Are you thinking of the movie called "The Thing"? That was an 80's flick. It starred Kurt Russell and was also made into a video game. Or maybe you are thinking of 30 Days of Night, but that was just this past year, and it was placed in Alaska.
" The Thing" with Kurt Russell.
A group of scientists find a UFO frozen in the ice and it's occupant frozen also. The alien thaws out and has the ability to masquerade as any of it's victims. Cool flick.
The original was made in the 1950's.
The Thing (1982)
aka John Carpenter's The Thing
starring Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley, T.K. Carter, David Clennon, Keith David, Richard Dysart, Richard Masur, Donald Moffat
IMDB synopsis **SPOILERS**:
An American scientific expedition to the frozen wastes of the Antarctic is interrupted by a group pursuing and shooting at a dog. The helicopter pursuing the dog crashes, leaving no explanation for the chase. During the night, the dog mutates and attacks other dogs in the cage and members of the team that investigate. The team soon realizes that an alien life-form with the ability to take over other bodies is on the loose, and they don't know who already may have been taken over.
TRIVIA:
The original movie, "The Thing from Another World" (1951), took place at the North Pole. This version takes place at the South Pole.
At the beginning of the film, the Norwegian with the rifle is the second unit director and associate producer as well as Kurt Russell's (then) brother-in-law, Larry J. Franco.
This is the first film in what John Carpenter calls his Apocalypse Trilogy. The other two are "Prince of Darkness" (1987) and "In the Mouth of Madness" (1995).
The opening title exactly duplicates the original Howard Hawks film. To create the effect of the title, an animation cell with "The Thing" written on it was placed behind a fish tank filled with smoke that was covered with a plastic garbage bag. The garbage bag was ignited, creating the effect of the title burning onto the screen.
Both films are based on the classic short story "Who Goes There?" by pioneering science fiction editor John W. Campbell, Jr.
This film is considered a benchmark in the field of special makeup effects. These effects were created by Rob Bottin, who was only 22 when he started the project.
There are no female characters in the film. The only female presence in the movie is in the voice of MacReady's chess computer (provided by Carpenter's wife, Adrienne Barbeau) and the contestants seen on the game show that Palmer watches.
This is the first of John Carpenter's films which he did not score himself. The film's original choice of composer was Jerry Goldsmith, but he passed. Ennio Morricone composed a very low-key Carpenter-like score filled with brooding, menacing bass chords.
John Carpenter and Kurt Russell both admit that after all of these years they still do not know who has been replaced by the creature and when. At a horror convention Q&A session in 2008, Keith David (Childs) was asked if he ever knew who, at the very end of the movie, was infected with the alien. He smiled and said, "Well, I don't know about (Kurt Russell), but it sure as hell wasn't me."
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