Fighting for this reviewer’s love especially when its predecessor rides high in my particular all-time favourite horror list was always going to be an uphill struggle. Matthijs van Heijningen Jr’s prequel ‘The Thing’ which closely pre-dates the events that occur in John Carpenter’s 1982 movie, interestingly also titled ‘The Thing’, seems a pretty superfluous undertaking. The story set around the Norwegian camp that originally encountered the extra-terrestrial body imitations.
John Carpenter’s effort had so much more tension and cabin fever-esque elements to it which when cobbled together with Ennio Morricone’s superb score and the overall real 80’s feel to it that attempting to revive that feeling 30 years on is a true battle. Mary Elizabeth Winstead takes the lead as she attempts to uncover who’s real and who’s alien in the snow-bound Antarctica research site.
One of the major debates reigning during the movies production was how much actual animatronic work would be used as opposed to the all too common CGI effects. Thankfully it seems to at least have bought a neat mixture of both techniques to the table. The visual effects themselves still look too overly glossy and clean and did instantly remind me that I’m watching a modern day sci-fi film.
The performances were competent enough but I think the whole character developments as a whole were too reliant on the fact that each team member would soon be involved in a ‘who’s real’ scenario much like its 1982 counterpart. Therefore Eric Heisserer’s script tries to create too many forcing red herrings and second guessing as to whom that would turn out to be based on their character traits.
OVERALL SUMMARY
This unnecessary prequelisation was always going to be a hard sell. Ultimately though the whole experience was solid enough to stand on its own but I would implore those who haven’t yet seen John Carpenter’s 1982 remake to do so. The movie’s biggest pleasure for me has to be direct tie-in link which occurs during the end credit sequence which literally ends at the very moment the 1982 made follow-up picks up the action.
If you are interested in watching great online movies then make sure you check out great brands such as LOVEFiLM and Netflix UK. You will be able to access great movies including the reboot of The Thing.
