The Thing (2011)
“It’s not human, yet.”
Antarctica – 1982. And so begins the prequel story to John Carpenter’s 1982 classic The Thing. The Thing (2011) tells the story of a Norwegian Outpost that discovers an alien spacecraft and the subsequent “Thing” of the title. Mary Elizabeth Winstead plays Kate Lloyd a graduate student drafted by the Norwegian scientists to aid in the reclamation of the alien life form that they discover.
It’s not long before the Norwegians have the Thing carved out of the ice and thawing in their basement like a giant banana Popsicle. After that all hell proceeds to breaking loose for the remainder of the running time of the movie.
The creature FX by Tom Woodruff Jr. and Alec Gillis feature an amazing blend of practical make-up and the latest in CGI techniques. The result is dazzling as
The Thing continues to mutate and change and sprout vestigial pseudopods throughout the entire movie much to the delight of Kaiju and monster movie lovers everywhere.
(Get more than a mouthful after the leap!)
According to script writer Eric Heisserer “It’s a really fascinating way to construct a story because we’re doing it by autopsy, by examining very, very closely everything we know about the Norwegian camp and about the events that happened there from photos and video footage that’s recovered, from a visit to the base, the director, producer and I have gone through it countless times marking, you know, there’s a fire axe in the door, we have to account for that…we’re having to reverse engineer it, so those details all matter to us ‘cause it all has to make sense.”
John Carpenter's The Thing (1982)
If you were lamenting the fact that there were no good monster on the loose movies playing this year – here is the movie for you! The Thing features more tentacle action, body splitting, flesh chewing than you’ll find this side of the Antarctic. The acting is good and believable across the board and the direction does it’s best to emulate Carpenter’s laconic and atmospheric feel from his 1982 effort. Stay seated through the first part of the credits as it serves as a linking sequence to tie into John Carpenter’s much maligned classic The Thing from 1982.
Streebo gives The Thing (2011) a 7 out of 10 on the Streebo-Scream-O-Meter. If you’re looking for one horror movie to see this week – see this one. Even John Carpenter would be proud – unless he was The Thing impersonating John Carpenter and then he wouldn’t like it – or would he? You’ll have to see the movie to find out.
