The Thing (2011)

Movie
German title	The thing
Original title	The thing
Country of production	United States , Canada
original language	English , Norwegian
Publishing year	2011
length	99 minutes
Age rating	FSK 16
Rod
Director	Matthijs van Heijningen Jr.
script	Eric Heisserer , ; John W. Campbell Jr.
production	Marc Abraham
music	Marco Beltrami
camera	Michel Abramowicz
cut	Peter Boyle , ; Julian Clarke , ; Jono Griffith
occupation
	Mary Elizabeth Winstead : Kate Lloyd; Joel Edgerton : Sam Carter; Ulrich Thomsen : Dr. Sander Halvorson; Eric Christian Olsen : Adam Finch; Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje : Jameson; Paul Braunstein : Griggs; Trond Espen Seim : Edvard Wolner; Kim Bubbs : Juliette; Carsten Bjørnlund : Karl; Kristofer Hivju : Jonas;
chronology
	← Predecessor ; The thing from another world

The Thing is a horror and science fiction film from 2011 by director Matthijs van Heijningen Jr. , who made his cinema debut with it. The film tells the prehistory to John Carpenter's Das Ding aus Another World (original title The Thing ) from 1982, which in turn was a remake of the classic by Christian Nyby from 1951.

action

In 1982 Norwegian scientists discovered a crashed alien spaceship on Antarctica that must have been there for at least 100,000 years. Not far from the crash site, they find a creature trapped in the ice, which is recovered and brought to the research station in a block of ice. Under the direction of Dr. Sander Halverson begins the flown in paleontologist Kate Lloyd to examine the alien organism. But the alien being is not dead and comes to life. The block of ice it is in begins to thaw on its surface. It gets itself out of him and kills some of the scientists.

The alien is a shape shifter and can take the form of any living being it touches, but not the inorganic material. The monster begins to recreate the researchers perfectly, making it difficult for survivors to distinguish between real humans and the alien. After a short time everyone distrusts each other, and one by one the researchers become victims of the creature. Towards the end of the film there are apparently only Kate and Sam Carter left, who follow the alien to his spaceship, but where they are separated. Inside the spaceship, the two find their way back to each other, and Kate manages to throw a hand grenade into the monster's throat. Sam and Kate flee, the monster seems to be dead.

Once outside, Carter gets into one of the two caterpillars with which both came to the crash site of the spaceship. When Kate wants to get in, she notices that Carter's earring is missing. She concludes that the real Carter must be dead and that the alien creature replicated it. When she asks him about it, he touches his right ear - but the piece of jewelry was seen on the left ear in a previous scene . She burns "Sam", who is still trying to explain himself, with a flamethrower , and the film supposedly ends with a close-up of Kate's face, who is now alone in the icy desert in the last still functional caterpillar vehicle.

The end credits are followed by small fade-ins that show the landing of a Norwegian helicopter in front of the Norwegian station, which has been abandoned except for one survivor and is almost completely destroyed. After this survivor steps out of an intact outbuilding with a rifle in hand, a dog leaps out of a window and flees the station. The surviving Norwegian forces the pilot to chase the dog and tries to shoot the dog during the flight. The last scene is also the beginning of the 1982 John Carpenter film ( The Thing ) .

background

The film premiered in the United States on October 10, 2011. Germany launched on November 17, 2011. The locations were all in the Canadian province of Ontario . The Thing was nominated for best science fiction / horror film in 2012 at the Saturn Awards .

Director Matthijs van Heijningen placed great emphasis on integrating the information about the Norwegian camp from the Carpenter film from 1982 into the plot of his prequel in great detail . Colin's death is shown in more detail in the "Deleted Scenes"; he cuts his wrists and throat and sits down on a chair to die. In The Thing from Another World his (already frozen) corpse is shown on the chair, so that there is a connection between the two films at this point as well.

The film was a financial failure as its production cost was $ 38 million and it grossed only around $ 27 million worldwide.

Reviews

"You should save yourself the comparison with John Carpenter's version, because the horror thriller lacks originality and independence, apart from that, 'The Thing' works as a mediocre creature horror, but which would also be in good hands on the shelf of the video store."

- Carsten Baumgardt - film starts

“Unfortunately, the newly filmed 'prehistory' cannot hold a candle to the original: Carpenter saw the body eater as a symbol of the spreading communism, which gradually attacks one after the other. It was a parable of the communist hunt in America, when nobody had any more trust in anyone - he could be a 'Kommie' in disguise. Just an alien. In comparison, 'The Thing' unfortunately stays on the surface. In 2011, communism is no longer perceived as a threat by anyone, and here the film would have had the chance to make references to current political or social developments. But unfortunately not. [...] Very nice for friends of deformed body parts, splatter effects and disgusting special effects. Too simple for fans of intelligent horror films. "

- Tobias Martin - Bayern 3

“Ultimately, the film lags behind its predecessors, but Matthijs van Heijningen managed to create a solid and straightforward science fiction horror. [...] With its bizarre body horror effects, the driving narrative style and the still interesting starting point, 'The Thing' has nevertheless become a very exciting horror film. "

- Christian Horn - fluter

"The low-tension prequel borrows its unoriginal dramaturgical twists from Carpenter's film, whereby his style-forming body horror, which got a disturbing physique through the confrontation with the absolutely foreign, is hardly conveyed in this computer-aided version."

- Lexicon of international film

"The new film adaptation of the Carpenter classic from 1982 is convincing as a tense sci-fi thriller and offers interesting entertainment throughout"

- mirror

"An atmospheric sci-fi creep succeeds with good tricks and the main actors who enjoy playing."

- picture (newspaper)

Literary template

John W. Campbell : That Thing from Another World . Festa Verlag , ISBN 9783865524324 . The novella with the original title Who Goes There? formed the basis for the film adaptations.