The Thing Review

The Thing opened in theatres today and like a good horror blogger I went and took one for the team. My review will be 100% spoiler free as usual. My short and to the point outlook on the film is that it is like most remakes, not needed but also in fairness this is a prequel which means although its rehashing an old story and an old villain it does it from a new angle.

For those who for whatever reason have not seen the original I will give you a five second history lesson.  John Carpenter’s The Thing was based at an American research facility in Antarctica and yes… that was a remake although strangely one of the actors in the film failed to realize this in a recent interview. It is also the best remake of any film hands down… no debate.

The one playing in theatres now that shares the same name is not an actual remake but a Prequel which is based before the original and shows where `The Thing` was originally found and ties up a whole bunch of loose ends at the Norwegian base we see briefly at the start of the original Carpenter film.

I can with confidence say that die hard horror fans will look at the prequel and ask the question, why? The flipside is this film is actually a very well polished prequel with a fantastic cast lead by Mary Elizabeth Winstead and features some very good practical effects, and yes god forbid some great CGI combined with a great story, strong characters and our favourite shape shifting killer  ‘The Thing’.

The biggest question most will ask is how do the effects look? Die hard horror fans to this day talk about the amazing effects in the original THING which Rob Bottin did with such polish. His special effects stand up to this very day which says alot when you consider how old the film is. The effects in the remake/prequel are on par but Vincent Guastini still holds true. Had they of hired him to do the effects in the prequel without CGI you would not have noticed.

I honestly feel that those who have never seen the original will love the film. I also feel strongly that the horror genre will continue to expand as a result since many younger fans will turn to older friends, parents that creepy uncle and find out that it is a remake and flock to the original.

You older fans and die hards will also find at least something to enjoy in this prequel.  It connects quite a few dots and works hard to maintain the vibe of the original film in both tone and look. I give it a 7.5 out of 10 for being alot better than I thought and although it is not as good as Carpenters I cannot point at the film and see anything that is blatantly wrong with it.

The only thing I can say is that John Carpenters film I have seen well over 40 times this one I will likely not see again. It’s a fun way to spend 90 minutes to make you nostalgic but at the end of the day Carpenters is the real deal and I will turn to it time and time again for my fill of ‘The Thing’.

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