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THE-THING

See Tons of Practical Effects Work on ‘The Thing’ Remake!

Movies
Posted by MrDisgusting on December 15, 2011 @ 4:54pm
Category: Movies / Videos

See Tons of Practical Effects Work on The Thing Remake!

Remember Universal’s The Thing remake? Yeah, I forgot about it too, at least until I started work on my worst of 2011 list being featured later this month. One of the biggest faux pas in the Strike Entertainment prequel/redo was that the film featured an insane amount of CGI. Much like DreamWorks’ Fright Night 3D, it was rumored that the CGI was used to mask a lot of practical work.

Amalgamated Dynamics, Inc., the company behind the visual effects in the creature feature, has uploaded a new video that proves without a shadow of doubt that there should have been a lot more practical effects. Are you ready to have your mind blown? Are you ready to turn red in rage? Are you ready to finally admit that the prequelmake is a piece of sh*t? You will in about 5 minutes…

The Thing arrives on Blu-ray January 31, no word on if this will be included in the extras. READ MORE

The Terrible ‘The Thing’ Prequel Dated for Home Video

Movies
Posted by MrDisgusting on November 30, 2011 @ 5:43pm
Category: Movies / Home Video

The Terrible The Thing Prequel Dated for Home Video

An expedition of a lifetime becomes a subterranean nightmare in The Thing, the thrilling prelude to John Carpenter’s 1982 film of the same name. Debuting on Blu-ray Combo Pack with UltraViolet, DVD, Digital Download and On Demand on January 31, 2011, The Thing stars Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World,) as paleontologist Kate Lloyd who, along with the crew’s pilot Carter (Joel Edgerton, Warrior), discovers a mysterious organism buried in the ice.

“When a simple experiment frees the creature from its frozen prison, it unleashes a flood of chaos and paranoia upon the camp, pitting the team against one another. With the ability to mimic the physicality of anything or anyone that it touches, the shape-shifting creature makes everyone a suspect in this suspenseful psychological thriller.”

Full specs inside. READ MORE

What Might A Practical ‘The Thing’ Prequel Have Looked Like?

Movies
Posted by EvanDickson on November 11, 2011 @ 7:53pm
Category: Movies / News

ThingPrequelLandscape111111 What Might A Practical The Thing Prequel Have Looked Like?

People have a lot of understandable beef with The Thing prequel. Fragmented story, Eric Christian Olsen and CGI. Mainly the CGI.

Last month I interviewed Eric Heisserer, one of the film’s screenwriters, and he was very forthright that the film was originally intended to be all practical. “I got this job going in with the firm, fervid belief that no CGI should ever be in this movie. That it should be all practical. We are creating a very grounded psychological thriller and part of that paranoia with the monster movie is to have the monsters as real and as grounded as everything else we’re making around them”

And now some new images of the practical work by Vincent Guastini, some dating back to when The Thing prequel was a SyFy Channel product under the tutelage of Frank Darabont (before it changed hands to Strike Entertainment/Universal), has gone online.

Per Make Up Mag, “Vincent Guastini’s special make-up effects credits include Requiem for a Dream, Dogma and Saturday Night Live; he also contributed to the recent prequel of The Thing, although you wouldn’t know it from watching the film.

Guastini, who describes himself as “a huge fan of The Thing mythos” says he was contacted in 2004 when the Syfy channel was considering an episodic version of The Thing, and later, a made-for-TV feature version penned by Frank Darabont…

Over time, however, concepts for the film and Guastini’s original ideas and designs ultimately weren’t used in the film. So here is your chance to see Guastini’s concept designs and sculptures for the first time.”

Hit the jump to check a few out! READ MORE

Exclusive

[Interview] ‘The Thing 2011′ Screenwriter Explains How The Film Transformed Into What You Saw!!!

Movies
Posted by EvanDickson on October 17, 2011 @ 2:15pm
Category: Movies / Exclusives

ThingLand101611 [Interview] The Thing 2011 Screenwriter Explains How The Film Transformed Into What You Saw!!!

So The Thing (user reviews) opened over the weekend to somewhat disappointing box office and mixed-to-negative reviews. I’ve seen the film twice now, once a couple of months ago and again two weeks back and I had issues with it on each viewing. My deep love of John Carpenter’s 1982 film was my baggage and cross to bear during my first viewing. There were certainly things I liked in this new prequel but I honestly didn’t know what my true feelings about it were. The second time I saw the film I feel like I was in a better position to divorce myself from that baggage and assess The Thing 2011 on its own merits. I tried to force myself to see how it worked just as a standalone movie – and I still had some issues. Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Joel Edgerton give good performances and there’s some cool ideas in the movie (I like it more than some of my peers) but the CG, pacing and editorial aspects never fully come together.

