The Thing from Another World

Based on John W. Campbell Jr.’s novella, The Thing from Another World follows a group of scientists and military personnel as they’re forced to fend fend off a literally bloodthirsty alien being. It’s a solid premise that’s employed to mostly underwhelming and uninvolving effect by filmmaker Christian Nyby, as the director, working from a script by Charles Lederer, delivers a sluggish and egregiously talky drama that boasts few compelling elements or performances – with, in terms of the latter, the picture suffering from a proliferation of hopelessly one-dimensional and far-from-dynamic protagonists. (Margaret Sheridan’s engaging turn as the hero’s spunky love interest is a rare exception, ultimately.) And although Nyby has admittedly included a handful of compelling sequences, particularly those scenes revolving around the aforementioned alien’s murderous rampage, The Thing from Another World‘s midsection, for the most part, consists entirely of long, drawn out sequences in which characters banter and make plans for dealing with the threat (ie it’s just so much exposition). The rather anticlimactic bent of the movie’s climactic stretch only cements its place as a distressingly disappointing misfire, and there’s little doubt, certainly, that John Carpenter’s 1982 remake remains the definitive adaptation of Campbell Jr.’s story.

** out of ****

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