I thought it was horrible, and I love both Hawks's version and Carpenter's. Hawks's film was as good as could have been made back then, and his style and method make the film enjoyable to watch even today. Fast pacing, tight dialog, strong characterization, etc. Carpenter's is a perfect film in every possible aspect. Even today, those effects are chilling to watch and unlike CGI, emit a sense of reality that CGI just can't replicate. He did follow the novel pretty close, except Campbell's characters are more intelligent and practical, where Carpenter made them seem to be more like outcasts. Nevertheless, it's a great film, easily his best.

The 2011 film is horrible, not just in effects, but in story line. It's like every other horror film made nowadays.

It's more likely these films have a built up fan base/identifiable brand, so it's a guarantee cash flow success upon release. Plus it gives new filmmakers the opportunity to make their mark, and further their careers, without much damage upon failure. Most of the time, artistically the film fails because of the high bench mark of the original.

The Fog remake was a piece of shit, lucky that is all they have remade of his films outside of the Halloween franchise.

Carpenter's remake is really one of the very few examples of a remake surpassing the original. What is interesting is that the film flopped upon release and lost money. Luckily, Carpenter bounced back to make a few more good films before he lost the plot (Escape from LA, Ghosts of Mars). Having said that, he was the best at that genre for 15 years. I just watched Christine a few weeks ago, and even that film has held up.

That is another remake that was damn good, but 1986 was 34 years ago.

Damn, I forgot about that one.

You mention the pretty lead, which I agree was not necessary. The other scene that stood out to me was the entry into the ship underground, totally ridiculous.

One of my favorite scenes of the 82 version is when they go to the Norwegian camp. The sets just drive the atmosphere, as does the models used, and the 2011 movie just completely missed the continuity of it, at least in my eyes.

The one scene that was done well was the helicopter scene with The Thing erupting. I thought they really tried and that could have worked. But throwing the effects off on the side for a minute, Carpenter's (and the Hawks) version had a very tight and quick turnaround with the plot. They move fast and you have to keep up. Even now, my son and I watch it and try to guess who gets infected, and when. When is there only one Thing, and when are there finally two, and how? When does Blair get infected? Is Childs a Thing at the end since he was away for so long?

It's my favorite horror/sci fi movie of all time, and Alien is just a thumbnail below it, but not by much. Even that freakin poster art is top notch.

It also opened up against Blade Runner, which also was a flop, but it was praised by critics.

But The Thing just "didn't do well" at the box office, it was ripped apart by critics, the public, AND by genre fans(us). Carpenter's career was almost ruined.

Wiki has a good summary if you want to read up on it.

That would assume there is two at that point, which might not be the case as they just destroyed Blair. I'll have to watch the end again to see about the kerosene in the bottle.

I've always been good with the ambiguous ending, makes for a better story.

Ken Tobey hated the 1982 remake and really came out with some negative comments about it, which I'm sure hurt the box office as the older generation stayed away.

We have to remember, nothing like those effects were seen by anyone back in 1982, not to that extent. It was just too much for audiences back then.

There is no way a bunch of rouge filmmakers back in 1982 freezing their asses off, having one actor with a broken hand, and the special effects guy having nervous breakdowns, would have set that all up, no way in hell.

Supposedly, his name was one of the last things Walt Disney said on his deathbed.

Total Recall was shit, as was the Robocop remake.

I actually liked the 84 Dune, although I have not read the books.

That transformation is still incredible to watch, even today.

I was never a big fan of this film as others are. It has great style and terrific acting/actors, but the plot doesn't move that fast. Could have been better.