Director: Matthijs van Heijningen jr
Starring: Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Joel Edgerton, Ulrich Thomsen, Jorgen Langhelle
Running Time: 96 minutes approx
Certificate: 15
Extras: Audio Commentary with the Director and Producer Eric Newman, Fire & Ice, The Thing Evolves, Deleted/Extended Scenes
Hollywood has in recent years embraced a ‘repeat-culture’; there have always been sequels, and now we have remakes, prequels, and countless reboots. THE THING (2011) is a whole new breed being a prequel to a remake – THE THING (1982) – of an original – THE THING FROM ANOTHER PLANET (1951). You still with me? Good.
Set in Antarctica 1982, the film follows a team of scientists investigating a discovery under the ice. The group consisting of Kate (Winstead), Carter (Edgerton), Adam (Olsen) and a number of Scandinavian supporting players, soon find that this may not be the fantastic scientific discovery of our time – as they may have thought – as ‘The Thing’ breaks out and begins killing the team one-by-one whilst replicating their form and infiltrating the group.
John Carpenter proclaims THE THING (1982) the favourite of his films; it is a master-class in suspense and action with an atmosphere that you could cut with a knife (or a flame thrower). What makes it even more special is the creature effects on show that are still, 30 years on, startling: Stan Winston was thrust into Hollywood from his work on the film. Some of the atmosphere is lost with the dawn of Computer Generated Imagery but The Thing is still a scary adversary; and let’s be honest, it’s a huge improvement on the effects from the 1950s original.
Associating the film with any of its affiliates would be a mistake; devotees of the original and the remake will not find much to scream about here. Judged as a separate entity though the film stands head and shoulders above Hollywood’s attempts to scare in recent years; I’m looking at you THE UNBORN (2009) and you THE LAST EXORCISM (2010).
Whilst THE THING doesn’t boast a towering performance of Kurt Russell’s stature, or the cult standing of the 50s original, it has a solid and watchable cast; the action is very well paced – there is rarely a dull moment on-screen – and most of all it’s just tremendously enjoyable.
Extras: The audio commentary is enthusiastic but largely dull and the making of and special effects documentaries are informative but run-of-the-mill.
THE THING is available on Blu-ray & DVD now.
