Everyone always reacts when the flame thrower shows up but it is actually an essential piece of equipment in an artic environment. For melting snow. They're actually great for clearing your driveway in the winter.
if you look childs doesn't have any breath smoke coming out when he talks but mcready does so childs is a alien. there was a comic that take place after this movie.
This movie was torn apart by critics on release but John Carpenter was leagues ahead of his time. Amazing how this movie holds up so well even today. Practical effects are always so much cooler than CG 😂
Blade Runner also came out the same year, and that was also torn apart by critics. Both those films are now considered classics and some of the greatest films ever made, so Ridley Scott and John Carpenter had the last laugh.
The superiority of this film's effects is especially seen when contrasted with the 'modern' 2011 prequel (telling the tale of doomed Norwegian station) and it's use of CGI.
By the way, the dog was played by a wolf-dog named Jed. Jed had parts in several movies, and he was a VERY intelligent dog... and a really good actor. In the DVD commentary, John Carpenter says that the dog's checking out the different doors when walking down the hall was entirely Jed.
Jed's partial wolf genes would also help explain his un-doglike behavior. The cast members have said he behaved like that off camera too. They found it unsettling.
I swear... that had to be the best acting I've ever seen out of an animal in a movie. Like he had a strange, almost human-like focus. Very weird. Very cool.
You said it right with the dog, whoever was the animal trainer on set knocked it out of the park. It really feels like the dog is thinking, contemplating its next move.
@@danieldickson8591 To be fair, he had no reason to be looking for something like that and he was only around it about an hour and a half after it had been shot at and chased. It looked exactly like a dog, so it's perfectly normal that he would have just figured, "It's a traumatized dog in a strange, new environment with people it doesn't know." It's kind of interesting that it DIDN'T take over Clark, though, despite having the chance. Was it just waiting to assess how they all acted and who would be alone long enough? When it was put with the dogs, the dogs knew immediately and started acting up, so maybe it had no choice but to reveal itself at that point.
@@emeryltekutsu4357 It didn't seem like the dogs knew immediately. They lay there quite calmly until the Thing-dog started emitting strange sounds, just prior to transforming. Perhaps its scent was also changing. I believe the Thing was waiting until it believed Clark was gone before trying to absorb the dogs. As Blair said, it would have imitated them and thereby spread itself, Clark just came back before it could finish.
@@danieldickson8591 Nah, seeing so many reactors just go "Aw, cute doggy, stupid people trying to kill it" and not pick up on it's strange behaviour until the kennel scene, is a perfect showcase of dogbrained people being absolute morons
@@OneManMilitia69 that’s all solely out of pure stupidity. If a research lab was hunting down an animal with grenades, I’m certain I wouldn’t run into the line of fire to save the animal. 😂
Where did you think Stranger Things got the idea for the Demogorgon? :) The dog, named Jed, was part wolf, and unnerved even the cast members because he didn't behave like a dog; he didn't bark, he didn't wag his tail, he didn't rush up to people. He very much a predator. Oh and speaking of Among Us, listen to this movie's theme tune, then listen to the Among Us theme tune.
@@elrockerchido that game is so influenced by this movie. So many others are, too, arguably. Dead Space, Resident Evil (especially 2 with the g-virus), Carrion, Pole of Cold is pretty much a different version of the film, Distrust, and probably a bunch I can't think of right now. Shit, it's influenced other films and TV shows, too. There's an episode of the X-Files, season 1, that is a love letter to the Thing.
When Jed was waking down the hallway to "take" Norris, that moment when he stopped and looked around like he was making sure it was clear was totally unscripted and unprompted. He just stopped and did that little "sweep" of the hallway, then started walking again. IIRC
Jed the husky was in many films. The scene where he slowly walks down the corridor ignoring the camera crew is widely accepted as one of the best animal actor scenes in cinema. He's a good boy !
Also the scene where he's watching Mac & Hopper return in the chopper. He knows what they found at that other research station. So fk'n cool that, by all accounts, the dog had a strange focus about him. Truly, the best animal actor I've ever seen!
I’m a microbiologist and I absolutely love the Thing. We actually did an entire class seminar on possible origins of it when I was in college. Basically we theorized that it’s a “supercell” that has the capability of infecting and replicating the genetic material of any known organic lifeform. It’s commonly postulated as a virus but given the matrix protein matching that would be necessary for a virus to infiltrate a host cell of multiple species from different planets I don’t see this as the case. I would theorize that it harpoons a host cell and lyses it. It then absorbs the genetic material from the nucleus and stores it as “junk DNA” before producing a replica. This ensures that it can pull from the vast storage of genetic material it has catalogued at any time, resulting in a grotesque amalgamation of creatures when it finally reveales itself.
The only negative aspect of these specific horror movies in their history is the fact that they tend to mixed up viruses concept with parasites concept, which are technically so different. Nobody takes for possible that a an alien virus can be adapted into our organism without taking over or control us mentally. That side is more parasite which have less preservation instinct. Viruses are smarter ;)
@@sitaroartworks Not all viruses, mate. Remember rabies? It messes up your brain and makes you a threat to be eliminated or avoided by your own group. There are more viruses that attack the central nervous system
“I know you gentlemen have been through a lot but when you find the time I’d rather not spend the rest of this winter TIED TO THIS FUCKING COUCH!” I love this line and its delivery!
It’s been 40 years since this movie came out and it’s still one of the best horror movies ever made. More movies (especially sci-fi and horror) need to use as many practical effects like this. I was like 15 when I first saw this and it literally haunted my dreams for almost a month. Also, Dos Cavasos: “Please don’t kill the dog”, Me: “Wait for it.” 11:30 “There it is.” I love dogs with all my heart, which is why that scene always hurts to watch. Still the dog who played The Thing is one of the best trained dogs I have ever seen in movies.
Everyone always talks about the practical effects but it's really the acting, characters, slow build up, mystery of who is the thing, and all of the subtle clues that barely give you enough information to figure out who killed who and who sabotaged what and when certain characters got turned, that make this movie so good. On first watch you literally have no clue what's going on because it's all so fast with barely anything to go off of. It's the ultimate murder mystery/aliens/apocalypse all in one movie. It doesn't try to squeeze a whole bunch of events in one movie like trying to show the Thing spreading to society and showing the apocalypse because that would have been way too much for one movie. But the apocalyptic sense is still there because if this team of 12 fails, then they doom the world. There is so much of this movie left up to the imagination which leaves so much room for more movies or stories to tell which people eventually ended up doing.
@@sugarbomb1346I think that may just be your opinion. All of the opinions I have seen about this movie (including my own) is the exact opposite. This movie has aged very well despite it not doing well with the critics at the time. The practical effects look great. Anything but "cartoonish".
According to the lore: The Thing "eats" the victim and then changes itself into a duplicate of said victim. The extra tissue then separates and continues hunting.
Fun fact the dog was a mix breed with wolf in him which is why he was much more calm in scenes then normal dogs. The guy playing Clark said he had a super fun time with the dog on the set.
This came out in 1982. A year that is often called the Greatest Year in Sci-Fi history. This film, along with "Blade Runner", "ET", "Wrath of Khan", "Road Warrior", "Tron", "Poltergeist" suddenly exploded with innovative and imaginative movies that set the tone for everything that followed.
Imagine being a recently turned 13 year old in 1982 and seeing this for the first time on the big screen. To say my mind was blown would be a big understatement. I went back the next day to see it again just to make sure that what I saw was what I saw. And a little trivia...every time the thing screams it's the screams of every lifeform it has ever imitated.
It's funny to me how 'Thing Reactions' have become such a THING on RUclips the past year or so. As I used to play it (on VHS) to freak-out my fellow neighborhood kids.. back in the mid-to-later 80's. We would have group watch-parties for this film at least once a month.. ;0)
29:06 Important detail here is that Windows (the guy going for a gun) is both scared of everyone but ALSO, if you remember, he was the last person who had the keys. Bennings told him to get the keys from Garry, and when Windows returns to see Bennings being assimilated, you can hear him drop them (and then whoever sabotaged the blood must have snatched them and then got them back to Garry). So he probably is scared that Garry will remember that he lent his keys to him and that he'll be under suspicion.
Wilford Brimley (Blair) was all of 47 when this film was made. A couple of years later, he starred in Cocoon as a 70-year-old, when he was 50. He always looked older than he was but he was a great actor, and from what I've read about him, he was a great guy.
For me, one of the greatest films ever made. Charles Hallahan's character of Norris may not have been the most prominent in the team, but his transformation in the defibrillator scene is legendary.
Blair wasn't one from the beginning. Carpenter actually addressed this in an interview. He was human when he was trashing all the equipment, but either Norris or Palmer got to him while he was out in the shed.
OMG! You have to do Big Trouble in Little China! It's just sooooooooooooooo much fun! Off the wall action, Rapid fire humour, colorful characters, and all in all delightfully campy! I couldn't get enough of this movie growing up!
@@voodoochile333 Correction. YOU think it's overrated. In your opinion you are correct, in implying it's universally overrated YOU are incorrect. They will eventually watch it and decide for themselves.
One thing I've always loved about these reaction videos for The Thing-- watching everyone freaking out over the dog scene. If you understand Norwegian there would be no confusion. :D
@@nowthatisawesome5431 yeah I saw that reaction, I felt bad for her as that twist is a good 10-15 minutes at the start of the film. So she knew what to look out for.
Fact is, the movie is just as interesting to rewatch, when you know which people are things and see how they act and what they do. Hint: They really are _perfect_ imitations.
plus the characters are actually really smart. they learn quick and don't do anything stupid. for example when mac sees the charred corpse at the Norwegian base, he remembers it. when he hears there is trouble with the dogs he immediately orders someone to get a flamethrower.
@@beetlejuice12345Don’t do anything stupid, with the possible major exception of splitting up at the end. But it’s a horror trope, and wouldn’t work any other way 🙂
I've read that when John Carpenter was filming he never told the actors in advance which of them was a Thing, until they were in a scene when they were revealed to be one. That way all their reactions would be sincere expressions of their characters, which reflects on how skillfully the Thing can imitate someone.
