The Thing From Another World (DVD)

Many of you might remember the John Carpenter film 'The Thing' made in 1982 and you might get it confused with this film from 1951 with good reason since both are based on the classic science fiction novella 'Who Goes There?' written in 1938 by John W Campbell Jr. John W Campbell Jr. was a big inspiration to other great writers like Isaac Asimov and Robert Heinlein, the story is an inspired choice for film adaptation. In the original novella the creature can assume the physical shape and thought processes of anyone it comes into contact with. This aspect of the story doesn't appear in this version mainly due to the lack of special effects technology available ...  Read the complete review

By God, if you haven't seen this film yet, you are living in a sad and deprived world. The plot is simple, derived from a short story, 'Who Goes There?' by John W. ampbell. A UFO is found by scientists at a US Army base at the North Pole, along with an alien being, embedded in the ice beside his craft. The creature is removed, and after inadvertently being thawed out, goes on the rampage. After discovering that the creature is a vegetable, here to propagate its species, the base crew finally manage to trap and destroy the beast. The Thing is anything but primitive. The build-up is sensational, with justly famous images such as the scientists ...  Read the complete review

The Thing from Another World is a science fiction classic that is adapted from the 1938 novella "Who Goes There?" by John W. Campbell, Jr. Although the director is credited as Christian Nyby, it is widely regarded that Howard Hawks actually did most of the work, given its Hawksian staples such as the famed "Hawksian woman" - a trope of Hawks's films where the woman plays a dominant role that supercedes that of the men. Although it is outdone in every department by John Carpenter's stunning remake, this is nevertheless a culturally significant film (far moreso than the remake), and having been made in 1952, is a powerful and pungent allegory ...  Read the complete review

I can't say that I am an enormous fan of the old 50s sci-fi movies to which this movies most certainly belongs. There is only so much camp acting, naff special effects and ludicrous visions of a future which has already past without incident that a body can take. However, anyone who has seen this movie will attest that it is one of the better examples, and undoubtably a movie which shaped a genre and inspired such classics as Alien and of course John Carpenter's superb 1982 remake - The Thing. As such then it is a movie which we owe much to, and equally, a damn fine viewing experience at that. The plot here is virtually the same as the 1982 remake but ...  Read the complete review

THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD is the 1951 film version of the Richard Matheson novel WHO GOES THERE? The storyline involves an Arctic science station whose crew discovers a spaceship under the ice. The spaceship and it's occupant have been frozen for many years, but when they take the alien back to their base he thaws out and begins to attack them. Although Christian Nyby is credited as director, it is widely believed that producer Howard Hawks took over when Nyby began to have problems. As the cast get picked off one by one by the creature, a feeling of great claustrophobia is established, which John Carpenter also created well in his later remake. ...  Read the complete review