Quoted Text Rumors recently hit the web and now the trades have officially confirmed it - Matthijs Van Heijningen will direct Universal’s upcoming prequel to John Carpenter’s The Thing. Battlestar Galactica executive producer Ron Moore is writing the screenplay. The new project borrows heavily from the John W. Campbell Jr. short story "Who Goes There," the basis of the Carpenter film and 1951 Howard Hawks original The Thing From Another World. It is set in a Norwegian camp and chronicles how the shape-shifting alien was first discovered and overcame the inhabitants of that camp. Strike Entertainment's Eric Newman and Marc Abraham are producing.

I remember watching "THe Thing" as a kid. Was one of the most disturbing movies i'd ever seen. Because of that i loved it. Gotta tip your hat to Hollywood here. Capitalizing on bringing back another franchise... by the year 2030 we'll have three movie choices at the multiplex... Batman 42, Spiderman 49, and Friday the 13th 103... and yes, i'll buy a ticket to each

James

Given that we know everyone dies at the Norwegian base before Kurt Russell and his mates turn up at the start of the Carpenter movie, this film isn't going to have much of a "will they/won't they" tension, will it?

Personally, I thought Carpenter's film over rated and not a patch on the original 1950s Hawks/Nyby version.

Well, if they had choppers, at least three of them would have the chance to escape: The pilot, the shooter, and possibly another survivor or two IF they had another vehichle. I don't like the idea of having Norwegian guys speaking in English throughout the whole film, though (as they'd probably do). I hate "fake" English and I think it ruins the believeablilty of the scenario. It's like watching a movie about Samurais in English, or a film set in Spain or Mexico in English. It just doesn't fit.

Quoted Text Personally, I thought Carpenter's film over rated and not a patch on the original 1950s Hawks/Nyby version.

You haven't read the short story, have you? Carpenter's film is not only better on all technical levels (obviously, given improvements in technology) but it is A LOT more faithful to the source material. Personally, I now refuse to even call Carpenter's The Thing a remake of the 50's film as amny seem to think it is. It's merely an adaptation of the same short story, and a better one at that.

-Julio

No, I haven't - which is the point. You have to judge a film as a film, not as an adjunct of some other media.

And IMHO the Hawks/Nyby version is a much better film than Carpenter's regardless of whether it is a more faithful adaptation of the John Campbell story.

Carpenter has a thing about Hawks, of course - "Precinct 13" was essentially a modern day version of "Rio Bravo"! (In that case, of course, Carpenter not only made his finest film, but one of the best films ever made!).

I guess it all comes down to personal opinion. I enjoyed Carpenter's version more since before I read the story.

But I do agree on Precinct 13.

--Julo

13, his finest hour?

Opinions vary from person to person but for me, just edging out The Thing as his best is In the Mouth of Madness. I really, really love that movie.

As for The Thing prequel... Bring it on, but don't expect me to waste money or time on it. =)

Quoted from Mr Blonde his best is In the Mouth of Madness. I really, really love that movie.

Really?

I found it an incoherent mess, as is often the case with his films after the early 80s. He made a run of films - Dark Star, 13, Halloween, The Fog, The Thing, that were good or even great - and then seemed to lose the knack.

Personally, while I wouldn't say "In the Mouth of Madness" was his worst film - that would almost certainly be "Prince of Darkness" - it is up there with them!

I wouldn't go as far as to call it "incoherent." It was a better "Lovecraft" film than any other film actually based on his work! And he actually kept that surreal feeling throughout the film instead of doing a cop-ou tlike most films.

It was Carpenter's tribute to a great writer and I really enjoyed it.

Prince of Darkness was a great movie, but I like In The Mouth of Madness just as much, really. Though maybe I'm biased because I'm a Lovecraft junkie.

But I did get the feeling some years ago that Carpenter was not as good as he was before as a filmmaker.

