Out at UK cinemas from 2 December

THINK ALL PREQUELS, SEQUELS AND remakes of classic films are shit, do ya? Well, you might just change your mind if you check out this creature feature.

Exploring the bizarre events leading to the carnage portrayed in John Carpenter’s 1982 chiller of the same name, this paranoia-fuelled tale sees US and Norwegian scientists (and a dip-shit Brit – the film’s only low point) team-up in Antarctica to slug it out with an extra-terrestrial capable of mimicking any living organism.

Director Matthijs van Heijningen Jr proves confident and capable. He draws on the look and ideas behind Carpenter’s film and the earlier Howard Hawks take on the 1938 short story that The Thing was inspired by, Who Goes There? by John W Campbell Jr. But the director also gives this film its own identity by focusing on mind-blowing monster action more than character development. That’s not to say the acting’s bad: Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World star Mary Elizabeth Winstead kicks ass.

There’s also a perfect balance between suspense and splatter, with the tension turned up to 11 to keep audiences guessing which humans are playing host to the alien entity.

The shocks come one jarring surprise after another, as the hideous, mutated mass of gnashing teeth and whipping tentacles eviscerates each of its victims from the inside out. It doesn’t matter how highly you regard The Thing’s predecessors, Van Heijningen Jr has delivered a convincingly performed creep-out companion piece, and it’s one of this year’s best mainstream horrors.

Billy Chainsaw