NEW DETAILS Found in THE THING

THE THING (1982) Breakdown | Ending Explained, New Hidden Details And Things You Missed. We explain John Carpenters classic Sci-Fi Horror The Thing. Here we point out the hidden details and also give our theories about why Childs was the Alien. This is the 40th Anniversary of the movie and for Halloween I thought we'd discuss one of my favourites of all time.
#TheThing #Horror #Halloween #Movies #EndingExplained #EasterEggs #ThingsYouMissed #HiddenDetails #Theories #Review #moviereview
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/* ---- VIDEO INFORMATION ---- */
Welcome to the Heavy Spoilers show, I'm your host Paul and this video we're going back to the Thing.
-
I've just done a big breakdown of the 2011 prequel and obviously I had to immediately put on the original because of how that film ends. Upon rewatching it I noticed some new details I'd never seen before and hopefully this video makes you appreciate the movie even more.
Now to start things off I actually wanna talk about the ending and how I think I finally know what was really going on. This centres around Childs and Macready stuck in the snow with Outpost 31 on fire around them. Both are doomed to die but the big question that remains is was childs really the thing or not.
Now there's been a tonne of theories about how Macready gave Childs Kerosene or petrol to drink and the thing not noticing this is what gives it away.
Honestly I've always thought that's more just a popular theory but there's not actually any basis for it in the film. None of the creative team have ever said that's the case and there's actually a moment before the drink which debunks the entire thing.
Just before Childs comes walking over we can see Macready pull the bottle out and almost go to drink it. At this point he had no idea that Childs was there and I doubt man was sitting down to willingly drink petrol. So that's debunked and instead I think we should look at an earlier scene to see the subtext that Carpenter was giving us to telegraph the answer.

[@heavyspoilers]

Let us know if there's anything else you've spotted in the movie recently. Would love to hear your thoughts. If you enjoyed this video then please subscribe to the channel kzbin.info/door/q3hT5JPPKy87JGbDls_5BQ *Check out our BEST new videos below* *Tek Knight Explained* - kzbin.info/www/bejne/aX3IqpejgMiEkK8 *TVA Black Hole Connection* - kzbin.info/www/bejne/gHPClWeHitd6a80 *Loki Season 2 Episode 1* - kzbin.info/www/bejne/n17IpYd3nrpqjpY *Gen V Episode 4* - kzbin.info/www/bejne/ppeahJZobbtpf7s *Ahsoka Episode 8 Breakdown* - kzbin.info/www/bejne/qHmsZIeZYriKh6s *The Creator Ending Explained* - kzbin.info/www/bejne/bmnEo5dreaagmqs

[@kelvinusingmermaidaccountk7045]

Please do in the mouth of madness if possible love the channel

[@Humongous420]

Check out the commentary on Big Trouble in Little China listen to John Carpenter and Kurt Russell discuss the end of the thing amongst other things! The mystery is solved but nobody seems to know that the answer is been sitting there in the special features of Big Trouble in Little China for all these years

[@anthonyortiz1288]

at 6:12-6:14 Keith David character has a hoop earring in his right ear going off what you said from this movie and the 2011 adaptation. I thought they couldn't have metal on them when they took over a crew member...the silhouette is very dark but there is clearly a shiny item near his ear region before he took a swig of the bottle.

[@AmongRevenants]

Saw it when it came out, blew my mind. Quaker Oats dude as the final thing, was better then the original, with the sheriff from Gunsmoke as a more humanoid looking alien.

[@RyanDesmond]

I like to think that MacReady is the thing and he smiles because he infected Child’s. In fact, MacReady is cool as a cucumber the whole movie until he comes back in from the cold without his jacket and starts freaking out. Talk about character change. Also, can we trust the blood test? We know The Thing had access to the blood locker. Let's say MacReady is the thing. If The Thing had MacReady's blood why couldn't it produce that for the blood test, fooling everyone?

[@charliewilson4203]

I love that this movie is 41 years old and we are still trying to figure it out. Great cinema

[@scrimpboat8629]

Lowkey he's just milking it at this point

[@youtubestaffaretrash9258]

It was solved in 91, they released a comic series about it

[@Paul_1971]

@@youtubestaffaretrash9258 Who says its canon?

[@Paul_1971]

That's the path to longevity - keep them guessing & not spoon feed everything - v smart.

[@SIKE01]

Forget E.T.

[@claudiuskeat8336]

the theme starting to play just as Childs began to drink is the biggest throwaway

[@AxiEisa]

I think either one is the thing And the director is literally saying "guess" "You won't get it right"

[@cerrodevalpo]

Es Mc Y contamina a Ch con la bebida, como lo hizo con los demás, siempre fue Mc

[@SStupendous]

​@@AxiEisa there's a 25% chance it's right, whatever your guesses, as one or the other is the thing, both are or aren't. Four possibilities maximum.

[@dadestor]

@@SStupendous 🤓

[@tkaleczyc]

we see it play multiple times during the movie with characters confirmed human onscreen, plus the credits start rolling mere seconds after that so not really a compelling argument

[@BlackAdder1970]

John Carpenters The Thing is, in my opinion the best horror/thriller movie of all time. I have the Deluxe DVD and watch it at least 3 times a year. I've seen it in total over 50 times. It never gets old. The Special Effects are top notch and still holds well to this day.

[@mcgritty8842]

Agreed. But I watch it probably once a month (I love movies and have them on in the background too). I enjoyed the prequel too, not nearlt as much… but it has a lot of really good moments.

[@igorivanov299]

Sci-fi film.

[@Zenzuu]

It holds up well is because it was not special effects. With the exception of Blair thing which used stop motion, everything about all the other Things were handcrafted practical effects which adds to the realism.

[@coolnerdlll6053]

The effects are all great...except one. The first big shot of the full Norris-Thing with his head on the alien body looks ridiculous.

[@wrathofatlantis2316]

The dog/t-rex thing at the end was the only one that looked poor. It is revealed slowly in close up, making it worse. It did not move well. It just did not look impressive, despite being presented as a kind of "final boss"; A quicker and shorter reveal would have helped.

[@Verbal_Kent]

I'm 38 and I saw this movie for the first time ever last week,,... and omfg! best thing I've seen in years... its a shame everything is done in CGI nowadays.

[@ChadMarlatt]

Pretty fucking cool huh. I saw this for the first time in 1992 and then bought the collectors edition on dvd ten years later. I remember watching the cast and crew interviews after and some effects Carpenter didn't like was the Palmer change scene, he thought it sucked.

[@Maynards_so_blue]

like the weak prequel

[@ftd888]

What’s really impressive is the level of detail. In a lot of horror movies (and modern movies, generally), the ambiguity is achieved through plot holes. So, it’s impossible for the audience to draw any real conclusions. But, here, all the details line up, and it’s up to the audience to decide what really happened.

[@sigurdkaputnik7022]

Can we please appreciate the mix of paranoia, despair, hopelessness and terror that is conveyed through the incredible score of Ennio Morricone? There is no other movie which makes me feel like that. The film is gutpunching and the music plays a big part in creating that special "The thing"-feeling.

[@qevansable]

The prince of darkness was a good one too

[@sigurdkaputnik7022]

Even Tarantino borrowed some tracks from the score for "The Hateful Eight".

[@wiidlbeetle3857]

Morricone is my hero

I had no idea ennio wanna the composer to this movie. Thank you

[@tkaleczyc]

yeah, pure genius! I like to tell people the story of how Morricone got a Golden Razzie for this score, and then an Oscar for Hateful Eight - where parts of The Thing score were used - to illustrate how dumb award ceremonies are..

[@TeddyOG]

I will simp and say I will watch any content about this movie I love it. That claymation is still more frightening than most movies I've seen

[@JamesReynolds852]

Stop motion not claymation.

[@JasonReilich]

As a child, this movie terrified me. And I cried every time during the dogs Dying horrifically in the beginning scene.

[@smiffyoh7894]

Still my all-time favourite horror movie. The simple but tension building score, the cast, not to mention the practical effects. Brilliant.