One of my favourate Kurt Russel movies is called "Soldier". It is set in the same universe as Bladerunner, but tells a completely different story. It is a good movie... wouldn't call it a great one, but it is good. However, when you see the emotion and feelings he gets across... it is hard to believe that he says barely a hundred words though the whole movie (count was something like 104 or 114)... well... it shows he realy does have some great skill as an actor.
On set, there were frequent debates amongst cast and crew about whether a Thing would KNOW that it wasn’t the person it was imitating. The official answer from John Carpenter is: 🤷♂️
Oh boy, let's dive deep into this. The Thing *would* know, just as the dogs knew/smelled that the dog-thing was not a "real" dog that joined them in the kennel. It has an awareness of "itselves" on a cellular level, and that means that it's senses do not operate/are limited like a human. With that said, the Thing did not need to completely assimilate you if it did not need to. Norris felt pain in his chest when his infection/assimilated organs started to replace him with more effort from the inside. You are fighting your own "body" by then. Had he been completely a Thing, he would have shown no signs of pain to alert the humans of his condition. Remember that the Thing replaces a victim on a cellular level. The Thing had difficulty adjusting to Norris' form, as Norris was not in good health, and Norris had developed coping mechanisms for discomfort, while the Thing only knew "healthy". By outing itself during defibrillation, the Thing was able to keep Palmer-Thing's imitation ruse on for a while longer. Palmer-Thing and Norris-Thing were meant to be distractions while Blair-Thing worked on the ship. The Thing is *that* cunning.
@@gabrielestrada8523 I always interpreted Norris as already being a Thing by the time he started having chest pains as the Thing is a perfect imitation, if Norris had heart problems then that stands to reason that the Thing imitating him would too. So when Mac knocked him over, his body had a heart attack from the shock and the defibrillation triggered the Thing to act in self-defense like the blood did in the petri dish.
@@EldritchChaplin I would respectfully argue against that, as the thing may imitate a human, but would not leave itself vulnerable to detection or attack, like any good predator would. It covers its bases, unless the whole entire point of infecting and imitating Norris was to kill another human and maintain Palmer’s imitation secret.
@@EldritchChaplinwould make no sense to imitate an illness or defect unless that was integral to it passing off as real (think a missing hand that everyone knew someone had an amputation years ago) an unseen defect in the heart would just make it weaker and unable to get to its final goal, assimilate everything. The thing is a multicellular organism whose very genetics are to work together and assimilate everything. It uses complex tactics such as even outing other things for its own survival (think about when Palmer notices the spider head thing running off) Blair thing seemed to be the “leader” as it keeps the intelligence of whatever it assimilates. Using the other two things to keep people distracted and with a multi pronged attack (Bennings, half the dog thing, head crab trying to run away) it wanted to tear the group apart slowly taking them out one by one while the transportation was finished. Ultimately the pieces of the thing came together. Half dog, Nauls, Blair, and Garry mushed together to turn into that giant thing at the end and would’ve flown itself out of Antarctica or to the nearest other camp, where it could’ve split up and initiated another multi pronged attack. I would think three years was a generous estimate of time given to the human race had this thing gotten to heavily populated areas.
On the DVD commentary for this film Carpenter jokingly says that the dog was the best actor on set. He was a natural - stopping where he was supposed to stop, giving looks that he was supposed to - he was very impressed by the dog.
@@DonutVIP The DVD explains that they got a guy whose arms were amputated just below the elbows to double for Copper (?) in that scene. They made a mask that looked similar to the actor that they put on the double, plus some fake forearms. If you watch that scene you can see that when his arms are bitten off his face in the shadows because if they clearly showed it you could tell it was a guy in a latex mask.
@jhornacek I was like, dude, that's badass. Even turn the room into a freezer, those green ooze really disgust me, the 1982 is way better than the 2011 imo
It's long been my position that when they left Childs by himself to guard the main camp building, Blair got to him and assimilated him. That's why when Childs left the building to supposedly go search for Blair, he left the door wide open -- something a human wouldn't do (especially given the extremely harsh weather conditions). As to who assimilated Blair, I've long believed that Palmer got to him when *he* was alone in the cabin.
When Blair was examining the twisted body from the Norwegian camp he touched the body with the eraser on the pencil he was holding, soon after he touched that eraser to his chin just below his bottom lip. Thing cells were transferred to him and eventually assimilated him.
@@EpimethiusPSN Blair did not touch his lip with it. The man is a scientist and knows better to do something like that. Pay close attention. He was obviously grabbed when they left him in the shed. The man had a noose ready in the there. And I refuse to go along with Childs is thing theory. If you say you can't see his breath you're not looking hard enough. Hell McCready could've been infected when he blew up the thing and chunks could have landed on him. He probably could've infected Childs when he passed him the bottle.
Except that the PS2 game The Thing is the official sequel to the movie according to John Carpenter. In the game Childs was human and passed away shortly after the movie due to exposure.
@@EpimethiusPSN He examined the Dog Thing when doing this. And this is debunked. It was a little mishap of the actor, not scripted. Blair was still human when locked up in the shed. After all, he did the computer simmulation after the autopsy -> grew anxious -> killed the remaining dogs -> destroyed all means of transportation and communication -> had a fullblowm meltdown in the controll room. Desperate give the creature 0 chance of spreading. And getting assimilated is not a slow process (look at Bennings). Blair was assimilated during his stay in the shed. Most probable suspect is Palmer since he's the one most absent during this part of the movie. Palmer is therefore also the one who took out Fuchs, because he caught him off guard. After killing Fuchs he went for Blair. It could have been Norris too but Norris was still in the main building during that scene.
Big Trouble in Little China was one of my favorites as a kid. It was an odd mashup of superheroes/mystical/fantasy that was like nothing else at the time.
YES!!! MY #1 FAVORITE JOHN CARPENTER MOVIE! The film was a box office and critical disappointment making $19 million dollars against a $15 million dollar budget. It recieved mixed reviews by Critics. Roger Ebert called it "A great barf bag movie." Others called it "Boring Dull and A Wretched Excess." However it's gained a cult following overtime and has been regarded as one of John Carpenter's best movies. Parts of the Dog Kennel Sequence was done by Oscar Winning VFX company Stan Winston Studios as they helped out Rob Bottin, who ended up in the hospital for exhaustion. The sound effects for the alien are that of Bears, Crocodiles, Pigs, Horses, Rattlesnakes, and human screams, all done by a synthesizer.
The worst part of the alien is that the original host isn’t aware that he is the thing until the thing makes it’s move. You’re trapped in your mind as your body opens, probably rather painfully, and starts attacking your friends, you’re along for the ride as the alien morphs your body into something grotesque.
@@gabrielestrada8523 I thought about that and (yes, I’m speculating on a fiction) I was wondering what was going on and I think maybe, when they confronted bennings in the snow, bennings wasn’t yet conscious, having just been reproduced, it was the alien driving the body around to try and hide so it can finish. If all went according to plan, bennings would have probably woken up in a broom closet somewhere in camp not knowing that the alien is now inside him. Disturbing indeed.
@@mikemartinez9703 You may have missed the part when they did the autopsy on the dog-thing. It took the mass of the dogs (body tissue, fluids, bone, hair), "digests" it inside itself, and started making an exact copy of several of the dogs within, recycling the biology and "feeding" in the process. With Bennings, the scraps of living matter within "split-face thing" was pushing itself into his organs, assimilating him on a cellular level, and making an imitation. That is why his hands were not fully formed when the camp caught up with him.
Finally I found some reactors who were smart enough to at least be suspicious of the dog. Almost every reactor is like poor dog! They act like the people were hunting the dog cause they just hate dogs and want to rid the area of damn dogs... they must be evil. 👍
And somehow never question why a dog is out in the middle of the antarctic on its own to begin with, like shouldn't that be the most glaring problem? No way a normal dog could make it from the Norwegian base to the American one full sprint without freezing or dying from exhaustion.
@@6ubble-gumI'm no dog owner but...that was a husky, they're more or less meant to live and survive/thrive in these conditions. It's why they're used as sled dogs up North in Canada by our Natives. To say huskies are built for these conditions is an understatement because a pack of huskies will drag a sled god knows how many miles in these freezing conditions without a hitch.
18:45 Keith Davids's best-known VA role prior to 2000 was probably as Goliath from Gargoyles. ...he's also been typecast a few times as an incredulous cop in internet horror movies, but the less said about those, the better.
44:26 It's important to remember, there were 2 other Things before this point, so, Blair did not do all this on his own. The other 2 were likely working on this before Blair was locked in the shack. He was probably assimilated by one of them after he was locked in there. Blair was still wearing his glasses when Mac checked on him last time, so he was assimilated after that. Notice how the Blair Thing isn't wearing Blair's glasses when it attacks Gary? the Palmer Thing isn't wearing Palmer's watch after he's assimilated. A lot of people claim Norris had a bad heart, and that was what "killed" him before it's reveal, but, Norris climbed down a rope into a huge pit in the ice when they investigated the alien crash site, then climbed back out. If the little bit of exertion he had during his "death" could "kill" him, he never would have survived the climbs at the ship. At 48:25, we see the last 2 molotovs are in clear green bottles with no labels. Many have suggested the bottle in the end scene is also a molotov, but it clearly has a label, and Mac was going to take a drink from it before Childs showed up. Drinking kerosene is not necessarily lethal, so it's not guaranteed it would kill him if he was going to kill himself by drinking it. As for Childs? He's still got his earring in his right ear at the end. Some think you can't see his breath, so he's a Thing, but the Bennings Thing's breath was visible when they surrounded him, so that's just a lighting issue. If Childs had been a Thing, I feel it would have assimilated Mac, as that would have given it double the chance of one part "escaping" when they were found in the Spring, Mac was in no condition to stop him, and there were no witnesses to hide from.
