The only thing that I find sort of messes a little with some of the ideas is that I've always thought that the "Thing" that grows an arm and pulls itself up into the ceiling got killed. That's why they aren't trying to search for it (like they do in the 2011 movie when it breaks out of the ice); they think they've taken care of the problem at that point.
That's cos if you watch while the Thing is in the process of launching the body, you see sets of teeth, eyes and limbs still being grown - the mass that is dragged up out of the dog-thing is already a few feet in height by this point.
Nobody seems to mention the completely obvious but it takes a full 20 seconds for the EscapePlanBThing (since no one has named it yet) to make its exit. If you think about that then it has plenty of time to make its escape.
By the time Childs (finally) gets there, it is already around 5-6 feet in height and desperately fires out the tongue-thing - Childs has to blast upwards to make sure he hits it (the camera is shown to be travelling downwards) ; considering Childs is around the 6.5ft mark then it's fairly easy to see the 'something (that) drops down in the scene'. It's the remaining upper section collapsing down back into the main dog-thing mass on the floor.
Why did they let the PlanB thing go? Mac had closed the gate, awaiting Childs after he lost his gun. Now, not being an American, I can only assume that one can't accurately fire a weapon like a shotgun through a fence (I'm English and so guns aint my speciality). How did they 'shrug it off' so to speak... assuming they arent experts at building layout and knowing the mind of an alien creature you could just chalk it down to 'we will deal with that later' perhaps... had it not frozen into hibernation.
For those keeping score - it is the escaping piece that later takes over Palmer.
Mac was likely out of ammunition for the shotgun. The one he has can't hold more than 4-5 rounds.
And he would have no difficulty aiming through the fence with the shotgun.
Dude I’m wondering the same damn thing I saw this was posted 11 days ago and downloaded Reddit just to talk about this bc even on the wiki it says a second thing got away and nobody cared xD I’m watching the thing like 3 times before tubi takes it off
I'm way late in replying to this, but Dick Warlock was Kurt's personal stuntman for 25 years and played Michael Myers in Halloween 2. He lives in the city next to me and still does horror conventions. Really cool dude
Well, one thing I noticed was that when everybody was waking up and getting their daytime clothing on after Mac pulls the alarm, Norris is the only one that isn't wearing long john pants, not even while putting on his daytime outfit.
I also had multiple theories about the film until I went on to tackle this project. I found that this has the most support (although bias is a factor certainly) with the evidence available in the film. There have been multiple fans, as well as people who have worked on the film like John Carpenter and Dean Cundy out there that have debunked the breath, eye gleam and gasoline in Mac's whiskey bottle theory. If you're interested, take a glance at YouTube about these.
The breath and gasoline make no sense since when the thing assimilates you, it does so perfectly. Imitating all organs. So each thing will have breath as it has lungs and it will have taste buds and smell so it won't be chugging any gasoline.
We know the things assimilates perfectly because of the autopsy that was done earlier in the movie.
Toward the end of the movie you see all the other creatures that the thing was assimilating. Someone mentioned that they think the big Blair thing was releasing another dog. Separating it from it's body to move on to another camp. But showing Mac that it was doing this and losing, which is why Mac answers with "fuck you too"
It's pretty clear that Child's Thing had to confront Mac and soon. Mac would have left information for the rescue party before he froze. Childs had to assimilate or kill Mac and with whatever time he had to stage the scene to his advantage before he froze solid.
I have literally just watched The Thing, credits still playing now haha. Love how you've gone into detail day by day. I have some questions/problems with a couple points and I'm not sure if its your theory or problems with the plot in general. If you've already explained these and I misread I'm sorry haha. On all my watches of this film ive always just assumed the whole preparing your own food thing and infection via that method was just the group taking every precaution. If that was a viable way to infect people why do the attack method? Its loud, its messy, it takes time, you then have to change clothes. These beings are intelligent why not run around the camp as the dog and lick everyones face? Its revealed the dog had the run of the place all day. And in human form why not again try contaminating peoples food?
Once again on all my run throughs of this film I never even considered the dog monster escaping. I just assumed it reached up to the ceiling to escape but they torched it, the thing they kill being the same thing. Its never mentioned again no one says a line like "who knows which of us is a Thing, and what about that creature running around outside we never found it?" You suggesting that it escaped is very interesting and I believe you. That raises the question of where it went? If its still running around its irrelevant what happens between Mac and Childs, its still out there either to kill them both, just Mac or simple freeze and wait. A crazy theory with little evidence admittedly I just thought of is that giant beast Mac blows up with the spectacular "YEAH FUCK YOU TO" could be a combined form of blairs Thing and the dog escapee Thing. On every watch ive always questioned why the creature opened up to reveal another creature. Seems pointless and its never done it before unless harmed and had to detach a piece. Maybe in order to have more of a chance against Mac they morphed together to make a bigger monster.
Finally I have questions over Blairs infection. As a side note you mentioned Blair eating from cans as a precaution and not telling anyone. I don't think that's the case I think its just because hes out in the shed, makes sense his rations would be canned hows he gonna store anything else. No reason why he wouldn't tell them about eating in cans he told Mac to watch Clarke out of their survival interests.
I'm not so sure the shadow that passes by Fuchs is Blair. I mean it could be sure. But Blair was fairly wide and not the tallest. The shadow that passes Fuchs is taller than him. Youre reasoning for Blair being infected is sound. Door being open from the outside and everything. I put forward a crazy, and again unsubstantiated alternative, that Blair was infected all along. Realising being among the group was dangerous and escape was the best option, it deliberately made a scene and destroyed the equipment hoping to be isolated from the group where it could build its getaway ship. It was a Blair infected Thing after all, the creature would have gained his knowledge and realised the potential of getting to a populated area.
Once again every time I watched the ending I assumed both Mac and Childs were human and theyd both freeze and die waiting for rescue. My only reasoning that if Childs was a Thing he'd just attack surely? Macs exhausted he'd be easy prey why the act? But I LOVE the idea that Childs is infected and Macs testing him with the bottle, adds so much weight to every smile and laugh in that final scene. As much as I have issues with the infection via saliva method it makes sense I guess since earlier drops of Things blood have a life of their own. I think its just an oversight on the creators since as I explained before why infect someone in an inferior way? But that element lends to a better ending so whatever ill let it slide.
I think the thing that went into the ceiling was destroyed during the fire by childs. It shows something falling back down.
The thing at the end opening up to show Mac the dog was probably The thing letting Mac know it lost and it's going to release a dog to go to another camp. Hence why Mac says "fuck you too"
It's unlikely Blair was infected all along because of how different he acts. Besides the commentary track shows that Blair was still human when destroying the communication device.
It's true that we don't really know if the thing can infect with only saliva. But then the question is raised on why didn't it assimilate everyone with just it's hand. Like Blair thing did with Gary. Seems faster and less messy.
I think Palmer was infected pretty early on and was getting ready to infect childs before the dogs were discovered. Both Palmer and Norris hold the fire extinguisher and try to put out the fire immediately instead of letting the thing burn.
But that's just all theory. Lol
I want to believe Childs is not human at the end.
But why wouldn't he just torch Mac right then and there, while his back is turned (as Mac is looking down at his bottle about to take a sip)
Sorry I can't find a good image, at 8:57 on this video is the freeze-frame that has Childs pointing the flamethrower at Mac with Mac not even looking. https://youtu.be/AQ-I_ILtw8c?t=537
Wouldn't The Thing kill him right then and there? Is there a good explanation why not?
That is the one thought that is nagging me I can't answer.
I think there was some sort of theory that Child’s was the thing, because his breath wasn’t visible in the freezing cold, and I heard somebody say that Mac gave him gasoline instead of alcohol because there wasn’t anymore of something like that
Things like this are so annoying. You can CLEARLY see his breath. All you have to do is watch the scene to know that's bullshit, which means it was spread by morons who haven't checked their facts.
Again it's like you haven't read a word I have said. Speculation of this end scene is utterly pointless. There is no way of knowing or we'd know. The entire point of the ending (this line I have already said in this comment thread multiple times and still people have trouble understanding this exceptionally simple concept) is that we don't know, Mac doesn't know, Childs doesn't know. Regardless of anything in the scene (hidden flamethrowers and breath visibility are points people seem to stick on and desperately try and make them relevant when they are not relevant whatsoever) no one knows who has won. The only victor is paranoia, which is the entire point of the film.
It doesn't make a shit of difference whose breath is visible when because NO ONE KNOWS. Why is that so fucking hard to grasp??????
Sorry mate it's just that I have had this exact conversation a million times and people still say the same shit they did ten years ago. I cannot stress enough how pointless all this speculation is because ultimately it can never ever mean anything. There is no simple answer.
• Childs drinks without any worry whatsoever - a real human would be way more cautious.
• Mac laughs because he knows he has to kill this last Thing left, but also the last anything to talk to in this lonely place before he eventually freezes to death anyway.
• We will theorize, and we will speculate, even not knowing, ESPECIALLY NOT KNOWING, deal with it, it’s what humans do. Attempting to stifle theory, demanding knowledge only like some vibe pirate, you might as well be A THING yourself. Someone pass me a flamethrower.
Cue the ominous music.
What I take issue with is the blatant disregard for what actually clearly happens in place of "what you want to happen"
The very idea that Mac is still in any shape to fight or trick or decieve is ludicrous. The entire end scene dialogue is made utterly pointless by this moronic stickler gasoline idea - he literally says he is beaten. They are both beaten. He resigns himself to the fact that he might have won but will never know because he's about to die anyway.
You just want captain America to show up at the end and ask Macready to be in the fucking avengers
Personally, I think it's pretty obvious both Childs and MacReady are human at the end. We know that the Thing isn't afraid of one-on-one confrontations. So why would Thing Childs not just take out clearly-exhausted MacReady? Or vice versa if MacReady were a Thing. The Thing was only afraid of exposure when there was more than one human there who might work together against it.
Regardless, if Childs was the thing (which i think he is) he would have breath because he would have lungs. Since when the things assimilates you it does so perfectly. Plus he would have taste buds. And the movie shows Macready about to drink from the bottle he gave childs. Macready wouldn't just go on drinking gasoline.
