What Can We Learn From That Thing Except a Quicker Way to Die?: The Thing From Another World (1951)

Knowledge is more important than life, Captain. We’ve only one excuse for existing – to think, to find out, to learn. What can we learn from that thing except a quicker way to die?

I looooooove this movie!

I know a ton of people love the ‘80s film, but not me, I love the original the best. It’s one of my favorite SciFi films as I love the pacing, the characters, the “Thing”.

And it’s not just me that thinks it’s fantastic, it was on the American Film Institute’s 2001 list of the top 100 Most Heart-Pounding American Movies and inspired many horror directors, such as John Carpenter who would remake the film.

It was also the 46th biggest grossing film of its year, beating out other classic sci-fi films like When Worlds Collide (1951) and The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951).

The film starts off with reporter Ned Scott (Douglas Spencer) looking for a story. He goes searching at the Alaskan Air Command officer’s club, where he meets Captain Pat Hendry (Kenneth Tobey), his co-pilot Lieutenant Eddie Dykes, (a friend of Scott’s), and flight navigator Ken “Mac” MacPherson.

The men joke around a bit especially poking fun at Ned for coming to freezing Alaska. The group then gets word that they need to head up to Polar Expedition Six at the North Pole, as the lead scientist, Nobel laureate, Dr. Arthur Carrington (Robert Cornthwaite); asked for military assistance as they saw an unusual aircraft crash nearby.

Hmm…

Captain Hendry, Lt. Dykes, Lt. Ericsson, Corporal Barnes, crew chief Bob, a pack of sled dogs, and newsman Ned (who somehow finagled an invite) all head out to the outpost. Hendry doesn’t want to go up there as he had something going on with Nikki Nicholson (Margaret Sheridan), Dr. Carrington’s secretary. It’s never clear if they were dating or if Capt. Hendry was just trying to get her to go out with him, but he’s embarrassed after she drank him under the table.

Orders are orders and they head out to the research’s station where they meet with meet radio operator Tex, Dr. Chapman, his wife Mrs. Chapman, the cook Lee, the Inuit dog handlers, Dr. Vorhees, Dr. Stern, Dr. Redding, Dr. Stone, Dr. Laurence, Dr. Wilson, Dr. Ambrose, Dr. Auerbach, and Dr. Olson; along with Dr. Carrington and Nikki Nicholson

Scientists come with the airmen and find the ship sticking out of the ice.

They spread out on the ice and see how big it is, and it’s huge! Obviously, whatever this is, it wasn’t man made!

The try to find a way to get it out, figuring to the best way would be to use thermite. However, that doesn’t work out right as it is reacts poorly to the alloy and it sinks into the icy water.

They are upset, especially Dr. Carrington, who wanted to study it. However, not all is lost as their Geiger counter detects a frozen body buried nearby. They excavate it and want to fly it out but can’t as an Arctic storm starts up.

As Capt. Hendry is the highest ranking military man at the outpost, he is now in charge and sends in the information of what they have discovered. The General tells them to wait there and for Ned to not give out any information, and that under no circumstances to let the scientists examine the alien creature.

A military watch is posted and nothing unusual happens until the time comes to switch guards. Lt. MacPherson is completely weirded out by all of this, as aliens were not what he signed up for. He doesn’t want to look at the alien and covers him with a blanket. Unfortunately, he doesn’t know that it is an electric blanket and that it is plugged in. Yep, they basically Encino Man him, melting the ice and bringing him to life.

From Clueless

The Thing awakens and escapes in the storm, the dogs figuring with it and ripping off the arm, they later recovering his arm. The Thing was played by James Arness, who like Gort in The Day the Earth Stood Still was partially chosen because of his height of 6’6, being so much taller than ever other man.

The scientists study the arm and find it nothing like humans. As they study it, it seems to be closer to plants more than human and like a plant, the thing can regrow a limb when one has been trimmed.

Capt. Hendry suddenly has a lot more on his plate than just being in charge of the outpost, he now has to be in charge of everyone and there is this strange Thing running about.

My favorite scenes in the film are the interactions between Hendry and Nikki as Nikki is just as tough, if not tougher than Hendry. I especially love the coffee exchange, it’s repeated multiple times in the film and it’s hilarious

Nikki: Anybody around here want some coffee?

Hendry: No, but you can come in.

