It’s been below zero here every day over the past two weeks and I’m constantly thinking about John Carpenter‘s The Thing, which takes place in Antartica where a research team is hunted by a shape-shifting alien that assumes the appearance of its victims.
The 1982 film was a box office flop (no thanks to Steven Spielberg’s E.T.) but later found a devoted horror audience that elevated it to cult classic status.
It is finally being recognized amongst the film elites as one of 25 films the Library of Congress has selected for the National Film Registry due to their cultural, historic or aesthetic importance to preserve the nation’s film heritage, Dread Central learned today.
“When we preserve films, we preserve American culture for generations to come. These selections for the National Film Registry show us that films are instrumental in capturing important parts of our nation’s story,” said Acting Librarian of Congress Robert R. Newlen. “We are proud to continue this important work, adding a broad range of 25 films to the National Film Registry as a collective effort in the film community to protect our cinematic heritage.”
The selections for 2025 bring the number of titles in the registry to 925. Some of the film titles are among the 2 million moving image collection items held in the Library of Congress. Others are preserved in coordination with copyright holders or other film archives.