[@thomaswiman4572]

Me too

[@r2153]

I love it! All these years later movies like The Thing, The Shining, The Exorcist, 2001 and Alien are still being analyzed. Never gets old for me.

[@FPLHaveABeer]

I think you have overread into this. As both characters say in this scene, they are probably going to freeze to death pretty quickly and so worrying about if one of them is The Thing or not, at least for is now, is not the primary thing on their minds. Seen in this light why Child's takes the drink is pretty simple: he thinks he is going to freeze to death anyway, so why not take a drink? This also explains why there is a supposed change in his personality/attitude in this scene, he has come to terms with his almost inevitable death. They have also potentially just wiped out The Thing, which would also cause you to be more relaxed. I'm not saying their is no way Child's was infected by this point, but I don't think this observation convinces me he is anymore than what is already out there.

[@Kingnome]

Agreed! You said it better then me.

[@joboy77]

This is also my interpretation of the end. They are both going to die soon and so share a drink not caring about much else. I also prefer to think neither of them are the thing and thus they win in the end.

[@Kingnome]

@@joboy77 Agreed!

[@mcgritty8842]

Tall haven’t thiught about this enough. The point of the ending is to make you wonder IF one of them is The Thing. There is no happy ending. I mean, what John Carpenter film has a happy ending? Each suspects the other, and realistically, either could be The Thing. The prequel does a great job of paying homage with this towards the end, but she was observant enough to know he was the Thing. A geoup of guys who’ve been trapped together in the cold for quite some time will forget details about each other and overlook small details they could pick up on. And think, if Childs didn’t have the drink, Mac would’ve guessed something was wrong.

[@geniejunkie]

Concur. I mean it's fun to speculate but iirc the plan in the original short story becomes "we have to keep this here and die to save the world" pretty quickly, and I the movie upps the tension and action but resolves on a similar concept. If anything, narratively it would be two guys tensely waiting to die after getting the bad guy, or am I forgetting something?

[@SMsizzle]

Showed the original to a few friends last week. I loved how this 40 year old movie had them guessing, confused and tense over who the Thing is! Such a classic and way more engaging than any modern horror we’ve watched lately.

[@neilgraves5652]

Yeah and it don't tell you in the first five minutes who the killer or monster is

[@R3stor]

When I first watched it, I avoided our dog for few days 😅

[@lapacesiaconvoi]

this was a remake

[@truevulgarian]

"You've got to be f*cking kidding" gets me everytime. A rare moment of humour to break the constant terror.

[@liferealgood]

This is my all time favorite horror movie along with the first Nightmare on Elm Street. John Carpenter and Wes Carven were truly amazing in the 80s-90s. I can’t smash the like button hard enough.

[@AmongRevenants]

Hellraiser as well. Everything, even Star Wars was still new. Friday 13th was still in single digit sequels. And iirc Mike Meyers was either just misunderstood youth, and still mortal... or Wayne, from Wayne's World. Now only horror I'm anxious to see is 3rd, single season, in Haunting trilogy. Similar to AHS, with some actors filling new roles in each season. Mark Hamill in Fall of the House of Usher. My favorite Poe story, since seeing Vincent Price in the original, House of Usher, back as kid.

[@FreejackVesa]

@@AmongRevenantsAmerican Horror Story is so godawful, never understood the appeal. Ryan Murphy (AHS creator) gives me a sleazy vibe, although "Feud" was quite good. The Haunting series is amazing though, with the first entry, Hill House, being very quality. The creator of that show, Mike Flanagan, also did Midnight Mass which I also thought was quite good. A lot of people had problems with all the monologuing in that show, but I rather liked it. Felt like a throw back to some of the more "cerebral" horror of the 1970s. Just my opinions, yours are equally as valid. Cheers

[@AmongRevenants]

@@FreejackVesa From Glee and Feud, to AHS and Dahmer. Next year he's going to bat with American Sports Story... "Re-examines a prominent event involving a sports figure. First season will follow the story of Aaron Hernandez, the former New England Patriots and convicted murderer."

[@AmongRevenants]

@@FreejackVesa Will he spare us a re-telling of the OJ trial.

[@jimmyjoe1591]

"Hey Tina, waaatch this" 😀

[@shawnleary8687]

I will never forget the year... early 1983. The Thing just started playing on cable. When it first played, it would not come on TV before 10pm. It was an event to see this for the first time at eleven, twelve years old. It messed with my head. Especially the "blood test" scene. The best horror/sci Fi movie ever.... period.

[@designingtheenemy5869]

I'm sure people have thought this before but I don't think it's coincidence that the pilot for both the Norwegian team and the US team survived the longest. As soon as it absorbed and imitated 1 team member, the thing would instantly know who is who and what their profession was. The thing probably knew the best chance to get closer to population would be with the people who can fly. The main enemy of the characters in the film is the thing. The Thing's main enemy is Antarctica where there is hardly anything to infect and spread. I just watched the original, it was ahead of my time but I loved it and I like deep diving on good ol lore in movies and videogames.

[@danielgriffith8911]

Just so you know.. the "Original" was a 1951 movie called "The Thing From Another World".

[@TheSnoopyEmu]

I still find it funny that when the thing was in Palmer it seemed to hate Windows. Although in the scene where he refuses to team up with Windows, I think he was trying to get alone with Childs to assimilate him cause he was a bigger threat. I also love how Palmer looks at Norris when they ask when the thing could have taken MacReady.

[@julianmarco4185]

Windows was basically the only one who was paranoid enough to know not to get close to Palmer or pretty much anyone. So Palmer probably wanted someone with fewer defenses raised.

[@donjohn2695]

The thing was highly intelligent looking for ways of survival

[@ZenMonkeyGod]

Yeah Childs and Palmer were already best friends, Palmer being the lowest on the social chain at the base and Childs being the only one who would hang out with him. The Thing knew Childs would be an easy target as Palmer.

[@Jaeimgarr]

I watch this movie a dozen times a year, and have for decades. And astonishingly found something new watching it a few days ago. When Fuchs is surprised by Macready, he grabs a beaker of colored liquid, possibly acid or something he thought would work against the creature, yet after macready leaves and fuchs resumes work, it shows the beaker with clear liquid. im sure its something the average fan knows by now but still fun to find or rediscover things that may have been overlooked by me. also, blairs "instant axe" is always fun.

[@Booger__King]

He smashes the outpost like it’s the like button! Lol

[@Panzer_the_Merganser]

3:42 the great thing about this movie is there are valid points throughout it that can lead you down one path or another, with 'potentially' validating scenes afterwards as to who is infected and when. To commentary track is a blast for a lot of reasons, but a big one for me was Carpenter and Russell discussing Blair: Blair was the one person that may have been taken over slowly from within, vs the violent digestion of most of the other characters. So we never really know 'exactly' when Blair is more the Thing vs human; his motives make sense from either perspective - violent realization everyone needs to die at the station to stop further infection, OR the Thing is playing chess with the rest of the human characters and is isolating part of itself to work on a ship, should the other things fail to assimilate everyone. Yes Childs may be infected at the end and I like the plot point of J&B bookending the story, but for me it'll always be the 'happy' ending of the two survivors caring fuck all and having a drink.

[@Panzer_the_Merganser]

@PcTechHardware-q3f That’s my take on it. Sure there’s mistrust after all they’ve been through, but I like that version most.

[@Panzer_the_Merganser]

@PcTechHardware-q3f Haha for real, if a man-nod where an ending, this would be it.

[@psilocypher]

@PcTechHardware-q3fFirst of all, nobody survives. They committed themselves to freezing to death in case one of them was the thing because neither of them could be sure the other wasn’t. Secondly, John Carpenter has said “I know who’s the thing and who’s not in the very end.” That implies that one of them is.

