Good effects, chilling atmosphere, and lots of suspence.

Carpenter is not one of my favorite film-makers, but I love this movie. The first version is rightfully considered a classic, but it was a little too talky and obvious in the way of 50's sci-fi movies (the heroes were virtuous all-American types; the evil scientist had an accent that was suspiciously Slavic-sounding; this was a film positively dripping with Cold-War paranoia). Carpenter's version owes more to the original story, and is truly the stuff of nightmares, as more than one reviewer noted at the time of its release. We never learn much about the characters in this version, but they're all flawed and all-too-human, which only increases the terror level for the viewer. I'm not a big fan of special effects, but they've never been done in such a chillingly effective manner. Although I don't think the movie made a killing at the box office, it qualifies as a masterpiece entirely on its own merits, at least in my mind. It will haunt your dreams a long time after you've seen it.