The Thing from Another World and Them! Templates for Tomorrow Part One

PART ONE:

Two truths be told: The 1950s science fiction cinema masterfully combined horror and science fiction genres, introducing the concept of radiation-induced insects and animals that grew to gigantic sizes. Most 1950s science fiction films are more monster-oriented and quickly align with the horror genre. Pure science fiction movies like Destination Moon and Conquest of Space are often considered crude and largely forgotten.

The alien created in the 1951 cinema was an outer-space version of Frankenstein’s Monster. With its deadly swatting motion from one arm and a square forehead resembling a bald version of the Monster, it grunts, sounding like Karloff did in Bride of Frankenstein. However, this reflected the wisdom of modern Hollywood at the time. After Universal introduced imaginative horror icons in the 1930s (including all the classic monsters, if we count 1941’s The Wolf Man, along with stars such as Karloff and Lugosi and other genre icons), they repeated themselves with inferior, low-budget “monster rally” films that combined several monsters into one movie. By 1948, Universal had its monsters appearing together in Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, a classic horror spoof that made it impossible for iconic monsters to be seen as fearsome again. It was not just Universal; all major and minor studios were questioning which direction to take to scare audiences in the 1950s. What new worlds of horror await us in the upcoming decade? This was the era of blossoming science, with studies of the universe, and Sputnik represented the exploration of our solar system near the end of that decade. Science and outer space were the new frightening unknowns of the 1950s. The threat of nuclear annihilation was growing stronger. The cobwebbed, dusty castles and Gothic, mold-ridden crypts of yesteryear were replaced by modern scientific laboratories, atomic radiation, frightful alien invaders, creepy-crawling blobs, and giant creatures terrorizing urban centers and small communities.

And that brings us to Them! Nothing distinguishes the 1950s quite like the giant monsters that appeared on screen, and in one case, The Incredible Shrinking Man was terrified by a world of gigantic threats. Although the ants in Them! were mechanically made and not created through stop-motion, it must be remembered that animation was the most cost-effective way of creating monsters in movies. Still, it was also very laborious and time-consuming. When studios tried to cut costs even further, their mechanically made monsters and the depiction of lizards as dinosaurs and insects made to appear enormous led to laughable outcomes. Yet, our collective suspension of disbelief allowed us to accept inferior special effects. Super-sized transparent brain creatures felt real, and green mutants with zippers were overlooked. We wanted to believe! So, when audiences witnessed the enormous ants in the desert, we too felt like that little girl wandering, her home and family destroyed, as she suffered the shock of seeing Them! Studios could not afford the cost of mechanical beasts in most productions, especially “B” movies, until American International introduced low-budget mechanical monsters that demanded the ultimate suspension of disbelief.

This article aims to examine The Thing from Another World (1951) and Them! (1954) not only as iconic films of the decade but also as templates that created widely used tropes and designs in similar films that followed. We have observed distinct threads carried on and copied in films for decades, which we must recognize as likely originating in these two films (sometimes stemming from earlier films but used more creatively here!).

To illustrate our point, I'd like to start with The Thing from Another World and identify its template, which has been applied to many films. Initially, we encounter the theme of isolation, being cut off from the outside world. This film opens in the military’s social club in Anchorage, Alaska, before moving to Dr. Carrington’s scientific camp, located directly north of the Arctic Circle. The sense of isolation intensifies when a crashed vehicle is discovered 40 miles west of Dr. Carrington’s base. The film features frequent interruptions from radio calls that manage to reach Carrington’s base, first clearly, then distorted in fragmented bursts of communication, highlighting how disconnected the team is from the outside world. Multiple times throughout the film, we see scenes of individuals using a dog team to navigate through the blinding snow, some on skis, while the howling wind serves as the only sound on the soundtrack. This concept heightens suspense, as the team remains trapped in their base, isolated while the monster roams secretly and freely, largely hidden from view. The classic movie Alien (1979) employed the same concept, with the crew of the Nostromo isolated in space while the monster lurked in every nook and cranny of the ship. This same trope is also utilized in the lower-budget film It: The Terror from Beyond Space.