Regarding your comments about Childs, the "wearing metal" test was only brought up in the prequel and doesn't have much relevance within the original. Also, if we're using the prequel, the penultimate scene discredits that test because the guy who gets torched IS wearing an earring, just in the wrong ear. Also, in the scene where Childs is waiting while the others go to test Blair, we see that he's wearing a navy blue coat and that there's another similar navy blue coat next to him (along with a couple others). In the shot that shows him having left the door open, that navy blue coat has been replaced with a different beige coat, and the boots have been shuffled around. So unless Carpenter majorly fucked up and had a huge continuity error between the shots, it seems that Childs has swapped coats and moved the others around. Finally, Childs states that he thought he saw Blair outside and went running after him. For one thing, that's a really stupid and foolish thing to do which seems pretty contrary to his earlier intent of leaving MacReady outside when Nauls cut him loose. Suddenly running outside is inconsistent with his usual cautious demeanor. Also, I don't see how he could have possibly have seen Blair Thing because, right after Childs runs out, the power gets cut immediately. Which means that Blair Thing must be in the underground generator room. Which, incidentally, is what I believe the door that the camera pans past at 44:33 leads to...which also incidentally is right behind where Childs was standing.
@@lugialover09 First off, my comment had nothing top do with "metal" specifically, and was not limited to Childs. The Palmer Thing is not wearing Palmer's watch when it is revealed, and the Blair Thing is not wearing Blair's glasses or jacket when it attacks Gary. This has nothing to do with the prequel. Though, I don't doubt the prequel brought it up because of this very issue. As for the coats, at 43:03 there are blue, green, and brown coats on the wall behind Childs, who is wearing a blue coat. Gary and Nauls took the blue and brown coats when they went out with Mac. 43:21 By 46:24, it's hard to tell what color their coats are, between the yellow light and the frost on them. The Blair Thing is not wearing Blair's jacket(the one he's wearing at 32:47 ). The one hanging up at 44:37 , that was not there before, possibly? The color is about right. So, Gary and Nauls grab 2 jackets, and go out with Mac. The Blair Thing lures Childs out of the compound, then comes in behind him, hangs up his coat, and heads downstairs. Between the yellow light from the fire, and the frost on Childs coat at the end, it is kind of hard to tell what color it is, Just like with Mac, Gary and Nauls. Why bother to hang up it's coat? Sow confusion and distrust, potentially. As for Childs "stupidity" of running out after Blair... at 44:43 we clearly see Childs running past the helicopter. Personally, I think the Blair Thing lured him out so it could get in the compound behind him. Maybe he thought he could end it by killing Blair, then they wouldn't all need to die. In my opinion, my final thoughts on Childs and Mac stand. If Childs was a Thing, it would not have hesitated to assimilate Mac, as he was basically defenseless at that point. If Mac was a Thing, Childs had a flame thrower, attacking him would have been painful at least, and why attack, when it could just wait for Childs to pass out from the cold. I don't believe Mac was a Thing, for reasons I already stated. As for the "single cell can assimilate a whole organism over time"? I don't buy it, and I'll tell you why. If that was all it took, it could drop a single "hair" in everyone's bed, and poof, whole camp assimilated. No fuss, no muss. No fighting, screaming, getting shot, burned, or blown up. But, that's just my personal opinion. As is pretty much all of this. Have a great day.
@@Lucklaran Your comment DID have something to do with metal. You said "As for Childs? He's still got his earring in his right ear at the end." This must be you referring to the prequel using implanted metal as a way to prove who's human. Otherwise, why mention that he still has his earring? Regarding the coats, your argument that either Garry or Nauls took the navy blue coat doesn't work. I looked over the scene with them in the shed, and nobody is wearing a navy blue coat. So the question still remains as to why the blue coat is suddenly missing after Childs goes outside. I do agree that if Childs is a Thing, it likely would have attacked Mac at the end. But MacReady is also holding a bottle which the Thing knows could be a molotov. Also, it's not totally clear, but MacReady could still have a flamethrower or dynamite on him. Or at least, a Thing might wonder if he does. Mac proved he was willing to blow himself and the others up earlier when he broke into the facility, so if Childs is a Thing, it might be hesitant to go after him. The smartest move would actually be to wait and let Mac freeze to death and then freeze along with him. I have no clue why you're bringing up the single cell assimilation thing. I never mentioned that once in my original comment. I'm not saying that Childs is definitely an imitation. I'm just saying that it's very much unclear if he is, and there are some indications that he possibly could be one.
@@lugialover09 "Notice how the Blair Thing isn't wearing Blair's glasses when it attacks Gary? the Palmer Thing isn't wearing Palmer's watch after he's assimilated." From my first comment. It was NOT limited to Childs. I address Childs separately from the others, because the question of him being a Thing happens in the end scene. I mentioned the others before I brought up Childs, so no, this was based solely on this movie. I'm not sure why you assume I've seen the "prequel" because I haven't. I had no interest in watching it because the trailers made it clear to me the effects in the movie were trash, and not worth watching. I am aware that the prequel addresses it, because you are not the only one to bring it up, as I've heard that mentioned in other reaction videos. There are 3 coats on the wall behind Childs. 2 of them are gone, the blue one, and a brown/tan one, not just the blue one. It makes sense that Gary and Nauls would take 2 coats to go outside with Mac, who is wearing his already. At 43:21 , looks to me that see Gary is wearing a blue coat. In my opinion, this is most likely the one taken from the rack at the entrance. By the time they reach the shed, all three of their coats are covered with snow and frost from the walk over. For an earlier example of this, look at Mac's coat at 35:54 . It looks almost grey from the frost coating it. As opposed to it's actual dark brown color at 38:07 . As for a possible Childs Thing being concerned about Mac having a flamethrower, molotov, or dynamite... if Mac had any of those, he would have threatened Childs with them as soon as he showed up, and Childs would know this, and a fully assimilated Childs Thing would know it as well. I brought up the single cell assimilation, because it is a common theory that Mac was a Thing at the end, and it gave Childs the bottle after drinking from it to infect Childs. This speaks to ONE of my reasons why I don't believe Mac is a Thing. Let me be clear, all of this is my personal interpretation of the events depicted in this movie. I am also aware that confirmation bias is a thing, and I am subject to it, just like everyone else that watches this movie. We all see what we want to see, and that's fine.
@@lugialover09 the sense for Blair with no glasses is that after the assimilation his cells get regenerated by an alien form. So, it is very possible that he didn't need glasses because his miopia or something disappeared. The same principle in the prequel with the metal that is not something biologically assimilated by the thing. This alien regenerate the cells when replicates, simply. If you have fillings in your mouth they're gonna drop because replaced by a regeneration.
Great reaction video. Kurt Russel was also a pretty prolific child actor. He appeard in at leas one episode of The Fugitive. He was in an episode on both Lost in Space and Gilligan's Island. He was also in some of the Walt Diney features.
Kurt Russell was a huge Disney star, starring in films like "The Computer that Wore Tennis Shoes." "The Thing" marked his return to acting as an adult.
I went to see this movie when it came out in Theaters. Everyone else went to see E.T. The theater was only half full, I couldn't believe it because this movie was awesome. The practical effects were amazing and are still awesome to this day. The next weekend I went to the see the movie again but this time a bunch of my friends were with me after I told them about the movie. The opening scene is great because everyone reacts the same way about the dog being chased. You want someone to save the dog until you find out it's the alien.
Thanks for being quick on the uptake. SO MANY other reactors completely fail to realize that the dog is an alien - or that it's even sus - until its head splits open. And you actually got that the ice implies the saucer; so few get that.
I was an avid reader of classic sci-fi books in my teens. One short story was what this film was based on...the title, "Who Goes There" sums up perfectly the core of the story...and the brilliance of the film. More than anything it's about paranoia...for the characters AND we, the audience. Many people don't like the ending, but it's actually perfect (in my opinion) because it leaves the paranoia hanging over these 2 guys, even as they wait to freeze to death.
This film is amazing , it is 40 years old and the FX are better than today's , just shows how good practical effects are over CGI , love the way the film really builds the tension and paranoia which is absolutely helped by the fantastic score by Ennio Morricone so eerie and creepy . This is easily my fave John Carpenter film followed by Halloween , The Fog and Escape from New York
Eh feel like bad CGI is a problem, but I never felt the practical effects in this movie hold up as good as people say. I can suspend my disbelief, but a lot of them do look like plastic animatronics to me.
A Fistful Of Dollars and The Good, The Bad and The Ugly are 2 Clint Eastwood spaghetti westerns that Ennio Morricone composed amazing musical scores for.
Finally someone with the right instinct when watching this! I watch so many people reacting to the first scene and almost everybody is falling for the disguise, but not you! Congratulations!
Released on June 25th, 1982 and takes place in "Antarctica, Winter 1982". Winter in Antarctica is March through October, so when this came out it was supposed to be like the events of the film happened "yesterday".
When they're trying to figure out who sabotaged the blood samples and Doc and Gary are pointing fingers at each other because they think they're the only ones who would have had access to the key, the reason Windows runs away is because he is the one who had the key last. Before he found Bennings being attacked by the thing, he had gone to borrow Gary's keys. You can hear him drop the keys when finds Bennings and he didn't pick them up before he ran out of the room to get help. I can only assume the reason Gary didn't remember lending the keys to Windows is because his friend of ten years died not five minutes later. His recollection was probably impaired by the emotional shock.
Kieth David is Childs in the movie. You are right, he is in Rick and morty and he is dr facilier in princess and the frog, but more notably he is Al Simmons in the animated series of Spawn, and also again in the mortal Kombat Spawn DLC. A great actor and voice actor for many years.
The dog actor (not sure if that’s the right term) Jed was a real pro, and also starred in the White Fang movies based on the Jack London novel, alongside a young Ethan Hawke. That dog was such a pro, and the trainer Clint did an amazing job getting him to act in unsettling ways.
I haven't started the video yet. The Thing is probably my favorite horror/sci fi movie of all time. It might even bee in my top 10 best movies period. I'm really looking forward to this.