[@phoenixesper9603]

@@psilocypher Technically no. technically that sentence could be that both are the thing and neither are the thing and still be true. I know who's the thing (both of them), and who's not (neither) at the very end. Still 100% true. He said things like this so that it could imply all 4 possible outcomes. They left this as vague as possible and during several interviews when he almost slipped and dropped actual facts/hints he would stop and redirect the narrative of the interview. He doesn't want us to know and that ups the value of the writing. Cause even 40+ years later we are still keyboard warring over it lmao

[@Scofflaw_k10]

The Thing will always be my favorite film. I know some theorize that MacReady wanted to off himself by drinking fuel and when Childs arrived he handed him the bottle knowing a human would instantly smell the fuel and refuse to drink it. It’s a theory, but I think it’s a stretch. Childs more docile attitude and willingness to share drink could very well be a case of him believing it just doesn’t matter anymore. They both are beaten down and looking at freezing. Even MacReady’s chuckle could be him recognizing this since he knows Childs isn’t a dummy. Another theory, a bit less of a stretch. I do appreciate the theory of the pattern of personality changes being a sign of someone being turned. It makes sense. Especially with the case of Blair. I’m still not convinced on anything. But that’s the brilliance of the film. I personally like to think both MacReady and Childs are still human at the end.

[@Evilshtt353]

Agreed. Sometimes the simplest answer is the answer. Both dudes cold as balls freezing and going to die anyway, who cares about sharing a drink at that point.

[@jekw23]

Agree, they’re going to die if they’re human and if Childs really is the Thing then it’s already won. It doesn’t need to assimilate McReady as he’s no threat. However there is no proof either way.

[@tastysandwhich]

This is my take as well. I don't think the Thing is *defeated* but that the battle is, at least, won. Childs and MacReady aren't really antagonistic with each other after the blood tests. I never got the impression that they disliked each other, but actually held each other in high enough regard to think they would be one of the biggest threats if they had been turned. I am glad HD versions of the film have dismissed the whole "Childs doesn't have foggy breath" thing, as you can see that he does in that last scene now.

[@Puzzoozoo]

Yes, earlier two dogs survived un infected and two humans survived un infected, and the thing is dead.

[@TheSnowwraith]

I agree that the fuel in bottle theory being incorrect. The main reason is that The Thing assimilates not just the physical appearance but also the memories of the target as well. Evidence of that is that the ability to speak with proper comprehension, rather than random noises/words like a parrot. Without those memories it would've been betrayed immediately. Those memories would also contain basic things, such as taste/smell and Childs/Thing would've known straight away it wasn't J&B.

[@nicksues1695]

I love the ending cuz it makes you think they both know they will freeze to death out there so why not have a drink. Love an ending we can talk about for years.

[@MJ-ub9kq]

And that if the other is the thing he is screwed anyways, so why not take the drink? Probably better than slowly freezing to death,

[@GnosticAtheist]

Nah, Cready is laughing because he just infected the last human by giving him that drink. He just fooled everyone by pretending to be the main character. Not sure why he killed the queen thing though, probably went to hard into trying to fit in so he technically saved the human race. Nailed it.

[@TheDog-i6x]

In the book, Blair becomes The Thing before his meltdown, and through deduction, the characters discover that the Blair imitation was only pretending to have lost its mind to avoid suspicion. If the movie is faithful to the book in this regard, then it's safe to say he is one of the first to be infected, which also explains how he was able to build that space ship so fast.

[@Armbender1085]

That would explain robbing the helicopter early on, he also probably stole some parts from the radios hid them then destroyed the leftovers to cover it up. And he wanted to be locked alone so he had time to build the ship.

[@TheDog-i6x]

@@Armbender1085 So strange that there are all these videos on the internet speculating about this film, yet none of them touch the source material.

[@Armbender1085]

@@TheDog-i6x that is very true, it definitely makes sense that he was transformed early on probably from messing with the carcass and played crazy to get separated and be the final plan

[@jimmydesouza4375]

@@TheDog-i6x Because the film isn't based on the source material. It's a lot closer to it than the first movie, but it's still not an actual adaptation of it.

[@BeeHatGuy]

YES!!!! This is what I thought

[@RecluseBootsy]

I always try to follow the bottle on rewatches. It's like 3 card monty. You see Blair drink from one before losing his shit and there's other examples given but i can't really recall them all off the cuff. Folks act like there's only one bottle of scotch on this base but realistically Mac is an alcoholic and obviously has a case or two. The main point of the theory is that Mac could be The Thing and unwittingly surviving against others. Adopting Mac's mindset to a T. The only issue being is how the creature works. Is it a hive mind, is it one entity through all iterations, or are they each individual organisms with every cell fighting for its own survival at any cost?

[@julianmarco4185]

Thank you for bringing this up! I have been saying this for a while: even if we dismiss that the bottle was full of lighter fluid, the fact that Childs accepts it willingly without questioning: "What happened, MacReady? Did you get Blair? Let me see your blood." They basically have been away from each other at least half an hour. Childs might be tired and accepted death, but I doubt he wouldn't want to end the Thing with him if he suspected MacReady was a thing. So the fact that he accepts the drink means that he has nothing to fear from MacReady.

[@Soleil.m]

I honestly think the real Childs would’ve torched Mac then and there because he doesn’t even like the guy and there’s a chance he’s a Thing. He’d be dragged to his death kicking and screaming.

[@davidmathieson8661]

The problem I've always had was that since the Thing likely gains your memories or at least thought processes, then surely it would have known they were not to share food so what is the likelihood it wouldn't have seen through that test?

[@julianmarco4185]

@@davidmathieson8661 Asking a question like that is like asking : So if it gets the intelligence of whoever it absorbs then why doesn't it just make contact and try to get along? ("Hello humans, your friend has graciously donated his body to me so that I can communicate with you.") Maybe the creature can just come to some understanding of getting live farm animals to eat and share all the information it gained. The answer is simple: we don't enough about it. Maybe it's a natural alien species. Maybe it is a alien microbe plague. Maybe it's a biological weapon

[@FranSanTeeth90]

Don't underestimate a AA man of his station and disposition wanting to die "like a man" with dignity.

[@Maynards_so_blue]

he knows Macready just blew up the place. If Mac was the thing he wouldnt have done that. Childs knows he is human. There was no time for Mac to be taken over from the explosion to the scene where Childs finds him

[@macatron69]

This is one of my all time favorite movies. I love that there’s SO many layers to it. Thanks for this breakdown!

[@forgedwarrior20]

I also find it entirely plausible that Childs accepting the drink and being a lot calmer was because he was probably way too exhausted to care at that point. He knew he was a dead man anyway. I still feel like it's up in the air

[@ramoncarter3121]

yup and booze keeps your body warm

[@bobbywoemack3334]

My best friend just showed me this movie yesterday and it completely blew me away. I can't believe I lived 34 years without seeing it until now.

[@truegamer2819]

movie scared the hell out of me when i was a kid but man i still love this movie til this very day

[@thatninja33]

I was blessed with getting to see this in theaters for the 40th anniversary event, along with my father. I had a royal laugh when I had two teenagers ask us if we saw it when it first came out, and I laughed and said I am 34, and Im not a time traveler. Film is in my top five of all time, and definitely number one for horror.

[@joeywlliamson3379]

I did see it at the drive-in when it came out. It wasn't as scary as Invasion of the Body Snatchers though.

[@ryanpierce3986]

Child’s says when debating with the group on opening the door for Macgready: “nothing human could have made it back here through this weather without a guide line” At the end child’s reappears & says after being questioned on “where were you child’s?” by Mac: “Thought I saw Blair, went out after him, got lost in the storm” in which you hear Mac laughing at. I think this detail is overlooked by everyone who’s ever theorised about who’s The Thing at the end.

[@johnreynolds7996]

Childs was given the flame-thrower specifically to kill the Blair-Thing with it. If he thought he'd seen Blair then he'd go after him, even if he knew that he wouldn't be able to find his way back. That's why Childs was out of the picture so long: he didn't have a guide line to get him back, but he didn't need one once the camp lit up like a roman candle.

[@ryanpierce3986]

@@johnreynolds7996 Damn right he didn’t need one, he was dead already, and the thing wasn’t going to freeze over without being near something it wouldn’t be found again, hence his laboured attitude & question asking.

