A few months ago I had the great time of playing through a little game. You may have heard of it: Dead Space 2, the critically acclaimed sequel to Dead Space. This game of unremitting terror follows Isaac Clark, a lonely engineer, who seeks to escape the clutches of space monsters. Other than saying that both Dead Space and Dead Space 2 are must-plays, I must say that the series shares more than just creatures from the cosmos with The Thing.
In the way of monsters, Dead Space’s Necromorphs and The Thing’s Thing both hail from being locked-away in a form of cold storage for years, being accidentally discovered and revived by exploratory teams. After killing everyone that first discovered the creatures, Necromorphs and Things infiltrate the next group of rescuers (aka unsuspecting saps) to wreak as much chaos and havoc as possible in the hopes to spread across humanity uncontrollably.
Reproduction happens by absorbing organic matter. Necromorphs can grab bodies or weakened humans and mutate them into viciously spiny zombies that proceed to go make more bodies for further Necromorph infestation. They don’t stop until a “critical mass” is achieved with organic matter, on the scale of hundreds or thousands of bodies in one place. Though it isn’t explicitly stated that the Thing can absorb dead bodies, the monster infects any living cell (freshly dead bodies will continue basic cellular processes for many weeks after bodily death). Those infected cells then can mutate on-the-fly; first appearing as a normal human or animal, they may quickly Hulk-out into massive beasts, full of tentacles and barbs. Further, if a Necromorph or Thing is chopped up, it may not be dead; heck, it may be even more dangerous, splitting into separate parts to body-rape the poor sucker fighting it! But both types of zombie don’t like fire much, especially since being frozen doesn’t kill them.
Lastly, the humans, the heroes of the story! Both Isaac from Dead Space and the Antarctic team in The Thing are essentially maintenance personnel. Though they are quite intelligent, they aren’t the smartest or strongest people around; they instead use their wits to wield common tools about as make-shift weapons to combat the enemies they face. Isaac and the Antarctic team, though ingenious, start to go crazy, directly or indirectly, from the encounters with the beasts. This is most certainly not helped by Necromorphs and Things personifying people personally close to the heroes.
In the end, though, the nightmares from space are seemingly defeated, though the fate of our heroes, and if the zombies are truly gone, is left uncertain. In their wake, the entire setting of the story is in fire and ashes. Plagued by recurring horror, our unlikely protagonists are left to carry on in sequels and prequels that are looked forward to by fans of all colors.
So, how does the amazing sci-fi horror of Dead Space relate to the eerie terror from The Thing? Well, you certainly have read about a few common factors. These two tales, though they have different entertainment mediums, are frikken amazing, and should not be missed by anyone! They elicit genuine fear, being superb examples of any horror genre. I must thank you for the long read, but please let me know in the comments if there are any other connections that can be made, or if you have a favorite section of either Dead Space or The Thing. Give them a play, give them a watch, and give my future posts a read as well!
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