The Thing Evolves (2012 Video) User Reviews

Huh, did not expect that title to be more than a tongue-in-cheek pun

[TBJCSKCNRRQTreviews · 7/10 · 16 October 2012]

A making-of, this is the longest(at 13 minutes sans credits, 14 with) of the two featurettes on the DVD of The Thing (2011), the only of those to be here on IMDb. It consists of interviews, behind-the-scenes footage, and clips of the movies(this and the '81 one... and yes, both get spoiled). They talk about the responsibility(with them explaining the great lengths they went to to make everything match up) of doing a prequel to a classic and also the opportunities that offers(what they can explore, etc.), the cast(Norwegian Brad Pitt and vikings! Did I mention that this is pretty humorous? It's especially funny to listen to the actors) and how to design the FX(what concepts to use, what fears to play on, practical vs. CGI, etc.). Everyone has something to say and it tends to know what bits to include(albeit there is one or two "I'm such a fan of the original, so I hope we did good"... *sigh* well, to some extent, this is an advertisement as well as a source of information). This is quite well-edited and it keeps moving along nicely. I recommend this to any fan of the new film. 7/10

Things ain't quite what they used to be(!)

[Foreverisacastironmess123 · 6/10 · 9 September 2013]

In this decent enough featurette, there's much talk of how they had some very impressive practical effects and models that never quite made it into the film. The problem was clearly that, for all the plans to compliment physical effects with cgi, every single creature appearance in the movie was completely covered up in post-production by the cgi, rendering scenes that should be scary come across more as a kind of hectic video game. Also the texture of the newer film's creatures looked very dry and smooth, whereas the '80s versions were positively soaked in blood and pus, with great attention to detail. I thought the monsters that are seen in the movie are perfectly fine, if not a little boring. And I've seen far worse cgi creations. The 'prequel', had a lot of problems. Such a dull kind of film, it was only really the presence of the awesome Thing alien and at least one great and frightening sequence that makes it worthwhile at all in my opinion. A lot of the fans of the original bitched that they showed the creatures too often... Are they nuts!? It's *all* about the monsters! That and the atmosphere were what I loved the most about the original, and that's what I...liked, with this one! My favourite part is the face fusion scene. It's so nightmarish, you can actually see the poor guy lose his mind as the Thing assimilates him... Don't listen too much to the many harsh reviews of overzealous fans of the original that just blast the s**t out of it because the majority of them are completely unreasonable and just too demanding. They demanded perfection, and really don't seem to like it if one writes a review that even tries to look at the film in a positive light. As a huge fan of the original I would have liked the film to have turned out to be better than it was also, but I didn't set my hopes up quite so high so I wasn't too disappointed. It definitely wasn't great by any means, but they could have done a hell of a lot worse. Unlike the absolutely wretched remakes of "Friday" "Nightmare" and "Texas" to name but a few, it doesn't spit on the brilliance that it attempts to emulate. The movie's really not that bad, give it a break! They at least *tried* to please the fans. I think it's only the practically identical plot lines that hurt the movie the most. The director and producer on the commentary said the same thing I did in my review of it. Don't bother comparing it to the first one because frankly, it doesn't even begin to. It works best if viewed as an extenuation and something that adds to the story of the John Carpenter classic, but doesn't hurt it. I really hope they make another movie someday. Hopefully a true sequel next time. I think if done just right a sequel set in civilisation could be something truly extraordinary and special once again. These guys got it half-right, someone else could be brilliant. I think it's well worth a risk. The iconic alien is simply too amazing and limitless in its possibilities to just leave buried forever... Any curious fan of the 1982 movie should check this featurette out just to glean all the references to it. See ya!