[@garthmcguigan2357]

This film came out slightly after I was born, and I've been watching it for over thirty years. It's gone from too scary, to one of my favorite horrors, to my favorite horror, to one of my favorite films... and now, I have it in my top four all time movies. Another great video mate

[@igorivanov299]

Science fiction/horror film

[@erdwinjc]

5:46 He has no shine in his eyes. That is how you know its the thing. All people who were taken over by the thing lost the shine in there eyes.

[@Immolator772]

What i love about the movie is that it has a dark ending which is fitting for a horror movie. They fought that creature, just to die from the cold which is also ironic because the alien likes the cold. Also the fact people still debate over the ending, despite the movie having the answers in front of them is just genius, and not forced or bad writting. To me this movie will be the best horror ever made, and still no movie has topped it from all those years, seems like every horror chooses to do the opposite of everything that made this movie great.

[@porkins_jr719]

The Thing does not like the cold. It can survive it by hibernating but it prefers the warmth where it can spread. The cold kept it inert for centuries or millennia.

[@Immolator772]

@@porkins_jr719 but it doesn't get cold, i remember if it was breathing in the cold, you wouldn't be able to see the hot air coming from it.

[@GregBreden]

The Mist springs to mind as another one that went for a dark ending that was not an obvious choice. After I saw that I was stunned and said "THAT is how you end a horror film". Stephen King preferred the film's ending to his own. Everyone else seems to hate it but I put it up with The Thing in terms of great endings.

[@Immolator772]

@@GregBreden Frank Darabont knows how to make a great ending.

[@ogbobbyjohnson7311]

@@Immolator772is that actually brought up verbally in the movie? I can’t recall if that was a theory or not. I personally think the ending is more impactful with neither Child’s or Macready being assimilated. Way darker this way

[@sigurdkaputnik7022]

Concerning the "Childs not breathing" issue - has it ever been established in the movie that things dont breathe? You can see the dog's breath very clearly when licking Bennings. If a thing is a 100% organic copy than it has all body functions including respiration or body malfunctions like a heart attack (see Norris' collapse). Btw Childs IS breathing - if you boost the image brightness, you can see it.

[@sigurdkaputnik7022]

When Bennings-thing kneels in the snow and lets out his scream, his breath is all over the place. So, things DO breathe.

[@Bonoscot]

As Childs appears in the background at the end....He does have breathe...most people just study the scene with him sitting down.....But he does Exhale and you see it just as he creeps up on Mac

[@the1trueshark]

i think that theyre both human at the end, but they no longer care whether the other is infected. i also believe that blair was infected sometime after he was locked up, but before fuchs suggested that they only prepare their own food, as norris or palmer would be able to sabotage blair's food

[@DawnstealerGaming]

Something else that I always took away from that (that, granted, is probably me reading WAY too much into it, but hey - that's kind of the point here): the thing knows McReady knows. That's why it takes the drink and also chuckles. "Okay, fine: you know - now what"

[@b3ntl33]

I need to rewatch this. I saw another video earlier that deduces that Norris was first, then Palmer with Childs not getting snagged till the group goes to the shed to test Blair and the generator gets disabled.

[@wrathofatlantis2316]

I remember wondering with my friends the meaning of that chuckle, 40 years ago, and barring the difficulty in memorizing the rule about sharing food, I think you absolutely nailed it. Brilliant work.

[@mysteriousdoge1298]

But why would he chuckle though after learning that he's so close to the thing he wouldn't be so chiil about it

[@wrathofatlantis2316]

@@mysteriousdoge1298 They destroyed the base, and he knows he is the last one, living his last moments before freezing to death. To be completely logical, he should indeed burn the thing right away though, to prevent propagation. So your objection makes sense. Maybe he is too exhausted to continue fighting right at that moment?

[@TheButters5000]

I genuinely don't believe even the writers, director and everyone else involved in making the movie didn't put this much thought into it. Saying that I do love the content and theories.

[@melanclock]

nah the production was delayed so there was a period of time where there was nothing to do but to add tons of subtext everywhere possible

[@realhamonwry8620]

Are you dense?

[@paulie.walnuts2838]

Carpenter and Russell both said in the movies commentary that even they didn't know who , when and where got assimilated

[@ThePurityControl]

Same here, it's all about the paranoia, not necessarily about everything making sense.

[@vladyvhv9579]

The origional ending had them both being rescued and found to be human. It was felt that this ending was too upbeat for the tone of the movie and it was scrapped. So, they did know, but have been good at really playing up the mystery angle, cause that's more interesting. Carpenter is a master of horror. He knows that a good mystery like this will keep people guessing and talking about the movie that's effectively his master work.

[@mrblueice7352]

There’s another set of circumstances that no one seems to talk about. Childs was left inside while they went out to find Blair. They found that Blair is not in the shack. Look back to see Childs running out of the base and immediately after the lights go down. So Blair was inside the building already because he destroyed the generator the moment after Childs left. I imagine that Blair attacked him first and cleaned everything up. Childs decided to leave the base to avoid any conflict to survive. Then he made his return after all the smoke cleared.

[@soulreaver1983]

I've always guessed that did you notice Childs was wearing a different colour coat at the end and also the coats on the rack are in different positions i personally think at the end the bottle of whiskey wasn't whiskey but filled with gasoline i know a lot of people debunk this theory but that's my opinion. R.J just pretended it was and to see if Childs would drink it and see if he really was human and if he was he would noticed it wasn't whiskey.

[@smegg9676]

it seems like the thing would be able to recognize the smell of gasoline thought right?@@soulreaver1983

[@Fatalerror094]

Childs was certainly assimilated by the end of the film. Remember, after Mac, Garry, and Nauls finds Blair missing from the toolshed, and discover the small spacecraft He/It was building in the underground chamber, We cut back to the main building, We come to the coatroom where Childs was last standing guard, but, now not only is He missing, but the door to the outside is open and snow is accumulating on the floor. We know Childs hadn't gone outside at that point yet, because it is in the next scene that Nauls standing watch at the toolshed door sees him leave. Not only that, but when Mac asks where Childs had been, He tells Mac: "Thought I saw Blair, went out after Him, got lost in the storm", but as You pointed out in Your post, after Childs wanders out of sight, the power fails. Blair, or the Blair-Thing had to be under the main building, in the generator room sabotaging the generator, so Childs could not have seen Him/It outside.

[@soulreaver1983]

@@Fatalerror094 😎👍🏻

[@Cyborg_Auto]

Childs still has earring at the end, he's human..

[@pUrpLEsnake325]

I actually just rewatched this the other day and I realized something about that scene with Blair with the noose. I genuinely don't think he was the thing at that point. He, like Fuchs, planned to kill himself before the thing could get to him. The reason he was so calm wasn't because he was the thing, it's because they gave him a sedative and liquor. He also was probably putting on a calm act because he didn't get to finish destroying every possible escape for The Thing, so he wanted out so he could finish what he started. When they come back to the shack later he's gone, and they say how he couldn't have gotten out because the door was bolted from the outside. Meaning that someone else had to have come in from the outside and infected him. The easy answer was always that he went under the floorboards to that secret tunnel. But I watched the scene more closely, there's no possible way that Blair could have perfectly pulled up those floor boards, dug himself down into a tunnel, and then perfectly replaced them to the point that when they pulled them up they creaked and shook with dust because they were so firmly in place, almost as if they'd been put back from the top not the bottom. He desperately wanted to come back inside because while yes, being around the others increases his risk of assimilation, it also decreases it. They firmly establish going off on your own is exactly how the thing hunts, it wants you alone. Blair was totally isolated and trapped, he was the perfect target and arguably the biggest threat to The Thing because he understood it more than the rest and was making an active effort to prevent it from escaping. My bet is, someone went in there from the door bolted on the outside, told him he was gonna go back inside, assimilated him, Blair then dug the tunnel down and the other Thing replaced the floorboards over top of him. That or the thing tunneled under him, lifted the floorboards from beneath, caught him by surprise before he could reach his noose and got him, and then sent Blair down the tunnel, put the floorboards back in from the top. Then Blair or the mystery other Thing went off to again lure Childs out on his own, may have gotten him, then went back to the tunnels to get the others, but they got his ship, and Macready blew up the big Thing. But after that if you pay close attention, there's a few moments where we lose track of Macready right after he blows it up. During that time it's equally possible that Macready, not Childs, got assimilated. So there's an equal likelihood of either of them being the thing. What could lend further creedence to that is that Macready always offered people his whiskey, so Childs would think nothing of him doing that, and after being delirious from being in the blizzard and all the stress and knowing no matter what he was going to die, he took a swig of the whiskey because he didn't think Macready was the thing, if he did he already had the drop on him and could've torched him but he didn't, he just sat with him and drank. After he takes a sip Macready chuckles, almost as if to say "I won", Childs let his guard down, drank from the bottle, and potentially was infected by Macready and they both became the thing. Or, neither of them are, and they simply froze to death together sharing a drink. Either way, I don't think Blair was turned until after Macready checked on him for the last time. And I don't think the whiskey really firmly points one way or the other towards either of them being the thing. Once again, no firm answer.