Nikki: That’s the only reason I brought it. I was hoping you’d ask me.

Dr. Carrington and the other scientists are interested in studying and communicating with the Thing. They don’t see it as a threat but just lost and confused, a stranger in a strange place. Nikki is the only one who seems on the fence about it, she doesn’t fully trust the creature but at the same time is not as convinced as the others that it isn’t a threat.

Dr. Arthur Carrington: Knowledge is more important than life, Captain. We’ve only one excuse for existing – to think, to find out, to learn.

Ned “Scotty” Scott: What can we learn from that thing except a quicker way to die?

Dr. Arthur Carrington: It doesn’t matter what happens to us. Nothing counts except for our thinking. We thought our way into nature. We split the atom.

Eddie: Yes, and that sure made the world happy, didn’t it?

Dr. Arthur Carrington: Captain, when you find what you’re looking for, remember it’s a stranger in a strange land. The only crimes involved were those committed against it. It awoke from a block of ice, was attacked by dogs, shot by frightened man. All I want is a chance to communicate with it.

Hendry: Doctor you can do anything you want with it provided it’s locked up in a safe place.

The scientists and military officers start investigating for where the alien took off to. They end up finding a dead dog drained of all its blood, (don’t worry they don’t show it) and come to the determination that it was done by the Thing, and that it consumes blood.

Ew! If it was me I would 100% be prepared to stop/burn it/kill it it as I wouldn’t want to be the next one consumed.

However, the scientists still want to still make contact. Unbeknownst to the military the scientists make their own plans to try and find/capture/communicate.

The film becomes a version of cat and mouse as they are trying to hunt whilst being hunted. The storm still rages so they cannot get outside, cannot leave, and are unable to receive any help. You never see a close up of the monster as the film didn’t have the budget to make it scary enough, but I like that choice as when watching it, it is so much creepier not being able to see what the Thing looks like.

The next day they continue their search and have a hard time finding any trace of the Thing, something not helped by the storm. They do discover a badly injured Dr. Stern who reveals that the scientists have made contact and the thing killed two of them, Auerbach and Olson.

They soldiers investigate the lab and are attacked by the Thing. They fight it and manage to barricade it in the greenhouse. They also “arrest” Dr. Carrington and sequester him in his lab. But it turns out Dr. Carrington has done more than attempt to contact the Thing, he’s been experimenting from the arm, using seeds taken from it to grow small alien pods and feeding them blood plasma. Some of the Doctors are interested, some are afraid, and Nikki is disgusted.

Dr. Arthur Carrington: We owe it to the brain of our species to stand here and die… without destroying a source of wisdom.

Dr. Carrington is crazy! They definitely should be watching him closely.

Captain Hendry discovers the doctor’s secret when he finds the blood plasma missing. Hendry is upset and wants to destroy the Thing, but orders are to keep it alive and bring it back to base.

The Thing escapes from the greenhouse and attacks them again. In order to save their lives they try to douse it in kerosene and light it on fire, but he gets away and runs from the outpost and into the snow.

They are trying to figure out what to do next when Nikki notices that she and can see their breath. Lee the cook also is unable to cook as their is no gas available as well. Yes, the Thing has sabotages their furnace, and with Arctic conditions and the storm; won’t take long for them to freeze to death. They retreat to the generator room to figure out what to do next.

Nikki is the one to actually figure out how they can defeat it:

Ned “Scotty” Scott: Here’s the sixty-four dollar question – what do you do with a vegetable?

Nikki: Boil it.

Ned “Scotty” Scott: What did you say?

Nikki: Boil it… bake it… stew it… fry it?

They decide to rig up a “flytrap”; they harness electricity to one area and wait for him to come upon them, step on it the trigger, and get boiled up.

Dr. Carrington almost ruins it when he comes running in and tries to convince the Thing that he’s on his side. The Thing doesn’t care and tosses him, confining to approach them. This is one of my favorite scenes as it is so scary as he approaches them as he is giant and creepy! The tension is so thick you could cut it with a knife as you watch and hope that he actually steps into the trap.

He does and gets electrocuted, being blown away to ash!

It ends with them finally being able to make it through, Cpt. Hendry and Nikki are together, and Ned has the story of a lifetime.