Of course it was never going to be as good as the 1982 John Carpenter film. No way. Not only is it so aesthetically similar to that film that it invites unfavorable comparisons, but the studio climate today doesn’t really allow slow burn movies like that to happen anymore. Remakes, sequels and prequels are considered to be “safe” investments (though after Fright Night and this… perhaps less so) and the “film by committee” syndrome is often more evident in movies like these than other studio films where new ideas can fly under the radar because they’re not yet considered valuable properties.

That’s not to say every finger should be pointed at Universal. Filmmakers are filmmakers no matter what circumstance they’re working under and sometimes part of the job is to successfully advocate for your film in that environment. If you want to own what works, you have to own what doesn’t work. And that’s ultimately how I feel about the film. Some some of it works and some of it doesn’t.

A few weeks ago I sat down with Eric Heisserer, the film’s screenwriter, for a frank chat about what does and doesn’t work in The Thing 2011. It was quite clear that he’s just as big of a fan as Carpenter’s film as anyone else and was concerned with doing it justice. He was also extremely generous with his time and we wound up talking for 90 minutes so I can only give a few highlights. Beware – this entire interview should be considered a SPOILER.

“I can tell you that we had originally planned for a slow boil of a movie. We had a lot more character work.”

Hit the jump to check it out.
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Write Your Reviews: ‘The Woman’ and ‘The Thing’!

Movies
Posted by MrDisgusting on October 14, 2011 @ 10:10pm
Category: Movies / News

Write Your Reviews: The Woman and The Thing!

It’s “YOU” time as a slew of new horror films have hit theaters across the country — and your opinion is expected!

Obviously, the big potato is Universal Pictures’ The Thing, their prequel to John Carpenter’s classic 1980′s remake that I personally thought was CGI heavy. Have your say by writing your own review to tell all of Bloody what YOU thought.

Also in limited theaters from Bloody Disgusting Selects (that’s us!) is May director Lucky McKee’s The Woman. Ryan Daley was a big fan out of this past January’s Sundance Film Festival where the screening sparked fan outrage. The question is: what did you guys think? Hopefully we delivered something special. As always, write your thoughts here, tell the Bloodyverse if they should go check it out. Positive or negative, we can take it: be HONEST!

By clicking the titles above you’ll find other reader reviews, the official reviews, images, posters, clips and more info.
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Interview

[Video Interview] Cast of ‘The Thing’ and Maze Creator John Murdy

Movies
Posted by EvanDickson on October 13, 2011 @ 3:51pm
Category: Movies / Interviews

TheThingWinstead101011 [Video Interview] Cast of The Thing and Maze Creator John Murdy

By now you guys are probably ready for The Thing to hit theaters already. You’ve read the updates, you checked out our interview Joel Edgerton and you’ve seen the clips and trailers. Now that we’re in the home stretch we have a few video interviews for you.

A few weeks back I had the chance to sit down with cast members Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Eric Christian Olsen and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje to talk about their characters, the theories behind John Carpenter’s 1982 film and what it was like working with practical effects onset instead of digital. I also had a chance to chat with John Murdy, the creator of all of the Halloween Horror Nights mazes including The Thing: Assimilation.

In the prequel, “Paleontologist Kate Lloyd (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) has traveled to the desolate region for the expedition of her lifetime. Joining a Norwegian scientific team that has stumbled across an extraterrestrial ship buried in the ice, she discovers an organism that seems to have died in the crash eons ago. But it is about to wake up. When a simple experiment frees the alien from its frozen prison, Kate must join the crew’s pilot, Carter (Joel Edgerton), to keep it from killing them off one at a time. And in this vast, intense land, a parasite that can mimic anything it touches will pit human against human as it tries to survive and flourish.”

