The Thing (1982) vs. The Thing (2011): Movie vs. Movie Issue #3

Movie vs. Movie Issue #3: The Thing (1982) vs. The Thing (2011)

John Carpenter’s The Thing—less a remake of the film The Thing From Another World and more a faithful adaptation of the novella “Who Goes There?” by John W. Campbell—invaded theaters in 1982, but was overlooked in favour of the family friendly alien film E.T. The Extraterrestrial. Though Steven Spielberg’s E.T. is definitely among the greatest alien films ever, The Thing has since gone on to also be included as one of those, and is highly regarded as one of the scariest movies of the eighties. With a well rounded cast, Carpenter’s great direction, and revolting visuals used to perfect effect, The Thing has become a horror classic. In 2011, a prequel to the 1982 film was released, with none of the same filmmakers behind it. What we got was an uninspired, underwhelming attempt to emulate the terror instilled by the original, and what may be one of the most disappointing creature features in recent memory. There are a number of reasons the original Thing is superior to this reboot Thing.

John Carpenter’s The Thing follows the plight of a group of researchers in Antarctica who are stalked by an ancient alien organism that can copy a person to a tee, making it virtually impossible to tell who the creature really is. One by one, the alien (or “the Thing”) kills the men, and helicopter pilot turned group leader MacReady (played by a commanding Kurt Russell) is determined to figure out who the Thing is so he can destroy it. The suspense in this movie is top notch, but the pacing is what makes it so terrific as a whole. It starts out simple, with a dog running across the icy Antarctic plains being pursued by a helicopter from a Norwegian research station. Within minutes the helicopter lands at the American research base, the pilot jumps out, and he tries to shoot the dog with a machine gun. He then accidently drops a stick of Thermite and blows the helicopter and himself up in a spectacular explosion. This bit of action grabs your attention right away, and makes it easy to get absorbed into the character introductions. The audience begins on the same plane of understanding as the research workers. We know we’re in the Antarctic, we know a helicopter just chased a dog to the base, but we have no idea why, and we’re shocked by the unexpected hostility. After that, it’s easy to begin learning about the characters that populate this research base. By the time it becomes clear why the pilot was trying to kill the dog, we care enough about the characters that we don’t want to see anything happen to them, but what does happen proves horrifying whether you cared about the characters or not. The alien effects are all real, practical in-camera special effects, and zero cgi. As the characters bite the dust one by one, the horror mounts, and the alien is revealed a bit more each time. Finally, when MacReady faces off against the Thing in a one-on-one final battle, you are firmly glued to the screen, right to the final harrowing scene.

Technically, 2011’s The Thing was a prequel to the John Carpenter film, but it recycles so many elements from the original film, that it almost feels more like a remake than a prequel. The fact that it is a prequel robs the movie of one crucial element: suspense. Not for a second did I give a crap about this team of explorers, because I already knew what their fate would be. In John Carpenter’s The Thing, the scientific team discovers the helicopter came from the nearby Norwegian base, and when they show up to investigate, it is clear no one made it. All this prequel film does is show how a few things went down in the Norwegian base, such as how the alien broke out of a big block of ice. Other than that, there are a bunch of bad cgi creature effects, dull characters, and the completely contrived ending nearly ruined the original film for me. In the John Carpenter film, we get the briefest shot of the alien’s space craft crashing through earth’s atmosphere. It isn’t really shown again except briefly lodged in the ice near the Norwegian camp. In the prequel, we get to actually see the alien’s ship semi-functioning, as well as the interior. The cgi isn’t great, and the scene spoils the mystery of the original.

The positive aspects of the prequel are few and far between. One of the best moments occurs within the first five minutes. Two of the Norwegian scientists are talking, and one of them tells a joke that’s actually pretty funny and memorable. The general visual style is quite faithful to the look of Carpenter’s film, and the nods to the original are mostly good, but a few felt too forced, such as the alien imitating one of the forms from the original almost exactly. Beyond those small things, everything from the acting to the jump scares (accompanied by eardrum burstingly loud music) is all bland and unremarkable. What could have somewhat saved the movie—or at least made it not such a disappointment—is if they had delivered visual effects created in the same manner as the original film. It was heavily advertised that The Thing prequel featured very little cgi and relied more on in-camera practical effects, like what was used in the original. This turned out to be a huge lie, because nearly all of the Thing effects are cgi, and although a couple shots are gruesome and convincing, it’s largely ineffective and at times laughable.

Though neither of these films were huge hits at the box office, John Carpenter’s The Thing has gone on to gain recognition as one of the scariest movies ever made, and has had a fruitful life on home video. 2011’s The Thing received mixed reviews similar to the original, but I doubt it will gain any more recognition as the years go by. If you haven’t seen either movie, I hope it’s now clear which one you should check out first, and which one you should consider not wasting your time with.