10 Best Horror Movie Prequels

Did we ever need a prequel to John Carpenter's iconic The Thing? No, we clearly did not.

Still, when Matthijs van Heijningen Jr. brought just such a film to the silver screen in 2011, the movie was pretty darn good. Sure, it wasn't Carpenter's The Thing, but this prequel - annoyingly also titled The Thing - was quite the impressive beast.

Headed up by Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Joel Egerton, this '11 movie rolls right into the opening minutes of its 1982 predecessor. The focus here is on the Norwegian research station that first encountered the alien spacecraft - and the parasitic alien it brought to Earth - way before MacReady and company.

The setting and visuals of The Thing (2011) are impressively atmospheric, with Winstead on particularly fine form as she looks to tackle an assimilating beast from another world. Where this picture does let itself down, mind, is by opting to go the CGI route with so many of its more gruesome scenes.

Using CGI wouldn't necessarily always be a bad move, but it's a tough ask to replicate the quality and sheer terrifying uniqueness of the practical effects work carried out by Rob Bottin and crew on Carpenter's 1982 movie.