Hit the jump to check ‘em out. The Thing opens this Friday, October 14th.
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[Set Report] Reintroducing Our Trip to Toronto for ‘The Thing’

Movies
Posted by MrDisgusting on October 10, 2011 @ 3:20pm
Category: Movies / Editorials

hiresthething093011 [Set Report] Reintroducing Our Trip to Toronto for The Thing

Way back in October of 2010 Bloody Disgusting’s Chris Eggertsen took to the Toronto set of Matthijs van Heijningen Jr.’s The Thing prequel, which now arrives in theaters Friday. In case you missed this on set reports, I’d like to direct you to both Part 1 and Part 2, which carry interviews with the cast, producers and director.

In the R-rated prequel, “Paleontologist Kate Lloyd (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) has traveled to the desolate region for the expedition of her lifetime. Joining a Norwegian scientific team that has stumbled across an extraterrestrial ship buried in the ice, she discovers an organism that seems to have died in the crash eons ago. But it is about to wake up. When a simple experiment frees the alien from its frozen prison, Kate must join the crew’s pilot, Carter (Joel Edgerton), to keep it from killing them off one at a time. And in this vast, intense land, a parasite that can mimic anything it touches will pit human against human as it tries to survive and flourish.”

Check back this weekend for a review.
READ MORE

Paranoia Spreads in Three ‘The Thing’ Clips, First Look at Creature!

Movies
Posted by MrDisgusting on October 04, 2011 @ 6:35pm
Category: Movies / News

Three new clips have just been posted on MySpace for Universal Pictures’ The Thing, the Matthijs van Heijningen Jr.-directed prequel to John Carpenter’s remake arriving in theaters October 14. Starring both Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Joel Edgerton, the new footage features Winstead explaining that someone in the room may not be human, while the other has a flamethrower jammed in the face of Edgerton. A newly added third shows a creature escaping from a block of ice.

“Paleontologist Kate Lloyd (Winstead) has traveled to the desolate region for the expedition of her lifetime. Joining a Norwegian scientific team that has stumbled across an extraterrestrial ship buried in the ice, she discovers an organism that seems to have died in the crash eons ago. But it is about to wake up. When a simple experiment frees the alien from its frozen prison, Kate must join the crew’s pilot, Carter (Edgerton), to keep it from killing them off one at a time. And in this vast, intense land, a parasite that can mimic anything it touches will pit human against human as it tries to survive and flourish.”

Click the image below for the hi-res gallery.

newthing100111 Paranoia Spreads in Three The Thing Clips, First Look at Creature!

Movies
Posted by MrDisgusting on September 30, 2011 @ 4:29pm
Category: Movies / News

A second clip has just premiered on MSN for Universal Pictures’ The Thing, the Matthijs van Heijningen Jr.-directed prequel to John Carpenter’s remake arriving in theaters October 14. Starring both Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Joel Edgerton, the new footage shows both in a potentially explosive situation strained with paranoia.

Click the image below for the new hi-res gallery!

Movies
Posted by MrDisgusting on September 29, 2011 @ 4:08pm
Category: Movies / News

BD reader “Omer” tipped us off to the following Russian red band trailer for The Thing that carries more footage, including a better look at “Splitface” and a guy’s face falling apart! Awesome.

In the prequel to John Carpenter’s classic ’80s remake, “Paleontologist Kate Lloyd (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) has traveled to the desolate region for the expedition of her lifetime. Joining a Norwegian scientific team that has stumbled across an extraterrestrial ship buried in the ice, she discovers an organism that seems to have died in the crash eons ago. But it is about to wake up. When a simple experiment frees the alien from its frozen prison, Kate must join the crew’s pilot, Carter (Joel Edgerton), to keep it from killing them off one at a time. And in this vast, intense land, a parasite that can mimic anything it touches will pit human against human as it tries to survive and flourish.”

It defrosts in theaters October 14.
READ MORE

Exclusive

[Interview] Joel Edgerton on Paranoia and Staying True To Carpenter In ‘The Thing’!

Movies
Posted by Bloody Disgusting Staff on September 26, 2011 @ 8:46pm
Category: Movies / Exclusives

It feels like Joel Edgerton is just getting warmed up. With upcoming roles in The Odd Life Of Timothy Green and The Great Gatsby (along with his critically lauded work in Warrior) it feels like the Australian native is on the precipice of becoming a major name after over a decade in the trenches. His newest movie is a little something you may have heard of called The Thing.

I recently caught up with Edgerton by phone (having just seen the film myself the previous night). He’s clearly passionate about the movie and holds Carpenter’s 1982 film in very high regard.

At eighteen or so minutes we had a fairly lengthy chat about The Thing and detoured into HEAVY spoiler territory. As such, this interview has been cut down quite a bit to avoid ruining any surprises. I hope to post the unedited version at some point after the release of the film.

