In 1982, acclaimed director John Carpenter directed the hit horror film, “The Thing”. Starring Kurt Russell, it received mixed reviews at the time of its release, but is regarded today as a classic. In 2011, a prequel came out for “The Thing”.
The film was done with CGI effects, though it was meant to be done with practical effects. In 2015, “Harbinger Down” was released, as an outcry from fans wishing to see what the film could have been with practical effects.
The story follows a group of college graduate students on the fishing ship Harbinger, who are studying how global warming is effecting a pod of Beluga whales in the Bering Sea. However, during the expedition, they come across some wreckage, which has alien life frozen within it. However, the alien cells soon become thawed out and start attacking the crew members, slowly picking them off one by one.
At first, I was excited to see this film. A redo of the second movie redone in the style of its predecessor is enough to catch any hardcore fan boy’s attention. In fact, fans wanted to see it so bad that when a kick starter was setup to pay for the equipment that would be used for the effects on this film, it racked up an impressive $384,181 dollars out of the original $350,000 budget goal, making it the most successfully funded Sci-Fi/ Horror project in the website’s history. And true to what we were told, the effects were phenomenal, and was a just tribute to the practical effects style which was common in 80s horror movies.
However, sadly, it cannot rest on the merits of just its effects. As a film, it doesn’t really work. It reeks of cheesy acting that would fit right alongside movies like “Sharknado”. It doesn’t really work.
I have very mixed views about this movie. The behind-the-scenes story is an interesting and impressive one. The effects are amazingly well done, and is also a huge shout out to the glory days of practical effects and horror movies from the 80s. I even found it kind of funny seeing Lance Henriksen in this film! However, as a film on its own, it really doesn’t work well. The writing and acting is corny, and it is almost forgettable. If you are fan boy of practical effects, and want to see what kind of film the 2011 version of “The Thing” could have looked like, check it out. However, if you are looking for a good horror movie, you’ll be out of luck here.