October Horror Movie Challenge: The Thing (2011)

Synopsis: A prequel to 1982's The Thing, this film is about a Norwegian Antarctic research site that discovers a crashed ship. The discovery leads to paranoia and death as an alien infiltrates the group.

The Good: The protagonist Kate (played by the always lovely Mary Elizabeth Winstead) is a a great lead. She's logical and doesn't fall into the "I'm in a horror movie so I'm going to do a bunch of stupid things to progress the plot" trap common in these kinds of movies. Also, I liked seeing the original alien.

The Bad: This movie has a lot to live up to and unfortunately it doesn't. The computer created creature effects just don't look as good as the original. Sure they're more fluid, but the things just don't feel right.

Final Thoughts: I'm not disappointed I watched this. I really did enjoy Mary Elizabeth Winstead. However, I have no desire to ever watch this flick again. If you've not seen it and you've got a chance to for free, go for it, but I probably wouldn't recommend spending money to see it.

In Your Game: As I mentioned yesterday Michael Tresca has d20 Modern netbook for The Thing  here. It was created before this film, but is still very pertinent.

New To Me Movies Watched: 1
Total Movies Watched: 2

October Horror Movie Challenge: The Thing (1982)

Synopsis: Scientists in the Antarctic are confronted by a shape-shifting alien that assumes the appearance of the people that it kills.

The Good: 1982's The Thing is a masterpiece. It has the perfect mix of horror and paranoia. The creature effects are fantastic and still give me chills to this day. I love Kurt Russel's MacCready (okay... I honestly just love Kurt Russel).

The Bad: I can't really say anything bad about this one.

Final Thoughts: This movie is probably the best aliens among us flick out there. I've seen it 20+ times and I still love it. When John Carpenter and Kurt Russel get together, magic happens.

In Your Game: Instead of creating new content, I thought I'd share something I found on the net years ago. Michael Tresca has created some fun movie/rpg netbooks over the years and he has a d20 Modern one for The Thing. You can find it here. You can find his other netbooks here.

New To Me Movies Watched: 0
Total Movies Watched: 1