Ned “Scotty” Scott: All right, fellas, here’s your story: North Pole, November Third, Ned Scott reporting. One of the world’s greatest battles was fought and won today by the human race. Here at the top of the world a handful of American soldiers and civilians met the first invasion from another planet. A man by the name of Noah once saved our world with an ark of wood. Here at the North Pole, a few men performed a similar service with an arc of electricity. The flying saucer which landed here and its pilot have been destroyed, but not without causalities among our own meager forces. I would like to bring to the microphone some of the men responsible for our success… but as Senior Air force officer Captain Hendry is attending to demands over and above the call of duty… Doctor Carrington, the leader of the scientific expedition, is recovering from wounds received in the battle.
Eddie: [Softly] Good for you, Scotty.
Ned “Scotty” Scott: And now before giving you the details of the battle, I bring you a warning: Everyone of you listening to my voice, tell the world, tell this to everybody wherever they are. Watch the skies. Everywhere. Keep looking. Keep watching the skies

It definitely makes you want to avoid the Arctic. That’s where the Blob, the Thing , and the Beast from 20,000 fathoms all live.

So when I was twelves we were in Arizona and I saw a giant billboard for the Thing and wanted desperately to stop and see a museum dedicated to the film. I was able to convince my parents to check it out, but it turned out it had nothing to do with this at all. It still was cool though.

For more creatures from another world, go to The Cutest Alien You’ll Ever See: The Cat From Outer Space (1978)

For more SciFi, go to Gort! Klaatu Barada Nikto!: The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)

What is This Thing?: Phantoms (1998)

Just what is this thing? Chaos, chaos in the flesh.

Phantoms is a 1998 film that is based on the book by Dean Koontz. The story is very creepy, and I was surprised at how well the film was done. I thought it was going to be done in a very stupid, silly way; but it was the essence of creepiness. The only thing I didn’t care for was Liev Schreiber, I felt that he didn’t portray the character very well in the beginning. I wouldn’t have chosen Rose McGowan either, but she did surprisingly well. I loved Ben Affleck as the sexy Sheriff and love interest. I love Ben Affleck though, I mean who doesn’t? They changed the film from the book, as expected, but the changes do not destroy the film, thank goodness. If you’d like to watch the film go here. So the film starts out with Dr. Jennifer Pailey bringing her trouble-making sister Lisa to live with her. They are hoping the change of scenery will help straighten her out as she was involved with gang members in Los Angelas.

I want to go back to LA

When they reach the town, it is empty. Like really empty. There is no one out and about even though they are in a ski town, in the middle of winter with great snow.

They continue on home. When Jennifer gets there she finds her housekeeper dead. All the life had been sucked out of her and she looks burned.

[Note: Pic from The Giant Behemoth not Phantoms]

The girls are widely freaked and decided to head to the sheriff’s. But there is one problem, their car won’t work.

Oh no!

The girls hurry on to the sheriff’s office where they find a deputy, burned and blackened. He appears to have shot his gun at something, but they don’t find any traces of it, except shells. Dr. Jennifer grabs a gun and the two run off to the bakery, as it is getting dark and they are really freaked out. They head to the baker’s, running quickly as they hear sounds as if someone is following them. When they get there the oven goes off revealing severed heads!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!

The girls are completely grossed out and confused when the Sheriff (who ex-FBI) finds them.

Hello Sexy!

With him are his two deputies Steve Shanning (Nicky Katt) and Stuart Wargle (Liev Shreiber) have come to investigate. They decide the best thing to do is go to the sheriff’s department, and just when they do every single horn, siren, whistle, bell, etc. goes off and then suddenly stops. The only lights left on are down on the Candleglow Inn up the street.

They check it out and see that only four guests are registered. The Sheriff and Stu go upstairs, while the girls stay behind with deputy Steve.

While the sheriff is upstairs he goes into a room and starts looking through an opening in a closet. When he does he sees a vision of a young boy with a gun, which disappers. You see when the Sheriff was FBI he accidentally shot a boy, which made him quit and turn to small town life.

Aw! Look at his face. 😦

Stu goes in the other room and finds a beautiful, dead woman. He sits next to her and puts his hand up her leg…

What a perv!

Then the Sheriff walks in. He lets it go, even though he is severely grossed out as he knows what Stu was doing, but he needs every man he can get as he has no idea what the situation is.

