This prequel to John Carpenter’s 1982 horror classic manages to capture enough of the shocks and paranoia of its predecessor to be successful.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 25, 2022

I've come to outright enjoy [The Thing] as a love letter to [John] Carpenter's film and a thrilling companion piece to that unblemished masterpiece.

Full Review | Nov 13, 2019

This paranoid frozen frightfest is the best chance to you'll get this Halloween to feel a real chill.

Full Review | Jul 29, 2019

The fact that The Thing falls flat is proof positive that unlike the film's industrious alien, parasitic remakes can't easily carbon copy the host.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/10 | Sep 22, 2012

"The Thing" is not half as good as the Carpenter film, but it has enough shocks and scares to keep you interested. And, if you see it first, then at least you have the back story for viewing the 1982 classic. Gore is good. Paul Chambers, CNN.

Full Review | Original Score: B- | Feb 4, 2012

There's nothing really new about this remake/prequel, but the film's attention to continuity and detail is respectable and interesting for fans of John Carpenter's 1982 classic.

Full Review | Original Score: 6/10 | Feb 1, 2012

Van Heijningen Jr's The Thing still works as a perfectly watchable contemporary sci-fi thriller on the surface by creating enough entertaining scares ...

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 8, 2011

Not bad, but what Cole Porter might dismiss as just one of those things.

Full Review | Dec 4, 2011

The themes of paranoia and isolation are the same as Carpenter's film, but the effects aren't a patch on the original.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 2, 2011

Tense, smart and suitably gruesome, this certainly delivers the goods.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 1, 2011

Nary an original bone in this monster's body, but effective nonethleless.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 1, 2011

Schlock lovers and Friday night thrill-seekers are disgustingly well served. Best skip that tray of gooey nachos, though.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 30, 2011

Never quite lives up to Carpenter's version, though it's entertaining enough, thanks to a superb performance from Mary Elizabeth Winstead and some satisfyingly gloopy visuals.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 30, 2011

Critics were wrong about the original movie back in 1982. They wrong about this one too!

Full Review | Nov 29, 2011

By no means the finessed work of a Carpenter; more an enthusiastic DIY expert who read the instructions once and reckons he can manage.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 28, 2011

Not an improvement on John Carpenter's groundbreaking 1982 original, but sufficiently horrific, tense and well-paced, and aided by minor changes and current technology.

Full Review | Original Score: B | Nov 8, 2011

Great care has been taken to not fill this movie full of lame, jittery camera angles and a faster-than-necessary pace, which is nice. It's just too bad that Mary Elizabeth Winstead is dull as dishwater.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Oct 27, 2011

From its isolated icy setting to its chilling premise and heart-pumping execution, this prelude to John Carpenter's 1982 classic sci-fi horror film of the same name is a ripper

Full Review | Oct 22, 2011

The Thing definitely owes a lot to John Carpenter's 1982 cult classic but as a whole, it is a pretty darned good little shocker.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Oct 20, 2011

Still can raise enough scares with its twists and turns to be surprisingly entertaining

Full Review | Original Score: 6/10 | Oct 19, 2011