Day 8: The Thing from Another World

9. The Thing from Another World (1951)
Dir: Christian Nyby, Howard Hawks (Uncredited)
Cast: Margaret Sheridan, Kenneth Tobey, Douglas Spencer, James Arness

With an almost ten year gap between this post and my last I thought I should explain myself. Seeing as there were so many films I wanted concentrate on further decades I decided to cut back significantly on the 40s, but I'd still like to pay my respects to some other films finishing off that decade, most notably a handful of the films produced by Val Lewton such as; Cat People (1942), I Walked with a Zombie (1943) and The Body Snatcher (1941), which was one of Robert Wise's first films. Anyways let's get on to our next frightening feature.

Breaking into the 50s we have one of the most influential sci-fi/monster movies to come out of the Atomic Age of film The Thing from Another World, produced, co-written and co-directed by veteran filmmaker Howard Hawks. Based off the 1948 short story by John W. Campbell Jr. The Thing from Another World tells the story of an Alaskan research group who after discovering a frozen extraterrestrial played by the intimidating 6'8ft tall James Arness, later of Gunsmoke fame, become pitted against this deadly vegetable man in some somewhat sticky situations.



A well produced film, The Thing from Another World is a finely crafted and sharp sci-fi thriller. Where as many other film's to come out of this blossoming genre were often cheesy and cheap looking pictures, this film was as fine as any other Hollywood project. With a large talented ensemble cast and some pretty creepy sequences this was pretty good considering all it aimed to be was a suitable monster movie.

Though probably overshadowed today by the fantastic 80s remake, there's still a lot to like in this vintage piece of sci-fi spookiness and worth a peek if your a fan of the remake.

Fright Fact:The scene in which The Thing is doused with kerosene and set ablaze is believed to be the first full body burn accomplished by a stunt man.

Horror Highlight: The final confrontation