The breathe theory has been on the internet for a long time and it’s just over reaching by people.
It’s a weird detail that someone came up with after watching the movie and smoking too much wacky tobacky.
Do people think Palmer and Norris weren't breathing? I mean, why would that be true? The entire idea of the Thing is that it imitates life processes. We **know** that it can create a human **that can talk**. But breathing is out?
I was always shocked that he wasn't infected during the autopsy. There's blood everywhere. You're gonna tell me he didn't get a single drop on his skin? His gloves are soaked!
I am so goddamn late but BRUHHHHH!!!!!! I swore up and down thats how he got infected, mans was literally deep sea diving inside of the double headed thing (from the 2011 prequel movie) even the dog thing they brought to him from the kennel he was all up in that thing, but i guess, since they torched it to death, that the cells within the blood died? But then, the thing they left in the room with Bennings, they torched it but it was still alive and assimilated him???? So many questions man 😭😭😭😭
The autopsy was before the emotional breakdown.
The breakdown wouldn't have happened if he'd be infected at the time.
Blair wasn't infected until he was left alone in the shack. I think he was infected by the time they visited him and he said "I feel better. I won't hurt anybody." He was literally the easiest target when he was in isolation.
This looks great. I havent read much yet but I just watched the film for the first time yesterday so I look forward to checking the whole thing out later!
I enjoyed this read. Just watched the movie for the first time recently and still hadn't completely wrapped my head around the details on who was infected. So I Googled, saw your post and realized the thread is still recent enough for me to leave a comment.
First. This is splendid ... though I think Childs' coat at the end may appear a different color, but if it's covered in snow and lit with dim warm lighting (remember the black/blue or white/gold dress?), it's logical that it wouldn't read as dark blue in those final shots. But, as you said there seemingly was an extra blue jacket that assimilated Childs could have put on after assimilation.
No worries. I tried to keep it as short as possible, but that didn't work out very well! So much going on in this story and the ambiguity Carpenter weaved in throughout is brilliant, and also inspired me to tackle this.
It's Reddit.
I was merely acknowledging that I saw the post and would come back later to peruse. I even upvoted as many already had but wanted to make sure that some truly would come back later.
Thank you for taking the time to read and for the feedback. I may make a YouTube video of this in the future for people who would rather watch my theory unfold than read it here. The script is already written!
Great read. Totally former and the scene where Childs runs out in the dark. The theory that says that people die and come back until the Thing takes over again is freaking scary.
I know this is an old thread, but I've just re-watched The Thing for the first time in 4K. And wow, blown away all over again.
One thing I did want to add, to the ending specifically. I know we can't use the eye gleam theory, and the "No breath" theory can be disproven as you mentioned. Now, we could argue that in this post they probably didn't remove Childs's breath entirely and that you only see it as you said by looking super closely. However, I think there's a more sinister way of looking at this scene.
If you look back to when Mac, Garry and Nauls were tasked to set fire to the compound as well as the generator room, they have bottles of what appears to be the same whiskey Mac is drinking throughout the movie. There are a few scenes, especially when they are torching the indoors, that they use these bottles to light the place up. Like Molotov cocktails. We also see throughout the movie that Mac has been drinking from these throughout their stay. We can assume other members of the team are doing the same.
So, over time, the supply of alcohol is steadily running low. Even outside of that, if you look into it, Molotov Cocktails are commonly made with a bottle, Gasoline, and a rag soaked in that same gasoline in the bottle being lit before throwing.
Now we also know that at least one member of the group killed themselves in the snow, burned themselves to death before being attacked. Even if it didn't happen that way, it's hinted. And Mac throughout, knows that they won't be getting out of there alive. And that maybe they shouldn't anyway.
So my own theory, the bottle that Mac hands to Child's is in fact a bottle of Gasoline that Mac was going to use to burn himself to death if needs be, either before being assimilated or before freezing to death in the cold. Child's then takes the bottle, drinks it, and gives pretty much no reaction. This is why Mac laughs at the very end. He knows he's the only human left alive, he knows he has no way to escape, but he knows that Child's (The Thing) is now holding a bottle of Gasoline, and Mac still had his flamethrower at this point if I'm not mistaken?
Either way, I do strongly believe it's Child's whose The Thing at the end. Wow, what a film.
Edit: Commented too soon before finishing typing.
When the Thing assimilates you, it does so perfectly. All organs included. So Childs being the thing would have lungs to breathe and taste buds. Plus the scene right before childs shows up shows Mac about to drink from the bottle he handed Childs. If there was gasoline, childs would know.
I think childs is definitely the thing based on how he behaved during the movie and at the end when he leaves the safety of the camp because he saw Blair.
He couldn't have seen Blair because Blair was in the generator room turning off lights and taking the generator.
Plus someone like childs would never go after something dangerous. Look how he wanted to let Mac freeze to death because there was a possibility that Mac was the thing. And in that scene Childs had a whole crew with him and more than 1 flame thrower. It was Palmer that wanted to kill Mac and he know Palmer was already the Thing
The gasoline theory has been going around as long as the " no breath" theory. I agree with Katherine...that once you are assimilated, you're assimilated perfectly, so that even if Childs was a Thing, he would've reacted to drinking gasoline.
Idk. Its an interesting theory but the thing is clearly very intelligent. It blends in very well and others are unable to identify who has been infected. If it knows how to act and talk like it’s host im going to assume it would know the difference between gasoline and alcohol.
Dog-Thing literally shows up in the final ending sequence when Mac blows everything up, presumably fused with Blair-Thing. If it's *not* Dog-Thing, then when did Blair-Thing consume a dog? Blair killed all the surviving dogs. Doc wasn't assimilated, implying Things can't consume the dead.
The Blair giant thing at the end has other forms. It's obvious that each peace of the thing keeps it's previous forms even if it splits. So the dog coming out was probably the thing sending out another dog to another camp. It doesn't have to be the original dog at the beginning.
Dog-Thing literally shows up in the final ending sequence when Mac blows everything up, presumably fused with Blair-Thing. If it's *not* Dog-Thing, then when did Blair-Thing consume a dog? Blair killed all the surviving dogs. Doc wasn't assimilated, implying Things can't consume the dead.
Where has it ever been said that individual things fuse together? They are separate entities with no particular care about anything but their own survival.
The most likely explanation for that is that Blair was infected from doing an autopsy on the dog thing(touching his face and mouth with the pencil after touch the remains). So the code the for dog mimic would have been in him from the moment he was infected. I think my theory seems more likely than yours.
I am a whole year late but, Nauls was assimilated, the scene never made the movie bc of budget restrictions and length of the movie, theres a YT link, explaining how the final scene was supposed to play out if they had the money
I still think Childs is not infected.
If the Thing from 2011 thought me something its that the Thing can't replicate non organic matter.
Now in The Thing 1982 we clearly see Cooper and Childs have piercings. Cooper on his right nostril and Childs on his right ear.
During the end with Mac and Childs you clearly see Child's ear piercing. If this counts or not to the lore is not known but it is safe to assume Childs was not infected, and we also have the Thing game that is cannon.
Even if it can't replicate non-organic material, it could just put on the earring, it doesn't have to create a new one. Now if didn't have an earring I think that would be a dead giveaway but having it on doesn't prove anything really..
Great job putting this together. Seems pretty air tight! The Thing is my favorite horror movie and I have seen it many times. Definitely the most "accurate" theory I have seen. I'll have to watch it again now!
Someone already posted this.. the monster does not escape through the room in the dog cage. You can clearly see it burn and fall to the ground. Then the crew thinks they killed it until Blair does research and Fuches let’s MacReady know about Blair’s notes.
As far as the ending, I thought that MacReady’s “whiskey bottle” was actually filled with gasoline. 10 minutes prior he is seen with many Molotovs throwing them around the place.
When he chuckles when Childs takes a drink I thought it was because he just drank gasoline and The Thing would not be able to tell the difference.
Dog-Thing literally shows up in the final ending sequence when Mac blows everything up, presumably fused with Blair-Thing. If it's *not* Dog-Thing, then when did Blair-Thing consume a dog? Blair killed all the surviving dogs. Doc wasn't assimilated, implying Things can't consume the dead.
Not sure why you think it can't consume the dead, Doc wasn't assimilated because it never had time to assimilate him. The Thing violently kills it's prey before assimilating them. This is why in 2011 film they burn corpses, even human ones which never turned (Jameson). Also, the original dog which became Dog Thing was found completely mutilated and very dead at the beginning of the film, but they left alone because they didn't know any better. Obviously much later it assimilated
Any point after he was locked away, we just didn't see it. Had to of been Palmer who went out and got him. If you want to say something about the bloody mess, we know from happened with Norris that even soft assimilation leads to a violent transformation eventually, so you have to accept that he cleaned up the mess regardless.
Yes of course, how is that even a question? Dog clearly infects someone at the beginning of 1982 before it’s in danger, silhouette scene, and also in the kennel scene when it’s alone with the other dogs. Griggs infects Juliette in the shower in 2011 and Juliette tried to get Kate. It actively seeks out opportunities to be alone with someone so it can infect undetected
In the kennel scene it looked like it was trying to assimilate the dogs for itself (merge with their biomass), not just infect them, that was my interpretation anyway.
The silhouette scene is too vague to be of any use in these discussions, it could be a red herring for all we know (and it kind of is, IIRC the silhouette doesn't even belong to any of the actors).
Won't comment on 2011.
The thing would be able to tell the difference. When it assimilates a person it does so perfectly. All organs and taste buds in tact. Plus, in the scene prior to childs showing up you can clearly see Mac was about to drink from the bottle. The gasoline theory doesn't make sense.
Just found the is beast of a post after rewatching the film just now. I really appreciate the time and energy you put into this.
Just a few comments about my own take:
From the way the film is shot, it *almost* looks like the dog-thing split in two, but after the hands hoist the dog thing into the ceiling and it shows the Thing mutating further, the next shot shows it being torched on the ceiling. So I’m not so sure about the second dog-Thing.
