THE THING

With Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Joel Edgerton, Ulrich Thomsen, Eric Christian Olsen, Kim Bubbs, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje

Written by Eric Heisserer (based on the short story "Who Goes There?" by John W. Campbell Jr.)

Directed by Matthijs van Heijningen Jr.

The first time I heard about this new take on the movie, was chatting on the set of Doomsday with make-up FX artist Paul Hyett in 2008. Back then I had my reservations that taking on John Carpenter's 1982 classic is a futile exercise. But, I was very happily surprised when this ended up a little more than just a straight remake, but rather a prequel.

A paleontologist is sent to Antarctica to investigate a phenomenal find. What she and the team in this inhospitable area discovers is an alien being that mimics any life-form. After it infiltrates their research base they get systematically eliminated, with no-one safe, and nobody knowing whose identity the creature may have adopted. Trapped in the middle of this frozen landscape, the only hope for survival may be ingenuity.

In return, John Carpenter's version was based on The Thing From Another World (the 1951 movie version of writer Campbell's short story) but where his was a gory improvement, with fantastic prosthetic FX by Rob Bottin, the digital FX of this new take on the story is not as convincing as those practical and physical applications that are still extremely effective when watching it now, 30 years later.

I'm sure the makers didn't have outdoing Carpenter's version in mind, as that would be very hard to do when taking on the same subject in the frozen location.

4 / B
- Paul Blom

0 1 2 3 4 5 6
- A - B - C

Click below for John Carpenter's version

A: Multi-Viewing Potential

B: Could Enjoy A 2nd Look

C: Once Should Suffice