‘The Thing’ Prequel Trailer Unthaws…

The other day the teaser poster for The Thing prequel was released. Hot on the heels of that comes the new trailer. The film itself was originally planned for this past April. Universal chose to push it back to this October due to extra pickup shots.

Overall, I think this trailer - for what it is- is pretty good. I love nod to the original Ennio Morricone score as well. Am I still a skeptic that the film will work? Yes and no. Yes in the fact that the tone and themes are spot on. This is going to be a hardcore sci-fi horror, no question about that. Some of the Thing “creatures” (such as the one above) are nicely done.

Wait. Did I also say “no”? Darn skippy I did. Here’s what’s wrong.

It’s a prequel. I’d be fine to some extent if this becomes a hit and THEN they remake the Carpenter film (which in itself was a remake) because as it stands right now, a few shots seen in the trailer imply that the timeline is bumped up to present day or close enough to it. Also, the Norwegians can speak broken English. But it’s possible that one of them does not and that would be the guy who tries to kill the Thing Dog at the start of the 1982 film. Still, there is little suspense unless they retcon. It’s my understanding that everyone but two people are going to die (the two being seen at the start of Carpenter’s film) and we know that The Thing will survive until that time. That said, there is one moment in this otherwise perfect trailer that bugs the crud out of me.

“Do you really think that’s a good idea?”

You have GOT to be kidding me. Forget the creepy crawlies; that line will get me puking just as fast. My goodness, people. I’m hoping the Thing shows up before that scene in the film. That’s all we need, someone being AWARE that there’s danger in unthawing the discovery. But that’s the mental state of our Hollywood system, thinking filmgoers are knuckleheads. It also appears Winstead is the lead in this film. Nothing wrong with that, but…why wouldn’t she check in with the US outpost? Maybe that’s a question we’ll find out in October.

If it wasn’t for that dum-dum line I would be very happy. They made up for it with the old Morricone score. I’m interested, but that gave me pause. I hope that’s just a slip, and it won’t be in the final cut. They were on a roll; I don’t want to see them dumb this down.

Thoughts, int’l friends?

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About Darren

"Revenge is sweet and not fattening." Alfred Hitchcock

  • gunnar

    Yes, this movie has some giant shoes to fill, and no doubt it will fail to live up to the fans expectations, but lets give it a fair shot before we trash it based solely upon the trailer. The cast and crew seem to have gone to considerable lengths to be faithful to the timeline, I have read the leaked script and I will say that although there are many parallels to carpenters version this one has potential to really be quite unique.