Direct from NYC, Universal's prequel to the John Carpenter classic rears its ugly head...

From Nicky Ugrin at New York Comic Con 2010:

The first trailer for Universal's long-awaited prequel to John Carpenter's The Thing (1982) has had its world preview at Comic Con, and it looks... awesome! Even cast members got up from their seats to watch it, as the trailer was only finished late last night.

It starts off with a thumping heartbeat and flashes of film interposed. Eric Christian Olsen invites a girl (let's just call her Ripley) to an exciting scientific find in Antarctica. What is it? We don't know. The team assembles in a cold cabin, singing Norwegian folk songs. The leader, Sanders, tells them all to prepare themselves for greatness as they begin drilling into a huge block of ice.

Suddenly... terror! Screams! Lots of shots of a girl looking horrified. Please, no! She runs outside...

Tag: Where there is nothing... they found something.

Spooky. As Hell.

The remake is set three days prior to Carpenter's tale and tells the story of  the Norwegian team annihilated right before the 1982 film. Because Carpenter's film included so many clues about the fate of the Norwegian team (they're not Swedish, Mac!), the set-up of the movie has been  "reverse-engineered" from the original, and we were told by members of the panel that it's all "staying true to John Carpenter's universe".

The Thing, due for a 2011 release, is directed by Matthijs van Heijningen Jr. (also also developing Army of the Dead with new Superman director Zack Snyder), from a screenplay by Eric Heisserer (A Nightmare on Elm Street, 2009). Joel Edgerton and Mary Elizabeth Winstead take the lead roles, Winstead bringing the only double X-chromosome factor that John W. Campbell, Jr.'s superb story has had since the Christian Nyby/Howard Hawks classic adaptation The Thing From Another World was released in 1951 with Margaret Sheridan co-starring.

I'll update later, must go...