Horror fans can indulge themselves with the sci-fi shocker “The Thing” by Dutch director Matthijs van Heijningen Jr. (“The Battle of the Scheldt”). Just don’t make the mistake of comparing the film to John Carpenter’s brilliant 1982 original Thing From Another World. Despite admittedly several story parallels, “The Thing” is not a remake at all, but a prequel.
“The Thing” will be shown today, March 29, 2023 at 11:10 PM on ZDF Neo. If the date does not suit you, you can order the film as a Blu-ray from online retailers such as Amazon. This is enriched with bonus features such as audio commentary, unreleased and extended scenes, and a making-of. Alternatively, the FSK 16 title is also available for streaming as video-on-demand at the same location for a fee:
“The Thing” is not a remake!
Leading up to the release of “The Thing” there was loud outcry from the horror fan community, which never sought clear opinions. Apparently no one wanted to see a remake of “The Thing from Another World” (itself a remake of the 1951 original, by the way!). In fact, it would have been completely unnecessary to make a movie that was already perfect. But “The Thing,” which has an eerie vibe, several effective shocking moments, and beautifully slimy disgusting scenes, isn’t a remake at all — which, unfortunately, the Universal Pictures studio didn’t communicate unequivocally with its 2011 release.
Instead, it is an attempt, made with noticeable enthusiasm, to connect the story of the 1982 work with a prehistory that should give the classic even more depth when revisited. The backgrounds and props are designed to be as true to the original as possible. The commendable attention to detail went so far that the last scene of “The Thing” also transitions exactly into the first of “The Thing from Another World.”
If after seeing “The Thing” you feel like seeing the Carpenter classic again or for the first time, we recommend doing so with the 2021 4K/UltraHD Blu-ray. Because the stroke of genius with Kurt Russell, which is extremely entertaining for all sci-fi and/or horror fans, didn’t even look better on the big screen.
“The Thing” on ZDF Neo: that’s the story
1982: A group of Norwegian polar explorers led by Dr. During his expedition to Antarctica, Sander Halvorson (Ulrich Thomsen) comes across an alien spaceship that has crashed there. Inside the vehicle, they find the lifeless body of an alien frozen in ice. Paleontologist Kate Lloyd (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) and her assistants Davida Morris (Davetta Sherwood) and Adam Goodman (Eric Christian Olsen) want to take a closer look at the life form.
When the creature tries to free itself from its ice shell, it not only comes to its unexpected awakening, but shortly afterwards to a veritable massacre of the research station’s human inhabitants. The monster doesn’t just kill its respective enemy, but almost merges with it and assumes its form.
Only with the help of their helicopter pilot Braxton Carter (Joel Edgerton) can Lloyd and her remaining people escape the parasite. Together they must come up with a plan to stop the murderous creature before it reaches the inhabited world and causes untold damage there. But can they still trust each other? After all, it is possible that some of them are already infected with the killer from outer space…
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