The Thing (2011): A Bomb in the Making, We Think Not

 What a crap article. The net, for people who can’t write to discuss people who can. I wouldn’t trust this Rob git to write a note to the milkman.

Enjoyed it. A worthy prequel. 4.5 out of 5 from me.

I have not read all of the comments, but in case this has not been mentioned, just for the record, John Carpenter’s “The Thing” was, in fact, a remake of the classic 1951 “The Thing from Another World,” starring the late James Arness in the title role.   In Carpenter’s excellent rendition, a scene from the 1951 version is seen as black and white film footage shot by the Norwegians.  The original version actually holds up rather well,  with an Old School reliance on suspense rather than special effects.

I’m not elitist about movies, certainly not horror movies, of which I’ve found most newer ones aren’t that scary, or they try to drop in a last minute ‘twist’ that’s really disappointing.  That being said,  I try to give new horror movies a chance to shine beyond the gore fests that are The Saw series and other titles such as Hostel.   This is just my opinion of course, but those aren’t horror movies to me, they’re just gore.  They lack memorable characters that we can connect with, they lack a sense of the unknown that has always been one of the scariest real life matters that we’re faced with (again, in my opinion) and they never stay with you much past the credits.

The Thing stayed with me, it haunted me after I left the theatre.   Not knowing what to expect going in, I watched Carpenter’s movie the night before I went to see this (I’d seen it plenty of times before but hadn’t watched in a good three years or more) . . . and I was absolutely amazed at the attention to detail in the 2011 movie.  It’s clear, to me, that it was made by individuals that not only like The Thing (1982) but those people who cherished it and wanted to both make a good prequel and pay homage to Carpenter’s vision.

The tense atmosphere built steadily and left me with a profound sense of foreboding, made even worse because having watched Carpenter’s movie, I knew all those people were going to die.   It was well acted, scripted and the effects showed both the improvement available with today’s special effects technology, while paying tribute to the original ‘Thing’ designs.   We still are left unsure what it actually would’ve looked like on its own, even in the block of ice all we see is mass and some texture, and the mystery of where it came from is no more revealed in 2011 than it was in 1982.  It came from space, and that’s all we can guess.

The leading lady was left in a similar place as Kurt Russell, only without another human with her, but sitting in the desolation of Antarctica, still unsure if ‘it’ was dead yet.  The scene of the two men in the chopper chasing the dog was added in throughout the credits, and made my skin tingle in anticipation.  I immediately wanted to go home and watch The Thing (1982) again.

I’ve read reviews both ‘professional’ and those of average Joe, and while I appreciate that not everyone likes the same kind of moviea, I LOVED this, in a way that I haven’t loved a horror movie in a very long time.   It was more than I expected, and also managed to still make me jump in my seat.  The Thing (2011) seems to remember what horror movies are suppose to be, and watching both films together is a great experience.