[@kaansoler1431]

If you notice when Blair is locked up and they check on him one last time there is a moment with him and MacReedy and McReedy takes a swig of alcohol from the bottle on the table. Is he that much of an alcoholic? Or is he the thing? But you would think Blair wouldn't drink or eat anything given to him knowing how easily this thing can assimilate.

[@BattleAxeRX]

The "thump thump" when Childs takes a drink is pretty telling... awesome video!

[@divacroft1034]

telling what? charles was the last human alive on base theme playing is like a cherry on top saying that only thing survived

[@andrewmarks4640]

The theme when childs takes a drink is the clue he is the thing. It’s also a call back to when mcgready handed/poured the drink on the chess wizard. I.e childs is mcgreadys opponent.

[@divacroft1034]

@@andrewmarks4640 you clearly did not understood the movie...of course charles is the thing at that moment because mcready infects him with that bottle at that moment

[@AudieTheMastiff]

He has no breath!!! That’s the proof!!!

[@regis4204]

Interesting analysis👍

[@mitakondria6691]

Childs had an earring in at the end. In the prequel we learned that metal inside anyone's body gets pushed out and rejected. A lack of earring was how Joel Edgerton's character Sam was found out in the prequel. By this in-universe rule, Childs is not the alien.

[@vulgarprophet2689]

That didn't exist when John Carpenter made this though, it doesn't apply to this movie.

[@Dark-Mustang]

It is logical though, prequel origin or not

[@ayanami808]

I’m always down to hear more about this movie. Thanks for continuing to analyze it.

[@designingtheenemy5869]

I just watched the original The Thing after not seeing either of the films. I'm a 90s kid but I love great old movies and everyone said the thing was great so I watched it tonight. I love all the twists and turns/theories. After 1 watch, I already have my own. They never go into the UFO. For all we know it could be a big weird bloodbath just like they found at the Norwegian base. The alien is not far from the UFO before it hibernated. What if the same situation happened in the UFO that happened in both camps and that The Thing met a bunch of opposition? At the end, The Thing comes out victorious but no place to go except to freeze/hibernate and wait for hosts to find you close to the crime scene/UFO. Mac said the same. Mac said The thing was trying to hibernate around the base to wait for rescuer hosts essentially. The Thing also is not far from the UFO to where humans/new hosts would find it. I don't think Mac is assimilated because I feel he would've fleed in the helicopter ASAP so that The Thing would spread. I do find it funny that both the Norwegian and US teams pilots were last survivors along with 1 other person on each team. I feel The Thing wanted Mac but couldn't get to him somehow. Maybe the alcohol he kept drinking didn't sit well with The Thing idk. I just feel if Mac was The Thing, he would've ran off in the chopper ASAP. You could say "but there were missing parts" true, but if The Thing got ahold of Mac, it wouldn't have needed the parts and if it did get ahold of Mac, he could easily take the parts back. I have a theory that The Thing was using info it absorbed from the UFO inhabitants to even try to build whatever craft it was building and that it was botched. Idk. I've only seen the movie one time and I definitely want to watch again.

[@Adam-082]

My favorite theory that is my own is that neither of them are the thing but paranoia is so strong at this point they would rather sit and wait for death than trust each other.

[@bonesf200]

Nice one. I thought of the same thing about 8 years ago and in my excitement proceeded to write my theory on about 10 The Thing theory pages. I didn't get a single like on any of them so thought my theory must be crap. You've finally vindicated me 😂

[@TheOneSoulMate_]

It’s all entertaining to still discuss what the ending really meant. I love hearing the theories but it’s kind of similar to what makes books so great. The parts that are left to our own personal feelings and imagination. What makes it great for me isn’t the same as someone else perhaps. With this we get to fill those things out our selfs. So leaving the ending as Carpenter did was brilliant. I’m ok with it. I have watched it many times. I own both movies because it’s one of my all time favorite movie. However after this. I will be watching both once again 😂. Great video. Thank you.

[@Vicious0Sephiroth]

I 100% will always disagree with the drink "test" at the end. MacReady was literally about to drink from the bottle before he even realized child's was still alive.

[@CyberBeep_kenshi]

ye exactly. imho they just did a final toast before the end. Alcohol would even make it quicker. But since a single drop of Thing can assimilate and survive for centuries, its pretty safe to say it survived as well

[@MrRyan-wu4jx]

Could’ve just been smelling it to make sure the gasoline wasn’t replaced by a thing.

[@kenyontucker6469]

Even knowing that they weren't supposed to be sharing bottles or food containers and anything of the sort, McCready still drank from Blair's bottle and no one questions that, it just gets ignored.

[@NotMorganFreeman.]

If you're talking about the little bottle of vodka he drinks from when they first lock Blair in the tool shed, it's because Fuchs is the one who leaves the bottle for Blair, so it's not really Blair's bottle. Fuchs doesn't come up with the idea that they shouldn't be sharing food or drink until later.

[@JOERANSTRAIGHT]

I think this is probably one of the best horror movies ever made. and the soundtrack, the tension, the build up the guessing, all woven together like a masterpiece. You were on the edge of your seat, wondering who it is because you can trust nobody . They need to make a sequel where it has spread and still spreading, and they find a way to stop it. cast Kurt Russell has the wise old fashion with the means to kick ass with a young sidekick, willing to destroy and burn everything to stop it. The horror can be recaptured because the thing has learned so it will be even more compelling… I can watch this movie over and over because the soundtrack alone is something that keeps you on the edge.

[@CyberBeep_kenshi]

The biggest gripe in the movie is still how they treat the bodies. Zero protection etc. And considering a drop of blood is enough to infect, basically Everyone is infected. Same for any future visitors. Basically, earth is toast with this alien

[@Kaijutopia]

40 years from now, Paul will still be making The Thing video breakdowns--and we'll be clicking the Like button and enjoying the content every time.

[@daweller]

Paul has been infected!

[@gin9561]

What happened to the guy that replied to you

[@montylc2001]

You forget one thing. Alcohol will kill cells. Mac giving him a drink was a test. If he refused he probably was infected. But Childs took a drink and there was no reaction. There is even some of the liquor on his lips. Mac chuckled because he realized that Childs was still human.

[@rickyandreou]

The "Was Childs or MacReady the Thing" debate was always interesting & for the longest time I agreed that Childs had the strongest case. Whatever the intent might have been, it was always ambiguous but ultimately, I have to accept the internal logic of The Thing universe where it has been established that the Thing spits out inorganic material when it assimilates someone. In the ending scene we can clearly see Childs' earring and gold tooth which can't simply be ignored. This makes it impossible for Childs to be a Thing. They're both human & somewhat suspicious of each other but have ultimately resigned themselves to their fate, a good reason why Childs would say "screw it" and have a drink before freezing to death.

[@julianmarco4185]

Why doesn't the thing Swallow the fillings and wear the earring? If can basically mutate its cells to do whatever it likes. The thing: why is it so hard to make a hole in my ear for this metal piece of crap? I can make my cells imitate hair color, hair length, and hair style. But not a hole in the ear?

