Prosthetic makeup, which may also be referred to as special make-up effects or FX prosthesis, is the process of using prosthetic sculpting, molding, and casting techniques to create advanced cosmetic effects. Prosthetic makeup draws a straight lineage from the Stagecraft of theater and can be observed at the birth of science fiction cinema with Le Voyage dans La Lune, a 1902 French adventure short film directed by pioneer of special effects Georges Méliès.

The Thing is a 1982 American science fiction horror film directed by John Carpenter from a screenplay by Bill Lancaster. Based on the 1938 John W. Campbell Jr. novella Who Goes There?, it tells the story of a group of American researchers in Antarctica who encounter the eponymous "Thing", an extraterrestrial life-form that assimilates, then imitates, other organisms. The group is overcome by paranoia and conflict as they learn that they can no longer trust each other and that any of them could be the Thing. The film stars Kurt Russell as the team's helicopter pilot R.J. MacReady, with A. Wilford Brimley, T. K. Carter, David Clennon, Keith David, Richard Dysart, Charles Hallahan, Peter Maloney, Richard Masur, Donald Moffat, Joel Polis, and Thomas G. Waites in supporting roles.