This film illustrates the tension generated by using the Geiger counter, a small machine. As we already realize, the Geiger counter measures radiation units and clicks faster the closer it is to the radiation source, in this case, a man from outer space. As the clicks sound faster, the audience keeps on the edge of its seat, not knowing if or when the thing will appear. The Geiger counter goes off the charts as you approach the spaceship buried in the Arctic ice. After the thermite bomb destroyed the vessel, the Geiger counter measured only a trace of radiation. Crew Chief Dewey Martin slowly approaches the area of the ice where the fire still sizzles and tells the crew that the Geiger counter is "getting warm.” A human figure can be seen in the ice below, eight feet tall.

Later, when the crew starts to search for the revived alien, Captain Hendry (Kenneth Tobey) and his men advance; he is carrying one lone axe; the crew chief shouts, “Hold it, captain,” and he slowly walks around with his Geiger counter when it starts to click faster and faster, building suspense. Soon, it is assumed that the thing escaped from the greenhouse because something is amiss when the Geiger counter clicks faster in the men’s quarters. They plan to use kerosene to burn it, but now they realize it is roaming freely. Meanwhile, the crew chief calls out the increasing numbers from the Geiger counter, indicating that the thing is approaching. A window breaks in the next room when it is announced that the Geiger counter has “hit the top.” Suddenly, the door flies open, and the thing appears, growling. The creature is soon engulfed in flames, screaming, howling, thrashing, and jumping through the office window, landing in the soft snow. After the attack, Captain Hendry says to his men, “Keep watching the Geiger counter!” Before the final attack, the crew chief announces, “Captain, I’m getting a reading ... 1.6 and going up fast ... getting near the top,” as the barricaded door opens, and the thing appears.

Scenes like these dramatize a simple scientific tool, evoking dread and worry because the unseen threat is often scarier than the visible one, leaving audiences emotionally spent by the time the monster appears. The list of movies featuring Geiger counters is lengthy, but to mention a few: Dr. No, the original Godzilla, War of the Worlds, X, The Unknown, The Monster that Challenged the World, The Day the World Ended, It Came from Beneath the Sea, and The Incredible Shrinking Man. Even in 1935, The Invisible Ray included one, but we aren’t discussing the first use; we're focusing on the most dramatic application.

Many science fiction films show a conflict between the military and scientific forces. The Thing from Another World had one of the first such conflicts and one of the best. George Fenneman (Dr. Redding) uses scientific jargon and complex apparatus to describe the motion of an unidentified flying object on a tracking monitor. Carrington’s team is highly suspicious, reporting only to him, not Captain Hendry. Who’s in charge? Carrington expects the military to chip or thaw the object out of the ice so scientists can examine it, but Hendry says they first need permission from higher authorities. Dr. Chapman (John Dierkes) robustly declares, “Mr. Carrington has authority here!” Then, the opposing teams declare the pros and cons of studying alien organisms, for which humanity has no defense. This tension between the two quickly becomes three when Hendry tells newspaperman Scotty (Douglas Spencer) that he cannot send out his story without permission from military headquarters. After the conflict ends and the captain is alone with one other officer, the officer declares, “Those geniuses were ready to tear you apart.” Hendry answers, “Ah, they’re kids, nine-year-olds drooling over a new fire engine.”

In one sequence that illustrates this conflict visually, Carrington and his team investigate the thing’s dismembered hand on a small table bathed with electric light; all the scientists crowd around that table while members of the military gather together, standing further back. “No animal tissue,” Carrington declares as the egg heads study tissue samples under a microscope and babble on. Soon, Hendry says, “Sounds like you are trying to describe a vegetable.” Carrington responds, “I am.” Scotty says, “Doctor, it seems you are describing some form of super carrot ... an intellectual carrot, the mind boggles!” Carrington carefully explains the evolution of humanity, and so he theorizes that this creature evolved from plants. “No pain, pleasure, or emotions as we know ... seed pods found equal sexless reproduction ... if only we could communicate, what secrets we could discover.” To contrast this optimism, Carrington reveals that the creature lives on human blood. Other films, such as Night of the Blood Beast, use this trope. Also, the monster of the 1950s is an alien vampire of sorts, tying this decade to the 1930s. And there are echoes of Invasion of the Body Snatchers with references to sexless reproduction and no human emotions.

