Reason Writers at the Movies: Peter Suderman Reviews The Thing in The Washington Times
Reason Associate Editor Peter Suderman reviews this week's update of John Carpenter's The Thing in today's Washington Times:
In a just world, Hollywood's higher-ups would follow a simple rule regarding remakes and updates: If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Instead, they systematically take the opposite route: Find what works, then make it worse.
So it is with "The Thing," director Matthijs van Heijningen Jr.'s remake-masked-as-a-prequel of John Carpenter's 1982 cult horror classic about an extraterrestrial marauder wreaking havoc on a chilly Antarctic compound. Like the unwanted alien visitor of its title, Mr. van Heijningen's film has descended upon theaters with no apparent purpose in mind except to perpetuate its own existence while hoping to briefly disguise itself as a something it's not: a good movie.