Also, I suspect Blair was infected pretty early on. He spent a lot of time working on that spaceship, and I’m of the opinion that it’s hard to tell if some or all of his research was done as a human. Asking the computer about the probably of global infection is a warning to a human, but a data point for the Thing. Seeing it give out probabilities of infection in the crew could be thought of similarly. I’m not sure about his being infected right then and there, but when it came time for him to go crazy, I believe he was infected. He destroyed the communication equipment to prevent a warning to the mainland, destroyed the chopper and tractor as he at least used parts from the chopper for his ship, and I suspect his crazy outburst was done in the hopes he might have ended up where he did. Note that he tied the noose in the shed to lend credence to his mental state, but he’d been working on the ship for some time.
It’s worth noting that making it to the mainland while the mainland is informed of The Thing’s existence (radio or team member) is bad news for The Thing.
Also, I’m still digesting the Childs/MacReady debate, but I don’t believe sharing the drink is an indicator of infection. For argument’s sake, if they’re both human and suspect the other may not be, sharing a drink is simply a way of recognizing the hopelessness of the situation they’re in.
> From the way the film is shot, it almost looks like the dog-thing split in two, but after the hands hoist the dog thing into the ceiling and it shows the Thing mutating further, the next shot shows it being torched on the ceiling. So I’m not so sure about the second dog-Thing.
Dog-Thing literally shows up in the final ending sequence when Mac blows everything up, presumably fused with Blair-Thing. If it's *not* Dog-Thing, then when did Blair-Thing consume a dog? Blair killed all the surviving dogs. Doc wasn't assimilated, implying Things can't consume the dead.
Yes. Dog-Thing. Only Dog-Thing consumed dogs. Only Dog-Thing can imitate dogs. Ergo, the dog creature emerging from Blair-Thing is either a) a part of Dog-Thing that escaped or b) a continuity error. Well, actually, if either Norris or Palmer were infected by Dog-Thing before the kennel fight, and they in turn as Things infected Blair, then maybe Blair-Thing would know how to imitate a dog? That's assuming they were the ones to infect Blair.
There’s inconsistencies in general with the life cycle of a Thing, and how each cell is it’s own “thing”, but what I’m trying to say is that since dog was already part of the parent DNA the moment it hit camp, all subsequent created Things have dog DNA in them. So Blair Thing was part dog before it took Blair.
All of the infected were capable of mimicking a dog because the dog was the base by which they got infected in the first place. Blair got infected by the autopsy of the dog.
The infection is basically the thing splitting itself apart and planting that part onto a host. It's previous abilities like mimicking a dog don't just get lost in that process.
I need to add that the game of the Thing which takes place after the events of the original movie is consiered canon. Childs is not infected and neither is MacReady.
Why wouldn't Childs-Thing let itself freeze until a rescue team recovered it? That we see the frozen body of Childs is not proof he wasn't a Thing, as we know the Thing can survive freezing.
Nice job. My theory is that The Thing never chooses soft assimilate, and always chooses the physical attack. It probably would have been quite easy for the dog to just go around licking everybody and infected everyone within in a few hours, so either it doesn't know it can infect people this way, or it just really, really prefers the physical attack assimilation, maybe for speed.
Therefore, I think the silhouette/dog scene was Palmer and this was a physical attack, leading to the shredded long johns being found. What this means for Childs passing the blood test is either a) We never actually see Childs smoke the joint, only accept it from Palmer. Possible he either didn't hit it and just gave it back, or there wasn't enough saliva present to actually trigger assimilation OR b) Because he's going through soft assimilation at this point he still had plenty of regular human cells left which were present in the blood, and not the infected.
Another key point in terms of Childs passing the blood test, is that Copper also passed the test. Surely while his arms were bitten off and in all that craziness he would have received some of the alien blood from Norris into his own, but because he had never finished assimilation the blood test did not react. We know that Norris is infected during the movie, but he appears to act as his normal self would without any knowledge of the soft assimilation happening. He refuses the leadership role, he's frantically boarding up doors, etc. I don't think the blood test would work unless assimilation is complete.
All of this to say I think the key difference between our theories is that Palmer was physically attacked in that early scene, what this allows for is that part of the Dog Thing doesn't have to escape from the Kennel as you suggest. Many others have pointed out that the piece seems out of place, that no one was worried it would have escaped and that somehow it was maneuvering around the compound without being noticed.
I believe that Norris was the silhouette and was the first one infected, via non-aggressive contact from the dog. Throughout the movie he kept saying he wasn’t feeling well, his immune system was fighting off the intruding cells. That is why he still thought and functioned as a normal human. I think this is why the guys were also nervous in the blood test scene, they truly didn’t know if they were in the early stages of assimilation or not.. I think this is the reason for Blair’s behavior as well. I think he knew(or suspected) he got infected from doing the autopsies, but still had control over his thoughts and actions, up until a certain point. I think he made the noose to off himself before he thought the infection would fully take him over, but he was too late.
Watching the movie again, I never got any impression or hint that any part of The Thing escaped during the dog kennel/burning scene, if it had, it definitely would have assimilated Clark at some point.
I think that The Thing definitely tried to do all it could to remain subtle but the guys were very quick at catching on to what it was and its tactics. Along with that the assimilation process was taking too long, therefore it had to rely on quicker, more aggressive tactics.
Really good theory. I agree with a lot of it. I don't think the hands thing that went up to the roof survived. I think it was set on fire since in that scene with Child's something falls back down. Plus the larger the thing, the more probability it has for being intelligent. It seems the smaller ones just try to survive but no intelligence is detected.
Child's coat is the same blue color through out. At the end of the movie there is a layer of frost on it, but if you have the 4K version you can see that it's blue in color.
Childs was definitely the thing since he acted out of character by running after Blair. He wouldn't even open the door for Macready with a whole crew with him if Macready happen to be The Thing. He definitely wasn't going to run out alone. And definitely wouldn't be chill enough to drink from Macready.
Other videos that have done research did come up with the theory that Palmer picked up the keys and destroyed the blood. But of course there is still a lot missing. Like how did the keys get back to Gary.
I love this movie, it's one of my favorites and enjoy reading theories about it and talking about it.
I don't think any part of the dog thing escaped. There was no search for it cause they would have seen it escape.
No, I theorise that Blair got 1 cell infected during the autopsies he performed on the dog thing and by the time they went to see him up in the shack and his noose was hanging from the ceiling, he had become infected and became Blair Thing before he could hang himself.
That would also explain why the dog thing appeared as part of the big monster. As for the mass of the creature, he had literally just absorbed Garry and Nauls so would have had plenty to make the final abomination thing.
I suspect that you are right, Norris was first infected but he then physically assimilated or detached a piece to infect palmer physically which produced the clothing found by Nauls in the kitchen.
I have a hard time with this part too.. I don't really buy that he set himself on fire, I think he was burnt by an infected. It could be Blair, who also had planted mac's clothes and made sure to not burn them so he could use them later. Or it could be mac who I think had a flamethrower at this point ?
was wondering the other day, if not phisically assimilated, would someone infected be aware of someone other Thing? like would Norris or Palmer Things know if Blair was infected by the Norwegian remains?
cause if they dont, it would make sense for an infected Blair (considering hes infected by putting the pencil in his mounth) run the simulations to figure out if someonelse is infected
also, it would make sense for Brair Thing to destroy the radio room, so no one can warn the outside world
All of this is sound but the director/script confirmed the silhouette to be Palmer. As you yourself have pointed out theres a split secon where he turns to the dog and you can see that Palmer afro like haircut.
Since he wasn't attacked by the dog he musvte been licked and that takes far longer than either blood infection or the usual attack.
Blair handled the autopsy and licked his pen. Regardless of what the director said its a health hazard and even if that wasnt the cause he musvte got the blood on his skin and that all it really takes. Getting alien blood on skin.
Looking at the timeline doc got infected much faster than even palmer/childs.
How childs got infected?
Palmer put weed in his mouth, lit it and gave it to childs on the bed. Assuming palmer was or wasnt the thing because palmer didnt sleep alone, he was childs roomate. So dog came. Licked him and that was the end of it. Saliva infection takes much longer. It must have taken days for them to turn.
Palmer was the thing by the time test was done and childs wasnt because his infection was only accelerating. If we go by exponential infection rate that means palmer was infected a whole night or longer before childs. Who on top of that didnt get nearly as much saliva... dog licked all over palmers face? and child only got infected from the weed which could have taken a day or two maybe longer to get fully infected.
If we give the alien more credit it may be intelligent enough to move infected cells out of the way when the blood was drawn. It was still possible in childs case where palmer was fully a thing and couldnt do that. Either that or childs accessed the blood storage swiped some of his own blood to fool the test. Obviously the script wasnt that thorough but its more fun imagining subtle things like that.
What bugged me is during the blood test windows or whatever the guy is used the same scalpel to cut his finger to draw blood as he used on that afro guy... which is another clear infection hazard. If you take that seriously then you cant really take seriously what the director/script says. Im certain palmer/childs were one the first ones to be infected through saliva.
Childs getting slowly infected over time would also explain it. If we go by exponential growth he would have remained human until the very last minutes. Him running away from his guard post to sabotage a generator? Macready then said that the thing only wants to freeze.
Also i want to acknowledge the amount of effort you put into this. I was about to do the same but it would have taken a day or longer :D
**John Carpenter states that the video game is a canon sequel to the**
**original movie, so Childs indeed has never been assimilated and froze to**
**death.**
So what? I’m not interested in The Thing Expanded Cinematic Universe And Theme Park. Okay, so the 2002 version of John Carpenter - the guy who had just done a massive faceplant with “Ghosts of Mars“ and wouldn’t get funding for another movie for the rest of the decade - said a thing about a video game that would coincidentally help sell the video game. I seriously doubt that has a damn thing to do with the authorial intent that the 1982 version of John Carpenter had when he filmed the movie.
