As I stated last entry, Carpenter’s The Thing failed, both with audiences and critics, at the time of its release, but eventually developed into a cult classic film, especially in the sci-fi horror genre. In the realms of that genre, it’s one of the heads on their Mount Rushmore, up there with Alien and The Terminator.
Luckily for fans of The Thing, there hasn’t been as many forays into sequels that have debatably chipped away at the original films’ legacy.
But there was one. A prequel, cleverly titled The Thing, in 2011. It too was maligned, but this time, by fans of Carpenter’s original work. The filmmakers promised the fans of Bottin’s effects that the 2011 film would again feature practical effects. They broke that promise, effectively neutering the creature effects.
Not only that, the film was unnecessary. The fans, (read: the audience) didn’t need to know what happened at the Norwegian camp. It was lore that we, the audience, didn’t need. All the audience needed to know was the Norwegian camp suffered the same fate that Outpost 31 eventually did.
Worse yet, the 2011 film didn’t add anything new to the story of The Thing, instead trending over the exact same ground that Carpenters work did. Carpenter’s character writing is also not matched, with the only memorable character being Mary Elizabeth Winstead’s, and she is only memorable because the author of this blog developed a minor crush on her.
The moral of the story is if you’re going to remake a movie, do it like Carpenter.
I’d rate Carpenter’s The Thing a flawless 5/5. As promised, I’ll put Carpenter’s works that I discussed for this blog in order:
The Thing
Halloween
Assault on Precinct 13
Christine
Halloween 2 (by a hair)
Thank you for reading, and I hope that this work has inspired you to review, re-watch, re-think, or watch these films for the first time in a long time, or perhaps even just the first time.
The Porkchop Express 