Keith David who plays child’s is a living legend, Multiple movies and voice acting gigs. He voiced Spawn, Goliath in Gargoyles and Captain/Admiral Anderson in Mass Effect.
It's crazy how well practical effects hold up when they're done right. I watched Man of Steel the other day and was amazed at how poorly some of the CGI held up and that's not even 10 years old.
I highly recommend reading the short story The Things by Peter Watts if you want more context, backstory and what happens in the film. It's written from the point of view of "the thing" and it's pretty amazing!
The only thing I can't get away with is how the hell did the Bennings Thing manage to get dressed with its hands like that? I mean it even managed to get its boots laced 😂
I looked at the scene again and he actually wears his pants and probably also his boots while being assimilated. I mean, the way it works in my mind is basically that the thing touches another being and its cells infect the cells of the victim they directly touch and then the infected cells infect the next cells ect. . So the thing can theoretically infect someone without undressing them or something, it just takes longer because obviously the more it directly touches the more cells get infected directly and the faster the process snowballs.
Should check out the prequel they made in 2011 called the Thing. They were talks about remaking it but decided to do a prequel instead to honor the original. Worth checking out if enjoyed this one. Explains what happened at the Norwegian base.
There's a few times they cut and the cut implies a short time jump also. This isn't always the case but the burning of the bodies scene, they say burn it until there's nothing left and cut to them using the snow plow, that was a time cut until AFTER the remains had been fully destroyed.
31:20 a fantastic shot right there. Very ominous and makes the people look small and vulnerable, which they are. Combined with the following moments it is very good at ramping up the tension and paranoia
It works like that (according to the novella): 1) When the thing kills, it absorbs the biomass, then creates an imitation out of that extra biomass (which leaves the thing with it's original biomass to go on, while the imitation is now a separate organism) 2) it can infect, and then the transformation is happening on a cell level and takes more time.
One of my favorite theories was when they found out about the thing McCready replace the jmb whiskey with fuel so when child's took a drink of it at the end and didn't react MacCready knew that child was a thing
Best acting award should go to the dog. This is actually a remake of 50s horror set in Alaska. There's also a prequel in 2011 that showed what happened in Norwegian camp. Not very good but shows some back story. John carpenter recently said he'd be be up for a sequel qhd with renewed interest lately its possible.
The X-Files' episode ICE reminds me of this movie. I think The X-Files took inspiration from this movie for that particular episode. Great movie and I'm surprised you have never seen this film before. Stranger Things also was inspired by this movie. You can see a poster of The Thing in the Wheeler basement. Yup-up!
I'm old enough to remember when The Thing was a big budget bomb everyone hated. (Premiering opposite E.T. was really unfortunate timing.) Still delighted it found an audience and is now considered a classic...because it is
They actually made a Prequel (which is also called "The Thing") to this Movie back in 2011. (very Very VERY Long Post Below) The Prequel also takes place in Antarctica back in 1982 and 3 days before the events of the John Carpenter Movie and it is the story of what happened to the Norwegian Base (the base where the Dog-Thing first came from). The Prequel stars Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Joel Edgerton. Now I myself do like the 2011 Prequel although a majority of fans of the John Carpenter Movie actually don't like it. The Prequel is actually not anywhere even close to being as good as the John Carpenter Movie. It has got a lot of flaws and it also unfortunately has got a lot of really bad CGI in it as well. The reason why it has really bad CGI is because back when they originally filmed the Prequel, they did indeed do Practical Effects in it but then after filming on the Prequel was finished and it then went into Post-Production, the Studio watched the Prequel and they for some reason did not like the Practical Effects in it and so late into Post-Production (like almost at the last minute), the Studio hired the guys who did the CGI for the Movie "District 9" to come in and cover over a majority of the Practical Effects with the CGI which they then did. The fact that it was done so late into Post-Production (again, like almost at the last minute) is 1 of the main reasons why I myself think the CGI looks so bad in the Movie. Still though, I myself do like the Prequel and if that sort of thing (really bad CGI) is not something that bothers you guys then you should definitely check the Prequel out as well if you ever get the chance. Again, the Prequel is not anywhere even close to being as good as the John Carpenter Movie (it really does have a lot of flaws along with the really bad CGI) and so if you guys do watch the Prequel then don't go into it expecting to see something that is better or on the exact same level as the John Carpenter Movie. Instead, if you guys do watch the Prequel then when you go into it, just lower your expectations for it. Also, I won't say why but if you do watch the Prequel then when the Movie ends and the ending credits start, do not turn the Movie off. Just keep watching and that is all that I will say.
Fun fact: This movie shares some scores with Tarantino's The Hateful Eight. Both featuring Kurt Russell. The scene where The Hangman gets poisoned, the score they used was a piece written by Ennio Morricone for The Thing but end up not being released.
"That dog has been gone through some stuff, BECAUSE; some stuff has been gone through that dog" (Just a poetic fact, i love dogs/animals. But this one hits so hard when it comes to meaning and lyric) ^^
A few comics came out showing what happened after the movie with MacReady chasing the Thing through South America until the final fight in New Zealand.
The black guy, Childs, he's Keith David. He is a voice actor, he does the US Navy and US Army recruit commercials, he was I believe a Sargeant in Call Of Duty Modern Warfare 2 (2009), he was in John Carpenter's They Live and There's Something About Mary, Requiem For A Dream as Little John/Big Tim, and I THINK he was in Dead Presidents (been like the late 90s since I saw that one.) This was his first movie gig, he was a NY stage actor prior I believe.
Watch the full-length watch-a-long reaction to this movie on Patreon: www.patreon.com/posts/thing-1982-movie-74607480
Well, I guess I'm resub'n on Patreon.
The absolute BEST parody of The Thing. You're going to love this! ruclips.net/video/udjoXfrHpcU/видео.html
Everyone always reacts when the flame thrower shows up but it is actually an essential piece of equipment in an artic environment.
For melting snow.
They're actually great for clearing your driveway in the winter.
if you look childs doesn't have any breath smoke coming out when he talks but mcready does so childs is a alien. there was a comic that take place after this movie.
@@armikion Bennings thing is breathing. That theory is debunked
This movie was torn apart by critics on release but John Carpenter was leagues ahead of his time. Amazing how this movie holds up so well even today. Practical effects are always so much cooler than CG 😂
Very good turn around
Blade Runner also came out the same year, and that was also torn apart by critics. Both those films are now considered classics and some of the greatest films ever made, so Ridley Scott and John Carpenter had the last laugh.
Shows that critics don't speak for everyone and most don't know anything.
maybe not cooler but far superior when actors diretly interact with it
The superiority of this film's effects is especially seen when contrasted with the 'modern' 2011 prequel (telling the tale of doomed Norwegian station) and it's use of CGI.
By the way, the dog was played by a wolf-dog named Jed. Jed had parts in several movies, and he was a VERY intelligent dog... and a really good actor. In the DVD commentary, John Carpenter says that the dog's checking out the different doors when walking down the hall was entirely Jed.
What about the other dogs in the film?
@@BMAN-eb4jk They're all fluffy, smart and good too.
@tessmage_tessera Damn, he had quite the career.
Jed's partial wolf genes would also help explain his un-doglike behavior. The cast members have said he behaved like that off camera too. They found it unsettling.
I swear... that had to be the best acting I've ever seen out of an animal in a movie. Like he had a strange, almost human-like focus. Very weird. Very cool.
You said it right with the dog, whoever was the animal trainer on set knocked it out of the park. It really feels like the dog is thinking, contemplating its next move.
Yeah it's incredible how ... thoughtful that dog is.
I believe that dog is Jed who later played White Fang as well.
He wasn't trained apparently, he was half wolf and behaved like that naturally
@@17thknight correct, he's a Gray Wolf Husky 50/50 hybrid aka Wolfdog.
@Jimmy Bonez correct.
I love how the movie respects the audience's intelligence and doesn't try to pretend there's not something weird about the dog.
That actually adds to the suspicion about Clark. How could someone who works with dogs not notice how un-doglike it was acting?
@@danieldickson8591 To be fair, he had no reason to be looking for something like that and he was only around it about an hour and a half after it had been shot at and chased. It looked exactly like a dog, so it's perfectly normal that he would have just figured, "It's a traumatized dog in a strange, new environment with people it doesn't know."
It's kind of interesting that it DIDN'T take over Clark, though, despite having the chance. Was it just waiting to assess how they all acted and who would be alone long enough? When it was put with the dogs, the dogs knew immediately and started acting up, so maybe it had no choice but to reveal itself at that point.
@@emeryltekutsu4357 It didn't seem like the dogs knew immediately. They lay there quite calmly until the Thing-dog started emitting strange sounds, just prior to transforming. Perhaps its scent was also changing.
I believe the Thing was waiting until it believed Clark was gone before trying to absorb the dogs. As Blair said, it would have imitated them and thereby spread itself, Clark just came back before it could finish.
@@danieldickson8591 Nah, seeing so many reactors just go "Aw, cute doggy, stupid people trying to kill it" and not pick up on it's strange behaviour until the kennel scene, is a perfect showcase of dogbrained people being absolute morons
@@emeryltekutsu4357 I think it knew Clark would be too obvious.
And as usual "don't hurt the puppy!!" 20 minutes later "KILL IT WITH FIRE!!!" 🤣
I love that is everyone's reaction first time seeing this film.
I DON'T feel sorry for the puppy!
....At least in this case, anyway.
@@livingcorpse5664 yup me too....its awesome actually
I've binged 'The THING' reactions just to get a laugh! Only Norwegians understand to get the fuck away from the 'dog'!
@@OneManMilitia69 that’s all solely out of pure stupidity. If a research lab was hunting down an animal with grenades, I’m certain I wouldn’t run into the line of fire to save the animal. 😂
Where did you think Stranger Things got the idea for the Demogorgon? :) The dog, named Jed, was part wolf, and unnerved even the cast members because he didn't behave like a dog; he didn't bark, he didn't wag his tail, he didn't rush up to people. He very much a predator. Oh and speaking of Among Us, listen to this movie's theme tune, then listen to the Among Us theme tune.
