Thanks to Matt for pointing this out to me.

While fans of John Carpenter’s 1982 classic The Thing wait with anticipation for next year’s “prequel,” it seems like we’ll never (especially at this point) get a sequel to the original movie.  MacCready and Childs sit out in the snow, unsure if either is the creature, sharing a drink and waiting to die from the cold, or the creature.

And while, really, you don’t need a sequel to such an amazing film, fans have clamored for a return to the universe and The Thing itself for years.  Dark Horse put together a pretty decent sequel to the film in comic book form (until subsequent mini-series dwindled in quality).  John Carpenter himself proposed a sequel in 2004 that would feature the original actors (their aged faces explained away using frostbite).  Even SyFy channel proposed a pretty interesting sounding (the entire story is online) sequel to the original done as a TV miniseries.  And while the prequel is happening, none of the proposed sequels garnered as much attention (or even got completed) as The Thing, a video game sequel to the film done for he PS2 and Xbox 360.

Sent to investigate the research station explosion at the end of the first one, a group of military men quickly come under attack by the creature and after a long and bloody battle, the hero escapes with the assistance of a helicopter pilot, revealed to be R.J. MacReady, the hero from the original film. The ending is ambiguous, and there is speculation that MacReady is, in fact infected.

What many fans don’t know is just how far a sequel to this game got into production…

More information on the sequel, which was in development for a year before getting canceled, can be found at the developer’s website.  Apparently, a ton of great ideas were in the works before the project got scrapped, including real-time Thing transformations and some AWESOME character designs.  According to the website, “If “The Thing 1” was Scott’s “Alien” then “Thing 2” was Cameron’s “Aliens”. The action would be taken to another level. With the game being more of an action horror title than survival horror. With the added tension of truly interactive NPCs that had a unique opinion of you (the player) and the other NPCs based on your/their actions.”

It’s a shame that the game got scrapped, considering it looks like it would have been incredibly good.  I enjoyed the original The Thing game (despite never getting too far into it), and I’d love to see a next generation game set in that universe.  I’ve got to say that I’ve really missed horror in my “horror games” lately – they all seem to have foregone scares in exchange for more action.  And while I enjoy action in my games, I miss the good old days where a game could actually creep you out (like the original Silent Hill).

Here’s hoping that the new movie does well enough to inspire interest in the franchise again, and that, though this game will never see the light of day, we’ll see something set in this world again.

How would you guys like to see the tale of The Thing continue?