The prequel to The Thing already had the deck stacked against it: A) it’s a prequel, B) it’s a prequel to a film considered among John Carpenter’s best and C) it’s also, confusingly, called “The Thing”. But while we’re still hoping they find a different title (tough call), the first pictures from the movie have arrived courtesy of Hitfix and they’re rather nifty.
Of course, it’s hard to go wrong with Mary Elizabeth Winstead hefting a flamethrower against the alien menace, with the one-time Ramona Flowers proving she’s still got the action moves, but the rest of the imagery that has launched online is also a cause for no small hope.
The producers appear to have pushed for proper period authenticity and there’s apparently no skimping on the danger/gore aspects. Because while we all know that nothing turns out well for the Norwegian research base team that first unearths the nasty shape-shifting visitor, the actual story itself has yet to be told – and from the looks of this, it’s a compelling one.
We’ll hold any further judgement until we see a trailer and, of course, the movie itself, but what say you? Do these first glimpses of the film win you over at all? Or were you primed for the pic anyway?
**The Thing **invades US cinemas on April 29 next year, and will hopefully be creeping over to us around the same time.