"Ennio is one of the great composers, he was brilliant. He was like an X-ray composer. He brought out the theme of the movie that hadn't been thought of before." - John Carpenter
In remote Antarctica, a group of American research scientists are disturbed at their base camp by a helicopter shooting at a sled dog. When they take in the dog, it brutally attacks both human beings and canines in the camp and they discover that the beast can assume the shape of its victims. A resourceful helicopter pilot (Kurt Russell) and the camp doctor (Richard Dysart) lead the camp crew in a desperate battle against the vicious creature before it picks them all off, one by one.
"Carpenter, who usually scored his own films, was suggested 'Maestro Morricone' by the film’s associate producer Stuart Cohen, due to Morricone’s experience in 'experimental music, a strange place,' the filmmaker recalls.
"Carpenter explained how The Thing theme came to be, through close collaboration 'It was too flourishy and ornate,' said Carpenter of Morricone’s first draft. 'I said to him, ‘Ennio, use less notes.’ And he did. That was the main title theme.'
“'He added something to it, that I didn’t realize, didn’t ask for. He brought it: this deep, tragic sense that this is the end of things, of everything. Oh my god, it really worked. I was delighted with it.'” - NME