The Sheriff has Stu watch the hall as he continues checking things out. Stu comes on to Lisa who tells him flat out no, she is not digging that.

Dr. Jennifer joins the Sheriff and they discover that a bathroom locked from the inside (that has no other windows or doors) is empty, with something written on the mirror in lipstick. The writing says “Dr. Timothy Flyte–The Ancient Enemy“.

 

The two have no idea who Dr. Flyte is but intend on finding out.  In another empty room they find a bunch of metal objects like jewelry, buttons, watches, gold teeth, a pacemaker, etc.; concluding that this thing, whatever it is strips a person completely of everything, if it chooses.

EW!

They go back into the lobby to regroup and figure out their next step. But then they suddenly hear a woman crying out “Help me!” and Deputy Steve rushes out to save her. The Sheriff follows him, but when he gets outside all that is left of Steve is his shoes and a gun.

They head back to the Sheriff’s office and put the dead deputy in a body bag. They then call for help–military, Dr. Flyte, anybody, but the line was so bad they don’t know whether or not it went through.

AAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!! [Note: from When a Stranger Calls not Phantoms]

Bryce and Stu go through the dept. and pull out all their ammunition getting ready for–whatever the thing is that is trying to attack them. The lights go out and the creature takes on a Alien/The Thing (1982) feel. The next thing you know, Stu is dead.

Too be honest, good riddance. He was a creep and I didn’t like him.

They also put Stu in a body bag and wait out the night.

We then switch to another part of the country- Dr. Flyte. Dr. Flyte (Peter O’Toole) is a tabloid worker in New York City. He used to a professor at Oxford, but they let him go as they felt his writings were “too silly”.

 

Two FBI agents ask him to go to the small, winter, town of Snowfield to help solve what the “thing” is.

Back in Snowfield the three survivors are trying to figure out what to do next. Lisa tries to take a nap while the Sheriff tells Dr. Jen about how the monster called up the incident with the young boy. The two are interrupted when Lisa asks the Sherif to walk with her to the bathroom. He checks it and finds it clear. Lisa begins to smoke when she hears a squealing noise coming out of the drain.

She checks out the bathroom stalls (much like Scream) and finds the Deputy Stu there!

 

In the book the “Phantom thing” was more like the Blob from The Blob (1958); although it could take on the shape of other things, or create small phantom pieces of itself. In the film, however, the “Phantom” embodies the form of Stu, which is understandable from a filmmaker point of view. It doesn’t copying The Blob at all, as I mentioned earlier copying The Thing. Just like The Thing, the “phantom” takes on the appearance of something. This wasn’t a horrible decision as I bet it was easier to film. They also did a lot of blackout or limited lighting when the creature was in its true form, which allowed it to remain creepy as your imagination creates it. The director of It (1990)  should have used the same technique, it would have been a better film.

I didn’t really care for Liev Schreiber, and thought he could have been much creepier. Instead he just comes off as a pervert. This film has actually ruined him for me in all other films. When I watch Kate & Leopold, Scream, Scream 2, Scream 3, Lee Daniel’s the Butler, or X-Men Origins: Wolverine; I keep expecting him to do something perverted to all the women.

Yes I am

Anyways, back to the story. So the Sheriff goes into the bathroom and can’t find anything. They go down to check the body bags, but both are empty.

AAAAAAAAHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Meanwhile Dr. Flyte is on route to Snowfield with military General Leland Copperfield, some mobile labs, an armored strike van, etc–all ready to take on whatever the “thing” is. They ask Dr. Flyte about “the Ancient Enemy”. Dr. Flyte explains that there were creatures, he calls “Ancient Enemy” who are amoeboid shapeshifters. This Ancient Enemy rarely feeds, but when it does, the effects are devastating and it was theorized that the Enemy either caused or aided in the extinction of the dinosaurs, the destruction of the Mayan civilization, Roanoke disappearance, the missing army of Nanking, China in 1939, etc. And the town appears to have been built on the home of one of these “Ancient Enemies”.

The group arrives to Snowfield and the three survivors come to meet the army. The next thing you know, “the thing” has taken out almost the whole team using its shape-shifting qualities and the pipes/sewers. Now these scenes are pretty intense. I was watching them and screaming and my roommates were all, are you ok? I highly recommend watching this film.

