The Thing Trailer Makes Me Sad

I love John Carpenter's The Thing. I have it on Blu-Ray. I watch it a few times a year and I recently introduced it to my daughter (who loved it). When word of a prequel came along I was highly skeptical, though. Early set visits talked about a drive to keep the practical effects that made the original so gruesome and engaging, but deep down I knew. I knew that the CGI would come, and come it did.

I haven't seen one practical effect shot in this trailer. I have, however, seen many computer-rendered monsters that look like they belong in a Sci-Fi Channel Original Movie. I'm of the opinion that CGI should only augment practical effects. Jurassic Park accomplished this perfectly with a blend of animatronic dinosaurs and computer-generated dinosaurs (watch it again and see if you can tell which is which). The funny thing is that Jurassic Park came out in 1995. Two-Face in The Dark Knight is another shining example - a subtle removal of eyelids and cheek made the effect powerful and freakishly real! Even the unsuccessful Where the Wild Things Are shows us how CGI should be used.

Then, there is the other end of the spectrum. League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and their giant turd-monsters. Don't Be Afraid of the Dark and it's little darkness-dwelling turd-monsters. And as much as I wanted to like Super 8, guess what, a giant CGI turd-alien. Compare that unrealistic beast to the original alien in Alien - big difference, right?

Here's the trailer for The Thing. There are americans in the Norwegian camp for some reason, and I didn't see anyone speaking Norwegian, either. I dream of a 1980's follow up with the same crew, Norwegian subtitles, and the only computer animation being a cheating bitch of a chess-computer.