The Thing
Universal Pictures | Release Date: October 14, 2011 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
49
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 31 Critic Reviews
Positive:
8
Mixed:
19
Negative:
4
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottOct 14, 2011
Yes, it is derivative, but in a year in which films from the 1980s are getting needless remakes seemingly every other week, this one stands out as a rare one that works. That's a good "Thing." Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsOct 13, 2011
While I wish van Heijningen's Thing weren't quite so in lust with the '82 model, it works because it respects that basic premise. And it exhibits a little patience, doling out its ickiest, nastiest moments in ways that make them stick. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliOct 13, 2011
It's a solid, entertaining monster movie that, at its best, recalls not only its three decades-old namesake but Alien as well. Read full review
70
SalonAndrew O'HehirOct 13, 2011
I'm delighted to tell you that the new Thing was made by people who understand what the horror audience wants and don't treat it like a bunch of brain-dead children. Mirabile freakin' dictu. Read full review
63
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsOct 14, 2011
A solid sci-fi/horror hybrid, but this iceman doesn't deliver enough to chew on. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam LaceyOct 13, 2011
It's no great thing, just a better Thing than expected. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTom RussoOct 13, 2011
The basic story is identical, and when there are fraught, climactic opportunities for the movie to make a gutsy departure, it passes up the chance. Read full review
63
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertOct 12, 2011
This version of The Thing, directed by Matthijs van Heijningen Jr., provides such graphic and detailed views of the creature that we are essentially reduced to looking at special effects, and being aware that we are. Think how little you ever really saw in the first "Alien" movie, and how frightening it was. Read full review
60
Village VoiceBrian MillerOct 16, 2011
As written by Eric Heisserer (Final Destination 5), the new Thing lacks much wit or self-awareness. It's more of a "final girl" formula film, but on ice. Still, why did it take 29 years to create this solid double-feature? And will they unfreeze Russell for a trilogy? Read full review
60
Time OutJoshua RothkopfOct 14, 2011
These filmmakers got halfway there, but Carpenter's genius was about more than just a look. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierOct 14, 2011
In terms of scares, this old-fashioned Thing is better than most new things. Read full review
58
Entertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumOct 13, 2011
The other thing The Thing has got going for it is a welcome hint of dour Scandinavian sensibility sneaked in by director Matthijs van Heijningen Jr. whenever there's a pause in the unexceptional antics of aliens consuming humans. Read full review
50
Chicago ReaderBen SachsOct 16, 2011
Fails to replicate Carpenter's blue-collar humor or carefully modulated suspense. Read full review
50
New York PostKyle SmithOct 14, 2011
Misshapen, malodorous and firing its grubby tentacles across the room in a feeding frenzy, The Thing reminded me of a roomful of journalists immediately after someone announces Open Bar. The movie's victims disappear like cocktail peanuts and without a whole lot more significance. Read full review
50
USA TodayScott BowlesOct 13, 2011
Part horror film, part space thriller and all gore-fest, the movie ends up being a lot like its protagonist: a mess of a monster that stretches itself too thin to scare much. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChroniclePeter HartlaubOct 13, 2011
It's an imperfect facsimile, guilty of borrowing too many ideas from the earlier film, and then executing them with differing results. Read full review
50
Rolling StonePeter TraversOct 13, 2011
One gut-busting death after another, terror giving way to tedium. Your call. Read full review
50
Philadelphia InquirerTirdad DerakhshaniOct 13, 2011
The best thing about The Thing, the third - and the least interesting - big-screen adaptation of the John W. Campbell Jr. short story "Who Goes There?", is its closing credits. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineJesse CataldoOct 13, 2011
You can tell a lot about the film from its rough handling of the materials supplied by its predecessor, using these commonalities both to identify the bond between the two and signal how much further it's willing to push things. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyOct 13, 2011
Heijningen doesn't display the instinct of the best Hollywood action directors to give the audience what it craves at the big moments, except for a few gory in-your-face shots. Read full review
50
VarietyRob NelsonOct 13, 2011
Far less chilling than versions from 1951 and 1982, Universal's latest take on The Thing at least has a strong lead thesp in Mary Elizabeth Winstead, recruited for the studio's bid to turn a tale of ice-cold macho paranoia into a beauty-vs.-beast shocker a la "Alien." Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovOct 13, 2011
Heijningen's The Thing is tightly paced, has enough imaginative horror to satisfy even the most jaded gorehound, and never strays too far from its source, so why do you come away from it feeling like it was the runner-up in a daylight nightmare festival? Read full review
50
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzOct 12, 2011
While this version, listed as a "prequel," has a few gross-out moments, it lacks any sense of warmth. Which might be an odd criticism of a horror movie set in Antarctica, but there you have it. Read full review
45
MovielineStephanie ZacharekOct 13, 2011
There are some body-horror gross-outs if you're into that sort of thing, but mostly what you get are a bunch of too-obvious leftovers from the "Alien" stockroom, including a selection of moist innards, slimy tendons, dripping fangs and the like. Read full review
42
The A.V. ClubTasha RobinsonOct 12, 2011
For a film that takes place in such a cold locale, it all feels awfully warmed-over. Read full review
40
The New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisOct 13, 2011
This debut feature from Matthijs van Heijningen is as stiff as the Antarctic tundra. Where the earlier film pulsed with precisely calibrated paranoia and distinctly drawn characters, this inarticulate replay unfolds as mechanistically as a video game. Read full review
40
Boxoffice MagazineJames RocchiOct 12, 2011
Offers audiences a similar-but-not-the-same mix of effects, existentialism and creepy body horror while forgetting the things like character, humor and tension that made Carpenter's take on the same material so memorable past the initial fearsome fluid flesh sequences. Read full review
38
Miami HeraldRene RodriguezOct 16, 2011
There is absolutely nothing in this prequel/remake that improves on the first film or negates it in any way. If you've never seen The Thing - and you really should - stick with the genuine 1982 article and skip this elaborate act of mimicry. Read full review
38
Washington PostSean OConnellOct 13, 2011
Here's the thing about the new The Thing. It isn't as satisfying as the old "The Thing." And it's nowhere near as enthralling as the vintage "Thing," which inspired every other "Thing" to follow. Read full review
38
Orlando SentinelRoger MooreOct 12, 2011
It's an infuriatingly static picture - actors walking around when they should be running, ruminating when they should be panicking, generally failing to convey fear and pick up the pace. Read full review
25
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallOct 12, 2011
This Thing is purely for the gorehounds, and they aren't likely to leave impressed. Read full review
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