General Copperfield is last of the military to be killed; as a pair of oily black tentacles seeps up through the pavement, penetrates his hazmat suit, and smothers him.

[Note: From The Mist]

This leaves Dr. Flyte, Sheriff Bryce, Jenny, and Lisa as the remaining survivors..

He’s dead but the “Phantom” uses his body as a mouthpiece and begins speaking to the crowd.

 “My Flesh. Study it. Write the gospel. But do not try to leave. Witnesses to the Miracle.”

The body then falls to the ground and an oily black substance comes out along with a gecko, of which the group is supposed to get a sample of. Dr. Flyte begins to analyze the sample, coming to the conclusion it has lived in the depths of the earth for eons, growing to immense size, and absorbing knowledge from its prey. It can separate off parts of Itself to send as drones, warriors, phantoms, etc.–having them assume the shapes of anything or anyone It has absorbed; even of people or monsters from memories and dreams.With these, It has manipulated Bryce, Jenny, and Lisa into bringing Dr. Flyte here, to be Its prophet, and to write Its gospel. For It has begun to think of Itself as God–or the Devil. Indestructible. All-Powerful. Immortal. Unstoppable.

This is bad. Very bad.

Dr. Flyte’s analysis reveals that It is similar to oil and if they are able to make the same kind of bacteria that eats away at oil spills, they may just have a chance at stopping it. They create cultures and prepare for the final battle.

Dr. Flyte goes out and calls to the creature.

He tells It that he needs to see all of it in order to write Its “gospel”. He says that the others are creating a weapon against It, that they don’t believe in It like he does. It appears first as a single person, but then becomes all 400 residents of the town, merging and melding into one swirling mass, which resolves Itself into an immense, hideous, upright millipede.

The Sheriff, Jenny and Lisa run and fire the guns loaded with the bacteria culture  into It. This causes It to scream.  Jenny and Lisa run for shelter into the nearby deputy’s office, to reload their guns but are pursued by a drone of Deputy Stu.

Deputy Wargle: Oh, you’ve got some guns, ladies, you wouldn’t shoot an unarmed man, would you? [both women cock shotguns and point them at him] That’s a dumb question.

They empty their shotguns into him, knocking him down, and blowing away huge chunks of his legs and arms. Tentacles shoot out of his arm and leg stumps. The girls run away and and he follows, but is killed by Dr. Jen as she shoots him with the last of the culture.

The bigger entity is falling apart and the Sheriff follows the last of It down into the sewer, finding him face to face with the boy that he killed. He hesitates, and while he does so, a tentacle shoots out of the boy’s mouth, and knocks him down. His gun with the culture is stolen by It. It pulls the vials out and starts taunting the Sheriff. In response to It’s mockings the Sheriff pulls out his gun and shoots the vials, causing the bacteria to spread all over.

With one final ear-shattering scream It is gone, and Bryce makes his way back to the others. As a helicopter arrives to rescue them, Dr. Flyte announces to the others that the Entity has won after all: It wanted him to tell the world, and that’s just what he’s going to do. Everything seems to end well, or well enough. Dr. Flyte has his story and will win back his prestige; Sheriff Bryce  is no longer traumatized about killing the boy; Dr. Jen and Sheriff Bryce have found each other; and Lisa and Dr. Jen have bonded. Sounds as perfect an ending you can get for a horror film.

Uh, uh uh. Not quite yet!

We switch to a scene in a bar where Dr. Flyte is in TV talking about It and how it may still be out there waiting. One of the guys in the bar turns to his companion and says its a lot of hooey. A strange laugh is heard and at the end of the bar is Deputy Stu Wrangle, showing that It is still alive.

So it really was a good film, and I’m telling you the scenes with the creature are super creepy!!! You’ll love them if you love scary movies!

So unlike the other facebook cover pages I have made (and you should have guessed by now that practically every post has one) I made two for this one as the first one wasn’t working out right. Here’s the second one for those of you interested.

Comment below which you think is better!

To start Horrorfest III from the beginning, go to Even a Man Pure of Heart

To go to the previous post, go to Unleash the Savage Instincts That Lie Hidden Within

For more monster movies, go to Let Them Fight

For more films based on books, go to A Bit Pottery About Jane Austen

For more on Rose McGowan, go to What’s Your Favorite Scary Movie?

For more on Ben Affleck, go to Pot o’ Gold