The Thing
By Jeffrey Anderson,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Gory remake of two scary classics lacks their bite.
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The Thing
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Based on 10 parent reviews
What's the Story?
When a spaceship is discovered buried in the ice in Antarctica, Dr. Sander Halvorson (Ulrich Thomsen) summons top paleontologist Kate Lloyd (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) to help investigate. The reason? There's a survivor, a creepy, dark shape frozen in ice a short distance away from the ship. Kate joins several Norwegian researchers in studying the beast, but before anyone can get down to business, the creature gets loose. Worse, Kate soon discovers that it has the ability to perfectly mimic human beings. Not knowing who to trust, Kate soon comes to a hard decision: No one must leave the site alive.
Is It Any Good?
Howard Hawks' The Thing from Another World (1951) -- based, like this movie, on a short story by John W. Campbell Jr. -- used a particular, unique style to establish characters and build suspense. John Carpenter's brilliant remake The Thing (1982) managed to be truly frightening while playing with a subtle social and political commentary. But this "premake" -- directed by first timer Matthijs van Heijningen Jr. -- feels like nothing more than a marketing ploy, a move to cash in on a familiar brand with no further attempt to make it relevant.
The movie's visual effects, a combination of digital and latex, look good and manage to copy Rob Bottin's groundbreaking work from the 1982 movie. And by virtue of copying, the new movie manages to re-capture some of the same terrifying human/creature hybrids that caused such chills before. This movie also uses locations and timing to similar effect, but eventually it runs out of steam, forgetting all about the paranoia theme and ignoring any other potentially interesting themes.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the movie's gory violence. What was your reaction? Do you think that's what the filmmakers intended?
Is the movie scary? What made it scary? In general, what's scarier -- the things you see, or the things you don't?
One of the movie's themes is trust. Do you think you would have put more trust in the other characters? Is there any danger in trusting someone in real life?
Movie Details
- In theaters: October 14, 2011
- On DVD or streaming: January 31, 2012
- Cast: Joel Edgerton , Mary Elizabeth Winstead , Ulrich Thomsen
- Director: Matthijs van Heijningen Jr.
- Inclusion Information: Female actors
- Studio: Universal Pictures
- Genre: Horror
- Run time: 103 minutes
- MPAA rating: R
- MPAA explanation: strong creature violence and gore, disturbing images, and language
- Last updated: March 30, 2023
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