THE THING (FROM ANOTHER WORLD) (1951)

A Sci-Fi film so lengendary, it was shown in HALLOWEEN (1978)..... 

I am not a huge fan of 50's Sci-fi/B films. Perhaps I have not seen enough of them. However, one I am quite fond of, is THE THING (FROM ANOTHER WORLD) (1951). I first saw it on the space channel more than a decade ago and didn't think too much of it. Found it not long ago for only six bucks so I figured I'd need to see it again. The result? Better. I've yet to see the remake.

THE THING is not quite the classic many people talk of. It has it's moments and when it was first released, it was considered terrifying. It has since lost much of it's power but a first time viewer may jump once or twice. Regardless of how effective or not it is today, it remains a decent film, light years ahead of many of it's contemporaries. The scene of events is located near the north pole, and is most appropriatley remote with no help available. One of the problems is that there are too many people at the Arctic military research facility that it seems to diminish the threat posed by The Thing (James Arness). Other than that, there isn't much to complain about. If you're looking to get into 50's Sci/Fi films, this is a great one to start off with. Watch it in the winter with tea and toast. It's a classic, just not as much so as most critics would have you believe. Obviously it was classic enough to be aired on the TV set in Halloween (1978) and then remade by John Carpenter. THREE AND A HALF STARS OUT OF FIVE.