[@EpicFurious]

100% this. At that point, why not just have a drink before you die??

[@johnreynolds7996]

@@julianmarco4185 I'd point out that this simply never occurred to the Thing in the 2011 prequel, and it was shocked when this was pointed out to it. Too late to warn the other Things, of course, because it was instantly turned into charcoal. So the Dog Thing would never has known about this, ahem, continuity error, and so it would never occur to that Thing to pick up a discarded ear stud and put it in its ear-lobe. Childs is human. So is MacReady. Both know that they are going to freeze to death, and so they said "screw it" and shared a bottle of Scotch. As MacReady said: if Childs is a Thing then there isn't much he can do about it. So, screw it, hand me back the bottle.

[@julianmarco4185]

@@johnreynolds7996 OH yeah? Then why is the Blair thing wearing Blair's glasses?

[@johnreynolds7996]

@@julianmarco4185 It isn't. When the Blair Thing kills Garry it isn't wearing Blair's glasses.

[@bobthebuilder9553]

I saw on big screen within a week of its debut in 1982. Saw it again on 40th anniversary on big screen, as well. Doesn't get old.

[@aweaver6895]

I just saw Carpenter on Stephen Colbert, who apparently adores the movie. He asked Carpenter many questions, including is there really an answer to who, if anyone, is the Thing at the end. Carpenter says there is an answer if you look for clues. Since the sequel is retcon, I don’t see Child’s tooth as an issue. He took the drink. Mac reacts slightly. I have finally decided Mac kills Childs shortly after the credits. The real Child’s would have never taken the drink and probably killed Mac immediately.

[@jacobjensen3823]

Why is no one talking about the Late Night with Colbert episode more? Carpenter answers!! The clues are there... I'm still split on what Childs taking a swig of scotch means... Could the thing be spread through alcohol? Maybe not, etoh being a solvent/poison... Maybe it proves that Childs was NOT the thing(meaning the thing would never consume solvent/poison...)... I'll just have to watch it over again... lol... 😁

[@halbaloney4593]

The Thing incorporates the memories of the brain it absorbs, so the Thing would know the rules just as well as Childs did. That's the whole reason they wanted blood tests instead of a pop quiz.

[@seanmillette4323]

If Childs or McCready were assimilated, there would be no reason to keep up the charade. One would instantly assimilate the other.

[@johnreynolds7996]

E.X.A.C.T.L.Y. The film establishes some rules regarding Things: a Thing mimics the host down to the cellular level. A Thing can change shape/form at will. And this: A Thing will maintain its charade - to the point of joining in an attack on another Thing - so long as there are onlookers, but if it catches a human on their own then it will attack them and assimilate them. Childs and MacReady are alone at the end of the movie. Childs has the flame-thrower, while MacReady is unarmed. A good movie can make up any ground-rules it likes, but once those rules are set then it should stick to them. By the ground-rules that this movie had set a Childs-Thing would attack MacReady and assimilate him. There would be zero reason for it not to. Yet that doesn't happen. QED Childs is not a Thing.

[@Armbender1085]

@@johnreynolds7996it doesn’t necessarily need to transform to take over either, it could just figure sharing a drink could spread it or also it’s fine with just freezing and waiting for the rescue crew to find them, it’s obviously very intelligent most likely more so then humans

[@johnreynolds7996]

@@Armbender1085 There are a couple of points I'd make: There is zero evidence in the movie that assimilation can be done by sharing food or liquids. The crew *speculate* that this might be possible, but they don't know for a fact. Every assimilation that does take place is done very violently. For all we see a Thing cell immediately dies when exposed to Scotch or injected into food. It makes zero sense for a Thing to just leave a human alone as they both freeze. It makes MUCH more sense to assimilate the human, as that doubles the chances that the Thing will be found and the body thawed out. And, finally, we have little evidence of the Thing's intelligence level or, indeed, if it even "thinks" at all in a way that we would consider to be "thinking". It may be a creature of pure instinct, and just as it mimics the muscles of a human to walk around it may also mimic the thinking/speaking/memories of that assimilated brain to fool onlookers. But it may well do that instinctively, not intelligently. After all, when a Thing is detected it does start bargaining with the humans: it transforms into a beserker killing monster. That, indeed, ay be the limit of its intelligence.

[@johnreynolds7996]

Sorry, meant to say that when a Thing is discovered it DOESN'T start negotiating with the humans. It turns into a rage monster.

[@Armbender1085]

@@johnreynolds7996 I’m not looking to type a really long comment tonight but the thing prefers to stay stealthy as it can, evidence that shows it will contaminate you is the fact of when the dogs were being attacked the thing resorted to spray some sort of liquid at it in an attempt to infect it. Second off if it only chose the violent way, the dog would have turned into its monster form when it was hanging out in the hang out area in the beginning and just either killed/ took over as many people as possibly. It has some sort of level of intelligence for its own good as it stays hidden until exposed or caught in the act. It prefers to do the violent way because it can copy you way faster

[@robertrice9466]

100%, movie’s nowadays days are so bad and story lines are played out and redone a thousand times but this classic will live forever.

[@Maynards_so_blue]

Child's attitude changed at the end scene because of the situation. They both know their doomed so there is no reason to care about sharing a bottle. In this situation he would probably need a drink than a safely precaution.

[@jasonlevine8651]

I would like to point out something that no one else has mentioned - that confirms that Palmer was indeed assimilated first and also a bit toward the end that might hint that Childs might have been assimilated by the movie's conclusion: When Jed The Husky Thing walks down the narrow corridor of the sleeping quarters to choose its 1st victim, it ponders a room or two before it decides to enter the last door at the end of the hall on its left (the viewer’s right). It chooses the bed on the right side if you are looking into the doorway from the hall - you can see that the bed on the left is empty and there is only one person in the room. The silhouette then turns around and the person is assimilated. The producer, Stuart Cohen did mention that the silhouette was intended to be Palmer but used a crew member's silhouette to make it more ambiguous. Here’s how you know that it is 100% that Palmer was assimilated first: (for some reason, no one points this out, ever) When Mac sets off the alarm after hearing the noise in the kennel, most of the characters shuffle sleepily into the hallway out of their bedrooms. Palmer is seen exiting THIS EXACT room - the same room Jed entered. You can tell this because there are a few things in the hallway (fire extinguishers, drums etc.) you can use as reference points. Palmer’s bed is on the right side of the room (you can see this when him and Childs are sharing the joint) The silhouette on the door is shown to be coming from the right side bed (you can see the left side bed is empty) If Palmer was assimilated first, why didn’t it assimilate Childs since they were roommates? Since they shared a joint, and Childs wasn't assimilated during the blood test, the single cell theory either isn't plausible or Childs was slowly being assimilated by the cells shared from the joint and wasn't "thing" enough to respond to the blood test. I don't know if I believe the single cell assimilation theory or not but from a scientific standpoint, Fuchs was 100% correct to suggest that they prepare their own food and only eat out of cans. So why didn't Palmer assimilate Childs by violent takeover since they sleep in the same room? One could ask this same question about Norris if he was assimilated first! There are 12 men at Outpost 31, and they live in cramped quarters. If Palmer and Childs shared a room, then Norris most likely had a roommate as well. The only person that had is own room is Garry and Mac had his own shack. So, why didn’t Norris assimilate his roommate if he was The Thing? If Norris was assimilated first and made a judgement call to not assimilate his roommate, then it's not fair to claim Palmer wasn’t infected first simply because Childs remained human. The Thing MUST have made a judgement call that it was too risky given the close quarters to assimilate anyone - remember, Bennings can’t sleep! ("I was shot today") because of the noise Nauls was making with his music in the kitchen - the walls must be razor thin. Whoever was the thing thought it was too risky to assimilate their roommate. Also, when Norris and Palmer went with Mac to the UFO crash site, (they both can’t be things otherwise they would just both attack Mac) Norris had this look of awe and amazement on his face while talking about how old the ice was - it just seemed like a real genuine human emotion. Palmer most likely got to Norris that evening shortly after returning to the camp. One hint that Childs may have been assimilated at the end: When Mac, Nauls and Garry go out to give Blair the blood test, there is a tracking shot showing a staircase going downstairs and then the shot ends with Childs looking out the window as a lookout/guard. This staircase leads to the generator room. Since Blair was shown to be in the generator room at the end, he could have easily come up the steps and assimilated Childs real quick and then headed back downstairs. I think Carpenter used this tracking shot as a subtle hint. Anyway, great content! -Jason

[@AlekTrev006]

Excellent analysis & thoughts, Jason 👍

[@jasonlevine8651]

Thanks! @@AlekTrev006

[@designingtheenemy5869]

I just watched for the first time. I need to watch more lol. That was really in depth.

