The Thing

Release date: 2 December 2011
Running time: 103 mins
Certificate: 15
Director: Matthijs van Heijningen Jr
Starring: Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Joel Edgerton, Ulrich Thomsen

Palaeontologist Kate Lloyd (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) fulfils the dream of a lifetime when she joins a Norwegian scientific team in the remote Antarctic. They've made an amazing discovery - a creature from another world frozen in the ice.

When research team leader Dr. Sander Halvorson (Ulrich Thomsen) takes a tissue sample from the alien against Kate's advice, he unleashes a fearsome foe with astonishing powers. But how can you defeat a malevolent opponent that mimics everyone it devours?

This isn't a reworking of John Carpenter's brilliant 1982 film of the same title (itself inspired by a 1950s classic) - It's actually a clever prequel revealing what happened in the days before the events of Carpenter's movie. Mary Elizabeth Winstead makes a memorable heroine in the mould of Sigourney Weaver's Ripley from the 'Alien' series.