Welcome to Re-make Mondays, a weekly feature that takes a look at a remake/reboot currently being touted to hungry cinema/TV audiences. I’ll feature the remake, and also what footage or content I can from the original, and then leave the helpless victim for you all to tear apart or cuddle up to in the comments. So, let’s get started.
John Carpenter’s 1982 ice-bound identity horror fest, The Thing, is one of those films that grew on audiences and critics hearts’ as the years passed since its mediocre initial reception.
While it garnered praise for innovative use of special- and cosmetic effects, it gained no favours from critics for a rather humdrum set of performances from the cast (including a young Kurt Russell), and a cliché-ridden script that saw the extraterrestrial title character literally take on the inhabitants of a remote American Antarctic research station. Very much a case of Invasion of the Body Snatchers on Ice.
Here’s the original trailer for John Carpenter’s The Thing
The 2011 version is less a re-make, than a prequel. It sets the scene for the events that play out in the original film, but as such, plays along the similar chilling lines of the good guys versus identity theft versus hostile, inhospitable environment. The producers are calling it a ‘companion piece’ to Carpenter’s original, not a re-make.
The trailer for the 2011 prequel/re-make of The Thing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKjErC2JLQc
My Verdict: At first glance, this seems as incongruously lame as Carpenter’s original chiller- a little too cerebral to be all out schlock-horror fest, and yet a little too similar to other items in the identity-theft canon to really stand out.
But looking closer, subtle differences in pitch reveal the ambitions of the filmmakers to kill a couple more birds with one re-make than you’d initially give them credit for. First, there’s the nostalgia crowd who will recognise the title (not to mention the literal replication of the font of the title) as well as the lavish recreation of 1980s Antarctic living.
Then there’s the horror aficionados, who will appreciate the subtle positioning of this as prequel, and not reboot or re-make per se. The original film has garnered a cult following over years of languishing on VHS and subsequently, special feature-laden DVD. That following is best served by a new film that accompanies the old one, not completely subsumes it.
Lastly, there’s the rest of us, for whom there is a solid, if not exactly innovative take on a horror staple here, which will serve as adequate date movie fodder, should you need something that will have your partner leaping into your lap as the suspense gets rolling. Hats off, Hollywood. Three out of three for cunning, a bit like the Thing itself.
