Also known as: The Thing
Theremin played by
Samuel Hoffman
With its modest special
effects, lean plot, and small cast of lesser stars, this 1951 thriller remains a sturdy blueprint for fusing horror and
science fiction. The formula has been employed countless times since, fleshed out with more extensive and elaborate
production values, and manned by higher profiled marquee names, but the results have yet to improve on The Thing from
Another World, Howard Hawks's lone foray into sci-fi.
The story begins as military airmen are dispatched to a remote Arctic research station
where scientists have detected the crash of a spacecraft. An effort to retrieve the saucer-shaped vehicle fails, but the team
returns to the station with the frozen body of its sole occupant. When the extraterrestrial pilot is accidentally thawed, the
crew, headed by a tough-talking pilot (Kenneth Tobey), grapples with a massive, chlorophyll-based humanoid (James Arness)
thirsty for blood and in no mood for galactic diplomacy.
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