Here’s your first look at The Thing, a reboot of—or, as it’s being billed, a “prelude to”—John Carpenter’s 1982 film of the same name, which was itself a remake of the 1951 film The Thing From Another World. So, plenty of layers of spackle on this old property, which may account for why this trailer seems so full of predictable scares, predictably applied. Of course, the biggest selling point of Carpenter’s version was the gore, more so than the suspense, so it’s possible this preview is still holding its cards in that respect.
That’s about the only aspect it doesn’t give away, however, as we’re whisked through what seems like the entire plot in just over two minutes: Mary Elizabeth Winstead (harking back to her “scream queen” days in Final Destination 3 and Black Christmas) plays a paleontologist who seems to be the only voice of caution and reason in an Antarctic expedition team that also includes Animal Kingdom’s Joel Edgerton, and it isn’t long before they’re digging an extraterrestrial out of the ice, then running for their lives and busting out the flamethrower. The events of this film reportedly feed directly into Carpenter’s story, so perhaps the pervasive feeling of being a pointless rehash is meant to illustrate the cyclical, history-repeats-itself nature of life?