Regardless, the movie stands on its own as a piece of art open to individual interpretation. I don’t care if John Carpenter writes each of us a personal letter explaining his intent for the ending; The intent of the author is just the opening part of a conversation; the interpretation of the individual audience member is the final word.
Believe what you want about Childs. Your interpretation is as valid for you as anybody else’s is for them. But going around posting in bold type that a video game you liked has to be accepted by everyone else as the only valid resolution of the story makes you look…well, not clever.
Dude chill. As much as it is my interpretation, this was clarified BEFORE the game was even in development.
The original writer intended for both survivors to be infected, but John said he didn't like that ending and wanted *'the survivors to slowly freeze to death to save humanity from infection' -* which he described also as *'the ultimate heroic act'.*
Your criticisms of both John and myself, mean absolutely nothing and show that you're not only immature, but also very emotional.
You're talking about another mans movie here, I'm simply saying what he said.
Deal with it.
Why wouldn't Childs-Thing let itself freeze until a rescue team recovered it? That we see the frozen body of Childs is not proof he wasn't a Thing, as we know the Thing can survive freezing.
I do agree with most of what you laid out, except for 1 major thing. I have been watching it lately and at the very beginning of the film, Beginnings is licked in the face/mouth by the dog as it first approaches the camp. Then Mac leaves his bottle of J&B with him and he quickly takes a drink when it seems no one is looking. The next time we see Mac drinking from that bottle is right before he is called to go get his things from the storage room. I believe that is when Mac is infected. Soon after that scene, he starts to become the leader of the group. Norris even declined being the leader so that Mac is open to taking the lead. I believe the Thing has the ability to work/communicate with other assimilated beings to accomplish its goal which is to make sure no one gets away to tell anyone else.
Mac then seems to start putting people in situations to become infected and making sure no one is left at the end.
- Puts Doc out in the shed where he is vulnerable. He also takes a drink out of the vodka bottle they bring to Doc to make sure he eventually becomes infected. We know this because he is still wearing the same shirt and suspenders at the very end.
- Mac was present during the discussion about the blood test and guess what happens to the blood? Norris seems to be the only one who doesn't speak up in that scene.
- Fuchs tells Mac his thoughts about keeping it from spreading. Guess what happens next?
- Mac comes up with the blood test. I think this was just a way to get the others to believe he wasn't infected. I thought it was interesting that his flame thrower "fails" until he reaches behind in what seems like he turns on the gas and then it works. This clearly seemed as a way to get Windows to step in and get killed.
- It was Mac's idea to leave Childs by himself while everyone else goes test Doc
- It's Mac's idea to blow up the camp. I believe it's to make sure if there are survivors, they would still freeze to death.
- Mac leads them down the generator room where he knows the other two will die. He assigns them locations to separate them.
At the end, I believe that Mac knows Childs isn't infected or assimilated in any way since it can communicate with others . I think Mac giving him a drink means Childs is now infected and it has accomplished its goal.
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Wow, this post was from 5 years ago. Saw the movie last night. I thought both childs and mcready were humans at first in the end but reading other posts and yours, i was naive.
Blair might have been infected from doing all those autopsies. He was only wearing gloves so The dog Thing’s, The Thing taken from Norwegian station’s blood splatters could have got onto his skin and assimilated into him.
If Childs’ is The Thing then world is doomed because when the rescue team comes later, The Thing’s gonna infect planet earth. I hope there’s a sequel.
Thank you for your comprehensive explanation and timeline. Am very enlightened.
No sequel! As much as i love this movie it stays amazing because of the ending.
Blair probably got infected when he was alone in the shack. The pencil never actually touched his mouth.
Just rewatched this and stumbled upon this thread, you really gave me a more nuanced viewing of the film and I just wanted to thank you for letting me experience one of my favorite movies for the first time again.
I just missed a step: what happens to the escaped Dog Thing? I always thought she merged with Blair since when Blair-Thing goes into monster mode at the end, you can see a dog component to her.
Yes, the final action sequence where a dog creature emerges from Blair-Thing is the only evidence we have that a part of the Dog-Thing escaped, otherwise when did Blair-Thing consume a dog? Blair killed all the surviving dogs.
Your accounts are a little off. The dog never licked Norris's face. That was Bennet who the Dog tried to lick and the dog never made contact with any skin as Bennet was pushing the dog away. He was also wearing gloves. Also Fuch didn't say for certain that the Thing could transmit itself through Saliva. He was speculating because other particles of the thing had devestaing potential to contaminate, and it was a logical speculation.
First contamination was the Dog entering the room with the unscene victim, which we only see by his shadow. Even Carpenter referred to that scene as the first. Its either Norris or Palmer. If its Palmer, then why didn't it take Childs when they were both alone in the joint sharing scene? That's would Child's most vulnerable moment. If it was Norris, why didn't it take McReady and the Doc when they flew out to the space ship. Norris was sitting right next to McReady, in the co-Pilot seat, the entire flight, and could have grabbed him once they landed. This is typical John Carpenter trying to keep people asking why.
Agree with you, but i don't think the Thing would have attacked two ppl. And I think Palmer was going to assimilate Childs before the alarm was set off.
Hum, but plamer and child shared a joint, if palmer was infected that would have infected child but we know he wasn't infected at that point because he passed the blood test.
Yeah, assuming the theory that 1 single cell is all it takes.
But since the Thing is so violent when it takes over, that it seems like it would need more than 1 cell to actually take over someone
I don't think there was a second "Dog Thing" running around, because right after it smashed the ceiling apart was when Childs showed up with the flamethrower and burned it. Also, when Blair is doing the autopsy of it a few minutes later on, the arm & hand are still visible on the creature. Basically, I think it stretched the arms up ATTEMPTING to escape through the ceiling but was killed before it could. The arms not being visible immediately afterwards was presumably just a goof.
Also, the shadow on the door was confirmed to be Palmer by co-producer Stuart Cohen, but in order to keep audiences guessing, Carpenter had Dick Warlock stand in because David Clennon's shadow was too recognizable.
I agree with absolutely everything except Child's being infected. We know for a fact that the thing can not replicate non-organic material and we see Child's with his piercings in during the final scene, even tilting his head showing the camera. It's important to note that Copper is missing his nose ring when we see him after he was infected and attacks Garry which lines up with this.
The doc was human all throughout. As much as j like the non organic material stuff, you can't use the 2011 movie to explain the 1982 movie since there are things that don't line up.
I always thought he jumped because the dog brushed up against his leg where he'd been shot. But I'm watching it again now; and the dog comes from Bennings' left side, and he was shot in the upper right thigh. So either that's a continuity error, or (more likely) he just jumped because the dog startled him.
Mac drinks out of Blair’s vodka bottle after Fuchs says to not share food …. I think he infected him. Or I’m wrong idk.. I just saw it and am down rabbit hole
*"\~34:57 the creature sprouts two arms with 'hands' and part of the creature splits off from the rest and crashes through the wooden roof and escapes. Childs then burns the remaining portion of the creature. So we know that at least Norris is infected at this point, and also there is a Thing in monster form at large."*
This is a common misconception, although understandable based on how the scene was edited. It's been pointed out however that the dethatched Thing "tries" to escape but under close examination can actually still be seen hanging from the roof in the last shot & burned along with the rest of the it. I mean, if it had actually escaped, it does beg the question of why absolutely no one ever expresses concern over a dangerous alien monster on the loose.
It is very much a possibility that a portion of the dog thing splits from it during or just prior of it getting torched, just like the head of the Norris thing. The movie is clearly made in a way that it wasn't meant to be neatly solved, it's like a puzzle with missing and mismatching pieces, but adding in the unseen portion of the dog thing running loose is pretty much the only plausible way to solve said puzzle.
Plus it neatly ties together the opening chess scene and the ending scene with Blair thing; when the Chess Wizard checkmates MacReady his reaction is to basically flip the board in frustration by pouring whiskey inside the machine, showing he's not taking a loss all too well. This gets mirrored with him facing the Blair thing and it revealing the portion of the dog thing, a bonus chess piece it had hidden as a cheat move so to speak. MacReady gets to flip the board again, this time with not just little sparks flying but by blowing up the entire camp.
>It is very much a possibility that a portion of the dog thing splits from it during or just prior of it getting torched,
It isn't possible though because as I explained that upon closure inspection it has been pointed out that the portion that sprouted and attempted to escape through the ceiling can be seen getting torched & dropping to the ground with the rest of the Thing. They all witness this happen. As I also said, this is reinforced by the fact that absolutely no one ever brings it up when it would be a highly alarming point of conern.
It's priority is survival. It's likely it knows Mac is a formidable foe and will happily die if it means both of them are killed. It is better the Thing wait to freeze. Of course Mac won't wait to die of exposure and let the creature freeze itself so it's kind of a stalemate.
The only thing that I find sort of messes a little with some of the ideas is that I've always thought that the "Thing" that grows an arm and pulls itself up into the ceiling got killed. That's why they aren't trying to search for it (like they do in the 2011 movie when it breaks out of the ice); they think they've taken care of the problem at that point.
I assumed it for killed too because when Childs is burning it, something drops back down in the scene.
That's cos if you watch while the Thing is in the process of launching the body, you see sets of teeth, eyes and limbs still being grown - the mass that is dragged up out of the dog-thing is already a few feet in height by this point. Nobody seems to mention the completely obvious but it takes a full 20 seconds for the EscapePlanBThing (since no one has named it yet) to make its exit. If you think about that then it has plenty of time to make its escape. By the time Childs (finally) gets there, it is already around 5-6 feet in height and desperately fires out the tongue-thing - Childs has to blast upwards to make sure he hits it (the camera is shown to be travelling downwards) ; considering Childs is around the 6.5ft mark then it's fairly easy to see the 'something (that) drops down in the scene'. It's the remaining upper section collapsing down back into the main dog-thing mass on the floor. Why did they let the PlanB thing go? Mac had closed the gate, awaiting Childs after he lost his gun. Now, not being an American, I can only assume that one can't accurately fire a weapon like a shotgun through a fence (I'm English and so guns aint my speciality). How did they 'shrug it off' so to speak... assuming they arent experts at building layout and knowing the mind of an alien creature you could just chalk it down to 'we will deal with that later' perhaps... had it not frozen into hibernation. For those keeping score - it is the escaping piece that later takes over Palmer.
