Wednesday 4 January 2012

Pingu's The Thing!



Have you ever watched claymated children's programme Pingu, about a family of penguins living in igloos in Antarctica? It is sweet, funny and so lovely. Have you seen John Carpenter's The Thing, an 80's horror classic about a shape-shifting alien which attacks the occupants of an isolated scientific mission in the North Pole? It is dark, scary and utterly depressing. Now I bet you have never wondered what would happen if Pingu and The Thing collided?


Well your non question has finally been answered! For a very talented, amateur (not for very long) stop motion artist has created an unlikely yet absolutely fantastic remake/mash-up of Pingu/The Thing. This has gone viral on YouTube today and the reaction has been absolutely mental, getting the whole blogosphere talking and articles in The Guardian and The Huffington Post. I am very curious what original master John Carpenter would make of it!



It manages to cram in a lot more tension and suspense within its short 2 minutes running time than the tragic prequel that polluted our screens last year did in its extended running time. And is a much more fitting tribute to the glory of the original film, which is in my book the best horror film ever made.

Notice how the iconic scenes of the 80's film have been so lovingly recreated, with a great attention to detail, all that with a Pingu twist: the spider-head, the arms-chomping ribcage, the tensed blood test session, all that with the sounds effects of the film. It is even more impressive as the maker of this short film, Lee Hardcastle, made this pretty much with zero budget, on a kitchen table! I can predict great things ahead of him!

And it made me wonder, what other horror/kids programme would be as good a match? Bagpuss in a stop-motion remake of Cat People? The Teletubbies infected by an exploding flesh virus, Cabin Fever style? He-Man in his very own animated Falcon 80's adapation?

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