--Julio

I'd say Halloween is his best. Not my favorite. Not even in my top 3. But his best. I agree, In The Mouth of Madness is great. I love Sam Neil and the Lovecraft mythos. The Thing is probably my favorite. I think a prequel seems kind of pointless. It's already been said. The Norwegians die. What's the point? A sequel might be interest. They had a Thing video game for X-Box a few years back that was supposed to be a sequel. Worked out pretty well to me and it was a fun game. If they did it right, a sequel could be good.

Quoted from Niles_Crane Really? I found it an incoherent mess, as is often the case with his films after the early 80s. He made a run of films - Dark Star, 13, Halloween, The Fog, The Thing, that were good or even great - and then seemed to lose the knack. Personally, while I wouldn't say "In the Mouth of Madness" was his worst film - that would almost certainly be "Prince of Darkness" - it is up there with them!

That's the thing. He changed after the '80s, but not to say in a bad way. His films went more towards the fun route. Escape from L.A., Vampires (James Woods was its only redeeming quality), Ghosts of Mars. I enjoy L.A. and Ghosts but they're not the greatness that Carpenter was doing in the '80s.

Last thing, how do you mention his '80s awesomeness without mentioning Big Trouble or They Live? Shame. =)

Since there's IS a thread for this abomination ALREADY, why don't I just KEEP IT GOING with this article I found over at BD: http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/21897

"No matter what you do, somebody is going to come after you. You say 'The Thing Begins' and they go, 'John Carpenter's is the beginning, asshole. Yours is like 'The Thing Bullshit'. Why don't you call it that?" -- Producer Marc Abraham on possible fanboy reactions to a new title.

He really should call it that.



Mod Note: Merged threads. Search button, all the cool kids are doing it...
Search button? That's like reading an instruction manual. No cool person does that.

I take it you don't have high hopes, Rob.

I'm getting the same feeling when I heard the follow up to JPJ's Alien 4 Ressurection was gonna be Alien Vs Predator. Now it had Lance in it. And Ewen Bremner, two of my favourite actors, Boyle and Cameron regulars. However, I knew, as Snipe puts it, the Stink.

Every year I make sure I watch the following films at least once...

Full Metal Jacket
2001
Amelie
Life is Beautiful
Godfather(s)
Apocalypse Now
Taxi Driver
Goodfellas
The Thing
The Thin Red Line
Sexy Beast
Nil By Mouth
The War Zone
Reservoir Dogs
The Thing

There's a few others I try to revisit. But I have to toilet, eat and talk and do things so I don't always manage it.

CGI didn't exist when Carpenter made TT. They had to act and use bits of sticks and gooh. Bloody thing still scares the bejasus outta me.

Following up a film of this calibre is like building beside the Pyramids. Either make it amazing or don't bloody bother.

Whoever has a mountain to climb to even come close to this. I very much doubt they'll succeed in getting anywhere near the top.

So there.

In The Mouth Of Madness was also part of JC's Apocalypse trilogy. Watch that instead. NZ's Sam Neill does a good turn in it.

What's that noise? Oh, it must be Bill Lancaster turning in his grave.

L&P

Oh dear. Just heard Norman Wisdom died. He probably heard about this debacle and had enough. RIP Norm.

R ox

Quoted from rendevous Every year I make sure I watch the following films at least once... Full Metal Jacket 2001 Amelie Life is Beautiful Godfather(s) Apocalypse Now Taxi Driver Goodfellas The Thing The Thin Red Line Sexy Beast Nil By Mouth The War Zone Reservoir Dogs The Thing

So you're watching The Thing twice at least once a year, Ren?

I have a feeling they're gonna jam pack this movie with CGI. It's probably cheaper than doing it practial but in the end it'll look CGI'ish.

Rob Bottin will be turning in his grave.

Oh, wait.

He's, like, not dead.

Knew you'd catch it. Usually February and November. AS it's fecking freezing here and in Manchester then.

Bottin ain't dead yet. Still, the night is still young, and when he hears about this...,

Now, you're stopping me watching Marlon and Marty.