Carrington reveals that he has been stealing plasma to grow sprouts from seedlings, which he calls little aliens. When Hendry discovers this, he orders the sprouts to be burned. Carrington deems this action “an outrage ... a betrayal of science,” Hendry replies, “But it will make me sleep better.”

After the scientific team discovers one of the sled dogs dead and drained of blood in a storage bin in the greenhouse, they come to realize that the creature has been present. Carrington informs his team that the wilted mold in the greenhouse resulted from a rush of cold air as if the entity had broken in. Another team member found that the lock on the back greenhouse door had been bent open but was now back in place. One of his colleagues suggests reporting this discovery to Captain Hendry, but Carrington disagrees. He is confident that the scientists can communicate with it: “It’s wiser than we are ... It has the same attitude toward us as we have toward a field of cabbages. This is our battle.”

The military camp’s greenhouse becomes the thing's stalking ground; He is closely related to plants and is located near the secretive scientists who plot to communicate with the space alien without the military knowing.

In a terrifying sequence, one of the scientists on guard duty opens the greenhouse door, stumbles, and falls to the ground. He tells how a burst of cold came from the now-opened door as the thing entered and knocked the doctor to the floor. Once awakening, he finds colleagues Olsen and Auerbach hanging dead upside down from beams, their throats cut. This is a perfect example of how gruesomeness cannot be shown in 1951, but it is graphically explained by painting a vivid picture in one’s mind.

Finally, we have the iconic jump scare as the well-armed military crew, including Hendry and Scotty, approaches the greenhouse door. Well-prepared for what they might find upon opening the door, the creature appears just outside, fully visible, grunting and lashing at the door with its deadly arm. The military quickly shuts the door, catching the creature’s arm, which it promptly pulls back out.

Surprisingly, many horror and science fiction movies feature greenhouses as central locations; consider Werewolf of London, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and Silent Running. We can also cite The Woman Eater, Little Shop of Horrors, The Day of the Triffids, Konga, and Die, Monster, Die. There are others! However, The Thing from Another World makes the greenhouse extremely important because the aliens descended from plants and used it to reproduce using human blood.

The introduction of the flying saucer was integral to emerging tropes in science fiction cinema and remains critically significant in The Thing from Another World. A super carrot is one thing, but a carrot that can pilot a craft through outer space is quite another. Unlike meteors, tracking the UFO on a seismograph does not move downward or upward before crashing 40 miles away. The team observes an oval circle of melted and refrozen ice when investigating the vessel's crash site. The military crew discovers a metallic fin of the ship protruding from the ice, made of a metal unknown to humankind. They decide to create a ring outlining the size of the frozen vessel below, and as they do so, they realize they are forming a saucer shape. The crew chief exclaims, “We finally got one!” Ned Scott responds, “We found a flying saucer!!!” In their attempt to free the flying saucer from the Arctic ice using thermite bombs, the military inadvertently destroys the submerged craft but soon discovers a humanoid buried nearby. Noting that government officials called off their investigation of UFOs due to a lack of evidence, one crew member states, “They are jokes.”

Autopsies performed on alien species have become an ongoing trope in science fiction horror films. Think of Frankenstein, Island of Lost Souls, The Walking Dead, Re-Animator, The Autopsy of Jane Doe, and Alien. Even though the original The Thing from Another World scientists only conducted autopsies on the creature’s dismembered hand, whole-body autopsies were performed to ghastly effect in the 1982 and 2011 remakes. Autopsies were the filmmakers’ way of studying the differences between humans and similar species, ultimately trying hard to explain what makes the alien tick—in other words, revealing the frightening innards of alien and unknown creatures to terrifying effect.