Check it out after the jump.

Edgerland92311 [Interview] Joel Edgerton on Paranoia and Staying True To Carpenter In The Thing!

Comics
Posted by Lonmonster on September 21, 2011 @ 10:51pm
Category: Comics / News

Brace yourself boils and ghouls, Dark Horse Comics has just announced an exclusive digital comic which serves as a prequel to the upcoming, and highly anticipated, film ‘THE THING’! The film doesn’t hit theatres until October 14th, just before Halloween, but to keep you from losing your mind you can read all the digital comics starting today, FOR FREE! The comic will be released in three instalments, beginning today, September 21st, September 28th, and October 5th online and on the Dark Horse mobile app. ‘The Thing: The Northman Nightmare’ tells the origin story of pioneering Norsemen who discover a shape-shifting creature that is hiding in a desolate village with few human survivors. Oh, and it’s written by horror icon, Steve Niles! After the jump you can find out where to get it and all the gooey details. Read on for the skinny…

Movies
Posted by MrDisgusting on September 19, 2011 @ 6:21pm
Category: Movies / News

IGN has just unloaded a red band trailer for Universal Pictures’ The Thing, the Matthijs van Heijningen Jr.-directed prequel to John Carpenter’s remake arriving in theaters October 14. Starring both Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Joel Edgerton, the new trailer shares a slew of new creature effects work that looks promising. Your thoughts?

Creature Effects Put On Display in Red Band The Thing Trailer!

Movies
Posted by MrDisgusting on September 16, 2011 @ 3:58am
Category: Movies / News

Universal Pictures begun their television campaign for The Thing, the Matthijs van Heijningen Jr.-directed prequel to John Carpenter’s remake arriving in theaters October 14. Inside you’ll find the first TV Spot from the creature feature starring both Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Joel Edgerton.

thething090511 First The Thing TV Spot Thaws Online

Movies
Posted by EvanDickson on September 07, 2011 @ 4:26pm
Category: Movies / News

Yesterday we brought you some new images from Universal’s upcoming prequel,The Thing and now we have our first clip from the film!

I kind of liked the trailer for this one and, like everyone else on the planet in their right mind, I’m a big fan of Mary Elizabeth Winstead fan and the 1982 John Carpenter film is one of my all time favorite movies, period. I’m holding out hope that this could be good!

Directed by Matthijs van Heijningen Jr, The Thing is in theaters October 14th.

Hit the jump to see the clip!

Thing First Clip From The Thing! 1982 Had Suspense, 2011 Has Jump Scares!

Movies
Posted by MrDisgusting on September 06, 2011 @ 5:40pm
Category: Movies / News

Universal Pictures has updated their official website for The Thing, the Matthijs van Heijningen Jr.-directed prequel to John Carpenter’s remake arriving in theaters October 14. The website is still pretty new, but it does rock a few new images from the creature feature starring both Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Joel Edgerton.

thething090511 Chill Out to Some New The Thing Imagery

Movies
Posted by MrDisgusting on August 24, 2011 @ 5:58pm
Category: Movies / News

Courtesy of aspiring artists Mark Welser, Travis Pitts, Fro Design, Tyler Stout, Alex Eylar, Ollie Boyd, Adam Rabalais, Tom Whalen and Rex Features come a series of fan made one sheets for John Carpenter’s The Thing.

The posters throw around some fun new taglines, along with strong imagery taken from the 1982 Kurt Russell starrer that followed a group of scientists in the Antarctic that are confronted by a shape-shifting alien assuming the appearance of the people it kills.

Check out my personal favorite below with links to all of the others.
READ MORE

UPDATE: [OMFG] See Creature FX Work for ‘The Thing’!

Movies
Posted by MrDisgusting on August 21, 2011 @ 8:56pm
Category: Movies / News

Update: Universal called and let us know that these do NOT have anything to do with the NEW movie.

We stumbled onto an unofficial Facebook page for Universal Pictures’ forthcoming The Thing, the Matthijs van Heijningen Jr.-directed prequel to John Carpenter’s ’80s remake that arrives in theaters October 14.

While a few official images have been released, this fanpage has been scouring the Web for behind-the-scenes pics, stumbling across the very first monster shots, along with pictures of some of the maquettes used in the movie. One can only assume we’re going to see A LOT of practical effects work!

