2011's The Thing prequel originally used awesome practical effects to create its monsters, before changing them to bad CGI. Released in 1982, John Carpenter's The Thing is today regarded as one of the best examples of sci-fi/horror in history, despite not being a hit at the time of its release. The Thing has become popular enough that its reputation has managed to even eclipse that of the film it ostensibly remade, 1951's The Thing from Another World.
In the past couple of decades, just about every horror film from the 1980s with a fanbase has been either remade or rebooted, as studios seek to capitalize on any property with name value that might bring crowds to the theater. This was no different for The Thing, which received an update in 2011. While technically a prequel, The Thing 2011 is basically a remake as well, sticking pretty closely to the plot beats found in Carpenter's film, albeit at a new location and with a new cast.
The Thing 2011 isn't an irredeemably bad film, and is by no means unwatchable. Still, it's unlikely to ever reach the level of regard held by its predecessor. One area the prequel proved to be a downgrade in was its monster effects. Whereas Carpenter's film sports practical effects that still wow to this day, The Thing prequel realized its creatures via terribly unconvincing CGI. It turns out though that at one point, things were going to look much different.
There's no getting around it: the CGI effects found in The Thing 2011 look really, really bad. This is made all the more frustrating by the fact that the actual creature designs are inspired, and would look right at home around the tentacled monstrosities found in John Carpenter's The Thing. The designs were created by Amalgamated Dynamics (or Studio ADI), a prominent effects house founded by Tom Woodruff Jr and Alec Gillis, proteges of effects icon Stan Winston. Originally though, they weren't just designing the creatures. Studio ADI actually created a ton of amazing looking animatronic monsters for the prequel, and the film was shot with those practical effects intact.
In interviews given prior to The Thing 2011's release, director Matthijs van Heijningen Jr. and writer Eric Heisserer boasted about how proud they were of the prequel going practical, with only slight CGI enhancements made to Studio ADI's creations. That was until Universal demanded the film undergo heavy reshoots, including a new ending, and that new CGI effects be overlaid on top of the existing practical effects, effectively erasing them. In a later interview, Heijningen said the effects were seen as looking too much like a 1980s film, a complaint likely to leave most horror fans scratching their heads, since by all accounts the effects in Carpenter's movie look miles better than those found in the final cut of the prequel. Sadly, the original cut of The Thing 2011 with practical effects has never been released, although some behind the scenes footage included above shows a glimpse of the greatness that could've been.
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