In 1982 Universal Pictures, a studio famous for its monster movies, unleased a new terror on the silver screens of the world that would change everything...not that anyone knew that at the time. Today John Carpenter's THE THING consistently ranks in the top of favourite or influential film lists, but when it was first released it was not only considered a bomb, reviewers used words like 'obscene', 'gross' and 'instant junk'. For the first time we look at the history of the entire THING franchise, not just the 1982 film or its prequel, nor the original 1951 version 'The Thing from Another World'. In this book we look at the radio versions, the comics, novels, computer games, music and how, from a 1931 novella by John W. Campbell Jr. The Thing began infecting our lives and eventually took over the world by initiating one of the longest media franchises in history and influencing many others like ALIEN, Dr Who and the X-files. Interviewing many of those involved, we'll look at the marketing strategies, the reviews, the blunders, censorship... and yes, we may even figure out exactly why The Thing failed at the box office in 1982.