Who Goes There? Do We Need A New Version Of THE THING From John Carpenter & Blumhouse?
The word on the street is that Blumhouse Productions and the mighty John Carpenter are working on reboot of Carpenter’s classic 1982 horror The Thing.
Variety is reporting that the film is in the very early stages and there are no further details. The news comes after Carpenter mentioned the reboot during a Q&A during the Fantasia International Film Festival. When asked if he’d be directing any films for Jason Blum’s company, Carpenter let the cat out of the bag by saying…
“I have? I don’t know about that. But we’ve talked about — I think he’s going to be working on The Thing, rebooting The Thing. I’m involved with that, maybe. Down the road.”
As exciting as it would be for Carpenter to be involved in a remake of The Thing, what is left to say about that particular story?
John W. Campbell Jr wrote the original novella Who Goes There? in 1938, which was the basis for The Thing from Another World, the 1951 RKO Picture from Christian Nyby and Howard Hawks. That film was used as the starting point for Carpenter’s The Thing in 1982, while Matthijs van Heijningen’s 2011 release, The Thing was part prequel/part remake of Carpenter’s pic.
Carpenter’s 1982 film was the ultimate version of the tale with a great cast, superb effects from Rob Bottin and classic Ennio Morricone score. It will never be bettered.
The new remake makes business sense – Universal Pictures made Carpenter’s The Thing (and the 2011 film) and they have a deal with Blumhouse – who has a relationship with Carpenter following the Halloween reboot (and the upcoming sequels).
The only way to make another film about The Thing is make a true sequel to Carpenter’s film – cast Kurt Russell and Keith David and set it 40 years after the original in the wintry wilds of Canada. Anything else is pointless.
Source: Variety