[@kennethgustavison1812]

I thought the theory, similar to shape shifters in the "Supernatural" universe, was that the alien could imitate another being through intimate contact and then kill the original. Did I get that wrong? Was it more of a parasite?

[@andrewcurtis4568]

@@kennethgustavison1812 The thing takes over the human on a cellular level, replacing the human cells with alien cells, so there is no human corpse leftover. We see this when Windows is taken over, it is still Windows only now he is transforming into an alien.

[@GothAtheist]

Ok, BUT, at that point it's only the two of em, right, so it could be more than just "can't catch the thing if you are the thing". For example, if he's not the thing, he could think the other is the thing, in which case, what's the harm in some booze before it kills you, like?

[@Akiss]

Childs is the Thing, because you can see the contrasting psychology of Macready and Childs-Thing at the end. On the surface it seems both are resigned to their fate to die in the snow as a stalemate, but the key difference is that freezing in the snow is a win for the Thing, since humans would die whereas it would survive. So there was never any stalemate to begin with. Childs asks how they can get out, Macready says maybe they shouldn’t. Also a key detail in contrasting psychology can be seen when handing over the J&B bottle. Macready clearly can be seen being suspicious of Childs with his weary stare, whereas Childs looks totally relaxed. If Macready was really resigned to dying in the snow he wouldn’t show that weariness of Childs. If Childs were human, he would know that the Thing survives in the snow, and either letting themselves freeze or taking a swig from the infected bottle would mean losing. Plus, the contrasting psychology between Childs/Macready is not in-character for Childs. The whole movie Childs has been suspicious, antagonizing towards Macready, now all of a sudden he’s affable. That abrupt transition clearly shows he’s the Thing.

[@johnreynolds7996]

Childs is totally relaxed because he is toting a Thing-killing flame-thrower, and he is facing a man who is armed with a bottle of Scotch. So, yeah, pretty sure Childs had sized up who held the advantage.

[@Akiss]

@@johnreynolds7996 in case you didn’t notice, flamethrowers aren’t exactly a quick pull-the-trigger weapon. Pilot light needs to be on (hint: it’s not here), then you need to fire it. Palmer Thing scene thoroughly establishes you can’t just fire it off at a moment’s notice. Childs is laying back bad obviously not prepped at him. Plus having a flamethrower doesn’t make him immune to getting infected through the J&B scotch.

[@johnreynolds7996]

@@Akiss The latter half of the movie contains the key point that Childs - alone - is entrusted with the only weapon that they KNOW for a fact can kill a thing. Childs is still toting that very same weapon at the end of the movie. MacReady is not, he is unarmed. So I still stick to my point: if anyone is going to feel relaxed it is going to be Childs, because he is toting a Thing-Killer in his arms. Is it a perfect, sure-fire weapon? No, but it is the only weapon there, and Childs is toting it, not MacReady.

[@johnreynolds7996]

@@Akiss Forgot to say that part of the reason why Childs can feel relaxed around MacReady is that he can be reasonably certain that MacReady is not a Thing. How? It's obvious: SOMEONE blew up the camp in order to kill the Thing, and that someone can only have been MacReady. A MacReady-Thing has no motive to do that, but a MacReady does. QED the person in front of Childs is MacReady, he is not a MacReady-Thing. So swigging for the bottle is perfectly safe.....

[@marcinkapinski9537]

3:25 Problem with this theory is there was a scene when Blair is locked up. Mac drinks from Smirnoff bottle then he offers it to Blair. Blair refuses to drink, but not because he is the Thing - he was given morphine shot before and as doctor he knows it's bad to mix drugs with alcohol. That Smirnoff bottle is missing from the table later on, most likely Blair did drink it after some time passed.

[@willfoster7210]

The gasoline theory is not void at all because macreary almost took a sip. He was going to freeze to death slowly, if you had zero chance like that, would you rather quickly take your own life with some leftover gasoline or freeze to death alone in the dark? Its a completely relevant theory. Why wokld childs abandon his post and leave the door open, and why does the clothing change position on the hangers?

[@damianstarks3338]

This sci fi movie is a pure classic/masterpiece

[@karlwilson7031]

This is all debatable. That is why The Thing is such a good movie.

[@fernandovelasquez1887]

Are y’all doing a breakdown of blade 2 by any chance? Last breakdown was 👍

[@heavyspoilers]

yeah MT is working on it at the moment

[@fernandovelasquez1887]

@@heavyspoilers Awesome🤙🏼

[@bongosock]

I've checked out a few analysis videos of The Thing. I find this one the most persuasive. Thanks for the upload :)

[@gmanhero]

nice theory, but you forgot 1 crucial fact, none of the actors knew who the thing was either, they were told to act as if they were their normal selves in every situation. Only being told the moment it was determined when the thing appeared. sorce: the actors' interviews.

[@DidWeWin1]

I think the ending is fully ambiguous. I also thought Childs was the clear candidate, but a video convinced me McGrady is just as likely. The dog doesn't just lick Bennings' face, It licks his glove too. After he gets shot, McGrady hands Binnings the J&B, and he grabs it with the glove, right on the mouth of the bottle. If you watch the movie assuming McGrady is the thing the whole time, it completely changes the whole movie. There are so many scenes that change context. Its incredible.

[@NotMyRealName69]

I think I know what vid you are referring to, and its full of assumptions that can be disproven. Like bennings touched his wound with the same glove but wasn't infected at that point. And MacReady saying fuck you too to the monster is because he understands it was stupid af lol

[@davepastern]

you forget that MacCready passes the blood test - directly in front of others...when Palmer fails...with the same test. and this is near the end of the movie.

[@NotMyRealName69]

@@davepastern ahh you see the video he is referring to says we dont see MacReady draw his own blood so it's not his... while constantly arguing things happen offscreen lmao

[@davepastern]

@@NotMyRealName69 who's blood is it then? It's certainly not from the others (they'd know if he'd cut them open) . It's not from another animal, since all the dogs were killed. And the blood stores were sabotaged at this point. Now perhaps MacCready stole/damaged the blood banks and used that instead of his blood. That is possible I guess. It doesn't make sense though, at least in the context of the film. MacCready was trapped outside, and you can visibily see the effects of the cold on him. He was prepared to use the dynamite too. He also willingly flame throwers the Norris thing...

[@DidWeWin1]

I thought that part was REALLY stupid too lol. @@NotMyRealName69

[@JMC77]

The Prequel ending for me categorically proves Childs is human. Unless he had a spare earring kicking about lol

[@ItsVanillaDiceBaeBae]

Exactly, the prequel makes it a point to prove Childs is not the Thing.

[@Guyverman01]

Maybe The thing put the earrings back on.

[@PatarTheGreat123]

Everyone misses the gold tooth....

[@trevorchase6585]

I love this theory! Personally, I always took Charles taking a drink of high proof alcohol as confirmation he was human. Alcohol is essentially poison and I always assumed the Thing's physiology would view this as such or at the very least have a defensive reaction to the alcoholic burn of imbibing and have some sort of violent reaction to ingesting it. MacReady laughed in relief to him having no abnormal reaction to the whiskey.

