It’s actually a prequel to the 1982 movie, leading one to wonder why they didn’t more accurately name it The Thing: The Beginning, The Thing: The Early Days or even I Was a Teenage Thing.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Apr 27, 2023

Van Heijningen’s new film can’t decide if it wants to elaborate on Carpenter’s version or pay homage to it, and that indecision is where the fault lies.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Mar 7, 2023

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

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

Sitting in negative digits on the movie-o-meter-as-temperature-scale...

| May 6, 2021

The changes to the creature, the revealing of its natural state, and the expansion of its mythology detract from the overall terror.

| Original Score: 5/10 | Nov 30, 2020

The actors aren't brilliant here, but much of the film's deficits can be placed squarely upon the shoulders of its first-time helmer.

| Original Score: 1.5/4.0 | Sep 26, 2020

Just average, which is sad, really, because there are quite a few missed opportunities in the script that, while they wouldn't have made for a great film, could have made it a fun B-style sci-fi horror movie. I

| Original Score: C | Jul 11, 2020

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.

| Nov 13, 2019

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

| Jul 29, 2019

I doubt that it will enjoy the same positive re-evaluation later on down the road that its predecessor enjoyed and will quickly fade into obscurity while Carpenter's endures.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Jun 8, 2019

Ultimately, the 2011 The Thing is an acceptable creature feature, but it's unlikely to be anybody's favorite thing, let alone considered the best possible Thing.

| Original Score: B- | Feb 8, 2019

Not only a pale imitation of the previous two incarnations, but also one of the worst films (horror or otherwise) released this year -- avoid at all costs.

| Original Score: 1/5 | Dec 6, 2018

Watching The Thing, I was absolutely stunned by its complete and utter lack of creativity.

| Aug 9, 2017

A misguided and generally worthless prequel...

| Original Score: 1/4 | Aug 11, 2013

There's just no sense of dread in this "Thing," no notion that these people are truly at the edge of the world, with nowhere to escape and no one to trust.

| Original Score: C- | Jun 23, 2013

Since Heijningen already had dibs on The Thing's hallowed name, he didn't even bother trying to conjure any of its slow-burning suspense or claustrophobic vibe.

| Original Score: 1.5/5 | Feb 15, 2013

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.

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

Gets the externals but can't duplicate the authentic chill and isolation of the original.

| Original Score: C | Apr 30, 2012

If this take is perfectly passable, it also is distinctly forgettable.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Apr 6, 2012

Can't possibly compare to the film it's inspired by, but if you've not seen the 1982 version, you should find it reasonably harmless, albeit with an increasingly daft climax.

| Original Score: 2.5/5 | Mar 22, 2012