Why 'The Thing' Is Everything Wrong With Modern Hollywood

Usually, when covering a brand new movie, it's customary use a plot summary and then any other information towards the top of your piece. When speaking relating to this weekend's 'The Factor,' however... right, what is the point? If you are really thinking about seeing 'The Factor,' you are able to remain in a few days ago watching it on DVD it had been produced in 1982 by John Contractor (itself a completely radical new interpretation of 1951's 'The Factor From Another World'). If you have seen the 1982 version, then remain in watching it again. Like a B-level sci-fi horror movie, the brand new 'The Thing' -- technically a prequel towards the 1982 classic -- is serviceably fine. As soon as you hook it up towards the John Contractor version though, it collapses underneath the weight of their own pointlessness. To place it candidly, 'The Thing' signifies everything wrong with modern Hollywood. (WARNING: SPOILERS BELOW) What's most frustrating concerning the new 'Thing' is the fact that by selecting to become a prequel to some pre-existing film, it appreciates the world built by John Carpenter's project is really interesting, it's worth exploring and growing upon again. But rather than attempting to tell a brand new story within that world or make the most of that movie's brains, 'The Thing' takes whatever originality was possessed within the original and crams it in to the generic template for "frightening movie" that we have seen again and again again. Here's only one example: Once the youthful American researcher (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) hides within the air-duct from the Thing's spaceship, and also the monster jumps to scare her and gradually walk toward her before she grabs the grenade she's dropped, it is a dull and lifeless moment. Because despite creating that the truth is a parasitic creature able to cellular transference, still it loves to meander to its prey. And despite it being 100s of 1000's of years of age and predatory on the microscopic level, still it can't crawl right into a vent by itself spaceship. And despite it's ship being so advanced that it may mix many years of dead space, still it takes 7 minutes to warm-up the engine -- sufficient time for that researcher to create her escape. But, hey: that's how these moments were completed in 'Friday the thirteenth Part 6' or 'The Relic' or 100s of other indistinguishable horror movies why alter the formula? Gone may be the systematic cinematography bathed within the darkness of the Antarctic wasteland this time around your camera is static, ensuring to record everything, so no shadow remains hanging within the scene. The acclaimed effects from the original by Take advantage of Bottin (with the aid of Stan Winston) are changed mainly by CGI -- giving the stars absolutely nothing to respond to within the scene. It may seem this can be a minor detail, however when we are able to identify the monster on-screen to be cartoon and never a strange, slimy, tangible factor standing near the stars, it produces a disconnect within the audience telling us "this really is fake." Watch a clip for 'The Thing' (2011)' This new movie removes all of the quiet, sneaking dread from the original and replaces it with crashes, bangs and explosions. Are you going to jump from your chair? Obviously you'll it's not hard to create a horror movie full of "jump scares" whenever you blast the audio to the greatest level and assault your audience without having-of-nowhere screams. You can't really not flinch in individuals moments. Even when it had been involuntary, still it counts like a jump apparently. And despite the fact that it's designated like a prequel, it upright lifts memorable set pieces in the first movie, which makes it so two separate categories of people -- who've never met one another and are available from different cultural skills -- so occur to interact with the identical type of behavior to indescribable extraterrestrial phenomena. The coincidental synchronicity isn't performed for just about any type of cosmic irony apart from "Hey, it labored within the first movie, therefore we can try it again without them losing any impact." The entire factor is a large labored find it difficult to get us towards the opening moments from the original movie, meaning everybody dies and absolutely nothing has transformed. It's ultimate goal would be to revoke any gains it can make, so it completes small particulars in the original and offers a "wink" to fans from the first. The driving pressure behind the film would be to answer the question of "What went down prior to the first movie started?" But what everybody associated with this production unsuccessful to think about was that real question is better left as rhetorical. Watch a clip for John Carpenter's 'The Thing' Trailer #1 The One Thing - MOVIECLIPS.com A prequel may be the worst type of horror movie you can make, and essentially misses the purpose of the genre. The main reason horror remains so timelessly effective is the actual way it plays with an audience's fears of both unknown as well as losing control. However, the best goal of the prequel would be to answer residual questions and explain how everything labored. Why must a crowd be frightened of the one thing getting around within the shadows, if you're attempting to reveal everything about this? What most boggles your brain is that if Universal wanted to revisit the field of 'The Factor,' did they believe it was a great way? To strip it of its originality and transform it into another generic "scare each week,Inch that audiences will ignore after opening weekend? At that time, why don't you just re-release the initial in theaters for any special Halloween run? 'The Lion King' has proven that audiences will go back to a classic movie around the giant screen when they like it enough. Should you reason that John Carpenter's movie is simply too dated for modern audiences, then why did they choose to create a new movie that really happens before it? The main reason 'The Thing' is everything wrong with modern Hollywood happens because it's set up-line movie making. Even with the remakes and prequels and sequels and adaptations, each one of these varied causes of inspiration get churned in to the same kind of final product. You could have probably the most exotic elements on the planet, however when whatever you do is shove these questions blender and using them as mush, individuals will get frustrated using the meal. To accomplish the meals example: when the original 'Thing' would be a gourmet meal crafted with a gifted chef, this really is cheap unhealthy foods you will get from the box. Don't we deserve a much better menu? Images from 'The Factor' (2011) See All Moviefone Art galleries » [Photos thanks to Universal Galleries] Follow Moviefone on Twitter Like Moviefone on Facebook RELATED