Just one
Thing aer
another
No./ 14
The Thing is rearing its head again.
We track the shapeshifting alien’s
movements across the years1951
THE THING FROM
ANOTHER WORLD
The fi rst movie adaptation fl ips the location to
the North Pole, and the limited special effects
of the time mean this alien is mostly
humanoid. But it’s no less chilling in James
Arness’s seemingly invincible iteration.1938
WHO GOES THERE?
First published inAstounding Science Fiction
magazine, the original tale by John W. Campbell
Jr establishes the hallmarks: a shapeshifting
alien, a research station in Antarctica and the
hero McReady (later renamed MacReady). This
Thing, unlike later versions, is also telepathic.PREVIEW
Eighteen-year-old rising star
Raffey Cassidy on getting
under the skin of a religious
sect inTHE OTHER LAMB
How I got
into the
mindset
of a cult
No./ 13
Cassidy’s research helped kindle a respect
for Selah and the women in the camp. “[Selah]
has so many dimensions,” she says. “It’s easy
from an outside perspective to go, ‘Oh my God,
this is crazy, why can’t they see what this leader
is doing to them?’ But when you’re in it, you have
this whole family, which you might not have at
home. It’s such a vicious cycle — once you’re in,
you’re psychologically trapped.”
Shot in under a month in rural Ireland,
the cast had no choice but to be exposed to the
elements, as the cult have escaped the outside
world in their hunt to fi nd ‘Eden’. Beautiful
though it was, Ireland in February off eredA CHILLING METAPHOR for the patriarchy,
The Other Lambdepicts a remote cult of women
who follow a beardy, Jesus-like leader, played by
Game Of Thrones’ Michiel Huisman; for British
actor Raffey Cassidy, who plays cult member
Selah, it meant getting a deeper understanding
of the reality of religious sects. “There are so
many documentaries out there that I watched
and researched,” Cassidy says. “Because this is
a real-life story, in a way. Catherine [McMullen,
the film’s screenwriter] sent me the documentary
The End Of The World Cult, where they follow
this one man who was very abusive to the young
girls and women.”Here: Raffey Cassidy
as cult member
Selah. Right: The
women of the sect
are all wives or
daughters of leader
Shepherd (Michiel
Huisman).