Although not directly stated in the movie, it is implied that the creatures entered through an extra-dimensional rift as a result of Project Arrowhead, a secret scientific project being carried out on a nearby military base. An early draft of the script written by Frank Darabont included a prologue set in the base's laboratory, providing a reasonably good idea of what the Arrowhead Project was supposed to have been and what went wrong. In the prologue, a number of civilian scientists, computer technicians, and Army personnel gather around a large object which resembles an old-fashioned diving helmet: a metal tank with thick glass windows. One of the scientists expresses some concern about running an experiment in the middle of a thunderstorm. His superior tells him to relax and orders that the device be turned on. When the machine is activated, a small point of white light (described as looking like a flashlight shining through a keyhole) appears inside the tank. Moments later, however, lightning strikes the base's electrical generator. The point of light begins to get larger and brighter. One of the scientists calls for the machine to be turned off, but a technician tells him "We can't; we're drawing [the power] right out of the sky." The scientists stand helplessly by as the portal inside the tank gets wider and wider and a white mist begins to fill the tank. Something "slithery" is then glimpsed moving inside the tank. A colonel asks the scientists how thick the glass is in the tank's windows. The scientist, sounding none too confident, tells him that it can withstand up to 40 times the pressure of our own atmosphere. Apparently, that isn't strong enough, because the windows of the tank begin to crack and finally shatter outwards, releasing the mist into the laboratory.

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