The Thing Prequel

[Spit]

the prequel should include a running gag about everyone thinking the Norwegians are Swedish. Now that would be funny.

[Grim]

Originally Posted by rijir

When Alien 3 was coming out I was totally geeked only to be shit upon by a waste of film.

I guess I'm the only one who dug Alien 3. Yeah, they killed Hicks, but they also went with the ballsiest ending possible. Then the assembly cut came out and that was even better. Resurrection was fun scifi shlock for me. The first AVP did suck, though. I'm getting off topic here so I'll stop.

[Spit]

Originally Posted by Grim

I guess I'm the only one who dug Alien 3. Yeah, they killed Hicks, but they also went with the ballsiest ending possible. Then the assembly cut came out and that was even better. Resurrection was fun scifi Shylock for me. The first AVDP did suck, though. I'm getting off topic here so I'll stop.

Off-topicing further, I dug Alien 3 too. I always felt it kinda had a 'Minotaur in the labyrinth' feel to it.

[Alan Smithee]

Originally Posted by spawningblue

Just because it's being made now doesn't mean it will had a bad script, bad director, bad actors, and that it will explain everything. Again, lets shit on every horror film that's made, and only like ones before 1990. How about you be positive and hope that maybe something good can come out of this. Every time a horror film is announced all you hear about is people bitching and insulting it before pre-production has even started! Remakes, sequels, and prequels do not ruin the original film like aoiookami already said. If you hate it, you will always have the original to go back to. Did Jason X ruin the fun of the other Friday the 13th films? Did Exorcist: The Beginning make the Exorcist worse? I'm not saying it's going to be good, but I hope that somehow it is, and who knows, maybe they will use lots of practical effects. Depending on the director, that is very plausible, as there are lots of directors out there that like to use a little of everything. Anyways, just sick of the negativity from horror fans of films they haven't seen, hell haven't even read a script or seen a trailer for.

I'm just sick of seeing remake/prequel/sequel after remake/prequel/sequel while movies like Midnight Meat Train and Trick 'R Treat get the shaft.

By the way, the Norwegians

Spoiler: all die.

By the way, the Norwegians

Ah, but Jan Bolen and the pilot do survive, until they reach Outpost 31...

[MorallySound]

First images from the prequel: http://www.horror-movies.ca/horror_19172.html

[Iron Jaiden]

This is not a sexist statement but one of the best elements of The Thing was the lack of a female character. No love interest, no male competition for affection, no need for a strong or weak female archetype. Pure paranoia induced horror. That first pic makes me worried we're gonna have a goddamn problem here.

[MorallySound]

JoBlo set visit article with even more pictures!

http://www.joblo.com/index.php?id=34134

[Mok]

Originally Posted by Iron Jaiden

This is not a sexist statement but one of the best elements of The Thing was the lack of a female character. No love interest, no male competition for affection, no need for a strong or weak female archetype. Pure paranoia induced horror. That first pic makes me worried we're gonna have a goddamn problem here.

Hmm. Good point. I knew something was up with these pics. I think you nailed it. Maybe if it was a less attractive chick who didn't automatically scream "love interest" it would be a different story, but that really is a glaring point of contention already.

EDIT: At least considering this is a prequel about the Norwegians. If it was a sequel that takes place years later, the chick factor might be easier to forgive.

EDIT2: I usually am pretty easy on the prequel/sequel scene, but look at these character names:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0905372/
They don't even sound Norwegian for fuck sakes! What the fuck? This is kind of depressing. I just watched In the Mouth of Madness again this weekend. Fucking awesome. Carpenter can really hit the nail. He wanted to do a sequel with Kurt Russell and Keith David and explain their ages appearance as being a side effect of the frost bite. Instead we get this. It better fucking prove me wrong.