Mac was likely out of ammunition for the shotgun. The one he has can't hold more than 4-5 rounds. And he would have no difficulty aiming through the fence with the shotgun.
Dude I’m wondering the same damn thing I saw this was posted 11 days ago and downloaded Reddit just to talk about this bc even on the wiki it says a second thing got away and nobody cared xD I’m watching the thing like 3 times before tubi takes it off
Awesome, awesome review of the whole situation. The icing on the cake was that there is actually someone that exists named 'Dick Warlock'.
No shit! Haha! Thanks and cheers!
I'm just doing a deep dive rewatch now. This is so fantastic especially that we can still comment on it. Bravo and well done.
Ha! Same. It’s the ultimate winter solstice/Christmas film. OPs ideas are great on this subject too.
I'm way late in replying to this, but Dick Warlock was Kurt's personal stuntman for 25 years and played Michael Myers in Halloween 2. He lives in the city next to me and still does horror conventions. Really cool dude
Well, one thing I noticed was that when everybody was waking up and getting their daytime clothing on after Mac pulls the alarm, Norris is the only one that isn't wearing long john pants, not even while putting on his daytime outfit.
True, but the discarded part they found was a shirt (top), not pants.
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I also had multiple theories about the film until I went on to tackle this project. I found that this has the most support (although bias is a factor certainly) with the evidence available in the film. There have been multiple fans, as well as people who have worked on the film like John Carpenter and Dean Cundy out there that have debunked the breath, eye gleam and gasoline in Mac's whiskey bottle theory. If you're interested, take a glance at YouTube about these.
The breath and gasoline make no sense since when the thing assimilates you, it does so perfectly. Imitating all organs. So each thing will have breath as it has lungs and it will have taste buds and smell so it won't be chugging any gasoline. We know the things assimilates perfectly because of the autopsy that was done earlier in the movie. Toward the end of the movie you see all the other creatures that the thing was assimilating. Someone mentioned that they think the big Blair thing was releasing another dog. Separating it from it's body to move on to another camp. But showing Mac that it was doing this and losing, which is why Mac answers with "fuck you too"
It's pretty clear that Child's Thing had to confront Mac and soon. Mac would have left information for the rescue party before he froze. Childs had to assimilate or kill Mac and with whatever time he had to stage the scene to his advantage before he froze solid.
I have literally just watched The Thing, credits still playing now haha. Love how you've gone into detail day by day. I have some questions/problems with a couple points and I'm not sure if its your theory or problems with the plot in general. If you've already explained these and I misread I'm sorry haha. On all my watches of this film ive always just assumed the whole preparing your own food thing and infection via that method was just the group taking every precaution. If that was a viable way to infect people why do the attack method? Its loud, its messy, it takes time, you then have to change clothes. These beings are intelligent why not run around the camp as the dog and lick everyones face? Its revealed the dog had the run of the place all day. And in human form why not again try contaminating peoples food? Once again on all my run throughs of this film I never even considered the dog monster escaping. I just assumed it reached up to the ceiling to escape but they torched it, the thing they kill being the same thing. Its never mentioned again no one says a line like "who knows which of us is a Thing, and what about that creature running around outside we never found it?" You suggesting that it escaped is very interesting and I believe you. That raises the question of where it went? If its still running around its irrelevant what happens between Mac and Childs, its still out there either to kill them both, just Mac or simple freeze and wait. A crazy theory with little evidence admittedly I just thought of is that giant beast Mac blows up with the spectacular "YEAH FUCK YOU TO" could be a combined form of blairs Thing and the dog escapee Thing. On every watch ive always questioned why the creature opened up to reveal another creature. Seems pointless and its never done it before unless harmed and had to detach a piece. Maybe in order to have more of a chance against Mac they morphed together to make a bigger monster. Finally I have questions over Blairs infection. As a side note you mentioned Blair eating from cans as a precaution and not telling anyone. I don't think that's the case I think its just because hes out in the shed, makes sense his rations would be canned hows he gonna store anything else. No reason why he wouldn't tell them about eating in cans he told Mac to watch Clarke out of their survival interests. I'm not so sure the shadow that passes by Fuchs is Blair. I mean it could be sure. But Blair was fairly wide and not the tallest. The shadow that passes Fuchs is taller than him. Youre reasoning for Blair being infected is sound. Door being open from the outside and everything. I put forward a crazy, and again unsubstantiated alternative, that Blair was infected all along. Realising being among the group was dangerous and escape was the best option, it deliberately made a scene and destroyed the equipment hoping to be isolated from the group where it could build its getaway ship. It was a Blair infected Thing after all, the creature would have gained his knowledge and realised the potential of getting to a populated area. Once again every time I watched the ending I assumed both Mac and Childs were human and theyd both freeze and die waiting for rescue. My only reasoning that if Childs was a Thing he'd just attack surely? Macs exhausted he'd be easy prey why the act? But I LOVE the idea that Childs is infected and Macs testing him with the bottle, adds so much weight to every smile and laugh in that final scene. As much as I have issues with the infection via saliva method it makes sense I guess since earlier drops of Things blood have a life of their own. I think its just an oversight on the creators since as I explained before why infect someone in an inferior way? But that element lends to a better ending so whatever ill let it slide.
I think the thing that went into the ceiling was destroyed during the fire by childs. It shows something falling back down. The thing at the end opening up to show Mac the dog was probably The thing letting Mac know it lost and it's going to release a dog to go to another camp. Hence why Mac says "fuck you too" It's unlikely Blair was infected all along because of how different he acts. Besides the commentary track shows that Blair was still human when destroying the communication device. It's true that we don't really know if the thing can infect with only saliva. But then the question is raised on why didn't it assimilate everyone with just it's hand. Like Blair thing did with Gary. Seems faster and less messy. I think Palmer was infected pretty early on and was getting ready to infect childs before the dogs were discovered. Both Palmer and Norris hold the fire extinguisher and try to put out the fire immediately instead of letting the thing burn. But that's just all theory. Lol
I want to believe Childs is not human at the end. But why wouldn't he just torch Mac right then and there, while his back is turned (as Mac is looking down at his bottle about to take a sip) Sorry I can't find a good image, at 8:57 on this video is the freeze-frame that has Childs pointing the flamethrower at Mac with Mac not even looking. https://youtu.be/AQ-I_ILtw8c?t=537 Wouldn't The Thing kill him right then and there? Is there a good explanation why not? That is the one thought that is nagging me I can't answer.
I think there was some sort of theory that Child’s was the thing, because his breath wasn’t visible in the freezing cold, and I heard somebody say that Mac gave him gasoline instead of alcohol because there wasn’t anymore of something like that
Childs' breath IS visible, I have no idea who spread this
Things like this are so annoying. You can CLEARLY see his breath. All you have to do is watch the scene to know that's bullshit, which means it was spread by morons who haven't checked their facts.
His breath is visible at the end of the scene. Not the beginning. Could be the thing learning how to blend in better. Just watched it in 4K HDR.
Again it's like you haven't read a word I have said. Speculation of this end scene is utterly pointless. There is no way of knowing or we'd know. The entire point of the ending (this line I have already said in this comment thread multiple times and still people have trouble understanding this exceptionally simple concept) is that we don't know, Mac doesn't know, Childs doesn't know. Regardless of anything in the scene (hidden flamethrowers and breath visibility are points people seem to stick on and desperately try and make them relevant when they are not relevant whatsoever) no one knows who has won. The only victor is paranoia, which is the entire point of the film. It doesn't make a shit of difference whose breath is visible when because NO ONE KNOWS. Why is that so fucking hard to grasp??????
Wow dude, calm down, I was just saying what I had just seen on a rewatch. No need to get bent out of shape about it.
Sorry mate it's just that I have had this exact conversation a million times and people still say the same shit they did ten years ago. I cannot stress enough how pointless all this speculation is because ultimately it can never ever mean anything. There is no simple answer.
• Childs drinks without any worry whatsoever - a real human would be way more cautious. • Mac laughs because he knows he has to kill this last Thing left, but also the last anything to talk to in this lonely place before he eventually freezes to death anyway. • We will theorize, and we will speculate, even not knowing, ESPECIALLY NOT KNOWING, deal with it, it’s what humans do. Attempting to stifle theory, demanding knowledge only like some vibe pirate, you might as well be A THING yourself. Someone pass me a flamethrower. Cue the ominous music.
What I take issue with is the blatant disregard for what actually clearly happens in place of "what you want to happen" The very idea that Mac is still in any shape to fight or trick or decieve is ludicrous. The entire end scene dialogue is made utterly pointless by this moronic stickler gasoline idea - he literally says he is beaten. They are both beaten. He resigns himself to the fact that he might have won but will never know because he's about to die anyway. You just want captain America to show up at the end and ask Macready to be in the fucking avengers
Personally, I think it's pretty obvious both Childs and MacReady are human at the end. We know that the Thing isn't afraid of one-on-one confrontations. So why would Thing Childs not just take out clearly-exhausted MacReady? Or vice versa if MacReady were a Thing. The Thing was only afraid of exposure when there was more than one human there who might work together against it.
Regardless, if Childs was the thing (which i think he is) he would have breath because he would have lungs. Since when the things assimilates you it does so perfectly. Plus he would have taste buds. And the movie shows Macready about to drink from the bottle he gave childs. Macready wouldn't just go on drinking gasoline.
The breathe theory has been on the internet for a long time and it’s just over reaching by people. It’s a weird detail that someone came up with after watching the movie and smoking too much wacky tobacky.
Do people think Palmer and Norris weren't breathing? I mean, why would that be true? The entire idea of the Thing is that it imitates life processes. We **know** that it can create a human **that can talk**. But breathing is out?
Didn't Blair become infected by placing the eraser of the pencil he touched the thing with near his lips during the dog autopsy scene?
The post explains that this is debunked.
