THING, THE (2011)

John Carpenter's 1982 film The Thing remains one of the most terrifying sci-fi horror films ever made. It told of a research team being stranded at an Antartic outpost with a parasitic alien, which replicates it's victims. It was sort of a body snatchers type of premise and one of the integeral details in that film was that another nearby outpost had previously encountered the alien and the entire Norwegian team at that post was dead. Cut to 2011 and the new The Thing tells the story of those Norwegians. This is a sly film because it easily boasts itself as a prequel given that there's already an established set up with audiences... but really, its just a reworking of the first film. Having said that, it does offer a few new elements and the alien's behavioural patterns and origins are explored in slightly more detail. What initially impressed me about this movie was that it kept with the period. The characters are all dressed and styled as though they could seamlessly wander into a frame of Carpenter's 82 film and the aesthetic of it all matches well. That's a big tick in my books. Also impressive is that a lot of the gore effects are done physically... that is to say that puppetry and FX makeup has been used similarly to the original. And so I went along with this movie and really enjoyed it. The only disappointment for me was that as the alien became more prevalent there was an over indulgence in the CGI FX. Totally unnecessary as far as I'm concerned. If John Carpenter was able to achieve some of the most groundbreaking and innovative gore PRACTICALLY and on a fraction of the budget, then there's no reason why this film couldn't have also. But as I said, its a small bone to pick. Overall this is a good prequel that leads into the next story well. The title is a shame though, don't you think? The Thing?? That's what the first movie was called. Apparently they couldn't think of a good subtitle and so they settled on The Thing. I think a totally different title with a subtitle of "Prequel to The Thing" would have been more effective. Anyhow... worth seeing.

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