At an Antarctica research site, the discovery of an alien craft leads to a confrontation between graduate student Kate Lloyd and scientist Dr. Sander Halvorson.
Carpenter’s film offered similar gross out moments, but remains a model of austerity compared to this shapeless mess of a rip-off.
By no means the finessed work of a Carpenter; more an enthusiastic DIY expert who read the instructions once and reckons he can manage. Which means that the shelves are a bit wonky, but at least they'll stay in place.
The Thing of the 1950s reflected our paranoia about ordinary Americans infested with Communism, while Carpenter nailed the 1980s obsession with animatronic effects, gore and goo. The purpose of this new-fangled Thing, however, rather escapes me.
A solid, reverential riff on a horror/sci-fi masterpiece. The frequent homages (including applying Carpenter’s score to the full-circle finale) are welcome, though they remind viewers how much this has to live up to.
While short on originality, it does offer some fun variations on the iconic moments from Carpenter’s version as well as a nail-biting mix of tension, paranoia and gruesome effects.
It’s well made, with some impressive effects and one or two tense scenes, but the overwhelming feeling is of déjà vu.
Nary an original bone in this monster’s body, but effective nonethleless.
Tension’s Awol right through this, and the effects are wildly uneven.
Dutch director Matthijs van Heijningen Jr lets rip with all manner of CGI trickery (and indulges his inner fanboy with a scene-setting coda that makes use of Carpenter’s spooky synth score), but there’s no shock value or tension.
Efficient rather than inspired.
The themes of paranoia and isolation are the same as in Carpenter's film, but the effects just aren't a patch on those in the original movie.
I jumped out of my seat a couple of times during this sci-fi chiller, in part because I could barely remember John Carpenter's original movie from 1982.
Even for empty calorie thrills, this is not up to scratch.
Another gore-fest.
Not bad, but what Cole Porter might dismiss as just one of those things.
The Thing--still mutating after all these years
General release. Check local listings for show times.
RSS feed of Cinema reviews