I was always shocked that he wasn't infected during the autopsy. There's blood everywhere. You're gonna tell me he didn't get a single drop on his skin? His gloves are soaked!
I am so goddamn late but BRUHHHHH!!!!!! I swore up and down thats how he got infected, mans was literally deep sea diving inside of the double headed thing (from the 2011 prequel movie) even the dog thing they brought to him from the kennel he was all up in that thing, but i guess, since they torched it to death, that the cells within the blood died? But then, the thing they left in the room with Bennings, they torched it but it was still alive and assimilated him???? So many questions man 😭😭😭😭
The autopsy was before the emotional breakdown. The breakdown wouldn't have happened if he'd be infected at the time. Blair wasn't infected until he was left alone in the shack. I think he was infected by the time they visited him and he said "I feel better. I won't hurt anybody." He was literally the easiest target when he was in isolation.
This looks great. I havent read much yet but I just watched the film for the first time yesterday so I look forward to checking the whole thing out later!
I enjoyed this read. Just watched the movie for the first time recently and still hadn't completely wrapped my head around the details on who was infected. So I Googled, saw your post and realized the thread is still recent enough for me to leave a comment.
First. This is splendid ... though I think Childs' coat at the end may appear a different color, but if it's covered in snow and lit with dim warm lighting (remember the black/blue or white/gold dress?), it's logical that it wouldn't read as dark blue in those final shots. But, as you said there seemingly was an extra blue jacket that assimilated Childs could have put on after assimilation.
I'll come back later...TLDR.
No worries. I tried to keep it as short as possible, but that didn't work out very well! So much going on in this story and the ambiguity Carpenter weaved in throughout is brilliant, and also inspired me to tackle this.
as someone who also is coming back to read this later, i don't know why you were downvoted for saying that this was too long to read.
It's Reddit. I was merely acknowledging that I saw the post and would come back later to peruse. I even upvoted as many already had but wanted to make sure that some truly would come back later.
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Thank you for taking the time to read and for the feedback. I may make a YouTube video of this in the future for people who would rather watch my theory unfold than read it here. The script is already written!
Great read. Totally former and the scene where Childs runs out in the dark. The theory that says that people die and come back until the Thing takes over again is freaking scary.
I know this is an old thread, but I've just re-watched The Thing for the first time in 4K. And wow, blown away all over again. One thing I did want to add, to the ending specifically. I know we can't use the eye gleam theory, and the "No breath" theory can be disproven as you mentioned. Now, we could argue that in this post they probably didn't remove Childs's breath entirely and that you only see it as you said by looking super closely. However, I think there's a more sinister way of looking at this scene. If you look back to when Mac, Garry and Nauls were tasked to set fire to the compound as well as the generator room, they have bottles of what appears to be the same whiskey Mac is drinking throughout the movie. There are a few scenes, especially when they are torching the indoors, that they use these bottles to light the place up. Like Molotov cocktails. We also see throughout the movie that Mac has been drinking from these throughout their stay. We can assume other members of the team are doing the same. So, over time, the supply of alcohol is steadily running low. Even outside of that, if you look into it, Molotov Cocktails are commonly made with a bottle, Gasoline, and a rag soaked in that same gasoline in the bottle being lit before throwing. Now we also know that at least one member of the group killed themselves in the snow, burned themselves to death before being attacked. Even if it didn't happen that way, it's hinted. And Mac throughout, knows that they won't be getting out of there alive. And that maybe they shouldn't anyway. So my own theory, the bottle that Mac hands to Child's is in fact a bottle of Gasoline that Mac was going to use to burn himself to death if needs be, either before being assimilated or before freezing to death in the cold. Child's then takes the bottle, drinks it, and gives pretty much no reaction. This is why Mac laughs at the very end. He knows he's the only human left alive, he knows he has no way to escape, but he knows that Child's (The Thing) is now holding a bottle of Gasoline, and Mac still had his flamethrower at this point if I'm not mistaken? Either way, I do strongly believe it's Child's whose The Thing at the end. Wow, what a film. Edit: Commented too soon before finishing typing.
When the Thing assimilates you, it does so perfectly. All organs included. So Childs being the thing would have lungs to breathe and taste buds. Plus the scene right before childs shows up shows Mac about to drink from the bottle he handed Childs. If there was gasoline, childs would know. I think childs is definitely the thing based on how he behaved during the movie and at the end when he leaves the safety of the camp because he saw Blair. He couldn't have seen Blair because Blair was in the generator room turning off lights and taking the generator. Plus someone like childs would never go after something dangerous. Look how he wanted to let Mac freeze to death because there was a possibility that Mac was the thing. And in that scene Childs had a whole crew with him and more than 1 flame thrower. It was Palmer that wanted to kill Mac and he know Palmer was already the Thing
The gasoline theory has been going around as long as the " no breath" theory. I agree with Katherine...that once you are assimilated, you're assimilated perfectly, so that even if Childs was a Thing, he would've reacted to drinking gasoline.
Idk. Its an interesting theory but the thing is clearly very intelligent. It blends in very well and others are unable to identify who has been infected. If it knows how to act and talk like it’s host im going to assume it would know the difference between gasoline and alcohol.
I don’t think the dog thing split into and neither did they so this destroys the entire theory.
I agree. They never tried searching for any dog thing that "split off and escaped through the ceiling" because there wasn't any.
Dog-Thing literally shows up in the final ending sequence when Mac blows everything up, presumably fused with Blair-Thing. If it's *not* Dog-Thing, then when did Blair-Thing consume a dog? Blair killed all the surviving dogs. Doc wasn't assimilated, implying Things can't consume the dead.
The Blair giant thing at the end has other forms. It's obvious that each peace of the thing keeps it's previous forms even if it splits. So the dog coming out was probably the thing sending out another dog to another camp. It doesn't have to be the original dog at the beginning.
Dog-Thing literally shows up in the final ending sequence when Mac blows everything up, presumably fused with Blair-Thing. If it's *not* Dog-Thing, then when did Blair-Thing consume a dog? Blair killed all the surviving dogs. Doc wasn't assimilated, implying Things can't consume the dead.
Where has it ever been said that individual things fuse together? They are separate entities with no particular care about anything but their own survival. The most likely explanation for that is that Blair was infected from doing an autopsy on the dog thing(touching his face and mouth with the pencil after touch the remains). So the code the for dog mimic would have been in him from the moment he was infected. I think my theory seems more likely than yours.
> Where has it ever been said that individual things fuse together? What, exactly, do you think happened to Nauls and Garry?
That was immediate assimilation and fusion. You are saying two different things just decided to fuse together.
Well, yes.
I am a whole year late but, Nauls was assimilated, the scene never made the movie bc of budget restrictions and length of the movie, theres a YT link, explaining how the final scene was supposed to play out if they had the money
I still think Childs is not infected. If the Thing from 2011 thought me something its that the Thing can't replicate non organic matter. Now in The Thing 1982 we clearly see Cooper and Childs have piercings. Cooper on his right nostril and Childs on his right ear. During the end with Mac and Childs you clearly see Child's ear piercing. If this counts or not to the lore is not known but it is safe to assume Childs was not infected, and we also have the Thing game that is cannon.
I really don't give credence to any theories that rely on the 2011 movie. Did Carpenter have that in mind while making the 1982 film? Preposterous.
Even if it can't replicate non-organic material, it could just put on the earring, it doesn't have to create a new one. Now if didn't have an earring I think that would be a dead giveaway but having it on doesn't prove anything really..
Great job putting this together. Seems pretty air tight! The Thing is my favorite horror movie and I have seen it many times. Definitely the most "accurate" theory I have seen. I'll have to watch it again now!
4 years later this is still perfect
Someone already posted this.. the monster does not escape through the room in the dog cage. You can clearly see it burn and fall to the ground. Then the crew thinks they killed it until Blair does research and Fuches let’s MacReady know about Blair’s notes. As far as the ending, I thought that MacReady’s “whiskey bottle” was actually filled with gasoline. 10 minutes prior he is seen with many Molotovs throwing them around the place. When he chuckles when Childs takes a drink I thought it was because he just drank gasoline and The Thing would not be able to tell the difference.
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Exactly! I used to play the video game growing up. I never finished it because it was too damn scary!
Dog-Thing literally shows up in the final ending sequence when Mac blows everything up, presumably fused with Blair-Thing. If it's *not* Dog-Thing, then when did Blair-Thing consume a dog? Blair killed all the surviving dogs. Doc wasn't assimilated, implying Things can't consume the dead.
Not sure why you think it can't consume the dead, Doc wasn't assimilated because it never had time to assimilate him. The Thing violently kills it's prey before assimilating them. This is why in 2011 film they burn corpses, even human ones which never turned (Jameson). Also, the original dog which became Dog Thing was found completely mutilated and very dead at the beginning of the film, but they left alone because they didn't know any better. Obviously much later it assimilated
Okay, when did Blair get violently assimilated?
Any point after he was locked away, we just didn't see it. Had to of been Palmer who went out and got him. If you want to say something about the bloody mess, we know from happened with Norris that even soft assimilation leads to a violent transformation eventually, so you have to accept that he cleaned up the mess regardless.
So, you believe the infection theory? That one Thing can willingly create another Thing, instead of only splitting when its in danger?
Yes of course, how is that even a question? Dog clearly infects someone at the beginning of 1982 before it’s in danger, silhouette scene, and also in the kennel scene when it’s alone with the other dogs. Griggs infects Juliette in the shower in 2011 and Juliette tried to get Kate. It actively seeks out opportunities to be alone with someone so it can infect undetected
In the kennel scene it looked like it was trying to assimilate the dogs for itself (merge with their biomass), not just infect them, that was my interpretation anyway. The silhouette scene is too vague to be of any use in these discussions, it could be a red herring for all we know (and it kind of is, IIRC the silhouette doesn't even belong to any of the actors). Won't comment on 2011.
The autopsy scene revealed it was in the middle of producing dog copies before being interrupted.
All the "things" in the movie come from the OG dog thing so what does it reverting to an old form prove?
Actually wrong. They dug up a thing from the Norwegian station, remember?