No you're okay
and one of the maps in among us is a research facility in the snow
@@elrockerchido that game is so influenced by this movie. So many others are, too, arguably. Dead Space, Resident Evil (especially 2 with the g-virus), Carrion, Pole of Cold is pretty much a different version of the film, Distrust, and probably a bunch I can't think of right now.
Shit, it's influenced other films and TV shows, too. There's an episode of the X-Files, season 1, that is a love letter to the Thing.
When Jed was waking down the hallway to "take" Norris, that moment when he stopped and looked around like he was making sure it was clear was totally unscripted and unprompted. He just stopped and did that little "sweep" of the hallway, then started walking again. IIRC
For his outstanding acting in this film, Jeff was awarded an Oscar . . . Mayer all beef hot dog. GOOD BOY!
Jed the husky was in many films. The scene where he slowly walks down the corridor ignoring the camera crew is widely accepted as one of the best animal actor scenes in cinema.
He's a good boy !
Also the scene where he's watching Mac & Hopper return in the chopper. He knows what they found at that other research station.
So fk'n cool that, by all accounts, the dog had a strange focus about him. Truly, the best animal actor I've ever seen!
I’m a microbiologist and I absolutely love the Thing. We actually did an entire class seminar on possible origins of it when I was in college. Basically we theorized that it’s a “supercell” that has the capability of infecting and replicating the genetic material of any known organic lifeform. It’s commonly postulated as a virus but given the matrix protein matching that would be necessary for a virus to infiltrate a host cell of multiple species from different planets I don’t see this as the case. I would theorize that it harpoons a host cell and lyses it. It then absorbs the genetic material from the nucleus and stores it as “junk DNA” before producing a replica. This ensures that it can pull from the vast storage of genetic material it has catalogued at any time, resulting in a grotesque amalgamation of creatures when it finally reveales itself.
That seems like a great exercise to get the students to think outside the box.
@FishKepr
It really was, especially in my field. That was one of the most enjoyable aspects of my six years of college.
The only negative aspect of these specific horror movies in their history is the fact that they tend to mixed up viruses concept with parasites concept, which are technically so different. Nobody takes for possible that a an alien virus can be adapted into our organism without taking over or control us mentally. That side is more parasite which have less preservation instinct. Viruses are smarter ;)
@@sitaroartworks
Not all viruses, mate. Remember rabies? It messes up your brain and makes you a threat to be eliminated or avoided by your own group.
There are more viruses that attack the central nervous system
You should write a "Thing" novella, some already exist, new stories.
“I know you gentlemen have been through a lot but when you find the time I’d rather not spend the rest of this winter TIED TO THIS FUCKING COUCH!”
I love this line and its delivery!
Yeah, this movie balances hilarious and existentially terrifying extremely well.
Couldn't agree more! That one line had so much character in it. Great stuff!
@@jackflash8218it’s just like the security guard at the carnival in killer Klowns from outer space, “what are you going to do with those pies, boys” 🤨
That's a laugh out loud line, and very few reviewers laugh.
It’s been 40 years since this movie came out and it’s still one of the best horror movies ever made. More movies (especially sci-fi and horror) need to use as many practical effects like this. I was like 15 when I first saw this and it literally haunted my dreams for almost a month.
Also, Dos Cavasos: “Please don’t kill the dog”, Me: “Wait for it.” 11:30 “There it is.”
I love dogs with all my heart, which is why that scene always hurts to watch. Still the dog who played The Thing is one of the best trained dogs I have ever seen in movies.
And Tarantino said the 80's had the worst movies.
Yes. The only other dog that’s just as good of an actor is the dog from “The Mask”.
This movie looks horrible. The practical effects look so cartoony. Take the nostalgia goggles off and see it for what it is. It hasnt aged well .
Everyone always talks about the practical effects but it's really the acting, characters, slow build up, mystery of who is the thing, and all of the subtle clues that barely give you enough information to figure out who killed who and who sabotaged what and when certain characters got turned, that make this movie so good. On first watch you literally have no clue what's going on because it's all so fast with barely anything to go off of. It's the ultimate murder mystery/aliens/apocalypse all in one movie. It doesn't try to squeeze a whole bunch of events in one movie like trying to show the Thing spreading to society and showing the apocalypse because that would have been way too much for one movie. But the apocalyptic sense is still there because if this team of 12 fails, then they doom the world. There is so much of this movie left up to the imagination which leaves so much room for more movies or stories to tell which people eventually ended up doing.
@@sugarbomb1346I think that may just be your opinion. All of the opinions I have seen about this movie (including my own) is the exact opposite. This movie has aged very well despite it not doing well with the critics at the time. The practical effects look great. Anything but "cartoonish".
According to the lore: The Thing "eats" the victim and then changes itself into a duplicate of said victim. The extra tissue then separates and continues hunting.
"How will we make it?"
"...Maybe we shouldn't."
The tension and paranoia was so well done, a true classic.
Perfect ending.
Fun fact the dog was a mix breed with wolf in him which is why he was much more calm in scenes then normal dogs. The guy playing Clark said he had a super fun time with the dog on the set.
That's cute
Yes, Jed was a hybrid of Vancouver Island Wolf (also called Sea Wolf or Coastal Wolf) and Alaskan Malamute.
This came out in 1982. A year that is often called the Greatest Year in Sci-Fi history. This film, along with "Blade Runner", "ET", "Wrath of Khan", "Road Warrior", "Tron", "Poltergeist" suddenly exploded with innovative and imaginative movies that set the tone for everything that followed.
I believe Road Warrior came out the year before.
@@redpillfreedom6692 Technically, yes. December 24, 1981. Most of its theater run would have been in 1982.
He better a kept the hat!!
1981/82, and 1984. Possibly the single greatest years in cinema (not alone, just cumulatively.)
Tron....I saw that when it came out and played the arcade game! That and it's sequel, were quite spectacular visually!
Imagine being a recently turned 13 year old in 1982 and seeing this for the first time on the big screen. To say my mind was blown would be a big understatement. I went back the next day to see it again just to make sure that what I saw was what I saw. And a little trivia...every time the thing screams it's the screams of every lifeform it has ever imitated.
It's funny to me how 'Thing Reactions' have become such a THING on RUclips the past year or so. As I used to play it (on VHS) to freak-out my fellow neighborhood kids.. back in the mid-to-later 80's. We would have group watch-parties for this film at least once a month.. ;0)
29:06 Important detail here is that Windows (the guy going for a gun) is both scared of everyone but ALSO, if you remember, he was the last person who had the keys. Bennings told him to get the keys from Garry, and when Windows returns to see Bennings being assimilated, you can hear him drop them (and then whoever sabotaged the blood must have snatched them and then got them back to Garry). So he probably is scared that Garry will remember that he lent his keys to him and that he'll be under suspicion.
And then Garry doesn’t mention lending Windows the keys, which I think also contributes to Windows freaking out
Wilford Brimley (Blair) was all of 47 when this film was made. A couple of years later, he starred in Cocoon as a 70-year-old, when he was 50. He always looked older than he was but he was a great actor, and from what I've read about him, he was a great guy.
Humanity's famous last words to alien life
"F**K YOU TOO"
throws grenade... if that's not humanity i don't what is 🤣
For me, one of the greatest films ever made. Charles Hallahan's character of Norris may not have been the most prominent in the team, but his transformation in the defibrillator scene is legendary.
He was the quiet one. And rule #1 It's always the quiet one:)
@@MissFlow Especially in a film like this. The Thing doesn't want to be the center of attention :)
Blair wasn't one from the beginning. Carpenter actually addressed this in an interview. He was human when he was trashing all the equipment, but either Norris or Palmer got to him while he was out in the shed.
OMG! You have to do Big Trouble in Little China! It's just sooooooooooooooo much fun! Off the wall action, Rapid fire humour, colorful characters, and all in all delightfully campy! I couldn't get enough of this movie growing up!
It's overrated
@@voodoochile333 I find that hilarious, considering how badly it flopped in theaters.
@@voodoochile333 Correction. YOU think it's overrated. In your opinion you are correct, in implying it's universally overrated YOU are incorrect. They will eventually watch it and decide for themselves.
@@voodoochile333 Ol Jack always says...what the hell.
One of the most underrated horror films ever and one of the best.
Best Sci Fi and horror movie of all time in my opinion
The dog was played by wolf-dog actor Jed. He was also in White Fang.
One thing I've always loved about these reaction videos for The Thing-- watching everyone freaking out over the dog scene. If you understand Norwegian there would be no confusion. :D
"That's not a dawg! It's a thing!" or similar lines, IIRC
The guy was still acting crazy, though, so nobody would have believed him even if they could understand him.
@except most times it's not a genuine reaction, IMO this reaction isn't either.
There is a RUclips reactor that actually did speak the language so the beginning was spoiled for them. 😆
@@nowthatisawesome5431 yeah I saw that reaction, I felt bad for her as that twist is a good 10-15 minutes at the start of the film. So she knew what to look out for.
Fact is, the movie is just as interesting to rewatch, when you know which people are things and see how they act and what they do. Hint: They really are _perfect_ imitations.
plus the characters are actually really smart. they learn quick and don't do anything stupid. for example when mac sees the charred corpse at the Norwegian base, he remembers it. when he hears there is trouble with the dogs he immediately orders someone to get a flamethrower.
@@beetlejuice12345Don’t do anything stupid, with the possible major exception of splitting up at the end. But it’s a horror trope, and wouldn’t work any other way 🙂
I've read that when John Carpenter was filming he never told the actors in advance which of them was a Thing, until they were in a scene when they were revealed to be one. That way all their reactions would be sincere expressions of their characters, which reflects on how skillfully the Thing can imitate someone.
