No, I Never Wondered What Happened To The Norwegian Team.

I've really avoided showing stuff from the new "prequel" to John Carpenter's The Thing opening this Friday. Just because the whole idea seems so, well...unnecessary. In fact as I was getting my thoughts together to write this, the If Movie Posters Told the Truth peeps were kind enough to come up with this poster that pretty much sums it up.

Exactly - they find some thing frozen in the ice, thing thaws, thing is not Captain America, they all die. Other than the actual discovery of the monster - it's pretty much the same thing that happens to Kurt Russell's team. So essentially this is really just a thinly veiled remake with updated CG "enhanced" effects - despite all the talk of staying true to the Carpenter version and using a lot of practical effects from the production team. There's certainly nothing in the trailers to give a hint of anything other than the standard Sci-Fi shock scares. And just in case remaking the 80's Thing wasn't enough - this final weeks major promo angle, being pushed in the cast interviews, is comparing Mary Elizabeth Winstead's character to Ripley. So, bonus - it's also like an Alien remake! Yay...two remakes in one!

Which leads me to my biggest suspicion about the whole disingenuous "prequel" approach. This is not an artistic endeavor to answer 30 years of nagging back story questions about the fate of the Norwegians. This is a movie about insidious gooey shape changing aliens - if that's not horror movie franchise material what is?

So here's my guess for the big twist ending. Everyone doesn't die at Team Norway. The Ripley Chic, probably along with Young Uncle Owen (and perhaps a dog ) manage to escape heading off  to some alternate rescue in the opposite direction from, and well before, Kurt Russell's team arrives. But - ambiguous ending alert - could one of them actually be The Thing? Or maybe it's the dog! And voila - the prequel sets up it's own "sequel(s)" following the previously unknown survivors; and everyone involved in the franchise can continue to tell themselves they didn't "remake" Carpenter's Thing. Or did they?

So anyway here's the "red" band (R Rated) trailer.

I guess because it has a cliched "surprise" impaling scene.

And here's a preview clip reel of 4 scenes via Collider .
Which starts with the first key monster reveal moment?

THE END?