First Film Clip for THE THING - Mary Elizabeth Winstead discusses the Film

The first film clip for the Matthijs van Heijningen Jr. directed film The Thing has been released thanks to MTV. This film serves as a prequel to the 1982 John Carpenter film and tells the story of what happened to the Norwegian researchers discovered toward the beginning of the 1982 film. 

I'm actually looking forward to this movie, I liked what I saw in the trailer, and I liked the footage that was shown to fans at Comic-Con. It looks a lot better than what I was expecting. I was just happy to see that it looks like the film is going to have a good amount of practical effects like the original.

The movie stars  Mary Elizabeth Winstead, and Joel Edgerton, and is set to be released on October 14th. MTV also scored an interview with Winstead who talks about the film.

Here's the Synopsis:

Paranoia spreads like an epidemic among a group of researchers as they’re infected, one by one, by a mystery from another planet.Paleontologist Kate Lloyd (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) has traveled to the desolate region for the expedition of her lifetime. Joining a Norwegian scientific team that has stumbled across an extraterrestrial ship buried in the ice, she discovers an organism that seems to have died in the crash eons ago. But it is about to wake up. When a simple experiment frees the alien from its frozen prison, Kate must join the crew’s pilot, Carter (Joel Edgerton), to keep it from killing them off one at a time. And in this vast, intense land, a parasite that can mimic anything it touches will pit human against human as it tries to survive and flourish.

Check out the clip below and tell us what you think! I've also included a couple excerpts from the the interview with Winstead below.

On the film being a prequel of a classic film:

There was definitely a lot of pressure, because everyone involved is a fan of the John Carpenter version. None of us wanted to mess it up and none of us wanted to sully the legend of the John Carpenter film. We wanted to add to it in a positive way, a fun way, and make something that could go hand in hand with that film. And that's what we did. I think we made a film that's a really great standalone film, but also something that's really cool if you're a fan of the John Carpenter version, just to get a little insight into what may have occurred before. I think it's just a good movie regardless of how you feel about remakes and prequels and all of that. At least you can go see a good film and hopefully put that aside and just be there and go along for the ride.

On Keeping the suspense of a film we pretty much already know the end to:

I think that it's exciting to wonder who is a Thing and who isn't, and that's really where the suspense lies. A lot of films in the genre, you kind of know it's not gonna end up well. I don't think anyone is really expecting a happy ending. But that kind of going along for the ride and being in the suspense of the moment is what's really exciting. Our story is so great and it's one that could be played out in so many scenarios, and I think with bringing in completely different characters from completely different backgrounds and countries brings a whole other level of paranoia. It takes it into a different direction, having this language barrier between the characters and having a lot of "us" vs. "them" between the Norwegians and the Americans and things like that was an interesting take on it, made it a not straight-up remake. And it was exciting to me to put a girl in the mix, which people have different opinions on it. But for me, that's what differentiates it from the John Carpenter version in a big way and makes it a different film, makes it a unique film and one that stands on its own.

On how the film plays out:

It's a definite slow burn, which is great. It makes it feel like a classic horror film. You really set up the characters and you really build the fear slowly, and once sh-- hits the fan, it gets crazy and it doesn't stop. It's super-intense, the last half of the film. You just hold your breath and you don't breathe again till the credits roll. That's really great. The first part of the movie is really slow and foreboding, and you feel this slow dread building because you do know what's coming. You know that something crazy and horrible is gonna happen to these people, but they don't know it yet and kind of having that feeling as the audience is one that's exciting and creepy and terrifying.

On how horrifying and gross the film will be:

The "assimilation scenes" are definitely terrifying and disgusting and just creepy as hell. There's one in particular that stands out to me that's just horrific. I can't really describe it in too much detail because I don't wanna give anything away. It just blows your mind. Just seeing it being filmed, because we have a lot of practical effects stuff there, which is great and kind of seeing the beginning of it on set was terrifying in itself and disgusting. They just took it to a whole new level, the stuff they added in post production.

On keeping in line with John Carpenter's vision of the creature:

I think they definitely kept the John Carpenter version in mind when it came to the creature design. Definitely it is still that same world, but there is a somewhat new look to it and somewhat different take on it. It's sort of the 2011 version, but still with that spirit of practical effects. It certainly doesn't look exactly like the John Carpenter version. As awesome as those effects are, they are out of a certain period. And when you see that, you can kind of tell like, "Oh, those are really awesome '80s effects." So you can't really go exactly for that. You have to bring a little of the modern element in to it too, but hopefully keeping that real tangible quality the '80s effects had as well.

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