The Thing from Another World

American scientists discover a crashed UFO in the Arctic ice. Not far from the site of the crash, they find a well-preserved alien life form. Upon recovering the presumably dead creature, frozen in a block of ice, they take it to their research station, where it is defrosted, awakens to life and attacks the researchers. As decades later in ALIEN, the extraterrestrial creature (played by James Arness, who was to act the hero in the giant ant film THEM! later on) is characterised as a perfect organism whose only goal is to survive and to adapt to its new environment. “No pleasure, no pain, no emotion. Our superior in every way.” The Thing, which actually seems to be a plant, is only seen in dim outlines. Christian Nyby’s film under the guidance of Howard Hawks is based on the short story “Who Goes There?” by John W. Campbell, Jr. It continues to reflect Cold War invasion anxiety and resulting UFO hysteria. John Carpenter’s remake THE THING is also on show in this film series.