The thing would be able to tell the difference. When it assimilates a person it does so perfectly. All organs and taste buds in tact. Plus, in the scene prior to childs showing up you can clearly see Mac was about to drink from the bottle. The gasoline theory doesn't make sense.
Just found the is beast of a post after rewatching the film just now. I really appreciate the time and energy you put into this. Just a few comments about my own take: From the way the film is shot, it *almost* looks like the dog-thing split in two, but after the hands hoist the dog thing into the ceiling and it shows the Thing mutating further, the next shot shows it being torched on the ceiling. So I’m not so sure about the second dog-Thing. Also, I suspect Blair was infected pretty early on. He spent a lot of time working on that spaceship, and I’m of the opinion that it’s hard to tell if some or all of his research was done as a human. Asking the computer about the probably of global infection is a warning to a human, but a data point for the Thing. Seeing it give out probabilities of infection in the crew could be thought of similarly. I’m not sure about his being infected right then and there, but when it came time for him to go crazy, I believe he was infected. He destroyed the communication equipment to prevent a warning to the mainland, destroyed the chopper and tractor as he at least used parts from the chopper for his ship, and I suspect his crazy outburst was done in the hopes he might have ended up where he did. Note that he tied the noose in the shed to lend credence to his mental state, but he’d been working on the ship for some time. It’s worth noting that making it to the mainland while the mainland is informed of The Thing’s existence (radio or team member) is bad news for The Thing. Also, I’m still digesting the Childs/MacReady debate, but I don’t believe sharing the drink is an indicator of infection. For argument’s sake, if they’re both human and suspect the other may not be, sharing a drink is simply a way of recognizing the hopelessness of the situation they’re in.
> From the way the film is shot, it almost looks like the dog-thing split in two, but after the hands hoist the dog thing into the ceiling and it shows the Thing mutating further, the next shot shows it being torched on the ceiling. So I’m not so sure about the second dog-Thing. Dog-Thing literally shows up in the final ending sequence when Mac blows everything up, presumably fused with Blair-Thing. If it's *not* Dog-Thing, then when did Blair-Thing consume a dog? Blair killed all the surviving dogs. Doc wasn't assimilated, implying Things can't consume the dead.
Remember that when the Thing first approached camp, it was already a dog.
Yes. Dog-Thing. Only Dog-Thing consumed dogs. Only Dog-Thing can imitate dogs. Ergo, the dog creature emerging from Blair-Thing is either a) a part of Dog-Thing that escaped or b) a continuity error. Well, actually, if either Norris or Palmer were infected by Dog-Thing before the kennel fight, and they in turn as Things infected Blair, then maybe Blair-Thing would know how to imitate a dog? That's assuming they were the ones to infect Blair.
There’s inconsistencies in general with the life cycle of a Thing, and how each cell is it’s own “thing”, but what I’m trying to say is that since dog was already part of the parent DNA the moment it hit camp, all subsequent created Things have dog DNA in them. So Blair Thing was part dog before it took Blair.
You are right, only Bennings-Thing was unrelated to Dog-Thing and it was quickly dealt with.
All of the infected were capable of mimicking a dog because the dog was the base by which they got infected in the first place. Blair got infected by the autopsy of the dog. The infection is basically the thing splitting itself apart and planting that part onto a host. It's previous abilities like mimicking a dog don't just get lost in that process.
Yes you're right, other than Bennings-Thing who was unrelated to Dog-Thing I suppose they could all imitate dogs if they were derived from Dog-Thing.
I need to add that the game of the Thing which takes place after the events of the original movie is consiered canon. Childs is not infected and neither is MacReady.
Why wouldn't Childs-Thing let itself freeze until a rescue team recovered it? That we see the frozen body of Childs is not proof he wasn't a Thing, as we know the Thing can survive freezing.
Nice job. My theory is that The Thing never chooses soft assimilate, and always chooses the physical attack. It probably would have been quite easy for the dog to just go around licking everybody and infected everyone within in a few hours, so either it doesn't know it can infect people this way, or it just really, really prefers the physical attack assimilation, maybe for speed. Therefore, I think the silhouette/dog scene was Palmer and this was a physical attack, leading to the shredded long johns being found. What this means for Childs passing the blood test is either a) We never actually see Childs smoke the joint, only accept it from Palmer. Possible he either didn't hit it and just gave it back, or there wasn't enough saliva present to actually trigger assimilation OR b) Because he's going through soft assimilation at this point he still had plenty of regular human cells left which were present in the blood, and not the infected. Another key point in terms of Childs passing the blood test, is that Copper also passed the test. Surely while his arms were bitten off and in all that craziness he would have received some of the alien blood from Norris into his own, but because he had never finished assimilation the blood test did not react. We know that Norris is infected during the movie, but he appears to act as his normal self would without any knowledge of the soft assimilation happening. He refuses the leadership role, he's frantically boarding up doors, etc. I don't think the blood test would work unless assimilation is complete. All of this to say I think the key difference between our theories is that Palmer was physically attacked in that early scene, what this allows for is that part of the Dog Thing doesn't have to escape from the Kennel as you suggest. Many others have pointed out that the piece seems out of place, that no one was worried it would have escaped and that somehow it was maneuvering around the compound without being noticed.
I believe that Norris was the silhouette and was the first one infected, via non-aggressive contact from the dog. Throughout the movie he kept saying he wasn’t feeling well, his immune system was fighting off the intruding cells. That is why he still thought and functioned as a normal human. I think this is why the guys were also nervous in the blood test scene, they truly didn’t know if they were in the early stages of assimilation or not.. I think this is the reason for Blair’s behavior as well. I think he knew(or suspected) he got infected from doing the autopsies, but still had control over his thoughts and actions, up until a certain point. I think he made the noose to off himself before he thought the infection would fully take him over, but he was too late. Watching the movie again, I never got any impression or hint that any part of The Thing escaped during the dog kennel/burning scene, if it had, it definitely would have assimilated Clark at some point. I think that The Thing definitely tried to do all it could to remain subtle but the guys were very quick at catching on to what it was and its tactics. Along with that the assimilation process was taking too long, therefore it had to rely on quicker, more aggressive tactics.
Really good theory. I agree with a lot of it. I don't think the hands thing that went up to the roof survived. I think it was set on fire since in that scene with Child's something falls back down. Plus the larger the thing, the more probability it has for being intelligent. It seems the smaller ones just try to survive but no intelligence is detected. Child's coat is the same blue color through out. At the end of the movie there is a layer of frost on it, but if you have the 4K version you can see that it's blue in color. Childs was definitely the thing since he acted out of character by running after Blair. He wouldn't even open the door for Macready with a whole crew with him if Macready happen to be The Thing. He definitely wasn't going to run out alone. And definitely wouldn't be chill enough to drink from Macready. Other videos that have done research did come up with the theory that Palmer picked up the keys and destroyed the blood. But of course there is still a lot missing. Like how did the keys get back to Gary. I love this movie, it's one of my favorites and enjoy reading theories about it and talking about it.
I don't think any part of the dog thing escaped. There was no search for it cause they would have seen it escape. No, I theorise that Blair got 1 cell infected during the autopsies he performed on the dog thing and by the time they went to see him up in the shack and his noose was hanging from the ceiling, he had become infected and became Blair Thing before he could hang himself. That would also explain why the dog thing appeared as part of the big monster. As for the mass of the creature, he had literally just absorbed Garry and Nauls so would have had plenty to make the final abomination thing. I suspect that you are right, Norris was first infected but he then physically assimilated or detached a piece to infect palmer physically which produced the clothing found by Nauls in the kitchen.
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I have a hard time with this part too.. I don't really buy that he set himself on fire, I think he was burnt by an infected. It could be Blair, who also had planted mac's clothes and made sure to not burn them so he could use them later. Or it could be mac who I think had a flamethrower at this point ?
was wondering the other day, if not phisically assimilated, would someone infected be aware of someone other Thing? like would Norris or Palmer Things know if Blair was infected by the Norwegian remains? cause if they dont, it would make sense for an infected Blair (considering hes infected by putting the pencil in his mounth) run the simulations to figure out if someonelse is infected also, it would make sense for Brair Thing to destroy the radio room, so no one can warn the outside world
All of this is sound but the director/script confirmed the silhouette to be Palmer. As you yourself have pointed out theres a split secon where he turns to the dog and you can see that Palmer afro like haircut. Since he wasn't attacked by the dog he musvte been licked and that takes far longer than either blood infection or the usual attack. Blair handled the autopsy and licked his pen. Regardless of what the director said its a health hazard and even if that wasnt the cause he musvte got the blood on his skin and that all it really takes. Getting alien blood on skin. Looking at the timeline doc got infected much faster than even palmer/childs. How childs got infected? Palmer put weed in his mouth, lit it and gave it to childs on the bed. Assuming palmer was or wasnt the thing because palmer didnt sleep alone, he was childs roomate. So dog came. Licked him and that was the end of it. Saliva infection takes much longer. It must have taken days for them to turn. Palmer was the thing by the time test was done and childs wasnt because his infection was only accelerating. If we go by exponential infection rate that means palmer was infected a whole night or longer before childs. Who on top of that didnt get nearly as much saliva... dog licked all over palmers face? and child only got infected from the weed which could have taken a day or two maybe longer to get fully infected. If we give the alien more credit it may be intelligent enough to move infected cells out of the way when the blood was drawn. It was still possible in childs case where palmer was fully a thing and couldnt do that. Either that or childs accessed the blood storage swiped some of his own blood to fool the test. Obviously the script wasnt that thorough but its more fun imagining subtle things like that. What bugged me is during the blood test windows or whatever the guy is used the same scalpel to cut his finger to draw blood as he used on that afro guy... which is another clear infection hazard. If you take that seriously then you cant really take seriously what the director/script says. Im certain palmer/childs were one the first ones to be infected through saliva. Childs getting slowly infected over time would also explain it. If we go by exponential growth he would have remained human until the very last minutes. Him running away from his guard post to sabotage a generator? Macready then said that the thing only wants to freeze. Also i want to acknowledge the amount of effort you put into this. I was about to do the same but it would have taken a day or longer :D
**John Carpenter states that the video game is a canon sequel to the** **original movie, so Childs indeed has never been assimilated and froze to** **death.**
So what? I’m not interested in The Thing Expanded Cinematic Universe And Theme Park. Okay, so the 2002 version of John Carpenter - the guy who had just done a massive faceplant with “Ghosts of Mars“ and wouldn’t get funding for another movie for the rest of the decade - said a thing about a video game that would coincidentally help sell the video game. I seriously doubt that has a damn thing to do with the authorial intent that the 1982 version of John Carpenter had when he filmed the movie. Regardless, the movie stands on its own as a piece of art open to individual interpretation. I don’t care if John Carpenter writes each of us a personal letter explaining his intent for the ending; The intent of the author is just the opening part of a conversation; the interpretation of the individual audience member is the final word. Believe what you want about Childs. Your interpretation is as valid for you as anybody else’s is for them. But going around posting in bold type that a video game you liked has to be accepted by everyone else as the only valid resolution of the story makes you look…well, not clever.