Love you!

R xo

Quoted from rendevous CGI didn't exist when Carpenter made TT. They had to act and use bits of sticks and gooh. Bloody thing still scares the bejasus outta me.

God forbid that actors have to act!

Catch the behind the scenes footage and making of documentary of The Exorcist.  It was pretty amazing.


Phil

I'm on a toilet break. And I didn't break the toilet, this time.

God forbid is right. I've seen plenty of movies where they try to act. And fail miserably.

I'd like to solely blame Americans for this. But I can't. The rest of us like Eire, England and the rest of Europe are just as guilty. And if anyone makes me watch Home And Away again I may just have to kill something I love. Like my television. Or fridge. Yeah, I'm gonna take it out on my fridge, the big white buzzing cold barstard.

I got the special edition of The Exorcist a coupla year ago, P/DB. The one where it starts in Iraq.

I love Max Von Sydow's line to a Will Friedkin lacky "Where are the guns located today?".

R ox

Back. To FFC and Marlon and co. Be good...

Quoted from ReaperCreeper I wouldn't go as far as to call it "incoherent." It was a better "Lovecraft" film than any other film actually based on his work! And he actually kept that surreal feeling throughout the film instead of doing a cop-ou tlike most films. It was Carpenter's tribute to a great writer and I really enjoyed it. Prince of Darkness was a great movie, but I like In The Mouth of Madness just as much, really. Though maybe I'm biased because I'm a Lovecraft junkie. But I did get the feeling some years ago that Carpenter was not as good as he was before as a filmmaker. --Julio

I loved In the Mouth of Madness as well. I love horror films that bend your psyche a little bit.

Julio's probably right. Not seen PoD since I was very drunk one night. Essentially I ain't seen it, even though I was in the room.

Carpenter ain't as good as he was. He's made some dogs of movies. But, he made some great ones too. Be good if he came back with a killer one soon. Who knows. He may...

Hope so. We always got hope, and that's the problem occasionally.

Er, back to my AN thread.

R ox

Quoted from rendevous Be good if he came back with a killer one soon. Who knows. He may...

Just as long as he never makes the "Escape From Earth" he planned on making for about 5 seconds. But, seriously, he and The Hair have to do a movie again before Russell loses his hair and/or The Crypt Keep--John Carpenter bites it.

"It is set in a Norwegian camp and chronicles how the shape-shifting alien was first discovered and overcame the inhabitants of that camp."

Sounds exactly like the original.  As someone already said, we know all the norweigans are killed by the Thing, except for the guys in the helicopter, who are killed by Kurt Russell and friends.  Seems a bit short on suspense.

Carpenter's version had some incredible moments, though.  No CGI, and that's why it holds up so well today.  They really pulled off some groundbreaking stuff in that movie.  And it balanced suspense with the gore.

This prequel, well, I don't exactly have high hopes for it.  But you never know.

Some set reports suggest that the prequel is going to be about 80% practical effects with 20% CGI, done by the team that did District 9, mostly to make motion more fluid with the practical effects, like del Toro did with Pan's Labyrinth.  Also, we know the fates of the Norwegian,s but not the other characters brought into the mix (the archaeologist, the emergency team dispatched), so there is some tension to be mined.  Will it be good?  Time will tell, but it doesn't appear as though this is a movie intended to capitalize on a not-very-successful film from 30 years ago.  I believe they are trying to make a reverent prequel that could be seen as a companion piece to Carpenter's.  They could, of course, totally screw that up, but I think this movie deserves a shot before dismissing it.

I wish Carpenter would come back and reboot the reboot of Halloween.  That'd be something.  We all know it's going to happen too.  There is no way, not after the last abomination Zombie gave the world, they can continue the franchise.  Give it back to Carpenter and let us see what he can do.

Quoted from BoinTN Time will tell, but it doesn't appear as though this is a movie intended to capitalize on a not-very-successful film from 30 years ago.

