I'm still not sold on the prequel to John Carpenter's The Thing, coincidentally also called The Thing. It looks like it remains very faithful to the early, Norwegian sequence as evidenced in the prequel's trailer and clip, but I wonder if it's almost too faithful. I can't be blamed for being skeptical, after all I've seen The Thing (Carpenter's) more times than I can count, but I admit I am intrigued.
A big dealbreaker? The creature. CGI could really fuck it up, and, according to Alec Gillis, who created the creature effects along with Tom Woodruff Jr., CGI is involved. Or so he told SFX.
I don’t think you can really tell the story without digital, because as great as animatronics can be and as big a believer in them as I am, I think that you still need to open things up a bit with the digital work, especially when it comes to things like the transformations… I think what’s important is that you never see the true form of the creature. What you see is two life forms that are hosts, if you will, that are not human beings. That’s what’s kind of expanding the universe here. We get to design a couple of alien life forms that are presumably evolved biologically on another planet, that happen to be infected by the Thing.
However, Gillis and Woodruff Jr. told Make Up Magazine (via a Facebook page dedicated to the article) that practical effects will be included. "They definitely came to us with the intention of using a lot of practical work," Gillis said, "because [Rob] Bottin's work was obviously the cornerstone of that film, so they didn't just go with a digital fest and not feel as though they were working in the language of the Carpenter film." Well, ain't that a relief!
Speaking of the creature, some pics were included on the Facebook page. Check them out below.
Interesting, right? Ok, now it's time for the TV spot, which offers more looks at the creature.
Directed by Matthijs van Heijningen, The Thing prequel opens on October 14.