@@masamune2984to be fair they were under major pressure and had no sleep
One of my favourate Kurt Russel movies is called "Soldier". It is set in the same universe as Bladerunner, but tells a completely different story. It is a good movie... wouldn't call it a great one, but it is good. However, when you see the emotion and feelings he gets across... it is hard to believe that he says barely a hundred words though the whole movie (count was something like 104 or 114)... well... it shows he realy does have some great skill as an actor.
I have Soldier on DVD. Excellent movie. Both me and my girlfriend really like it.
I kept waiting for people to react to that... Excellent older movie.
On set, there were frequent debates amongst cast and crew about whether a Thing would KNOW that it wasn’t the person it was imitating. The official answer from John Carpenter is: 🤷♂️
That's what makes Windows visible relief when his blood tested good so frightening.
Oh boy, let's dive deep into this.
The Thing *would* know, just as the dogs knew/smelled that the dog-thing was not a "real" dog that joined them in the kennel. It has an awareness of "itselves" on a cellular level, and that means that it's senses do not operate/are limited like a human.
With that said, the Thing did not need to completely assimilate you if it did not need to. Norris felt pain in his chest when his infection/assimilated organs started to replace him with more effort from the inside. You are fighting your own "body" by then. Had he been completely a Thing, he would have shown no signs of pain to alert the humans of his condition. Remember that the Thing replaces a victim on a cellular level.
The Thing had difficulty adjusting to Norris' form, as Norris was not in good health, and Norris had developed coping mechanisms for discomfort, while the Thing only knew "healthy". By outing itself during defibrillation, the Thing was able to keep Palmer-Thing's imitation ruse on for a while longer. Palmer-Thing and Norris-Thing were meant to be distractions while Blair-Thing worked on the ship. The Thing is *that* cunning.
@@gabrielestrada8523 I always interpreted Norris as already being a Thing by the time he started having chest pains as the Thing is a perfect imitation, if Norris had heart problems then that stands to reason that the Thing imitating him would too. So when Mac knocked him over, his body had a heart attack from the shock and the defibrillation triggered the Thing to act in self-defense like the blood did in the petri dish.
@@EldritchChaplin
I would respectfully argue against that, as the thing may imitate a human, but would not leave itself vulnerable to detection or attack, like any good predator would. It covers its bases, unless the whole entire point of infecting and imitating Norris was to kill another human and maintain Palmer’s imitation secret.
@@EldritchChaplinwould make no sense to imitate an illness or defect unless that was integral to it passing off as real (think a missing hand that everyone knew someone had an amputation years ago) an unseen defect in the heart would just make it weaker and unable to get to its final goal, assimilate everything. The thing is a multicellular organism whose very genetics are to work together and assimilate everything. It uses complex tactics such as even outing other things for its own survival (think about when Palmer notices the spider head thing running off) Blair thing seemed to be the “leader” as it keeps the intelligence of whatever it assimilates. Using the other two things to keep people distracted and with a multi pronged attack (Bennings, half the dog thing, head crab trying to run away) it wanted to tear the group apart slowly taking them out one by one while the transportation was finished. Ultimately the pieces of the thing came together. Half dog, Nauls, Blair, and Garry mushed together to turn into that giant thing at the end and would’ve flown itself out of Antarctica or to the nearest other camp, where it could’ve split up and initiated another multi pronged attack. I would think three years was a generous estimate of time given to the human race had this thing gotten to heavily populated areas.
On the DVD commentary for this film Carpenter jokingly says that the dog was the best actor on set. He was a natural - stopping where he was supposed to stop, giving looks that he was supposed to - he was very impressed by the dog.
what was interesting was the specific cold set universal or warners then they would go outside and it would be 90's
Dont forget the part where it chomps the dude hands off, that was impressive
@@DonutVIP The DVD explains that they got a guy whose arms were amputated just below the elbows to double for Copper (?) in that scene. They made a mask that looked similar to the actor that they put on the double, plus some fake forearms. If you watch that scene you can see that when his arms are bitten off his face in the shadows because if they clearly showed it you could tell it was a guy in a latex mask.
@jhornacek I was like, dude, that's badass. Even turn the room into a freezer, those green ooze really disgust me, the 1982 is way better than the 2011 imo
Childs was played by Keith David (The Thing, The Puppet Masters, Men At Work). The guy was all over the place in the 80s and 90s.
And he voice acted for Goliath on Gargoyles.
@@dwnkaomwn3953 omg yas! I love Gargoyles!
He also voiced The Arbiter in the Halo video game series, starting with Halo 2.
Also spawn
One of the all-time great voices!
It's long been my position that when they left Childs by himself to guard the main camp building, Blair got to him and assimilated him. That's why when Childs left the building to supposedly go search for Blair, he left the door wide open -- something a human wouldn't do (especially given the extremely harsh weather conditions). As to who assimilated Blair, I've long believed that Palmer got to him when *he* was alone in the cabin.
When Blair was examining the twisted body from the Norwegian camp he touched the body with the eraser on the pencil he was holding, soon after he touched that eraser to his chin just below his bottom lip. Thing cells were transferred to him and eventually assimilated him.
@@EpimethiusPSN yeah he was just able to hold out longer because it was a small amount of cells initially so it would probably take long
@@EpimethiusPSN Blair did not touch his lip with it. The man is a scientist and knows better to do something like that. Pay close attention. He was obviously grabbed when they left him in the shed. The man had a noose ready in the there. And I refuse to go along with Childs is thing theory. If you say you can't see his breath you're not looking hard enough. Hell McCready could've been infected when he blew up the thing and chunks could have landed on him. He probably could've infected Childs when he passed him the bottle.
Except that the PS2 game The Thing is the official sequel to the movie according to John Carpenter. In the game Childs was human and passed away shortly after the movie due to exposure.
@@EpimethiusPSN He examined the Dog Thing when doing this. And this is debunked. It was a little mishap of the actor, not scripted. Blair was still human when locked up in the shed. After all, he did the computer simmulation after the autopsy -> grew anxious -> killed the remaining dogs -> destroyed all means of transportation and communication -> had a fullblowm meltdown in the controll room. Desperate give the creature 0 chance of spreading. And getting assimilated is not a slow process (look at Bennings).
Blair was assimilated during his stay in the shed. Most probable suspect is Palmer since he's the one most absent during this part of the movie. Palmer is therefore also the one who took out Fuchs, because he caught him off guard. After killing Fuchs he went for Blair.
It could have been Norris too but Norris was still in the main building during that scene.
Big Trouble in Little China was one of my favorites as a kid. It was an odd mashup of superheroes/mystical/fantasy that was like nothing else at the time.
Man wish I can go back in time when I first watched this as a kid it was a great immersive experience I ever had❤❤❤great reaction
YES!!!
MY #1 FAVORITE JOHN CARPENTER MOVIE!
The film was a box office and critical disappointment making $19 million dollars against a $15 million dollar budget.
It recieved mixed reviews by Critics.
Roger Ebert called it "A great barf bag movie."
Others called it "Boring Dull and A Wretched Excess."
However it's gained a cult following overtime and has been regarded as one of John Carpenter's best movies.
Parts of the Dog Kennel Sequence was done by Oscar Winning VFX company Stan Winston Studios as they helped out Rob Bottin, who ended up in the hospital for exhaustion.
The sound effects for the alien are that of Bears, Crocodiles, Pigs, Horses, Rattlesnakes, and human screams, all done by a synthesizer.
Just when you thought learning Norwegian was a mistake, he gives away the movie here. 3:55 😅
The 2011 prequel got bad reviews but really does quite well at adding to this one
The worst part of the alien is that the original host isn’t aware that he is the thing until the thing makes it’s move. You’re trapped in your mind as your body opens, probably rather painfully, and starts attacking your friends, you’re along for the ride as the alien morphs your body into something grotesque.
Except for Bennings. He found out the hard way that doesn’t have to be a gentle assimimation.
@@gabrielestrada8523 I thought about that and (yes, I’m speculating on a fiction) I was wondering what was going on and I think maybe, when they confronted bennings in the snow, bennings wasn’t yet conscious, having just been reproduced, it was the alien driving the body around to try and hide so it can finish. If all went according to plan, bennings would have probably woken up in a broom closet somewhere in camp not knowing that the alien is now inside him. Disturbing indeed.
@@mikemartinez9703 You may have missed the part when they did the autopsy on the dog-thing. It took the mass of the dogs (body tissue, fluids, bone, hair), "digests" it inside itself, and started making an exact copy of several of the dogs within, recycling the biology and "feeding" in the process. With Bennings, the scraps of living matter within "split-face thing" was pushing itself into his organs, assimilating him on a cellular level, and making an imitation. That is why his hands were not fully formed when the camp caught up with him.
Except that someone (probably Palmer) cut open the blood bags, and that had to be intentional.
The practical effects in this movie are some of the best ever.
EVERY REVIEWER: "Don't hurt the doggy!"
TEN MINUTES LATER: "Kill it with FIRE!"
😂
Finally I found some reactors who were smart enough to at least be suspicious of the dog. Almost every reactor is like poor dog! They act like the people were hunting the dog cause they just hate dogs and want to rid the area of damn dogs... they must be evil. 👍
And somehow never question why a dog is out in the middle of the antarctic on its own to begin with, like shouldn't that be the most glaring problem? No way a normal dog could make it from the Norwegian base to the American one full sprint without freezing or dying from exhaustion.
@@6ubble-gumI'm no dog owner but...that was a husky, they're more or less meant to live and survive/thrive in these conditions. It's why they're used as sled dogs up North in Canada by our Natives. To say huskies are built for these conditions is an understatement because a pack of huskies will drag a sled god knows how many miles in these freezing conditions without a hitch.
18:45 Keith Davids's best-known VA role prior to 2000 was probably as Goliath from Gargoyles.
...he's also been typecast a few times as an incredulous cop in internet horror movies, but the less said about those, the better.
