For many science fiction fans, John Carpenter’s 1982 film The Thing is something of a sacred text, regularly cited as one of the very best examples of sci-fi horror to come out of Hollywood. It’s name is also frequently bandied around as one of the best remakes ever made – the source story Who Goes There? was first adapted by Howard Hawks and Christian Nyby in 1951 – to the extent that this 2011 version is being vehemently described as a prequel, rather than an attempt to retell Carpenter’s best film. While it does indeed dramatise the plight of the Norwegian party who first discovered the alien and its crashed ship, from whence the terror in the 1982 film originated, the look, mood, pacing and sequence of events bear an uncanny resemblance to The Thing‘s predecessor.

The Norwegian team now accommodates a number of American and other English-speaking members, most notably Kate Lloyd (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), a noted paleontologist flown in to help examine their find. Joel Edgerton is the blue collar helicopter pilot, clearly channeling Kurt Russell while giving our heroine someone to talk to once the paranoia and distrust begins to take hold. Beyond these two and the obligatory evil scientist (Ulrich Thomsen) who values the creature over the safety of the team, the other characters are an assorted bunch of expendable bearded foreigners, with names almost as ridiculous as those in Carpenter’s version. Despite the intense Antarctic cold, the cast seems surprisingly comfortable in just sweaters and woolly hats, ensuring it’s always easy to spot the attractive/important people.

When not carefully reworking favorite scenes from the source material just enough to escape the label “remake”, The Thing is making the most of its female lead by emulating that other great sci-fi horror flick, Alien, to equally shrug-inducing effect. In fact, first-time director Matthijs van Heijningen Jr. manages to recapture the look and feel of those films so well that The Thing just makes you want to go and watch Alien or, well, The Thing instead of this passable though wholly unnecessary imitation. The only thing keeping fans engaged until the end is to see just how they will tie events into the previous film, which opens with two Norwegians chasing the infected dog into the American camp, which they do in admittedly rather satisfying fashion.

As always with these remakes…excuse me!…prequels, there is no need to become enraged by their existence, as they are ignored and in no way damage the beloved originals upon which they are based. In fact The Thing may very well turn a whole new generation of fans onto Carpenter’s wonderful film. Once they have sat through this inoffensive, yet unremarkable venture, they will be perfectly primed to experience something all-together more impressive, and that includes the 30-year-old creature effects, to which this film cannot hold a candle, flare or even a flamethrower.