The Thing from Another World

Hot take: horror had a rough go of it in the 50’s.  Actually the 40’s through the 60’s was a long slog that definitely yielded some certified masterworks but the bulk of it was pretty bad.  And in my opinion the 50’s fared the worst of the three decades.  Giant insects and space aliens that simply resembled humans except for one exaggerated body feature was a lot of what was on the menu then.  Look, I understand that’s where we were with the filmmaking and what audiences liked to see at that time.  That’s all fine.  It just doesn’t hold up that well.  And at least on the surface The Thing from Another World fits into that mold.  A creature crash lands on Earth in the form of, well, a human being with claws and a square head.  What makes this particular picture rise above its peers though is the damn good story idea and execution.

Based on the novella “Who Goes There?” by John W. Campbell the setup involves an isolated group of scientists and military personnel stationed at the north pole who investigate a peculiar object that dropped out of the sky near them.  Turns out to be a flying saucer.  They accidentally blow up the ship when they attempt to recover it using thermite (oops!) but take the consolation prize of an otherworldly beast encased in ice back to their base.  They want to keep the thing frozen until the higher ups arrive and decide what to do with it.  Another accident occurs when one of the guys guarding the ice block unknowingly places an electric blanket on top thawing it enough to let the organism out.  It’s hostile and ping pongs between attacking everyone and hiding out in and around the encampment.

What I really dig about the film is the mystery, suspense and intrigue.  There’s good build up with learning that there’s something foreign in the ice, the holy shit discovery that it’s an alien, the panic of it now being on the loose, not knowing what it is or how to deal with it, figuring out what it wants, how to defeat it, etc.  It could be lurking around any corner and attack without notice.  And it’s made up of plant-like material.  Each piece of itself can function independently of the main body and it can regenerate if given enough time.  This is completely different from anything we’ve seen on our own planet and it’s scary.

Part of what makes this villain so creepy is that whenever it does show up it comes in fast and hard.  These quick bursts of action only last a couple of moments but they’re intense because they rev up the scene from 0 to 100 in a snap.  Of course the standout attack is when the alien busts through a door out of nowhere and our protagonists act immediately to set the thing on fire.  It’s an iconic visual and well deserved because fuck me did it look dangerous as all hell to perform.  I mean the actors are throwing buckets of flammable material onto a stunt guy in a suit who’s already on fire creating massive bursts of flames on top of flames.  The surrounding set and props all catch fire as well.

It can’t be overstated how influential The Thing from Another World was.  It frightened the pants off and inspired a whole generation of filmmakers.  You can see its legacy in Alien, Aliens (the alien motion tracker is very reminiscent of the Geiger counter here that shows how close the creature is), slashers in general (I wouldn’t classify this as a slasher exactly but it certainly has elements of one) and of course, John Carpenter’s impeccable remake.

Interestingly one of the other few good horror features from the 50’s, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, also involves a plant based life form infecting Earth.  They replace humans with their own homegrown pod beings so you don’t know who’s an alien and who isn’t.  This is similar to “Who Goes There?” and Carpenter’s version of The Thing where the alien can precisely replicate any entity it comes in contact with.  Just wanted to point that out.

Boy did it take me a long time to finally get to this one and it’s a fun time overall.  However, I’m not saying it’s a totally incredible movie.  It’s extremely dialogue heavy, has smarmy characters and the creature design is more or less a lazy Frankenstein knock off instead of the shape shifter from the book.  But that was the style of the time and as long as you understand that going in you’ll be ok.  For any big horror fan it’s required reading because its influence looms large to this day.  You can trace a bunch of your favorite films and tropes back to this guy.