'The Thing' Prequel is No Equal

It says a lot about John Carpenter's "The Thing" that it could generate a prequel almost 20 years after its release. A critical and commercial failure when released back in 1982, it has since been justly revered as a true horror classic and remains Carpenter's masterpiece as it proved even more terrifying than "Halloween." It also holds a special place on my top ten favorite movies of all time (so far) list.

Now we have Matthijs van Heijningen Jr.'s version of "The Thing" which is a prequel to Carpenter's movie which explores the events leading up to it. Remember that Norwegian camp Kurt Russell and Richard Dysart visited which had been almost completely burned down? Now we get to see how it got that way. But therein lies the problem; knowing the events precede those of the 1982 movie, much of the potential suspense and tension gets drowned out almost immediately.

Frankly I would much rather see a sequel to "The Thing" instead of this. The original was effective because we never had a clear idea of who to trust. But here we know the characters on display will eventually bite the dust, and it becomes a question of when these characters turn into the thing. After awhile, it becomes more shocking when a character dies without turning into a gooey alien. What spoils it even more is that we know of at least one character who will survive what happens very early on.

Heijningen is respectful of Carpenter's movie and pays homage to it throughout. Things however get to where you wonder if this is a remake more than a prequel. Various scenes are clear imitations of the 1982 movie's most classic moments, and I wish the filmmakers worked harder at distinguishing the prequel from it instead of just repeating scenes. Heijningen does wring some suspense and strong tension at different points, and the unique on the blood test scene is very clever. But he is unable to sustain the tension that made Carpenter's movie so eerily effective.

The special effects are very good, but they still pale in comparison to the genius of Rob Bottin. Audiences are always quick to tell when CGI effects are overused. As for the performances, they are generally good even though the characters could have come out of any monster movie.

The best performance comes from Mary Elizabeth Winstead as paleontologist Kate Lloyd. So good in "Scott Pilgrim vs. The World" and "Live Free or Die Hard," she holds our attention throughout and is one of the best reasons to see this prequel. While Lloyd is predictably inspired by Ellen Ripley from "Aliens," Winstead makes the character her own and more than just another tough chick which movies like these typically rely on.

"The Thing" prequel is not a terrible movie, but it will be of interest more to those who haven't seen the 1982 film which itself was a remake (made back when remakes were rare and good). But this version of John W. Campbell's "Who Goes There?" feels like a lost opportunity and gets caught in the prequel trap of busily matching everything up to the film it leads into. It sucks when you can see a movie's ending long in advance of it. I did admire the ambiguous ending before the end credits though as it leaves you wondering if the alien really infected the last character standing. Not knowing is always more unnerving than knowing.

* * ½ out of * * * *

See also:

John Carpenter Tribute at the Aero Theatre: "The Thing" & "The Fog"

Classic '80s Movie Review: John Carpenter's "The Thing"

John Carpenter's "Halloween"