44:26 It's important to remember, there were 2 other Things before this point, so, Blair did not do all this on his own. The other 2 were likely working on this before Blair was locked in the shack. He was probably assimilated by one of them after he was locked in there. Blair was still wearing his glasses when Mac checked on him last time, so he was assimilated after that. Notice how the Blair Thing isn't wearing Blair's glasses when it attacks Gary? the Palmer Thing isn't wearing Palmer's watch after he's assimilated. A lot of people claim Norris had a bad heart, and that was what "killed" him before it's reveal, but, Norris climbed down a rope into a huge pit in the ice when they investigated the alien crash site, then climbed back out. If the little bit of exertion he had during his "death" could "kill" him, he never would have survived the climbs at the ship.
At 48:25, we see the last 2 molotovs are in clear green bottles with no labels. Many have suggested the bottle in the end scene is also a molotov, but it clearly has a label, and Mac was going to take a drink from it before Childs showed up. Drinking kerosene is not necessarily lethal, so it's not guaranteed it would kill him if he was going to kill himself by drinking it.
As for Childs? He's still got his earring in his right ear at the end. Some think you can't see his breath, so he's a Thing, but the Bennings Thing's breath was visible when they surrounded him, so that's just a lighting issue. If Childs had been a Thing, I feel it would have assimilated Mac, as that would have given it double the chance of one part "escaping" when they were found in the Spring, Mac was in no condition to stop him, and there were no witnesses to hide from.
Regarding your comments about Childs, the "wearing metal" test was only brought up in the prequel and doesn't have much relevance within the original. Also, if we're using the prequel, the penultimate scene discredits that test because the guy who gets torched IS wearing an earring, just in the wrong ear.
Also, in the scene where Childs is waiting while the others go to test Blair, we see that he's wearing a navy blue coat and that there's another similar navy blue coat next to him (along with a couple others). In the shot that shows him having left the door open, that navy blue coat has been replaced with a different beige coat, and the boots have been shuffled around. So unless Carpenter majorly fucked up and had a huge continuity error between the shots, it seems that Childs has swapped coats and moved the others around.
Finally, Childs states that he thought he saw Blair outside and went running after him. For one thing, that's a really stupid and foolish thing to do which seems pretty contrary to his earlier intent of leaving MacReady outside when Nauls cut him loose. Suddenly running outside is inconsistent with his usual cautious demeanor. Also, I don't see how he could have possibly have seen Blair Thing because, right after Childs runs out, the power gets cut immediately. Which means that Blair Thing must be in the underground generator room. Which, incidentally, is what I believe the door that the camera pans past at 44:33 leads to...which also incidentally is right behind where Childs was standing.
@@lugialover09 First off, my comment had nothing top do with "metal" specifically, and was not limited to Childs. The Palmer Thing is not wearing Palmer's watch when it is revealed, and the Blair Thing is not wearing Blair's glasses or jacket when it attacks Gary. This has nothing to do with the prequel. Though, I don't doubt the prequel brought it up because of this very issue.
As for the coats, at 43:03 there are blue, green, and brown coats on the wall behind Childs, who is wearing a blue coat. Gary and Nauls took the blue and brown coats when they went out with Mac. 43:21 By 46:24, it's hard to tell what color their coats are, between the yellow light and the frost on them. The Blair Thing is not wearing Blair's jacket(the one he's wearing at 32:47 ). The one hanging up at 44:37 , that was not there before, possibly? The color is about right. So, Gary and Nauls grab 2 jackets, and go out with Mac. The Blair Thing lures Childs out of the compound, then comes in behind him, hangs up his coat, and heads downstairs. Between the yellow light from the fire, and the frost on Childs coat at the end, it is kind of hard to tell what color it is, Just like with Mac, Gary and Nauls. Why bother to hang up it's coat? Sow confusion and distrust, potentially.
As for Childs "stupidity" of running out after Blair... at 44:43 we clearly see Childs running past the helicopter. Personally, I think the Blair Thing lured him out so it could get in the compound behind him. Maybe he thought he could end it by killing Blair, then they wouldn't all need to die. In my opinion, my final thoughts on Childs and Mac stand. If Childs was a Thing, it would not have hesitated to assimilate Mac, as he was basically defenseless at that point. If Mac was a Thing, Childs had a flame thrower, attacking him would have been painful at least, and why attack, when it could just wait for Childs to pass out from the cold. I don't believe Mac was a Thing, for reasons I already stated.
As for the "single cell can assimilate a whole organism over time"? I don't buy it, and I'll tell you why. If that was all it took, it could drop a single "hair" in everyone's bed, and poof, whole camp assimilated. No fuss, no muss. No fighting, screaming, getting shot, burned, or blown up. But, that's just my personal opinion. As is pretty much all of this. Have a great day.
@@Lucklaran Your comment DID have something to do with metal. You said "As for Childs? He's still got his earring in his right ear at the end." This must be you referring to the prequel using implanted metal as a way to prove who's human. Otherwise, why mention that he still has his earring?
Regarding the coats, your argument that either Garry or Nauls took the navy blue coat doesn't work. I looked over the scene with them in the shed, and nobody is wearing a navy blue coat. So the question still remains as to why the blue coat is suddenly missing after Childs goes outside.
I do agree that if Childs is a Thing, it likely would have attacked Mac at the end. But MacReady is also holding a bottle which the Thing knows could be a molotov. Also, it's not totally clear, but MacReady could still have a flamethrower or dynamite on him. Or at least, a Thing might wonder if he does. Mac proved he was willing to blow himself and the others up earlier when he broke into the facility, so if Childs is a Thing, it might be hesitant to go after him. The smartest move would actually be to wait and let Mac freeze to death and then freeze along with him.
I have no clue why you're bringing up the single cell assimilation thing. I never mentioned that once in my original comment. I'm not saying that Childs is definitely an imitation. I'm just saying that it's very much unclear if he is, and there are some indications that he possibly could be one.
@@lugialover09 "Notice how the Blair Thing isn't wearing Blair's glasses when it attacks Gary? the Palmer Thing isn't wearing Palmer's watch after he's assimilated." From my first comment. It was NOT limited to Childs. I address Childs separately from the others, because the question of him being a Thing happens in the end scene. I mentioned the others before I brought up Childs, so no, this was based solely on this movie. I'm not sure why you assume I've seen the "prequel" because I haven't. I had no interest in watching it because the trailers made it clear to me the effects in the movie were trash, and not worth watching. I am aware that the prequel addresses it, because you are not the only one to bring it up, as I've heard that mentioned in other reaction videos.
There are 3 coats on the wall behind Childs. 2 of them are gone, the blue one, and a brown/tan one, not just the blue one. It makes sense that Gary and Nauls would take 2 coats to go outside with Mac, who is wearing his already. At 43:21 , looks to me that see Gary is wearing a blue coat. In my opinion, this is most likely the one taken from the rack at the entrance. By the time they reach the shed, all three of their coats are covered with snow and frost from the walk over. For an earlier example of this, look at Mac's coat at 35:54 . It looks almost grey from the frost coating it. As opposed to it's actual dark brown color at 38:07 .
As for a possible Childs Thing being concerned about Mac having a flamethrower, molotov, or dynamite... if Mac had any of those, he would have threatened Childs with them as soon as he showed up, and Childs would know this, and a fully assimilated Childs Thing would know it as well.
I brought up the single cell assimilation, because it is a common theory that Mac was a Thing at the end, and it gave Childs the bottle after drinking from it to infect Childs. This speaks to ONE of my reasons why I don't believe Mac is a Thing.
Let me be clear, all of this is my personal interpretation of the events depicted in this movie. I am also aware that confirmation bias is a thing, and I am subject to it, just like everyone else that watches this movie. We all see what we want to see, and that's fine.
@@lugialover09 the sense for Blair with no glasses is that after the assimilation his cells get regenerated by an alien form. So, it is very possible that he didn't need glasses because his miopia or something disappeared. The same principle in the prequel with the metal that is not something biologically assimilated by the thing. This alien regenerate the cells when replicates, simply. If you have fillings in your mouth they're gonna drop because replaced by a regeneration.
Great reaction video. Kurt Russel was also a pretty prolific child actor. He appeard in at leas one episode of The Fugitive. He was in an episode on both Lost in Space and Gilligan's Island. He was also in some of the Walt Diney features.
Fun Fact: Not only did Kurt Russell was in an Elvis movie but played Elvis in a movie biopic.
@@fortelewisandrew2426 John Carpenter was the director of Russell's Elvis biopic, too.
Kurt Russell was a huge Disney star, starring in films like "The Computer that Wore Tennis Shoes." "The Thing" marked his return to acting as an adult.
@@ademozkum2716 No he did Elvis and Escape from New York before this.
@@peterlenham3180 'I'm playing with myself I'm going in.'
- Snake Plisskin
I went to see this movie when it came out in Theaters. Everyone else went to see E.T. The theater was only half full, I couldn't believe it because this movie was awesome. The practical effects were amazing and are still awesome to this day. The next weekend I went to the see the movie again but this time a bunch of my friends were with me after I told them about the movie. The opening scene is great because everyone reacts the same way about the dog being chased. You want someone to save the dog until you find out it's the alien.
Thanks for being quick on the uptake. SO MANY other reactors completely fail to realize that the dog is an alien - or that it's even sus - until its head splits open. And you actually got that the ice implies the saucer; so few get that.
I was an avid reader of classic sci-fi books in my teens. One short story was what this film was based on...the title, "Who Goes There" sums up perfectly the core of the story...and the brilliance of the film. More than anything it's about paranoia...for the characters AND we, the audience. Many people don't like the ending, but it's actually perfect (in my opinion) because it leaves the paranoia hanging over these 2 guys, even as they wait to freeze to death.
This film is amazing , it is 40 years old and the FX are better than today's , just shows how good practical effects are over CGI , love the way the film really builds the tension and paranoia which is absolutely helped by the fantastic score by Ennio Morricone so eerie and creepy . This is easily my fave John Carpenter film followed by Halloween , The Fog and Escape from New York
Eh feel like bad CGI is a problem, but I never felt the practical effects in this movie hold up as good as people say. I can suspend my disbelief, but a lot of them do look like plastic animatronics to me.