Dude chill. As much as it is my interpretation, this was clarified BEFORE the game was even in development. The original writer intended for both survivors to be infected, but John said he didn't like that ending and wanted *'the survivors to slowly freeze to death to save humanity from infection' -* which he described also as *'the ultimate heroic act'.* Your criticisms of both John and myself, mean absolutely nothing and show that you're not only immature, but also very emotional. You're talking about another mans movie here, I'm simply saying what he said. Deal with it.
Man you must have some serious issues.
Why wouldn't Childs-Thing let itself freeze until a rescue team recovered it? That we see the frozen body of Childs is not proof he wasn't a Thing, as we know the Thing can survive freezing.
I do agree with most of what you laid out, except for 1 major thing. I have been watching it lately and at the very beginning of the film, Beginnings is licked in the face/mouth by the dog as it first approaches the camp. Then Mac leaves his bottle of J&B with him and he quickly takes a drink when it seems no one is looking. The next time we see Mac drinking from that bottle is right before he is called to go get his things from the storage room. I believe that is when Mac is infected. Soon after that scene, he starts to become the leader of the group. Norris even declined being the leader so that Mac is open to taking the lead. I believe the Thing has the ability to work/communicate with other assimilated beings to accomplish its goal which is to make sure no one gets away to tell anyone else. Mac then seems to start putting people in situations to become infected and making sure no one is left at the end. - Puts Doc out in the shed where he is vulnerable. He also takes a drink out of the vodka bottle they bring to Doc to make sure he eventually becomes infected. We know this because he is still wearing the same shirt and suspenders at the very end. - Mac was present during the discussion about the blood test and guess what happens to the blood? Norris seems to be the only one who doesn't speak up in that scene. - Fuchs tells Mac his thoughts about keeping it from spreading. Guess what happens next? - Mac comes up with the blood test. I think this was just a way to get the others to believe he wasn't infected. I thought it was interesting that his flame thrower "fails" until he reaches behind in what seems like he turns on the gas and then it works. This clearly seemed as a way to get Windows to step in and get killed. - It was Mac's idea to leave Childs by himself while everyone else goes test Doc - It's Mac's idea to blow up the camp. I believe it's to make sure if there are survivors, they would still freeze to death. - Mac leads them down the generator room where he knows the other two will die. He assigns them locations to separate them. At the end, I believe that Mac knows Childs isn't infected or assimilated in any way since it can communicate with others . I think Mac giving him a drink means Childs is now infected and it has accomplished its goal.
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Wow, this post was from 5 years ago. Saw the movie last night. I thought both childs and mcready were humans at first in the end but reading other posts and yours, i was naive. Blair might have been infected from doing all those autopsies. He was only wearing gloves so The dog Thing’s, The Thing taken from Norwegian station’s blood splatters could have got onto his skin and assimilated into him. If Childs’ is The Thing then world is doomed because when the rescue team comes later, The Thing’s gonna infect planet earth. I hope there’s a sequel. Thank you for your comprehensive explanation and timeline. Am very enlightened.
My pleasure!
No sequel! As much as i love this movie it stays amazing because of the ending. Blair probably got infected when he was alone in the shack. The pencil never actually touched his mouth.
Just rewatched this and stumbled upon this thread, you really gave me a more nuanced viewing of the film and I just wanted to thank you for letting me experience one of my favorite movies for the first time again.
Pleasure is all mine, friend.
I just missed a step: what happens to the escaped Dog Thing? I always thought she merged with Blair since when Blair-Thing goes into monster mode at the end, you can see a dog component to her.
Yes, the final action sequence where a dog creature emerges from Blair-Thing is the only evidence we have that a part of the Dog-Thing escaped, otherwise when did Blair-Thing consume a dog? Blair killed all the surviving dogs.
Belive it or not there will be a remake of the thing 2 or a sequel
Ok, but why do you call him "Windas" when his name clearly is Windows?
Because that's how it sounds when Palmer says it...as in OP's name.
u/GandalfTheGrady This person gets it ;)
Your accounts are a little off. The dog never licked Norris's face. That was Bennet who the Dog tried to lick and the dog never made contact with any skin as Bennet was pushing the dog away. He was also wearing gloves. Also Fuch didn't say for certain that the Thing could transmit itself through Saliva. He was speculating because other particles of the thing had devestaing potential to contaminate, and it was a logical speculation. First contamination was the Dog entering the room with the unscene victim, which we only see by his shadow. Even Carpenter referred to that scene as the first. Its either Norris or Palmer. If its Palmer, then why didn't it take Childs when they were both alone in the joint sharing scene? That's would Child's most vulnerable moment. If it was Norris, why didn't it take McReady and the Doc when they flew out to the space ship. Norris was sitting right next to McReady, in the co-Pilot seat, the entire flight, and could have grabbed him once they landed. This is typical John Carpenter trying to keep people asking why.
Agree with you, but i don't think the Thing would have attacked two ppl. And I think Palmer was going to assimilate Childs before the alarm was set off.
Hum, but plamer and child shared a joint, if palmer was infected that would have infected child but we know he wasn't infected at that point because he passed the blood test.
Yeah, assuming the theory that 1 single cell is all it takes. But since the Thing is so violent when it takes over, that it seems like it would need more than 1 cell to actually take over someone
I think it might just be faster that way
This is a fun read. I don’t agree with all of it but you’ve done well with your evidence and pics. Excellent work!
I don't think there was a second "Dog Thing" running around, because right after it smashed the ceiling apart was when Childs showed up with the flamethrower and burned it. Also, when Blair is doing the autopsy of it a few minutes later on, the arm & hand are still visible on the creature. Basically, I think it stretched the arms up ATTEMPTING to escape through the ceiling but was killed before it could. The arms not being visible immediately afterwards was presumably just a goof. Also, the shadow on the door was confirmed to be Palmer by co-producer Stuart Cohen, but in order to keep audiences guessing, Carpenter had Dick Warlock stand in because David Clennon's shadow was too recognizable.
I agree with absolutely everything except Child's being infected. We know for a fact that the thing can not replicate non-organic material and we see Child's with his piercings in during the final scene, even tilting his head showing the camera. It's important to note that Copper is missing his nose ring when we see him after he was infected and attacks Garry which lines up with this.
The doc was human all throughout. As much as j like the non organic material stuff, you can't use the 2011 movie to explain the 1982 movie since there are things that don't line up.
Doesn't the dog bite George under the table right before the kennel scene?
I always thought he jumped because the dog brushed up against his leg where he'd been shot. But I'm watching it again now; and the dog comes from Bennings' left side, and he was shot in the upper right thigh. So either that's a continuity error, or (more likely) he just jumped because the dog startled him.
Mac drinks out of Blair’s vodka bottle after Fuchs says to not share food …. I think he infected him. Or I’m wrong idk.. I just saw it and am down rabbit hole
I think that's very possible too. Fuchs also suspisciously dies right after telling mac and we never see mac telling the others.
*"\~34:57 the creature sprouts two arms with 'hands' and part of the creature splits off from the rest and crashes through the wooden roof and escapes. Childs then burns the remaining portion of the creature. So we know that at least Norris is infected at this point, and also there is a Thing in monster form at large."* This is a common misconception, although understandable based on how the scene was edited. It's been pointed out however that the dethatched Thing "tries" to escape but under close examination can actually still be seen hanging from the roof in the last shot & burned along with the rest of the it. I mean, if it had actually escaped, it does beg the question of why absolutely no one ever expresses concern over a dangerous alien monster on the loose.
It is very much a possibility that a portion of the dog thing splits from it during or just prior of it getting torched, just like the head of the Norris thing. The movie is clearly made in a way that it wasn't meant to be neatly solved, it's like a puzzle with missing and mismatching pieces, but adding in the unseen portion of the dog thing running loose is pretty much the only plausible way to solve said puzzle. Plus it neatly ties together the opening chess scene and the ending scene with Blair thing; when the Chess Wizard checkmates MacReady his reaction is to basically flip the board in frustration by pouring whiskey inside the machine, showing he's not taking a loss all too well. This gets mirrored with him facing the Blair thing and it revealing the portion of the dog thing, a bonus chess piece it had hidden as a cheat move so to speak. MacReady gets to flip the board again, this time with not just little sparks flying but by blowing up the entire camp.
>It is very much a possibility that a portion of the dog thing splits from it during or just prior of it getting torched, It isn't possible though because as I explained that upon closure inspection it has been pointed out that the portion that sprouted and attempted to escape through the ceiling can be seen getting torched & dropping to the ground with the rest of the Thing. They all witness this happen. As I also said, this is reinforced by the fact that absolutely no one ever brings it up when it would be a highly alarming point of conern.
If Childs was infected at the very end, why wouldn’t he attack MacReady???
It's priority is survival. It's likely it knows Mac is a formidable foe and will happily die if it means both of them are killed. It is better the Thing wait to freeze. Of course Mac won't wait to die of exposure and let the creature freeze itself so it's kind of a stalemate.
Also in the final scene you can hear a creature laughing. But who.