New version of 'The Thing' is dreadful

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Grade: F

Video •When the prequel/remake "The Thing" was released last summer, TheTribune film critic gave it three and a half stars, citing star Mary Elizabeth Winstead's heroine as "the most important female character in a horror film since Sigourney Weaver's Ellen Ripley in the 'Alien' series."

Here's another Tribune critic's take: Avoid this cheap, lifeless, moronic, gawd-awful pile of steaming monster dung however possible. Really, one of the worst movies of 2011, this re-imagining of the 1982 John Carpenter classic is an insult to movie magic (horrid CG replacing masterful makeup effects in the Carpenter version? Really?) and horror fans everywhere.

The DVD and Blu-ray have little extras save for a few shorts on the making of the movie. Who cares?

— Vince Horiuchi —

Grade • F