The Thing (2011) - A prequel or a remake? You decide 

Okay, it's The Thing (2012) is actually a prequel. Definitely. If you've seen the 1981 film of the same name, then this one is set directly before it and clears up a lot of the backstory. It's about the Norwegian team of scientists in Antarctica who dig up an alien spaceship and unleash a hideous shapeshifting monster upon themselves.

So, it's a prequel. However - and this is a big however - if you've seen the first film, this one basically copies ever scene and just changes the setting and cast to the Norwegian arctic base (as opposed to the American on in the original). Seriously, if you watch the 1981 film then watch the 2011 version, you might as well have watched the same film twice.

Is this a bad thing? Kind of. It would have been nice to see the prequel try to be a little more original. However, the film is actually quite good (even though it's basically a copy/remake). I've seen a lot of people criticise the special effects. The 1981 version had no computer-generated monsters - it was famously made with latex and rubber for the monster. Now they've beefed up the budget they can afford bigger monsters via computer trickery. Some people said they preferred the original type. I also found this change okay.

Bottom line: if you haven't seen the original and you like monster-munching movies, then you should enjoy this. Although, if you have seen the original then there's little to entice you to watch it all over again, but with a different crew.

But, ultimately, John Carpenter's 1981 version was a classic, so, even if you hate this new version, just be glad they didn't remake the original. These two can live side by side after all.

8/10 The Force is definitely strong with this one