Dig on some of the best of the best inside.

UPDATE: [OMFG] See Creature FX Work for The Thing!

Movies
Posted by MrDisgusting on July 14, 2011 @ 7:07pm
Category: Movies / News

Man is the warmest place to hide…

Inside you’ll find the first trailer for Universal Pictures’ The Thing (set visit part 1, part 2) prequel starring Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Joel Edgerton, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje and Dennis Storhøi.

“Directed by Matthijs van Heijningen Jr., paranoia spreads like an epidemic among a group of researchers as they’re infected, one by one, by a mystery from another planet. Paleontologist Kate Lloyd (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) has traveled to the desolate region for the expedition of her lifetime. Joining a Norwegian scientific team that has stumbled across an extraterrestrial ship buried in the ice, she discovers an organism that seems to have died in the crash eons ago. But it is about to wake up. When a simple experiment frees the alien from its frozen prison, Kate must join the crew’s pilot, Carter (Joel Edgerton), to keep it from killing them off one at a time. And in this vast, intense land, a parasite that can mimic anything it touches will pit human against human as it tries to survive and flourish.”

The prequel to John Carpenter’s remake hits theaters October 14, 2011.

Trailer Defrosted for Unis The Thing Prequel!

Movies
Posted by MrDisgusting on July 12, 2011 @ 1:35am
Category: Movies / News

It’s here and it’s not human…yet.

Inside you’ll find the teaser poster for Universal Pictures’ The Thing (set visit part 1, part 2) prequel starring Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Joel Edgerton, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje and Dennis Storhøi.

The prequel to John Carpenter’s remake hits theaters October 14, 2011.

Hi Res Official The Thing Teaser Poster Isnt Quite Human, Or Is It?

Movies
Posted by MrDisgusting on March 17, 2011 @ 4:06pm
Category: Movies / News

Website Shortlist has scored a new look at Joel Edgerton in Universal Pictures’ The Thing prequel that’s just another character close-up with a little fire.

The prequel to John Carpenter’s remake hits theaters October 14, 2011.

Flamethrower Cocked in New The Thing Still

Movies
Posted by MrDisgusting on November 23, 2010 @ 9:52pm
Category: Movies / News

After lining up a few weeks of additional photography (for more character development), Universal Pictures has rescheduled The Thing (set report) for release on October 14, 2011. Directed by Matthijs van Heijningen Jr., the prequel to John Carpenter’s classic 1982 sci-fi redo starring Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Joel Edgerton begins when paranoia spreads like an epidemic among a group of researchers as they’re infected, one by one, by a mystery from another planet. The creature feature opens before Paranormal Activity 3 (October 21) and Dibbuk Box (October 28).
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‘The Thing’ Delayed for Additional Photography

Movies
Posted by MrDisgusting on November 16, 2010 @ 3:17am
Category: Movies / News

Welcome to your typical Hollywood day. Hitfix did a little digging in hopes of uncovering why Matthijs van Heijningen Jr.’s The Thing (set report) was removed completely from Universal’s release slate for 2011. The result was your typical studio response. The site reports of plans for upcoming additional photography on the film, adding that the filmmakers have a cut of the movie and that they are now hoping to use this next round of photography to enhance existing sequences or to make crystal clear a few story beats or to add punctuation marks to the film’s feeling of dread. Same ol’, same ‘ol.
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Universal Pulls ‘The Thing’ From 2011 Release Slate

Movies
Posted by MrDisgusting on November 13, 2010 @ 2:54am
Category: Movies / News

A super quick news brief as Universal Pictures has pulled their redo of John Carpenter’s The Thing from its April ’11 date and put a big, fat TBD in front of it. We’ll keep you posted when a new date comes in for the Matthijs van Heijningen Jr.-directed creature feature. In the thriller, paranoia spreads like an epidemic among a group of researchers as they’re infected, one by one, by a mystery from another planet. Paleontologist Kate Lloyd (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) has traveled to the desolate region for the expedition of her lifetime. Joining a Norwegian scientific team that has stumbled across an extraterrestrial ship buried in the ice, she discovers an organism that seems to have died in the crash eons ago. But it is about to wake up. When a simple experiment frees the alien from its frozen prison, Kate must join the crew’s pilot, Carter (Joel Edgerton), to keep it from killing them off one at a time. And in this vast, intense land, a parasite that can mimic anything it touches will pit human against human as it tries to survive and flourish.
READ MORE