The film effectively focused on character interaction among its ensemble cast, with natural and rapid-fire dialogue between many characters, a convincing-looking and beseiged remote location, red herrings to create suspense, few ambiguous glimpses of "The Thing" until late into the film, appropriate scientific jargon, and the slow menace of the threatening creature.[Note: Charlottesville, Virginia was the location of Leslie""s Maryland family home.However, in Ferber""s original novel, Leslie""s hometown was actually Virginia.]His larger-than-life character was further introduced with a dark silhouetted view shot from behind (emphasizing his giant Texan hat) as he stood at the train""s door.]Back on theEnterprise, where the disarmed orpedo had been returned by McCoy and Marcus, she described the cyrotube: "This fuel container""s been removed from the torpedo and retrofitted to hide this cryo tube.He loaded his gun with a hollow-pointed bullet and held the barrel against his head and in his mouth in a deadly game of Russian roulette - ready to pull the trigger.She learned hat Myers had escaped and was targeting her - and she asked: "Why me?"While Garrett was outside checking the disconnected phone system, he was clobbered on the top of his head with a claw hammer(# 3 death)in the hospital""s store room (where he had found numerous open locks).