Reviving a 24,000-Year-Old Animal Is Exactly How a Horror Movie Would Start – The Mary Sue

Scientists have apparently revived animals that were around when woolly mammoths were alive, according to Stas Malavin from the Soil Cryology Laboratory in Russia. Its a move that screams, Ive never watched a horror movie in my life! Because awakening something that is 24,000 years old doesnt end well in the movies Ive watched, especially for the scientists who are doing the thawing. Granted, these are microscopic organisms, but that wont stop them from crawling into our eyeballs and sending us on murderous killing sprees.

These small creatures are known as bdelloid rotifers. They are freshwater animals that are multicellular. And they were found in the Siberian permafrost according to the Huff Post. As pictured in the video below, they were in a deep freeze before being brought back to life, essentially making them tiny zombies.

And I understand that some creatures take time off when it gets really cold. Their bodies go like, Nope. Its too cold. Time for a nap. But theres a huge difference between a wood frog going to sleep (its heart stops and it looks dead to anyone watching) because of extreme cold and a 24,000-year-old creature being revived for science because nothing could go wrong, right?

Wrong.

As a commenter on HuffPos tweet about these scientific shenanigans noted, those of us who watch a certain sort of film genre know how this goes.

If my extensive movie-watching career (which isnt as prestigious as a scientists education but just go with it for now) has taught me anything its that you dont mess with things that have been essentially dead for thousands of years. You especially dont do it when said creature starts asexually reproducing and feeding like it was only yesterday that they clunked out like this creature specifically is doing.

Has no one watched The Thing? And no, Im not talking about the 1982 film. Im talking about the 2011 one starring Mary Elizabeth Winstead (and Im also partially talking about the 1938 novella Who Goes There?). Personally, I dont think this movie gets enough credit and I remember loving how it connected to the other movie as a prequel. But, anyway, its the perfect example of Dont mess with that frozen thing because it might kill.

Other movies like The Thaw and the truly dreadful The Frozen Dead or Rare Exports follow the same kind of thought. And I know theyre silly, I know theyre outrageous, but when my brain hears about creatures that being revived after a long sleep it goes, Danger, Will Robinson! And youd think this is the first time something like this has happened. Youd be wrong!

Back in 2018, scientists revived worms that had been frozen for 42,000 years according to LiveScience. Those people never watched scary movies and these folks with their bdelloid rotifers obviously havent either. Because at some point, in their curiosity, theyre going to uncover something they shouldve left resting.

(image: Universal Pictures)

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Reviving a 24,000-Year-Old Animal Is Exactly How a Horror Movie Would Start - The Mary Sue