As established, the creature is iconic and well-conceived as a distinct alien life form rather than merely Jim Arness in a monster costume. Due to budget constraints, most monsters from the 1950s do not appear until the film's second half or later. However, directors Howard Hawks and Christian Nyby seem to delay the monster's reveal not for financial reasons but for sheer suspense, resulting in a more compelling film and building anticipation for when we will finally see it. Initially, we observe a nebulous flying saucer embedded in the ice, followed by a vague glimpse of an alien entombed in the frozen Arctic. One crew member remarks, “They sure don’t breed them for beauty ... The ice is clearing up, and we can see that pretty well. It’s got crazy hands and no hair, and the eyes ... they’re open. They look like they can see.” Then, the giant ice block housing the creature is melted by an electric blanket, prompting Barnes' reaction: the dogs are restless outside. Suddenly, a shadow falls on Barnes. As he grows weary, he turns toward the block of ice, draws his pistol, fires at an unseen alien, and runs frantically out of the room in shock. The creature, only visible through the heavy snowfall, is attacked by the sled dogs. Dr. Carrington explains in detail in his notes how he created the army of tiny alien creatures:

“At 9 p.m. I placed the seeds from the severed hand in four inches of earth. I saturated the earth with two units of plasma taken from our blood bank. The dog's condition in the greenhouse indicated that blood was a primary factor in cultivating the seeds. At two a.m., the first sprouts appeared through the soil ... at four a.m., the sprouts began to take on a definite form.” When his team doubts him, he quickly hurries to show them the thriving sprouts.

Nikki, the only woman in the military crew, answers someone who asks, “What can you do with a vegetable? “She quickly answers, “Boil it, stew it, bake it, fry it!” Despite her intelligence, she must answer as though she were the housewife “experimenting” in her kitchen. The climax is masterfully directed and photographed as the thing enters the barricaded greenhouse door, swatting away all blockages, howling, and picking up a piece of lumber as a weapon. At this point, Carrington, armed with a firearm, is grabbed by members of his team, and a bullet is accidentally fired. The generator goes back on as Carrington runs past his team to attempt communication with the thing. “Listen, I’m your friend. I have no weapons ... you’re wiser than I ... don’t go any further, they’ll kill you. They think you mean to harm us all.” The thing watches Carrington as he babbles on, cocking his left arm backward, then swatting Carrington to the floor with one mighty blow, unconscious and injured. Hendry returns the alien to the electrified wooden runway by throwing the axe at his feet. Then Hendry flips the electrical switch, and arcs of electricity envelop his body. The thing falls to its knees and begins to shrink as the electricity consumes it. The Captain continues the power until nothing is left. The electricity continues, and the thing’s body shrinks to nothingness as billowing smoke grows.

Unlike many alien monsters or humans in the following decades, this creature was meticulously crafted, more than just another bald man in a bizarre costume from another world. It was not only descended from primitive plant life but also resembled the Frankenstein Monster, craved human blood like Dracula, and was reproduced through seed pods. Supposedly close to eight feet tall and all-powerful, its intelligence allowed the cunning alien to shut off the oil heat and manipulate the greenhouse door lock, making it appear untouched. This landmark film served as a template for countless others. It was masterfully executed and remains one of the greatest science fiction horror films ever.

But before leaving The Thing from Another World, there is one more trope to remember, and the movie did it so well—comedy relief! John Ford was a master who, in films such as The Searchers, paced a movie with action sequences, narrative, character interaction, and necessary comic relief, which allowed audiences to catch their breath.

In The Thing from Another World, these brief breaks from the well-executed tension are appreciated and necessary. The comic relief features journalist Scotty, eager to capture a great picture for his landmark story. There’s a running gag about photographing the creature, as Scotty consistently trips and misses his chance. At the film's conclusion, after the beast is burned to a crisp, Hendry remarks, “You can get a picture now,” just as the journalist, weak in the knees, sways and collapses backward, still missing that coveted shot. As a consolation, Scotty is allowed to broadcast his story via the base’s radio, where he delivers what may be the most remarkable speech in science fiction film history:

Scotty: 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 named Noah once saved the world with an ark made 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 casualties among our own meager forces. I want 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.

Scotty: And now, before giving you the details of the battle, I warn you: Every one 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.

END OF PART ONE

LOBBY CARD SHOWING ROBERT CORNWAITH, DEWEY MARTIN, KENNETH TOBEY, PAUL FREES, AND JOHN DIERKS

THE SCIENTISTS AND CREW STAND AROUND A HUGE BLOCK OF ICE HOUSING OUR SPACE VISITOR.