OKC Film Society

In 1951, the subgenre of horror sci-fi was born with Howard Hawks’s adaptation of John W. Campbell’s short story “Who Goes There?”. Following the actions of an Alaskan research team as they deal with the aftermath of unearthing a creature of outer space, the film is a perfect blend of strong Hawksian characters and dialogue with his uncanny skill at creating a dramatic environment with defined boundaries and distinct locations. The film also cast a post-Hiroshima and wary eye on scientific progress without causing the film’s American spirit to be corrupted by destruction from within. Those feelings, however, are not shared by John Carpenter’s 1982 remake which turns the research team into a pool of distrust, further isolation, and abject paranoia willing to turn on each other on a dime. The creature, too, becomes less of an ambulatory being with a humanlike structure and more of a mysterious shape-shifter that can imitate anyone or anything with a pulse. While their box office and critical outcomes were far from similar (the original was a massive hit, the remake almost killed Carpenter’s career), both have gone on to be regarded as pantheon creations from their equally respected and masterful creators. OKC Film […]