That Thing you do

See that? See what I did there with the headline? Clever huh *insert cricket noise and tumble weed here. Moving on…uber-talented Australian lad Joel Edgerton is set star in a remake of The Thing.

The Hollywood remake is said to be a remake of John Carpetner’s `82 version of The Thing which was a remake of the Howard Hanks’ `51 film The Thing From Another World which was a take on the `38 short Who Goes There?

If you lead a more exciting life then I, a fun game could be played involving a shot of whiskey every time I use the word `remake’. An even funner game would be a shot every time Hollywood did another remake (shot!) which would have you in a medically induced coma in 45 minutes ….approximately.

Remake (shot!) negativity aside, I’m actually semi-excited about this, mainly because Edgerton (below) is involved and frankly, I consider him a bit of a multi-talented, cinematic genius. Did I mention his most recent film Animal Kingdom picked up the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance? And don’t even get me started on The Square.

The Thing follows a shape-shifting alien who terrorizes a group of people in Antarctica. Sounds a bit like the first Alien Vs Predator to me, but less shit.

Mary Elizabeth Winstead will co-star, which is good if she behaves like she did in Death Proof and frightening if she pulls a Make It Happen. Her character is a PhD candidate (cough) who joins a Norwegian research team in Antarctica after it discovers an alien ship in the ice. When the trapped organism is freed and begins a series of attacks, she is forced to team up with a blue-collar mercenary helicopter pilot (Edgerton) to stop the rampage.

Dutch producer Matthijs Van Heijningen makes his directorial debut with The Thing which begins filming on March 15 in Toronto.

No word yet on a release date or 3D inclinations.

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You Drive Me Crazies

This just in, I have a fresh trailer for you horror fiends out there and in the very same month as my favouritist of all holidays- Halloween! Unfortunately the film doesn’t come out in Australia until March but it’s great to have a taste tester. The Crazies is a remake of the 1974 George A. Romero classic of the same name, and follows the inhabitants of a small in Iowa town who become plagued by insanity, then death, when a toxin enters their water supply after a plane carrying a biological weapon crashes nearby. FYI by die I mean turn into crazy, flesh-eating, zombie-esque creatures hence the title The Crazies. The trailer went viral today and you can check it out below;

As a general rule remakes are never as good as the original, especially when it comes to horror films. But if Zack Synder’s Dawn Of The Dead rehash has taught us anything, if done right, they can be pretty damn awesome. The Crazies certainly looks like it may fall into that category if the trailer is anything to go by. Director Brett Eisner brought us Sahara a few years back, which is a major guilty pleasure of mine, and it looks like he has made one hell of a horror movie. It stars Aussie lass Radha Mitchell and Timothy Olyphant in the leads, but more importantly the stellar Danielle Panabaker (below) has one of the major parts. She’s shaping up to be one of my favourite young actresses after bursting onto my radar in the severely underrated Sky High. The 22-year-old has shown a penchant for the horror genre staring in The Friday 13^th remake earlier this year and after The Crazies she’s the lead in John Carpenter’s return to directing, The Ward. Her younger, yet identical-looking sister Kay stars in my contender for worst film of the year, Fame, which is screening now.

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