October 25, 2013 13 Nights of Hallowe'en 2013: Night #7 The Thing (2011)
The Thing (2011) (movie) is the prequel to the John Carpenter's The Thing (1982) (movie). As a prequel there are less things to be considered spoilers. Still, if you haven't seen the 1982 movie let me only tell you about this one. A scientist is called in to study the remains of an alien found in the ice of Antarctica. The alien is alive and it can metamorphose into anything that it samples the biology of. You don't need to see the original to enjoy this, and it could be fun to see the original for the first time after seeing this prequel. One of the most interesting things about this movie as a prequel is that it runs all of the way up to the chase scene in the beginning of the original movie--don't miss these scenes during the end credits. They did it that way so that it covers all of the points we know about what happened at the Norwegian camp in The Thing (1982).
There aren't a lot of connections between this movie and a lot of other horror productions that I can name. Part of this may be because of the large number of Norwegian cast members. Mary Elizabeth Winstead stars in this movie. You can also see Mary in Final Destination 3 (2006) (movie) and Black Christmas (2006) (movie). You may recognise Eric Christian Olsen from NCIS: Los Angeles (2010) (TV). I couldn't find any more horror credits for him. Meanwhile showing just how horror movies and the people who make them connect up in interesting ways, Eric Heisserer screenwriter for The Thing (2011) also wrote Final Destination 5 (2011) (movie), and was among the writers for the A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010) (movie) remake.
by Iron Maiden. 
