The actual title of the Howard Hawks’ produced (and possibly directed) original is “The Thing From Another World,” and it is by far my favorite of the two and easily one of the best horror films to come out of the fifties. Set in a remote and isolated Arctic research station staffed with scientists and Air Force personnel, Captain Hendry (an absolutely superb Kenneth Tobey) and his men come across a crashed alien spaceship and its traveller, both frozen in the ice from the heat of the crash. After accidentally blowing up the ship (an act that will become a running joke in a film filled with quiet, intelligent humor), the men drag the block of ice containing the alien back to base with no intention of thawing out the scientific find of the century without orders from on high. Obviously, those best laid plans don’t work out and soon a blood-hungry piece of plant life, The Thing (James Arness), is on the loose.
On top of its creepy, claustrophobic atmosphere and slow-tension scares, the real pleasure of Charles Lederer’s script (loosely based on John Campbell’s short story “Who Goes There?”) is the inter-action between the characters as heard through a uniquely charming and casual banter that quickly establishes the various relationships and allows for a ton of necessary exposition if we in the audience are going to understand what’s going on and why.
At the center of the action is our hero Hendry, a strong-jawed American leader who’s not above making mistakes (like blowing up the spaceship) or asking those around him who know better any number of questions necessary to make the best decisions. His willingness to do everything possible to try and accommodate a visiting reporter who’s desperate to report the story and the station’s lead scientist, Dr. Arthur Carrington (an excellent Robert Cornthwaite), who’s even more desperate to study and protect the marauding alien, go a long way towards establishing the character as the kind of man we’d all like follow. He’s not weak, far from it — just willing to listen, do what he can, and ultimately take full responsibility for the end results.
Eventually, however, no amount of reason or accommodation will satisfy the endlessly arrogant Carrington who ends up undermining the safety of everyone because his own elitist contempt for humanity has him so sure that The Thing is superior to us — in his ignorant words: “wiser.” Needless to say, this is a Howard Hawks’ film and that appeaser eventually gets what they all got coming.
Filled with intelligent, capable and resourceful characters and a number of beatifully staged and photographed scenes that linger fondly in your nightmares ever after, “The Thing From Another World” is one of the rare sci-fi/horror films from wayback that plays as well today as it did during the Truman years (don’t miss the joke at the President’s expense).
So be sure to watch the skies and beware the 81-minute cut that removes the film’s best-written scenes, those between Hendry and Carrington’s gorgeous assistant Nikki (Margaret Sheridan). The not so subtle subtext makes pretty clear that these two have already enjoyed a night together after a drunken party and watching them in the light of day warily circle the other is the kind of mature adult romance you don’t see in today’s films.
—–
Though John Carpenter’s 1982 film is considered a remake, other than a group of people isolated in the Arctic with a deadly alien being stalking them, the films have very little in common.
Carpenter, a huge fan of the original, sticks much closer to the source material and instead of a single monster antagonizing our heroes, Carpenter serves up a menacing alien capable of physically and mentally taking over its human host. Also, rather than the conflict coming from the action versus academic dynamic that Hawks found so compelling, Carpenter pits his entire (and all-male) cast one against the other because they have no idea who is and isn’t hiding among them as the deadly alien.
Kurt Russell, Keith David, Richard Masur, Wilford Brimley, and Richard Dysart lead a terrific cast of decidedly non-military types who fit the anti-hero vision Carpenter’s become famous for. These men do eventually rise to the occasion, however, as the stakes become clear that should this alien reach the general population it will wipe out the human race like a plague. Due to its downer ending, Carpenter’s modern classic is frequently described as nihilist, but I disagree (maybe even with the director himself).
The ultimate decision made by the two remaining survivors, Russell and David, is far from a life-is-meaningless moment. In fact, it’s a noble and heroic act of self-sacrifice. Both men choose to die rather than run the risk of the alien surviving to wipe out humanity.
Adding considerably to the overall experience is Ennio Morricone’s driving score (which, in spots, channels Carpenter’s own composing) and Rob Bottin’s incredible in-camera special effects (with an assist from Stan Winston when The Thing attacks the dogs). So effectively entertaining and respected is the film today that it’s hard to believe that when originally released it was to scathing reviews and box office indifference. “E.T.,” which took a considerably different view of what we might expect from a visiting alien, had only been in theatres a couple weeks when “The Thing” was released and audiences probably weren’t interested in the buzz kill.
Eventually, as most truly good movies do, this unrelentingly tense and violent vision of an alien invasion of the psychological kind found both the audience favor and critical respect it so richly deserves.
Comment count on this article reflects comments made on Breitbart.com and Facebook. Visit Breitbart's Facebook Page.