The Thing (2011)

Amid many outcrys of disgust and disgrace, the prequel/almost-remake/not-a-sequel to John Carpenter's The Thing, cleverly entitled just...The Thing...has finally squirmed onto the big screen, the big question being; is its existence completely pointless?

Surprisingly...no, and while disappointingly it doesn't take full advantage of such a venture, it still becomes a somewhat entertaining film that lazily attempts a spot of fan-service along the way.

The plot is relatively the same as the original and it hits each note that you'd expect, sometimes playing on our expectations but unfortunately not as often as one would hope. The climax manages to explore the mythology of The Thing more so than the original and while it is a nice attempt, bringing in a sudden surge of science fiction-y imagery seems to play against what made the original so entertaining and causes the finale to mutate into a rather cumbersome cgi heavy affair.

Speaking of, the charmingly vile goopy effects of the first are of course replaced with plenty of computer generated mutations that are convincing in places, but manage to completely unscare and oddly ungore what is sprouting out of the latest victim. The Thing is instead turned into more of a rampaging beast than the original, which takes away the unsettling slow regurgitating nature of John Carpenter's beast. You end up wondering why it bothers trying to imitate them at all and not just stampede through the place with its red danglys squirming proudly instead.

Failing to really get stuck into proceedings and instead opting to not offend fans by sticking closely to the original, The Thing evolves into yet another remake (John Carpenter's being a remake in itself) rather than a prequel. So while hardcore fans will scream out the blasphemous existence of this 'prequel', others may find a sometimes entertaining film that, while not as rip roaring as the original, still manages to pass the torch of the original onto another generation without destroying the memory of the first.