Hector I
This is Carpenter's predecessor to The Thing. I thought it too was inspired by The Hallucinated Mountains, but no, it's adapted from the novel Who Goes There?
It follows three U.S. Air Force pilots and a journalist who reach a U.S. base at the North Pole after an aircraft crash. When they arrive, the aircraft is damaged, leaving only the pilot, who is brought back to the base in a block of ice. Following an accident, he wakes up and flees. The military want to wait, while the scientists want to study him.
Everything is set for an atmospheric winter movie: the base far from everything, the dogs, the woods, it would almost be cozy without the monster...
Scientists and military personnel are locked in with the monster, who alone can get out, reappear and feed on blood. The closed-door setting is suffocating, as it's human passions that are as threatening as the monster, between the scientists who favor science (without conscience) and the military who want to prevent the monster from developing.
The Geiger counter is, I think, the inspiration for Alien's motion detector, and the survival-movie aspect also works very well (the improvised flame thrower, the electric trap, when the monster sabotages the oil machine).
There are also other things that took me out of the film, such as showing too much about the monster, a green-plant version of Frankenstein's monster, and the sound that sounds like its time. On the other hand, the laboratory aspect is quite well done, especially Dr. Cornwhaite's embryo breeding, which is quite frightening. But when you think about it, this version shows much less than Carpenter's The Thing, which goes much further in terms of gore.
What can we say about this film? I imagine it had a huge impact, while at the same time being a film firmly anchored in its time, a must-see if only for fans of the master Carpenter!
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
01/11/25
Full Review
Daniel C. M
Excellent effects and direction which perfectly utilizes it's confined location, and the script and story are also very and even the drastic changes, like the main monster just being a Frankenstein clone that's actually a living plant (or rather, carrot) are very welcomed due to how innovative and unique they are.
Rated 4.5/5 Stars •
Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars
01/20/25
Full Review
Josh A
I get that this is the movie that started it all, the first adaptation of Who Goes There, and that John Carpenter was inspired by this when he made The Thing, but it's just not that good of a movie. It was spectacular for its time, but looking at it now, it isn't amazing. It's alright, but not amazing.
I should add, I haven't seen the Carpenter version, this is my first experience with The Thing. So, I won't compare the two. But, allow me to elaborate on my view. At times, it can be quite boring. A lot of it is just talking about science, which can be entertaining to some, but I didn't find the science exposition interesting in this one. This feels like a longer version of a 1960s Doctor Who episode in a sense. However, this does have good effects at times, and the scenes with the Thing are entertaining enough to bump this to a 6/10.
Overall, it was great for its time, but looking at it now, it didn't age the best.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
12/03/24
Full Review
D.L. J
It's one of the best classic monster movies of all time! Can't recommend it enough.
Rated 4.5/5 Stars •
Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars
11/02/24
Full Review
Mickey B
Top 10 science fiction horror movies in my book, carpenter's 1982 version was ok but could have done without gore, an no flamethrower from the short story, the least you see the more your imagination can run wild which is what makes Alien the best science fiction horror movie ever made. The 1951 version of the thing from another world is a must see.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
09/22/24
Full Review
Ted B
3.5 stars; I am old enough to have seen this movie when it was first released in 1951. As a preteen, it gave me nightmares for days. It was an original. It was one of the first to establish the 'gotcha' moment in 1950s sci-fi horror movies—the moment something jumps out of the corner of the screen to scare you.
Even though it was one of the pathfinder movie (in many ways) of that genre, it was also a serious sci-fi motion picture. It was based on the novella "Who Goes There?" that dealt with what it would be like for the first encounter with a creature from another world. It greatly benefited in scaring audiences from the cultural "Red Scare" that was going on in the early 1950s.
So if you've never seen this movie; wait until dark, turn off the lights, and enjoy a good scare.....
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
09/09/24
Full Review
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