[MacReady]

Originally Posted by spawningblue

Just because it's being made now doesn't mean it will had a bad script, bad director, bad actors, and that it will explain everything. Again, lets shit on every horror film that's made, and only like ones before 1990. How about you be positive and hope that maybe something good can come out of this. Every time a horror film is announced all you hear about is people bitching and insulting it before pre-production has even started! Remakes, sequels, and prequels do not ruin the original film like aoiookami already said. If you hate it, you will always have the original to go back to. Did Jason X ruin the fun of the other Friday the 13th films? Did Exorcist: The Beginning make the Exorcist worse? I'm not saying it's going to be good, but I hope that somehow it is, and who knows, maybe they will use lots of practical effects. Depending on the director, that is very plausible, as there are lots of directors out there that like to use a little of everything. Anyways, just sick of the negativity from horror fans of films they haven't seen, hell haven't even read a script or seen a trailer for.

Yes, thats how I am trying to look at this.

Also, the new stills look ok to me.

And since this isnt really a remake, I am fine with the addition of a female character.

[ZoSo]

Originally Posted by Mok

They don't even sound Norwegian for fuck sakes! What the fuck?

Are you saying "Sleeping Man with Mustache on Plane" isn't a Norwegian name??

[rhett]

As much as I want to see another sausage fest like Carpenter's, Hawks' original did have female characters and they fit in quite well, so there's hope. I think the idea of the prequel with the Norwegians is solid, but it looks like whoever is making it is only going to half-ass the continuity and just try and give us a rehash for teeny audiences.

[KGBRadioMoskow]

Originally Posted by rhett

As much as I want to see another sausage fest like Carpenter's, Hawks' original did have female characters and they fit in quite well, so there's hope.

Have to respectfully disagree on that. I felt the female characters in the original film served as little more than helpless scream machines waiting to be instructed and rescued by their male counterparts. I'm quick to dismiss criticism of films for having female characters that aren't "strong", as I hardly consider that a necessity for a good film. And I consider the merits of a film in the context of the era it was made, rather than immediately judge them by today's standards. But frankly you could have eliminated every female character from the original "Thing", and not made a dent in the film's quality - quite possibly it might have made it a tighter, better paced film. Could probably have eliminated a couple of the male characters - each time I've watched this film I keep expecting the actors to vanish as they turned sideways, their characters were that two dimensional.

As for the "original" story, the short story had no female characters - and Carpenter was getting back to those roots far more than he was the original film.

Originally Posted by rhett

I think the idea of the prequel with the Norwegians is solid, but it looks like whoever is making it is only going to half-ass the continuity and just try and give us a rehash for teeny audiences.

I'm judging on what little I've read, and the character shots, and I'm reaching the same conclusion. Just my flawed opinion, guilty of prejudice based on very little info. But I've been burnt putting my hand on that stove often enough to recognize what it looks like, and to stop putting my damn hand on it (I just let *other* people put their hand on it first!). This just smacks beginning to end of another "made for modern audiences" remake cash in. The Carpenter film set such a high bar that I neither expect nor require a follow-up to be that good in order to still be worth seeing. But I see a strong potential for pure unwatchable crap.

[Steel76]

http://io9.com/5654684/first-inside-...some-after-all

"How much CG is the production planning on using to create the alien? The scariest part Carpenter's work were the very real spider heads and flaying alien tentacles.

Alec Gillis (A.D.I. - Creature F/X, Creature and make-up effect co-designer): The interesting thing about this movie is that not only is there going to be real practical stuff that is completely animatronic and needs no digital embellishment, but there is also going to be a combination of the techniques. And the most interesting aspects of that, I think, are when you in a single frame and the two techniques working side-by-side....So it should be fun and chaotic, but still somehow rooted in reality. And I don't mean to trash digital…I have my opinions about how it should be used and how it should not be used, but we have the guys that did District 9. So even I, as a snobby animatronics and makeup guy, I look at that work and I go, "that is frickin' amazing work." So I think we're in very good hands on the digital end as well."

Sounds good to me
The combination of Animatronics and CGI from the District 9 team (the most photoreal CGI creatures I´ve EVER seen) should REALLY do the trick

I also like that a huge amount of the dialog will be in Norwegian, and not having them speak english with each other. And the biggest plus, they use REAL norwegians.

[NaturesMistake]

So I went to watch "The Change Up" last night and they showed a pretty long trailer for this complete with John Carpenter's original score. It's slated for release in October. The movie looks decent, but it needs to keep the Thing in the shadows and keep the 82 versions ambiguity to be any good.