The Thing is the latest remake of a classic sci-fi film to hit the DVD shelf at your Roanoke Valley Library. This is actually the third movie version of John W. Campbell, Jr.’s 1938 novella Who Goes There? The first was the 1951 Howard Hawks produced classic The Thing from Another World. Thirty one years later came the John Carpenter directed 1982 modern classic The Thing. Just shy of thirty years past that remake, this version actually serves as a prequel to Carpenter’s film.
The Thing from Another World starred Margaret Sheridan and Kenneth Toby as the scientist and Air Force Captain who find and awaken an ancient space monster in the Antarctic. James Arness, who would go on to star as Matt Dillon on the classic TV series Gunsmoke, played The Thing. Kurt Russell starred in Carpenter’s remake which held closer to the original novella with a hideous squid and insect-like alien assuming the physical form of its victims. Mary Elizabeth Winstead stars this time as a paleontologist grad student recruited to get the alien safely out of the ice. Once again that proves to be a bad idea.
The story is set in 1982 and details the events that took place at the ice station prior to Carpenter’s movie. Fans of that version will be pleased to find the same type creature effects here with all their technological advances. Some of the same music is utilized as well. However, knowledge of Carpenter’s film is a bonus, not a necessity. The Thing stands on its own as a solid sci-fi horror film.
Winstead gives the movie a fresh face and added interest similar to what Sigourney Weaver did in Alien. The frozen locales and the new looks at the gigantic spacecraft are quite impressive. The creature, particularly with his first appearance, is shocking and makes you really glad to see the flame throwers come out. Equally as frightening is the paranoia that envelops the scientists. From its opening subtitled joke to its surprising conclusion, The Thing is a Roanoke sci-fi fan must-see.
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