A Fistful Of Dollars and The Good, The Bad and The Ugly are 2 Clint Eastwood spaghetti westerns that Ennio Morricone composed amazing musical scores for.
The black guy is the mythical Keith David in his youth
Curiosity: Keith David in "The Thing" was at his first big role. Impressive actor since young.
All I could think when I first saw the opening of this film was what an incredibly beautiful dog
One of the most pleasant Thing reactions I've seen in some time, and I watch a lot. Loved how invested you guys were!
Finally someone with the right instinct when watching this! I watch so many people reacting to the first scene and almost everybody is falling for the disguise, but not you! Congratulations!
Released on June 25th, 1982 and takes place in "Antarctica, Winter 1982". Winter in Antarctica is March through October, so when this came out it was supposed to be like the events of the film happened "yesterday".
9:10 “Is that an alien, or a human?!”
Exactly.
When they're trying to figure out who sabotaged the blood samples and Doc and Gary are pointing fingers at each other because they think they're the only ones who would have had access to the key, the reason Windows runs away is because he is the one who had the key last. Before he found Bennings being attacked by the thing, he had gone to borrow Gary's keys. You can hear him drop the keys when finds Bennings and he didn't pick them up before he ran out of the room to get help. I can only assume the reason Gary didn't remember lending the keys to Windows is because his friend of ten years died not five minutes later. His recollection was probably impaired by the emotional shock.
Kieth David is Childs in the movie. You are right, he is in Rick and morty and he is dr facilier in princess and the frog, but more notably he is Al Simmons in the animated series of Spawn, and also again in the mortal Kombat Spawn DLC. A great actor and voice actor for many years.
Also the arbiter in the halo series!
Honestly, there should be acting awards for animals. That dog gives the most "un-dog"-like performance of all time, and its admirable
Because it's half wolf
Saw at the theater, loved it then and now , classic! Thanks!
I kept waiting for Blair to yell "DIABEETUS" while he was on his rampage.
Fun fact. Windows had the keys to the blood. He drops them when Bennings was being assimilated.
There is actually a canon video game sequel that proves they survive and are both human.
No, only Mac survived.
This movie and the fly are practical masterpieces.
The dog actor (not sure if that’s the right term) Jed was a real pro, and also starred in the White Fang movies based on the Jack London novel, alongside a young Ethan Hawke. That dog was such a pro, and the trainer Clint did an amazing job getting him to act in unsettling ways.
The dog received an Academy Award for Best Actor, and-somewhat surprisingly-Best Assistant Director. o_O
"Soldier" starring Kurt Russell, is I think underrated.
I haven't started the video yet. The Thing is probably my favorite horror/sci fi movie of all time. It might even bee in my top 10 best movies period. I'm really looking forward to this.
Keith David who plays child’s is a living legend, Multiple movies and voice acting gigs. He voiced Spawn, Goliath in Gargoyles and Captain/Admiral Anderson in Mass Effect.
I love you guys working together to work out what’s happening while watching the film. Brilliant reaction.
Everyone is on Team Dog until . . . until . . . oh god get the flamethrower!
You two are the first reactors I've seen who picked up from the beginning on the implication that maybe there's something up with that dog 😁
This woman's personality is absolute GOLD. I love watching her reactions, so bubbly and adorable, with so much energy.
It's crazy how well practical effects hold up when they're done right. I watched Man of Steel the other day and was amazed at how poorly some of the CGI held up and that's not even 10 years old.
I highly recommend reading the short story The Things by Peter Watts if you want more context, backstory and what happens in the film. It's written from the point of view of "the thing" and it's pretty amazing!
"Who goes there?" as well.
Also, “Mountains of Madness” by H.P. Lovecraft.
Not an official part of the canon, just fan postulations
The only thing I can't get away with is how the hell did the Bennings Thing manage to get dressed with its hands like that? I mean it even managed to get its boots laced 😂
It probably needed something out of one of the pockets, and you know how hard that is to do unless you put the jacket on, Thing or not.
I looked at the scene again and he actually wears his pants and probably also his boots while being assimilated. I mean, the way it works in my mind is basically that the thing touches another being and its cells infect the cells of the victim they directly touch and then the infected cells infect the next cells ect. . So the thing can theoretically infect someone without undressing them or something, it just takes longer because obviously the more it directly touches the more cells get infected directly and the faster the process snowballs.
I use the line "Mac wants the flamethrower" on a regular basis. Usually means when I need stuff to get done quick, fast and in a hurry.
When Kurt threw that dynamite the pyrotechnic almost killed him in real life
Kurt worked with John Carpenter on Escape from New York, Escape from L.A., Big Trouble In Little China, and the Elvis tv movie.
Should check out the prequel they made in 2011 called the Thing. They were talks about remaking it but decided to do a prequel instead to honor the original. Worth checking out if enjoyed this one. Explains what happened at the Norwegian base.
Lol
There's a few times they cut and the cut implies a short time jump also. This isn't always the case but the burning of the bodies scene, they say burn it until there's nothing left and cut to them using the snow plow, that was a time cut until AFTER the remains had been fully destroyed.
watch "the computer wore tennis shoes" with Kurt Russel... hahah
Love this movie. My 2nd favorite John Carpenter movie. (1st is Halloween)
Oh, the movie where JLC doesn't act like a real person?
31:20 a fantastic shot right there. Very ominous and makes the people look small and vulnerable, which they are. Combined with the following moments it is very good at ramping up the tension and paranoia
It works like that (according to the novella):
1) When the thing kills, it absorbs the biomass, then creates an imitation out of that extra biomass (which leaves the thing with it's original biomass to go on, while the imitation is now a separate organism)
2) it can infect, and then the transformation is happening on a cell level and takes more time.
@Dos Cavazos "OMG WTF it can do that?!" should probably have been on the poster in the first place
'Captain Ron' is another great Kurt Russel movie.
One of my favorite theories was when they found out about the thing McCready replace the jmb whiskey with fuel so when child's took a drink of it at the end and didn't react MacCready knew that child was a thing
Best acting award should go to the dog. This is actually a remake of 50s horror set in Alaska. There's also a prequel in 2011 that showed what happened in Norwegian camp. Not very good but shows some back story. John carpenter recently said he'd be be up for a sequel qhd with renewed interest lately its possible.
Not a fan of bloody and disgusting horror films but this is a great movie. Mostly I enjoy the paranoia that develops
Excellent prediction at the beginning. The Thing is, in fact, a little monster. It is as small as a monster could possibly be.
The X-Files' episode ICE reminds me of this movie. I think The X-Files took inspiration from this movie for that particular episode. Great movie and I'm surprised you have never seen this film before. Stranger Things also was inspired by this movie. You can see a poster of The Thing in the Wheeler basement. Yup-up!
I'm old enough to remember when The Thing was a big budget bomb everyone hated. (Premiering opposite E.T. was really unfortunate timing.) Still delighted it found an audience and is now considered a classic...because it is
They actually made a Prequel (which is also called "The Thing") to this Movie back in 2011. (very Very VERY Long Post Below)
The Prequel also takes place in Antarctica back in 1982 and 3 days before the events of the John Carpenter Movie and it is the story of what happened to the Norwegian Base (the base where the Dog-Thing first came from). The Prequel stars Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Joel Edgerton.
Now I myself do like the 2011 Prequel although a majority of fans of the John Carpenter Movie actually don't like it. The Prequel is actually not anywhere even close to being as good as the John Carpenter Movie. It has got a lot of flaws and it also unfortunately has got a lot of really bad CGI in it as well. The reason why it has really bad CGI is because back when they originally filmed the Prequel, they did indeed do Practical Effects in it but then after filming on the Prequel was finished and it then went into Post-Production, the Studio watched the Prequel and they for some reason did not like the Practical Effects in it and so late into Post-Production (like almost at the last minute), the Studio hired the guys who did the CGI for the Movie "District 9" to come in and cover over a majority of the Practical Effects with the CGI which they then did. The fact that it was done so late into Post-Production (again, like almost at the last minute) is 1 of the main reasons why I myself think the CGI looks so bad in the Movie.
Still though, I myself do like the Prequel and if that sort of thing (really bad CGI) is not something that bothers you guys then you should definitely check the Prequel out as well if you ever get the chance. Again, the Prequel is not anywhere even close to being as good as the John Carpenter Movie (it really does have a lot of flaws along with the really bad CGI) and so if you guys do watch the Prequel then don't go into it expecting to see something that is better or on the exact same level as the John Carpenter Movie. Instead, if you guys do watch the Prequel then when you go into it, just lower your expectations for it.
Also, I won't say why but if you do watch the Prequel then when the Movie ends and the ending credits start, do not turn the Movie off. Just keep watching and that is all that I will say.
Fun fact: This movie shares some scores with Tarantino's The Hateful Eight. Both featuring Kurt Russell. The scene where The Hangman gets poisoned, the score they used was a piece written by Ennio Morricone for The Thing but end up not being released.
There are so many deep dives of this movie just based on the last scene, this movie is truly classic and still stands up to this day
Flamethrowers and thermal equipment was standard procedure pre 90s for removing large amounts of ice quickly at bases 👍
A horror masterpiece.
It's such a reminder of how practical effects hit us so much deeper than CGI.
18:57.....that's Keith David....he was also the voice of Sgt. Foley in the older Call of duty modern warfare 2....
"That dog has been gone through some stuff, BECAUSE; some stuff has been gone through that dog"
(Just a poetic fact, i love dogs/animals. But this one hits so hard when it comes to meaning and lyric) ^^
A few comics came out showing what happened after the movie with MacReady chasing the Thing through South America until the final fight in New Zealand.
The black guy, Childs, he's Keith David. He is a voice actor, he does the US Navy and US Army recruit commercials, he was I believe a Sargeant in Call Of Duty Modern Warfare 2 (2009), he was in John Carpenter's They Live and There's Something About Mary, Requiem For A Dream as Little John/Big Tim, and I THINK he was in Dead Presidents (been like the late 90s since I saw that one.)
This was his first movie gig, he was a NY stage actor prior I believe.