The Thing Returns!
If there is one exception to the whole ‘remakes are bad’ rule it has to be John Carpenter’s version of The Thing. His 1982 version is awesome! It really doesn’t get much better than that for sci-fi horror, delivering better shocks than pretty much any horror film that came after it. The original is also a testament to how brilliant John Carpenter was before churning out the likes of Vampires and *SHUDDER* Ghosts Of Mars.
Anyway, the supposed prequel for The Thing has been in development for some time but only now have Production Weekly reported that it will begin shooting this coming March in Toronto. The filming is scheduled to continue until late June.
It is being directed by Matthijs van Heijningen Jr. who will be working from a script by Ronald D. Moore and Eric Heisserer. Moore has had major success as a writer with the TV remake of Battlestar Galactica and Heisserer is the man behind the screenplay for the remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street.
The prequel will deal with the events leading up to the helicopter chase that takes place at the beginning of the original, where we see a Norwegian helicopter tailing a runaway dog with the intention of killing it.
The film will be set in a Norwegian Antarctic facility and will probably involve the finding of the shape shifting alien and the terror that it ensues. If Van Heijningen can replicate the pure unrelenting fear that the original possesses then this could be an amazing film.
I’m so happy that instead of going through the classic remake route we are being treated to an expansion of the story. My hopes are most definitely high for this one.
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