John Carpenter's 'The Thing' opened in theaters across North America on this day in 1982. Kurt Russell leads the cast as R.J. MacReady, the helicopter pilot for a group of American researchers in Antarctica who come in contact with a parasitic extraterrestrial life-form that assimilates then imitates other organisms.

A remake of 'The Thing from Another World' (1951) based on John W. Campbell's 1938 novella 'Who Goes There?', Carpenter's film opened to negative reviews and performed poorly at the box office. In the years that followed the movie has gained a cult following after being released on home video and television.

'The Thing' has since been reevaluated and is now considered to be one of the best science fiction and horror films ever made. A prequel film of the same name was released in 2011.