The Thing from Another World (1951)

Directed by Christian Nyby [Other horror films: N/A] & Howard Hawks [Other horror films: N/A]

This classic is always worth a watch, because the atmosphere here is next to none. To modern audiences, the story might not be that original, but the setting and atmosphere here really make this a claustrophobic classic.

My favorite performance here is probably Robert Cornthwaite, a scientist who butts heads consistently with the military. His character didn’t always make the best choices, but I can’t help but respect his dedication to science and trying to find common ground between the alien being and themselves. Kenneth Tobey felt more generic than anything, and his romance with Margaret Sheridan’s character didn’t really interest me, but at least Douglas Spencer’s ‘Holy cats’ was fun.

Once the alien being is revived and escapes, the movie begins moving at a quicker pace, what with them trying to locate the creature and the scientists trying to discover more about it (the plasma garden was appropriately grisly on that front), and the tension growing throughout. The finale in itself is solidly tense, and while it’s wrapped in the cliché ‘science is sometimes a boon, not a help’ frame-of-mind, it’s still done well.

The Thing from Another World is one of the few note-worthy horror movies from the early 1950’s, and there’s certainly a reason for that. Though the titular ‘thing’ doesn’t appear that much, when it does, it certainly looks threatening in the black-and-white format of the film. As much as I like the movie, though, I don’t really think it’s perfect, or close (a big part of this is the generic nature of the main character and his romantic entanglements, which seemed entirely unnecessary). Still, it’s a movie very much worth seeing, and I do rather enjoy it.

7.5/10