The Thing (Original & Prequel)

I was looking for the thread to the 2011 movie since I could have sworn it was made but every time I searched I came up with nothing.

http://s17.postimg.org/lj283opjj/screenshot_281.jpg

Anyway I just recently checked out the prequel on blu-ray and while it doesn't live up to the John Carpenter 82' movie I still found it to a worthwhile prologue to Carpenter's film. My enjoyment mostly came out of having a bigger picture of the whole ordeal which gives the 82' Thing an extra layer of context when we see the destroyed camp again. Granted, the movie has an abundance of dodgy CG where it really should have used more practical effects and the characters aren't as well developed as the Carpenter film but the alien and it's circumstances gets more detail.

On the other hand I found it strange to see how advanced the ship for a parasite was unless the ship was taken over by it prior to crash landing on earth but in both movies it's consistent in showing it trying to leave via technologically advanced ship. There's also a Thing videogame but I don't know if that was ever accepted as canon, however there have also been comics from Dark Horse that apparently show what happens after the 82' movie so I'm curious to actually read those.

I could swear there was a thread about the prequel as well, but perhaps it was just discussed in the "Just Watched" thread.

Anyway, John Carpenter's The Thing is my favorite movie ever made in any genre. It's just a rare example of a film that remains pretty much perfect from beginning to end and, despite how nuts the events transpiring get, they nonetheless remain grounded and believable. The cast is uniformly amazing and memorable and Rob Bottin's groundbreaking physical and makeup effects work is still fantastic (and nightmarishly original), even to this day. Plus, the Carpenter/Russell commentary on the DVD is one of the best ever. Hell, I even have a nice little Thing area on my toy shelf featuring the old McFarlane monsters and the MacReady put out by Sota Toys a few years back.

The prequel? Well, I had low expectations for it the second it was announced, although my negativity was tempered by the fact that it WAS in fact a prequel and not the dreaded remake everyone was fearing. Although, I have to admit, I was intrigued by the idea of telling the story of the Norwegian outpost only hinted at in the Carpenter flick, and after reading interviews with the filmmakers about how much they loved the 1982 version and how beholden they were to it, not to mention the fact they they kept going on and on about the fact that they were using physical effects as much as possible as opposed to CG...well, I gave it a chance.

Unfortunately, the prequel ended up being pretty disappointing. It was basically a carbon copy of the Carpenter movie but with bland characters, zero tension, and (despite promises of the filmmakers), the effects were almost entirely CG...poor quality CG. In the end, the prequel was completely forgettable. But it DID have Adebisi from Oz, so there's that, at least.

In way, I'm actually happy the prequel bombed, as it probably put the kibosh on any plans for a remake of the Carpenter film (I keep having to stop myself from typing "the original" as there's the 1950's movie to consider, despite the fact that all these movies are actually based on John W. Campbell's Who Goes There?, to which Carpenter's adaptation is far more loyal).

As for the PS2 game, I enjoyed the hell out of it. The Thing theme aside (which was well-done), it had very solid gameplay and graphics for the time (the new Thing designs were nice and twisted and remained in line with Bottin's work) and a good story and atmosphere. The whole fear/trust system with your teammates was handled very well, although it was hampered somewhat by the times you'd give one of them a blood test that would come out as negative, and then two seconds later when you reached a scripted point they'd Thing-out nonetheless for the sake of the storyline. But other than that, it was a great game.

I'm sure there was a thread, but search is incredibly broken.
I really dig the Carpenter film and felt much the same about the prequel as Dolemite. It may as well have been a remake since it pretty much followed the events of the Thing '82.
That said, I love the street joke in the beginning of the prequel. I'd never heard it before and it made lol for real.

Poke around studioADI's channel and you'll find a lot of making of videos for a ton on movies they've done (The Thing being one of them). Allegedly, the project started for the SFX to be split 80/20 in favor of practical over CG. These guys have done a ton of special effects for decades, I find it hard to believe their work was so bad it had to be replaced in a panic. Here's the link to all the BTS The Thing videos which shows concept art, maquettes, sculptures, painting, test footage and on set prep/filming:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...p9QL-VUQ2BknEf

You'll be surprised at how much was built and filmed practically. Some parts they sculpted specifically to hand over to be scanned and animated by the CG teams and they built some rigs to help with fire compositing shots. They made 2 complete alien pilots (one mummified, one alive) that were never used.

From the videos they've released the practical work actually looked really goddamn good.

But the idiot fucking director wanted it all thrown out because it looked "too much like an 80s movie"
http://www.denofgeek.us/movies/18920...sus-cg-effects

Bummer.

Apparently there's a petition going around now to release the original workprint of the prequel with all the original practical effects on Blu-ray. Not sure if it would make the movie itself any better, however, but it would be nice to see the stuff from Rumpy's video not covered up with third-rate CG.

http://www.avclub.com/article/get-in...-work-p-224230

I liked the newer movie because it was kind of like a prequel and a retelling. It hit the original's story beats but also tied up seamlessly to it at the end. Good flick.

A friend of mine worked on the CGI previs stuff, I'll have to give him hell about replacing the practical effects next time I see him.

I didn't think it was a bad movie at all.

I don't think anyone said it was bad, just mediocre (which can be worse than bad).