The new prequel The Thing hits theaters tomorrow.
The Hollywood Reporter has weighed in with a review. (Caution: It may contain material that is SPOILERy.)
An ultra-lame ending essentially kills this Thing. Versions of John W. Campbell Jr.’s story “Who Goes There?” about an alien life form found frozen in ice have become a franchise all by themselves, arriving every 30 years or so since 1951. This one injects a strong dose of Alien female power into the claustrophobic tale of scientists in Antarctica being gruesomely offed by a ravenous creature, which this time is more difficult to stop than ever. Universal will get some good box-office mileage out of the title’s appeal to genre fans and the prospect of grisly doings at the bottom of the world, although the film’s somber nature and oh-come-on wind-up will prevent the ultimate haul from being everything it might have been.
