Ok let me just get one thing absolutely straight before I give you the scoop. I do not think that this prequel is necessary AT ALL because the original movie this is based off of directed by John Carpenter (HALLOWEEN) and starring Kurt Russell (ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK) is still all kinds of awesome and still scares the poop crap out of me! I’m just glad this is a prequel rather than a full blown remake. One thing I really do not get is why the title is exactly the same if this is a prequel.
THE THING is directed by newcomer Matthijs van Heijningen Jr. (good lord) and stars the talented beauty Mary Elizabeth Winstead (SCOTT PILGRIM VS THE WORLD) and Joel Edgerton (ANIMAL KINGDOM). The trailer looks interesting enough and will seemingly have some cool moments. I remain a bit skeptical. Here is the official synopsis:
“Antarctica: an extraordinary continent of awesome beauty. It is also home to an isolated outpost where a discovery full of scientific possibility becomes a mission of survival when an alien is unearthed by a crew of international scientists. The shape-shifting creature, accidentally unleashed at this marooned colony, has the ability to turn itself into a perfect replica of any living being. It can look just like you or me, but inside, it remains inhuman. In the thriller THE THING, paranoia spreads like an epidemic among a group of researchers as they’re infected, one by one, by a mystery from another planet. Paleontologist Kate Lloyd (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) has traveled to the desolate region for the expedition of her lifetime. Joining a Norwegian scientific team that has stumbled across an extraterrestrial ship buried in the ice, she discovers an organism that seems to have died in the crash eons ago. But it is about to wake up. When a simple experiment frees the alien from its frozen prison, Kate must join the crew’s pilot, Carter (Joel Edgerton), to keep it from killing them off one at a time. And in this vast, intense land, a parasite that can mimic anything it touches will pit human against human as it tries to survive and flourish.”
THE THING will be released October 14th 2011.
