Review Detail

highly, highly recommended! I watched this twice, once in its original form alone and a second time with a friend with a tasteful black and white filter (which obviously isn't part of the original edit). Both experiences were very enjoyable, deliberate and intriguing renditions of the source material. The cuts are all placed very well in my opinion, never swapping movies at frustrating moments while still keeping investment in both narratives very high. Of particular note to me was the reveal of the ice slab containing The Thing and the buildup to its significance through multiple clever scene transitions across the two films. Overall, very impressively done! The original title and logo work was also very excellent.

However, I feel it somewhat loses steam at the end. It focuses progressively more attention on the 1982 film the closer the viewer is to the climax, which I think was the only viable decision. But there is still a sort of futile irritation when the story jumps back in time during the third act, and its hard not to feel like the inclusion of the backstory hardly impacted anything after the resolution. This is a problem moreso with the idea of the fanedit than the fanedit itself; taken in comparison with the 2011 film, this treatment of that film's material is still a much better contribution to the The Thing narrative.

Overall, highly recommended! An excellent and mostly seamless blend.