We’ve seen the CGI explosion of a big, vaguely xenomorphic beast bursting from an ice block in previous trailers, but with this new The Thing red-band trailer from IGN, it’s clear virtually every bit of fleshy shape-shifting and horrific mutation will be a mish-mash of pixels. While I tend to think nostalgia for practical effects tends to runs a touch towards the willfully oblivious end of things among geek circles, I’ll say that in horror’s case there is usually little fright to be found among digital smears.
I do like a moment or two in this trailer, and there seems to be some genuinely freaky designs scattered throughout, but they seem like half-baked renders pulled from a video game (from two years ago). The photography looks nice in a general sense, and I still don’t know how the whole premakequel conceit will ultimately play out, but man those effects are dealbreakers for me.
All of this said, a report here and there have suggested this movie isn’t all bad. I guess it’s comforting to now it’s not a complete piece of garbage but if it’s only a mildly successful routine horror-flick, then the question comes… what was the point?