It tells the story of a team of scientists on a Norwegian Antarctic research station who discover a parasitic alien buried deep in the ice, realizing too late that it is still alive.

Kate discovers dental fillings in a bloodied shower and alerts the team that the alien can assimilate and imitate its victims to hide among them.

Carter and Jameson break into the main building, shooting Peder dead and puncturing his flamethrower tank, causing an explosion that knocks Edvard unconscious.

Colin's corpse sits in the radio comms room, his wrists slit and a straight razor held in his hand.

After creating the Dawn of the Dead remake, producers Marc Abraham and Eric Newman began to look through the Universal Studios library to find new properties to work on.

"[23] In early 2009, Variety reported the launch of a project to film a prequel—possibly following MacReady's brother during the events leading up to the opening moments of the 1982 film—with Matthijs van Heijningen Jr. as director and Ronald D. Moore as writer.

[29] While in Moore's original draft was clear who would be the Thing, in rewrites it was decided the audience should not know who is infected in order to add to the sense of paranoia.

[30] Heisserer explained that in rewriting the script, it was necessary for him to research all the information that was revealed about the Norwegian camp from the first film, down to the smallest details, so that it could be incorporated into the prequel in order to create a consistent backstory.

[33] The director felt that horror films worked better when time was spent to explore the characters' emotional journeys, allowing the audience to care about them.

[26] Matthijs van Heijningen also cited the films of director Roman Polanski as influence, such as his work on Rosemary's Baby.

[34] The director chose not to fast cut the film, instead opting for a slower pace, hoping to build a sense of dread.

[43] Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff Jr. of Amalgamated Dynamics (ADI) created the practical creature effects for the film.

[44] In addition to creating the visual effects for the human-Thing transformations, Gillis, Woodruff and their team had the challenge of coming up with the look of the alien in the ice block unearthed by the Norwegians.

[45] The puppetry team also included several Canadian puppeteers, including Frank Meschkuleit, Gord Robertson, Rob Mills, Fred Stinson, Mike Petersen, Trish Leeper, Ron Stefaniuk, Karen Valleau, Ronnie Burkett, Matt Ficner, Jason Hopley, and Marty Stelnick; many of whom had worked on TV shows like Fraggle Rock and The Big Comfy Couch.

[43] Matthijs van Heijningen preferred to use practical effects over computer imagery, as he believed actors give better performances when they have something physical to react to.

Haworth and a team of approximately twelve others then created the inside of the ship as a several story-high interior set constructed mostly out of a combination of foam, plaster, fiberglass, and plywood.

[40] The ship was designed specifically to look as if it were not made to accommodate humans, but rather alien creatures of different size and shape who could walk on any surface.

[40][47] While the film was originally set for release in April, Universal Pictures changed the date to October 14, 2011,[48] to allow time for reshoots.

An official studio press release stated that the intention of the reshoots was to "enhance existing sequences or to make crystal clear a few story beats or to add punctuation marks to the film's feeling of dread.

"[49] Universal had test screenings of an early version of the film shown to focus groups, the reaction to which the studio interpreted as negative.

[51][52] In post-release interviews, Alec Gillis revealed that while Amalgamated Dynamics creature designs for the film remained mostly intact, most of their practical effects ended up being digitally replaced in post-production.

The site's critical consensus reads, "It serves the bare serviceable minimum for a horror flick, but The Thing is all boo-scares and a slave to the far superior John Carpenter version.

[64] Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune gave the film a rating of 3 out of 4, saying "While I wish van Heijningen's Thing weren't quite so in lust with the '82 model, it works because it respects that basic premise; and it exhibits a little patience, doling out its ickiest, nastiest moments in ways that make them stick".

[65] Andrew O'Hehir of Salon.com called it a "Loving prequel to a horror classic", saying "It's full of chills and thrills and isolated Antarctic atmosphere and terrific Hieronymus Bosch creature effects, and if it winks genially at the plot twists of Carpenter's film, it never feels even a little like some kind of inside joke.

[67] Christopher Orr of The Atlantic wrote that the narrative choices open to a prequel "exist on a spectrum from the unsurprising to the unfaithful", but van Heijningen "has managed this balancing act about as well as could be hoped" and although the line between homage and apery is a fine one, "in our age of steady knockoffs, retreads, and loosely branded money grabs, The Thing stands out as a competent entertainment, capably executed if not particularly inspired.

"[68] Josh Bell of Las Vegas Weekly rated the film three out of five stars and wrote, "Winstead makes for an appealing protagonist, and Kate is portrayed as competent without being thrust into some unlikely action-hero role.

[72] In Patrick Sauriol of Coming Attractions' review, he states, "Stack it up against John Carpenter's version and it looks less shiny, but let's face it, if you're that kind of Thing fan you're going to go see the new movie anyway.

"[73] A brief review in Fangoria refers to the film as "Matthijs van Heijningen's prequel that proves modern CGI is no match for old-school makeup FX".

[81] AllMusic rated the album 3.5/5 saying, "Composer Marco Beltrami's appropriately tense and brooding score for director Matthijs van Heijningen, Jr.'s 2011 [prequel to] The Thing dutifully echoes Ennio Morricone's stark score for the original version, which in its own way echoed the soundtrack work of that film's director, John Carpenter.

[86] In 2020, the following social media hashtags: #ReleaseThePilotVersion[87][88] and #ReleaseTheStudioADIcut[89][90] were started in response to Zack Snyder's Justice League and the released BTS footage from Studio ADI on YouTube,[91] while Bloody Disgusting and NerdBot published articles and YouTube videos calling it one of the most anticipated director's cut in horror films.