The Thing (2011) should have a different title because it is a prequel, not a remake. That alone would have made me want to see it even less but they did it right. It shows what occurred at the Norwegian's camp that Macready (Kurt Russell's character) and his crew investigated in John Carpenter's 1982 classic. An alien is found frozen in ice that has the ability to copy other organisms (people) and often twist itself into grotesque forms before killing someone. The only thing the creature cannot do is copy non-organic material (earrings for examples). In the '82 hit, they tested every one's blood to see if they were actually the creature. In this movie, the lovely Mary Elizabeth Winstead cleverly checks people's mercury fillings in their teeth...cool.
The nearly 30 year old practical effects of the '82 version were great for their time and still give you a jolt but the special effects here will blow you away in a grotesque way, but they are not so horrendous that it ruins the whole experience. The best parts of this prequel are when the paranoia sets in and nobody trusts anyone. The cast is better than your average horror movie nowadays. Ms. Winestead does a good job as the lead character, she is maturing into a fine leading actress. The supporting cast is almost entirely unknown but also did very well. As for the surprise of it being an actual prequel, I did like how the scenes during the ending credits directly leads into Carpenter's film. As with another "surprise prequel ending" in "Final Destination 5" with seeing the poor bastards of flight 180, we see here the guys in the helicopter trying to kill the dog and the decomposing guy with his neck slit. We even get a few of those eerie bass lines that brought so much tension all those years ago.
Some purists will like it for being a companion piece to the 1982 film and others will like it as a stand-alone horror movie. Either way...it's a good "thing" (pun intended!!).
C & K Rating: Three Tubs of Buttery Popcorn w/ a Med. Coke
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