THE THING

Let me just start by saying I loved THE THING.  It may just be the greatest prequel ever made.  At least the most well-done.  By itself, it was an awesome horror movie; intelligent, scary, with a great cast (I love me some Mary Elizabeth Winstead!) and some truly chilling visuals.  But when you add in the fact that this is a prequel to a movie made nearly 30 years ago, well, let's just say it made this long-time fan of the John Carpenter classic giddy as a schoolgirl!

(If you've never seen the original, don't read further; my recommendation is, go rent or buy the Blu-ray.   That movie is best watched with absolutely no foreknowledge.  Then you can come back and read this!)

I hadn't seen the original in several years, and I had only seen a trailer for this new installment one time, so I went in pretty fresh.  Throughout the movie, I just kept thinking how I hoped they would end it right, with the dog running from the Norwegian research station to the American outpost.  I wasn't disappointed.  The end of this flick drops us off instantly, and identically, before the beginning of The Thing.  The familiar Ennio Morricone score even kicks in during the credits.  SO COOL.

Now, undertaking a project of this magnitude is no easy task.  You're making a prequel to a beloved film that is nearly 30 years old.  You have tons of details to match, dots to connect, and you want to keep the look of the original, because now you're making a period piece.  I had no idea as I watched it just how painstakingly the production recreated the Norwegian facility until I watched the original film last night.   In that film, there is a long scene where Kurt Russell as MacReady investigates the remnants of the burned Norwegian outpost.  I could not believe how well the prequel had matched all the sets, and had explained the backstory of each detail MacReady comes across.  I was instantly dying to watch the prequel again!

I thought it interesting and pretty cool that this prequel was just called "The Thing," as opposed to adding some cliche subtitle like "The Thing: The Beginning" or other such nonsense.  Because what this does is tell you that this is one saga, with several untitled episodes.  Here's hoping someone has plans for an awesome third and final installment!  (And what would you do - stick to 1982 and finish it with a new cast, the "rescue team," or fast forward to the present and have Kurt Russell play MacReady again??  Oh the possibilities!)

So in conclusion, if you're a longtime fan of the original John Carpenter classic, I think you will be pleasantly surprised by this new prequel.  If not, why did you read this far, first of all, and second, definitely go watch the John Carpenter original asap!

Rating:  Worth seeing in the theater

http://www.thethingmovie.net/