10 Sci-Fi Horror Movie Aliens That Make Space TERRIFYING

The titular shapeshifter from John Carpenter's 1982 horror classic, The Thing is the last word in wretched intergalactic horror creatures, pooling everyone's worst fears and transporting them out of space and down into the Antarctic.

As with many of Carpenter's creations, the creature is adapted from the written word, pried straight from the pages of Who Goes There? - a 1938 sci-fi novella by John W Campbell Jr - but this grotesque, toothy, slime-covered beast has to be seen to be believed.

Not just another shape-shifting parasite, The Thing assimilates the lifeforms it encounters and can duplicate and perfectly imitate their appearance, movements, speech and actions. It is also highly intelligent and resilient to attack.

Little is known about the creature, including its home planet, its motives, its original appearance and if it is a member of a race or just a uniquely mutated organism. If its capacity to withstand an assload of punishment (fire, ice, dismemberment) and extreme methods of survival (assimilation and bloody murder) are anything to go by, one can perhaps assume that it is entirely self-sustaining, without need of a mate or reproductive cycle.

While The Thing is never actually seen in space, it has nonetheless inspired a lasting, intense, stomach-curdling dread and fear of what else might be out there...