John W. Campbell Jr.

John W. Campbell, Jr.

FROZEN HELL is an alternate version of John W. Campbell's classic novella, Who Goes There? (filmed as The Thing). Recently discovered among Campbell's papers, this version adds another 45 pages to the story. Includes a Preface by Alec Nevala-Lee and an Introduction by Robert Silverberg. Also included is a preview of the forthcoming sequel, The Things from Another World, by John Gregory Betancourt.

The Book That Inspired the Thing

Frozen Hell

Geoffrey Froggatt

The Thing is one of the best horror films of all time, and created my love for horror films set in isolated snowy climates. Frozen Hell is the original version of John W. Campbell's classic novella, Who Goes There? (filmed as The Thing). Recently discovered among Campbell's papers, this version adds another 45 pages to the story. It includes a preface by Alec Nevala-Lee and an introduction by Robert Silverberg. The story feature an antarctic research camp that discovers and thaws the ancient, frozen body of a crash-landed alien. The creature revives with terrifying results, shape-shifting to assume the exact form of animal and man alike. While I was a huge fan of all the movie adaptations of this story, I found the original text to be lacklustre, even with the additions expanded upon with the author’s newly discovered writings. I think the additional chapters were fluff that could have been done without. The characters felt one note and boring, and the scientific exposition dumps felt lazy and soulless. I appreciate the author for writing this since it led to the movies, but the story itself is a product of its time and it doesn’t hold up in my opinion. I think the preface that delves into the author and the history of this story was interesting, but the story itself is weak in comparison to the movies. There’s not much to say here other than it did not hold my interest, and fans of the movies shouldn’t feel compelled to read this unless they’re a completionist.

Frozen Hell The Book That Inspired the Thing

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