The Correct Order To Watch The Thing Movies

Picture this: a group of researchers in Antarctica discover an alien spaceship buried deep within the ice. Despite the fact that it's the dead of winter, the researchers decide to thaw the insides of the craft and chance upon a creature estimated to have crash-landed 20 million years ago. This creature, or thing, covertly assumes the appearance of a crew member upon revival, overwriting their personality while retaining their memories. The creature repeats the process over and over, slowly dwindling the number of humans on the base by violently overtaking their identities. By the time the research team realizes the truth, it is too late, as this alien parasite now looks just like one of them, pretending to be human...

This is the core premise of "Who Goes There?," a 1938 sci-fi horror novella by John W. Campbell, who initially published it under the pseudonym Don A. Stuart. Campbell's story expanded upon the trope of shapeshifting monsters by injecting it with imitation and assimilation, blurring the lines between what can be deemed human and what cannot. Paranoia and distrust play into the cabin-fever-esque isolation evoked by the story's settings, as methods to identify and contain these imitations become increasingly more complicated with time. These intriguing themes and ideas have also had a considerable impact on literature and associated media since the novella's publication, especially in the treatment of fictional monsters that pose a threat to the very fabric of human connection.

The most direct (and popular) adaptation of Campbell's work is John Carpenter's 1982 cult classic "The Thing," which is, perhaps, one of the most influential horror films ever made. However, this is not the only adaptation of the source material, as two other inspired works exist and explore the same premise with markedly different approaches. The viewing order for these movies can prove to be fickle based on personal interest, but here's our recommended watch order to help you get the most out of all these movies.

Spoilers for the "Thing" adaptations to follow.

Let's have a quick look at the watch order before diving into the reasoning behind it:

• "The Thing" (2011), directed by Matthijs van Heijningen

• "The Thing" (1982), directed by John Carpenter

• "The Thing from Another World" (1951), directed by Christian Nyby

Although Carpenter's movie didn't require a prequel, Matthijs van Heijningen's 2011 horror film of the same name focuses on a harrowing string of events that perfectly set up the opening of Carpenter's 1982 flick. Heijningen's movie is set in the winter of 1982 and follows the members of a Norwegian research station who find a creature in the ice. The basic beats of Campbell's novella (and Carpenter's film) are included here, but the characters are completely different, as they are meant to be the first victims of the creature before it disguises itself as a sled dog. In the 2011 film, we primarily follow Kate Lloyd (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), a paleontologist who leads the investigation only to witness the terrifying survival instincts of the thing as it (quite literally) tears her research team apart. The film then ends with a helicopter chase that leads directly into Carpenter's adaptation, which is the next item on your watchlist.

Carpenter's true focus in "The Thing" lies in the complex dynamics between the researchers, who try their best to adapt to a horrifying, impossible situation while constantly being on edge. Here, the characters' fellow humans suddenly become "the other" and are virtually indistinguishable from those the researchers deem their colleagues, which exacerbates tensions and the expectation of betrayal at every point. The oft-debated ending of "The Thing" also raises complicated questions about autonomy, the preservation of the human race, and how distrust forever dooms chances of a silver lining. The unsettling realization that one can never really know the true nature of "the other" adds to the dizzying allure of the film, which works in tandem with intricately crafted practical creature effects that have stood the test of time.

Your final stop is Christian Nyby's 1951 film "The Thing from Another World," which takes several artistic liberties while remapping Campbell's story, to the point that it eliminates key aspects that make the novella worthwhile. The basic beats of a crashed spacecraft being unearthed in the ice set the story in motion, but the thawing is accidental here, unleashing fresh hell on the oblivious experts and researchers stationed at the base. Things only get more convoluted from there, with one of the researchers deliberately growing alien plants from seeds taken from the creature's severed arm (!) and infusing it with blood plasma. As the film detracts from the novella, it also takes some wild turns before hurtling towards an underwhelming conclusion.

Although Nyby's version offers its characteristic thrills and scares, it lacks substance (much like the 2011 "Thing," which uses shoddy CGI to portray the titular creature). However, if you're interested in seeing how a pre-Carpenter "Thing" adaptation, the 1951 version does a decent job of expanding upon the story's well-trodden premise.

If we are to look beyond these three films, it becomes clear that the influence of Campbell's Arctic horror tale has also extended to video games, comic books, and contemporary literature, which offer fresh perspectives while reinventing the familiar narrative in significant ways. A good example is Peter Watts' acclaimed short story "The Things," which is told completely from the alien creature's perspective and, in turn, makes the reader empathize with a worldview that feels truly strange and separate from humanity's perception of reality. What makes it all the more interesting is the way Watts uses Carpenter's film as the foundation to build this suffocating, repulsive perspective, with every character being scrutinized through the creature's eyes (which blaze with truths deemed unknowable). As the plot's events snowball towards their inevitable end, we witness the creature playing god, colonizer, religious missionary, and ruthless explorer. Now that's a story worth adapting.