There are dozens of classic horror films that fans of the genre point to as one of the absolute best, and unsurprisingly, John Carpenter’s 1982 remake of The Thing From Another World, known simply as The Thing, is often said to be among them. The film is a triumph of the horror genre thanks to its combination of incredible practical effects, iconic performances, and one of the strongest screenplays in horror history. Tense, horrific, and filled with more than an hour of nail-biting paranoia, The Thing is a must-watch in the genre.
While the film has become a thing of legend, there are some aspects that still puzzle even the film’s biggest fans. One of the biggest points of confusion is the final moments of the film, a topic that has had an answer teased by those involved with the film, though there has never been any kind of true confirmation as to what is going on. Regardless of what truly is going on at the end of the film, the only thing that remains certain is that The Thing has anything but a happy ending.
What Is The Thing About?
The Thing tells the story of a group of American scientists isolated in Antarctica who suddenly find themselves battling with some sort of alien capable of assimilation in order to survive. The plot kicks off when a Norwegian helicopter chases after a dog, trying to kill it, something that results in the death of the pursuers and the American researchers taking in the dog. That decision would prove to be the worst any of the brilliant scientists would ever make.
Kurt Russell as R.J. MacReady, the station’s helicopter pilot takes another member of the team to the station that the dog’s attackers originated from, only to find it utterly destroyed and everyone killed. They bring a strange humanoid body back to the base, a hint at what was to come, just as The Thing begins to assimilate everything in sight. The alien creature had been living under the ice sheets of Antarctica for thousands of years, and now it was free to wreak havoc across the planet unless the American research team would be able to stop it.
Who Dies In The Thing?
There are plenty of deaths in The Thing, in fact, it could even be said that every single character in the movie is doomed to die if not dead by the time the credits roll. The film does open with the deaths of the last remaining people from the Norwegian research station before we eventually see The Thing assimilating the other dogs at the American base. From there, everyone within the American base is on borrowed time, and the paranoia around who is a thing and when is so intense that people have dedicated plenty of time to determine exactly when each character is most likely assimilated.
Despite the dedicated fanbase, there are still a lot of moments that were purposefully left vague so that no one can actually be sure who has been assimilated or not. Before The Thing even made it to the American base, it had already decimated the Norwegian base, somewhere that was filled with seemingly just as many researchers as the Americans have. George Bennings is one of the first confirmed crew members to die, purely because his assimilation is actually seen on-screen.
From there, another member is found burnt to a crisp, one dies of a heart attack, and another is shot by MacReady. Every other character in the movie is either directly killed by or assimilated by The Thing in a horrific fashion. At the end of the day, the two Norwegians, a whole kennel of dogs, and the American research team including George Bennings, Fuchs, Norris, Copper, Clark, Palmer, Windows, Blair, Gary, and Nauls all bite the dust. The only potential two survivors and it’s hotly debated about whether or not they truly are survivors, are the station helicopter pilot, R.J MacReady, and one of the station mechanics, Childs.
What Happens At The End Of The Thing?
Once the crew of the American research station has dwindled down to MacReady, Childs, Nauls, and Gary, all proven to not be Things in disguise, they (without Childs) head out to check on another member who remained separate from the crew. That member, Blair, was a Thing and was working on building a spaceship of his own. Sadly, the power for the base goes out and MacReady realizes that none of them are going to have a happy ending, making the best course of action the total destruction of their base and The Thing.
After some destruction, both Gary and Nauls are killed by The Thing, but MacReady seemingly manages to take out the threat with a series of massive explosions. After finding any kind of cover from the explosions and cold, MacReady finds himself toe-to-toe with Childs, who’d gone missing a bit earlier. The two men ask each other about what’s been going on and take a seat across from one another, neither clearly trusting each other.
It is this moment that has been debated for decades. Some fans think that MacReady is The Thing at this moment, and others believe that Childs is The Thing. Clues that work in both directions are the smoke that MacReady breathes but Childs doesn’t, the glint and lack of glint in the eyes of either character, and a shared bottle of booze that has the potential to be filled with gasoline. While the more heavily believed theory does seem to be that Childs is The Thing in the closing moments of the film, it is important to note that it’s never truly been confirmed one way or another.
Childs and MacReady sit there, flames all around, neither sure of the other’s true nature, but it’s also possible one of them is painfully aware that The Thing hasn’t truly been defeated. The close of the film is chilling in a literal and figurative sense as MacReady makes it clear to the audience that both men are going to wait around in their current icy predicament, something that means certain death for the man who isn’t The Thing.
John Carpenter’s The Thing is available to rent or purchase on Amazon Instant Video