The Thing

Matthijs van Heijningen Jr.'s prequel to John Carpenter's The Thing tells the story of the Norwegian research station that discovered the alien organism. Mary Elizabeth Winstead brings intelligence and toughness to the lead role, and the film cleverly connects to the original's opening scene. The practical effects work — which the studio unfortunately plastered over with CGI in post-production — was reportedly stunning, and traces of it remain visible. The film works best as a companion piece, filling in the mystery that Carpenter left deliberately unexplored, though it inevitably suffers in comparison to one of horror's undisputed masterpieces.