The Thing

Director Matthijs van Heijningen's feature debut is pitched as a prequel to John Carpenter's 1982 classic -it ends where that film begins - but it's really more of a remake, down to the many grotesque, surreal shock moments. Mary Elizabeth Winstead plays a palaeontologist who is whisked to an Antarctic research base when an alien is found embedded in the ice. Once defrosted, the shape-shifting thing causes paranoia on a grand scale, and that's even before the gory mayhem begins. This stands up well against Carpenter's film: van Heijningen creates an edgy atmosphere, the restaged gross-out scenes are enhanced rather than overwhelmed by the slick CGI work, and the horrific sights that greeted Kurt Russell's crew at the base are cleverly explained. Tense, smart and suitably gruesome, this certainly delivers the goods.