John Carpenter’s ‘The Thing’ Has Been Hiding a Secret In Plain Sight This Whole Time

If you read the comments, the author admits he got this from a previous article and made a mistake. The end scene he links to doesn't prove anything and is intentionally ambiguous (which I love). The "eye light" is during the earlier scenes.
 
Probably my favourite Carpenter film, seen it so many times and still manages to be gripping every watch.

I heard that there was a scene cut from the ending where Kurt Russell was back in an office in the U.S. trying to explain what had happened.

My feeling is that there is no way to know if Childs is The Thing and there is no need to either. The whole idea of the end of the film is the paranoia that goes with it being impossible to be sure.
 
We've had the prequel it needs a sequel ?
I always wanted to know what happened next and if it was handled right it would be cool. However in this day and age (Ghostbusters springs to mind) it probably won't.

The Thing and They Live are my favourite Carpenter films.
 
Great, great, great movie.

The ending is perfect and captures the essence of what the film is about. Paranoia and the unknown. There is no need to know if either of the two are infected.

The only disappointing element for me was the stop motion capture with the 'boss mob' at the end. Seems to be trying to appeal to the Hollywood masses when it really didnt need it.

Carpenter is a great director, and this along with his Halloween sit within my top 5 films.
 
Rifte said:
Great, great, great movie.

The ending is perfect and captures the essence of what the film is about. Paranoia and the unknown. There is no need to know if either of the two are infected.
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Perfect but frustrating, the problem is you love the characters that you want to know what happens next.
 
MookJong said:
Probably my favourite Carpenter film, seen it so many times and still manages to be gripping every watch.

I heard that there was a scene cut from the ending where Kurt Russell was back in an office in the U.S. trying to explain what had happened.

My feeling is that there is no way to know if Childs is The Thing and there is no need to either. The whole idea of the end of the film is the paranoia that goes with it being impossible to be sure.
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Love the film and have watched it many times.
I thought that fact that everytime Kurt Russell breathed or talked in the final scene there was a huge amount of vapour that comes out of his mouth, and when Keith David talks there is none at all (except a tiny amount on 2 occassions), it was hinting at who was The Thing.
(I've read what was supposedly said about this theory, but I still like it :))
I also like the drink and laugh theory!
 
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Another possible "drink/laugh" theory is that Thing MacReady's saliva is passed on via the bottle rim, assuming it was booze and he had swigged some himself at some point, and MacReady laughs knowing Childs is now infected. Just another possible interpretation. My own personal belief is that Mac is definitely not a thing, and Childs probably is.

This film is defo in my top 5. The monotonic theme tune is also an absolute classic and frames the start and end perfectly.
 
Bubo said:
This film is defo in my top 5. The monotonic theme tune is also an absolute classic and frames the start and end perfectly.
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Absolutely. The Thing theme is one of my favourite movie themes, its so simplistic and yet so perfectly captures the film. Also, its one of the few films where I also like the prequel, so much of the tie-togethers are done well , particularly the seamless end of the prequel into the Kurt Russell version, are done so well. They are a brilliant pair of films to watch back to back.
 
Not too keen on the prequel. Like the nods to The Thing but its a bit daft in places (as in you just wouldnt do that) and some plot holes.
 
It is worth watching in one respect because you get to find out what happened in the Norwegian camp before the Dog arrived.
 
varkanoid said:
We've had the prequel it needs a sequel ?
I always wanted to know what happened next and if it was handled right it would be cool. However in this day and age (Ghostbusters springs to mind) it probably won't.

The Thing and They Live are my favourite Carpenter films.
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There is already a sequel in the 2002 PC game. Macready is still alive at the end.
Unfortunately the game is completely scripted and failed to live up to the hype.
 
wolfie138 said:
i think it's very under-rated, think a lot of people slaughtered it just to be cool on the internet [same w/ Robocop]. love the centipede arm bit.
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It's slightly slaughtered because it mostly becomes a monster chase movie, uses too much CGI and mostly misses the tension that made Carpenter's film the classic that it is. There's more, but I CBA.
It does have a few good moments though, I'll give it that.


As for Robocop... It's not about criticising to look cool. The film is watered down **** compared to the original.
 
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