats for fans of the 1982 version.
The only major differences second time around is that the cast are a whole lot more photogenic, and director Matthijs van Heijningen Jr. relies far too heavily on CGI at the expense of tangible effects.
If you’ve seen Carpenter’s movie then you’ve pretty much already seen this one, which offers little in the way of originality but does deliver some decent suspense and a couple of jump-scares.
7. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
The third remake on our list of movies like The Thing, the 1978 version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers is widely regarded as the best iteration of a concept that was again remade in 2007.
A relationship drama wrapped in the clothing of an apocalyptic sci-fi, there’s plenty of interpersonal dynamics on display as well as the requisite body horror in a movie that swiftly gained classic status.
Donald Sutherland, Jeff Goldblum, and Robert Duvall are just three of the big names in the ensemble of the imaginative and essential version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
8. The Mist (2007)
Frank Darabont’s Stephen King adaptation finds the residents of a small town trapped in a grocery store trying to fend off deadly creatures that have descended upon them.
The Mist may have bombed at the box office, but don’t let that put you off as it remains one of the most severely underrated psychological horror movies of the 21st Century.
Not all movies like The Thing have to be quite as downbeat and cynical as The Mist, which delivers smart writing and a genuine sense of terror before ending on a note that will leave you floored.
9. The Faculty (1998)
Movies like The Thing don’t always have to be about middle-aged bearded men, and The Faculty gives the creature feature a handsome and youthful makeover in Robert Rodriguez’s cult favorite.
A group of high school students discover that their teachers have been infected by alien parasites, and need to fight for their lives in order to stop a hostile takeover.
The cast is full of past, present, and future stars like Josh Hartnett, Elijah Wood, Robert Patrick, Famke Janssen, and Salma Hayek, making it a time capsule of late 90s sci-fi horror.
10. Annihilation (2018)
If you want more movies like The Thing but also feel in the mood for some added existential weirdness, then Alex Garland’s Annihilation is just the ticket.
A soldier turned scientist joins a mission to dig into her husband’s disappearance, but finds herself trapped in a surreal world that’s very much unlike her own.
Intelligent and thought-provoking, Annihilation is ambitious work of cinema disguised as a genre-based thriller that might not be for everyone, but rewards those who persevere.