An alien spacecraft and creature are discovered under the Antarctic ice – they send a scientist down to meet with the established Norwegian research crew to discover what it could be. The creature – breaks loose and starts mimicking the humans – leaving everyone uncertain who is human and who is alien.
Usually, I leave the synopsis vague – but since this is a prequel to John Carpenter’s 1982 remake (of The Thing from Another World, 1951) – I think we all know what’s really going on. The ultimate question is – does it hold up to Carpenter’s remake – in a word: Yes.
Sure, the effects are updated a bit – given a nice computer upheaval for elements that simply would be too difficult to do without computers – but there also seemed to be plenty of analog effects that worked just as well as they did back in 1982.
The scares were plentiful – and I’m not sure if it was just the theater I was in – but my ears are ringing a bit from all the intense sound effects. The story stayed true to the 1982 version – and you want to stay and watch the ending credits sequence – and run home and pop in your copy of the 1982 version.
The direction was just what you needed in a horror film – going from intense calmness or lingering fear – to scare! The acting was fairly standard – though some of these Norwegian’s looked the same to me (I don’t mean it that way – don’t give me that look – NO not all Norwegian’s look the same – you know what I mean – sorry – okay). The questions in regards to who is a Thing is a fun one – I liked how they tried to get to that – and I liked how for the most part the pieces fit.
Here’s the thing (didn’t mean the pun) – if you haven’t seen the John Carpenter version – it’s ultimately more creepy to watch that one and not even bother with the prequel (though it’s a good horror film) – because the aftermath of everything that happens is shown in the very beginning of that film – and it’s almost always better to be left with that air of mystery with a horror film. Carpenter’s version is one of my favorite films of the 1980’s – it holds up very well – I recommend it if you haven’t seen it.
I do recommend this film – if you’re looking for a big screen scare this Halloween – especially if you enjoyed Carpenter’s version and would liked to have a few questions answered. It’s a good film and it stands alone by itself – it encapsulates its very own story. I’m not going to tell you it’s creative – because it’s a retread of a lot of the ideas from the Carpenter version – but it entertains and doesn’t insult you and that’s just as good.
[SPOILER – there’s a Thing in this room!]
I am giving this a pass. I LOVE the THING! It helped warp my tiny mind as a lad.
ReplyDeleteI have been fine to not know what happened at the Norwegian base. It adds to the creep factor.
I have seen a few reviews and they are all pretty positive, minus a few CGI effects and such. It seems they all tend to say it is more monster movie than paranoia movie with a monster.
I might catch it on-demand someday, might. Ijsut don't think I can go in with an open mind. The original is sooo good and fun, I'm afraid I'll be too judgemental on this re-hash/prequel.
I miss good John Carpenter and Kurt Russel.
I don’t know – I went home and watched Carpenter’s version right after writing up my review and it stood up all right. I mean – it is a rehash – no doubt about it – and they followed the blueprint. But there seemed to be enough paranoia parts in the prequel for me to disagree – that it was as much of a paranoia movie with a monster as the “original”.
ReplyDeleteI went into it wanting the prequel to have its own self-contained story and wasn’t dumbed down. I can see how it was TOO much of a rehash for some - but I’d take that – rather than 30 years later trying reinvent the wheel and discredit everything that was great about the original *coughGeorgeLucascough*
The prequel did miss the presence of a Kurt Russell – there is no way of denying that! There was a helicopter pilot guy that I think was sort of a replacement – but it’s really not his fault he couldn’t hold a candle to Russell.
If you don’t watch it though – you’ll be all right. It’s probably better that you go in with zero expectations – I love Carpenter’s version – and if I had to point someone to one or the other that would be the version without a doubt.