The Thing From Another World

This was a difficult film to grade on a standard star system. 2 ½ stars felt too low, but 3 stars felt too high; in the end I decided to go with 3 stars. Not because I liked the film itself - I didn’t - but because in consideration of the time period in which it was released, this is an effective horror film.

My personal frustration with the film is the dialogue, how it overall sucks the tension out of the story and characters. It’s so witty, everyone talks so calmly and collectively that I struggled to connect to the tension of the story at large. No one seems that scared of the alien stalking their arctic prison and yet, I’m meant to believe they are, in fact, terrified.

The conservatism of the film was also bothersome, from the idealization of the military, the seeming demonization of science, and the unnecessary romance plot. It's not that coming together collectively as a group to fight an outside source is inherently conservative in nature, it’s certainly not, but the group of characters coming together are only the military members and they do so, so flawlessly without breaking rank or nuance it becomes boring to watch.

It’s understandable why John Carpenter - both because of the advances of practical effects and in a post Vietnam America - chose to remove the military subplot completely from his version of The Thing in 1982 and switch the focus back solely on the scientists - the good, the bad, and the ugly of them - as was true in the original novella.

This is a rather rough review, especially for a 3 star rating. As I said, I didn’t particularly like this movie. However, though I don’t find it to be effective horror in a modern day cultural context, I do understand why it was so effective in 1951.

The creature looks, genuinely, quite good and appropriately frightening. The plant aspect of the alien’s origins makes it familiar enough for audiences to understand but foreign enough to both get the metaphor across and be frightening.

I enjoyed all the costuming, and the set pieces as well. I was impressed by how real the film was able to make its arctic set look and feel, and how claustrophobic the main base became. The acting is well done, and the chemistry between the leads, Margaret Sheridan and Kenneth Tobey feels real, playful, and genuine. In another movie I would have enjoyed watching them fall in love.

The 1950s were filled to the brim with science fiction horror stories, particularly those from outer space. Space was considered the “final frontier” and the space race kicked off in the 50s and the fear of communism was on the rise.

In what would become known as The Red Scare, Americans grow more paranoid and fearful of secret communists lurking in their supposedly safe suburban neighborhoods. We see most presently in the 1956 classic Invasion of the Body Snatchers, but it’s also here, in A Thing from Another World.

The fear of the other, an invading force coming in to threaten an American base, the American soldiers and American press fighting back valiantly against the alien creature.

Given all this context, and the general technical achievements of the film, it’s not surprising then that A Thing from Another World endured both upon release and with time and for that, I give it 3 stars.