Aren't we forgetting that it opened in the box office the same week as E.T.?

Granted, it wouldn't have been huge with fans at the time anyway, but nothing killed its original success more than that.

Time for me to weigh in.

I won't talk much about Carpenter's fims. I won't need to. If I started in on that, you might as well flip on over to his IMDB page. I re-watch his films frequently. I would say other than Michael Mann  and David Cronenberg, he's the most influential filmmaker to me. I could go on forever in a scene by scene breakdown of Halloween and The Fog, Escape From New York...Christine too, for that matter. So could a few other folks I'm sure. I'd sure like to see the panaglide come back into vogue.

Anyway, I probably will see The Prequel to The Thing (which, if the want a title, it should be The Thing Thawed Out or The Thing Unleashed   or just take a quick look at what they do with that dumb, but successful franchise of The Fast and The Furious and fool with the title in that fashion. You know, Droppin the 'the and call it Thing

In any case, I, too, have my doubts. Like I said, I'll still check it out, but I think it was a bad idea to begin with. It's the problem with prequels. Sure, it can be somewhat entertaining as last year's Wolverine, but the suspense factor was weakened due to four characters - Logan, Creed, Stryker and Cyclops- go on to fight another day. The supporting characters that gain interest - Gambit, Deadpool/Wade Wilson, are near cameos.

It's not having the luxury of Indiana Jones and The Temple Of Doom where you know Indiana Jones won't die, but Wille or Short Round? They are in danger! They weren't even around for Raiders!

And that will be the major hurdle "Thing" is going to have. Everyone dies. Yes, two Swedes Norwegians escape to kill the Thing Wolf-Dog- but they die in the first five minutes of the 1982 movie.I would have rather have seen a sequel of some kind (which almost happened, when it was planned several years ago as a SyFy channel miniseries?) or perhaps I might warm up (not by much) to another remake of The Thing.

I'm curious what will happen if "The Thing..The Untold Story" makes some cash. Can they do a sequel ?

Don't think about it. You will go mad.
How do I know?

> > > > > > >

Right. You barstards are keeping me up.

Nothing new there. I was just watching the Ting again and MacReady and the helicopter and the Dog and the Norweiganians etc,

And then ya ballocks pooped inta me head. Thank god fer typos I say.

There is so much material to work with, with this film. Hollywood is always begging for good stories, told well.

Kids, that is the reason the likesa me is here.

Get yerself a good story. The likesa me and Rob would love a new film about The Thing, if it was done right, and was vaguely close as the greatness of the original.

If not, don't bloody bother. And if you do foist shite on us under the veil of associating with The Thing we will come round your house and harrass you at all hours. You shite for ruining our fun.

We know where you live. A great nothern English saying.

Ahem. I rant. So I stop. Now I shall watch the rest of The Thing. Nobody spoil for me. Yes? Good. Behave. And have fun.

Re out. Xo

Not a bad looking poster. The movie will still suck though.

Completely agree, ED. This is a remake in prequel-clothing.

I think it looks awesome!  I've always loved the Kurt Russel flick...must have seen it at least 15 times in its entirety.

I'm looking forward to this remake.

Massive Carpenter fan and rate The Thing as one of his best so I'm looking forward to this.
I agree the trailer does make it look more like a remake than prequel, and I don't buy their excuse they could only come up with the title of "The Thing" - if that is the case then they've got some serious creative problems - but I'll definitly check this one out. I think it looks promising.

i think this one could go either way. i was impressed by the trailer. the director and writers are pretty unknown. unfortunately eric heisserer cowrote the script and he's done the nightmare on elm street remake and final destination 5. i loved the original so im hoping they dont fuck it up. not getting my hopes up.

Nightmare on Elm Street remake was one of the worst pieces of shit I've ever seen!  That's troubling news...

Looks okay, I guess. Only time will tell if it's any good. I hope the involvement of anyone related to the Nightmare remake doesn't put a damper on its quality.