The Thing (15)

Starring: Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Joel Edgerton, Kim Bubbs

I jumped out of my seat a couple of times during this sci-fi chiller, in part because I could barely remember John Carpenter's original movie from 1982.

This is actually set up as a prequel, describing events a few days before Kurt Russell and co found themselves running poo-scared down dark corridors. A mysterious "structure", discovered way beneath the icefields of Antarctica, has got a team of scientists quite stumped. When the specimen they had believed extinct suddenly vaults through the roof the fun begins. "The frickin' thing's alive!" – and a shapeshifter, no less, able to replicate its prey with gooey exactitude. The dog gets it first, of course, then one by one the humans start looking peaky and an atmosphere of mutual suspicion takes a thrilling hold. The director Matthijs van Heijningen keeps the pace cracking, and the FX team produce mutations about as grotesque as you'll ever see.