[@Phoenix2312]

WELL BLOW ME DOWN! Thank god for you... Much as I love Sci-Fi, Something that annoys me and its true of real world science as well... There is always this IDEA in our heads that if there is Life, Like us it would be Carbon Based... We never consider that something such as teh Thing may have a very different reaction to Alcohol than we do... Very few Sci-Fi movies ever consider that - Oh lets say the Gas Giant in own Solar System Jupitar MAY HAVE LIFE... Because to our minds it is UNFEASIBLE!!! But who is to say that there is NOT life there? It would not be anything like us, but there may be life in that Gas... And we never find out what The Thing actually is... We have no idea what its genetics are... As it Assimilates... They didn't have the equipment to isolate its genome so they have no idea what it is made of... The best goes they have is It must be Carbon Based as it can assimilate Carbon Based Lifeforms... It doesn't mean they are right!

[@pepleatherlab3872]

Same. This virus drinking J&B would be like somebody drinking acid. At a very minimum, the virus would never be this self destructive. After all, they are 'many'.

[@Matt-vh2ci]

When the thing copies a human being it gains all of its qualities and also copies his organs, therefore they can eat, drink and have an heart attack just like any human.

[@Phoenix2312]

@@Matt-vh2ci My Point exactly... They copy everything AS IS! So if a Victim is Diabetic, So is the Thing... If a Victim has a Heroine Addiction, The Things will get Withdrawal symptoms...

[@MP-tw4fc]

If so, why would McReady want to have the have blood test at all? Everybody just take a shot!

[@jordanglasper1064]

Wow you were the first person in over 40 years who actually cracked the code in who is the thing not only that most importantly how you discovered whom the things identity has taken over. A lot of fans of thrown out a lot of interesting theories but none of them were ever concrete. You’re a genius

[@moviedorkproductions9465]

I didn't see it like that; I knew that Childs was a Thing when he sat down with Macready and he didn't have any breathing vapor in that extreme cold weather like Macready did. Blair had it when he was in the Storage Shed, but not in the Underground Hanger where he made the ship but Nauls and Garry had it! The dog that made it's way into the camp and licked Benning didn't make the vapors, but since Benning was not completely transformed when he was discovered, he had breathing vapors. So once fully formed, all Things have adapted to the extreme weather; not showing any effects of the cold in their physical form. That's how I spotted them.

[@mixelplik]

I have to disagree about the ending: Childs was right behind McReady; if Childs was the Thing, it could have attacked him right then instead of waiting for Mac to turn around. My favorite movie of all time, saw it at 12 - the dog face split scene was and still is one of the coolest special effects of all time.

[@mysteriousdoge1298]

Yes and chuckling wouldn't be a logical reactiion to learning that someone sitting so close to you is the thing. He would probably quictly move back as far from it as he could.

[@JMartNotKMart]

Fun fact: the “extra” that you mentioned who plays the silhouette of the first victim is actually Nick Castle; the OG Michael Myers. *CORRECTION* as someone has already pointed out, I actually learned that it was Dick Warlock (best name ever) who was the stunt person in this scene. He played Michael Myers in Halloween II. My mistake.

[@CyberBeep_kenshi]

Would explain why he keeps coming back ;-)

[@iforgetjustwhyitaste1061]

It’s actually stunt coordinator and Michael Myers actor in Halloween II, Dick Warlock.

[@JMartNotKMart]

@@iforgetjustwhyitaste1061 just came back to correct myself after watching another documentary video about The Thing 😂 whoopsie doodles. Idk why I got them mixed up originally.

[@designingtheenemy5869]

I'm new to The Thing but I've noticed one of the biggest theories is if the bottle at the end is gasoline or if Macgready is spreading the virus through the bottle. I'm sure that the bottle is supposed to make people feel multiple different ways but I honestly wonder if the J B alcohol had something to do with him not getting infected, especially with how much contact he had. He went to the Norwegian base, the crash site, almost everytime they had to go outside he went, he was the first responder when the dog thing exposed itself, ect. I could go on but I'm just pointing out how active he was and how much contact he was having in the movie compared to others and imo was never infected. I think that either the alcohol in the J B or maybe even that particular blend of alcohol, had something in it that the thing didn't take well too. They put so much emphasis to make a point of Macgready always sipping that bottle. He's not a bad alcoholic he just swigs all day. From the moment you see Macgready to the end of the movie he's sipping on the bottle. I really think the J B was shielding Macgready.

[@covidenslavement8918]

It's called product placement I think

[@designingtheenemy5869]

@@covidenslavement8918 I'm sure that the bottle definitely represents much more than just product placement. I've seen real product placement in movies that wasn't near as in your face. The JB is a character in itself.

[@mysteriousdoge1298]

Maybe it's like 98% alcohol strong, only for real men 😅 & too strong for the things

[@alanwallis2467]

Just stumbled across this video. Excellent breakdown of this classic has left me with more questions than answers. Thank you. I am now subscribed and about to start your backlog 👍

[@meowcat8650]

Such a great film. Love the story, acting, plot, dogs, Alien, entire location, helicopter, all of it. Patiently waiting for a 3rd film to bring the first two together. " Why don't we just wait here for a little while... see what happens..."

[@calicops951]

Very good points! thank you so much for this video. I began watching this in the 80's, back when we had a streaming service called Select TV. I don't know if anyone here was also watching at that time. I have watched this masterpiece literally 100+ times over the years, and watched every commentary available to me. This is the first time I have heard analysis on behavior change AND J&B as the litmus test to confirm Childs change. You sold me, thank you!

[@heavyspoilers]

Thank you so much

[@martinboyle9163]

Childs signposts it earlier with, "If it was a copy of me, a perfect copy? How would you know?" Took me forever to figure it out on my own and dude is 100% right. Carpenter was a genius and I'm glad he never revealed the answer so we can secretly appreciate knowing it more by having to earn it through rewatching it over and over. I know of no other horror film like that, but HeavySpoilers has pointed out a few things in The Terminator and T2 that went unnoticed by me so perhaps there are more flicks out there deserving of a greater appreciation. Best to you-

[@calicops951]

Thank you Sir. I am glad we connected! It's nice to know someone out there has the same artistic values.@@martinboyle9163

[@Jordashian93]

Even though I like the prequel, the original will always be the best

[@aliastagami2346]

I'm fully convinced on your Childs theory about sharing food/drink. McCready's laugh definitely says to me that it was a test and that he knew. Prior to this I believed Childs was the Thing, but I had never been convinced that McCready knew.

[@montylc2001]

Naw. The drink itself was the test. Alcohol kills cells. When Childs took the drink there was no reaction, and Mac chuckled because he knew then that Childs was still human.

[@remogatron1010]

Childs or the thing had a flame thrower in its hands. Why not just fry Macready then and there? No need to hide when you have a flame thrower in hand. And Macready had his back to childs and was distracted too.

[@ZenMonkeyGod]

​@@remogatron1010Well he's not gonna torch Mac and *then* try to assimilate him lol

[@remogatron1010]

@@ZenMonkeyGod Why the hell would Childs need to assimilate him when the THING ALREADY HAS A GOOD STRONG BODY with Childs? The thing only reveals itself when caught or it needs a stronger body to fight. Childs is already good enough for it and no more threats once Macready dies. For a while anyway. Did I just DESTROY your reasoning there?

[@ZenMonkeyGod]

@remogatron1010 Probably because The Thing's *entire goal* is to assimilate all of every other species? Unless for some unspecified reason it decides to just be nice and leave certain ones alone. Why would it not double its chances of survival by absorbing an UNARMED MAN who is LITERALLY CORNERED?! Glad I unreasonably upset and irritated you, though! Always a pleasure! Still waiting for you to come back and try to refute any of this, since you're in the mood to debate someone far more prepared than you seem to be.

[@waynegoddard4065]

You young man have done this film (Masterpiece) credit and a service. Every time I was watch it now I'm and genuinely watching (about to) with this propa in mind. Love channels like this. Good stuff lad.

[@DiocletianLarius]

2:54 Nah, it could also be that Charles drink because he know both of them are just going to die anyway, either consumed by the Thing or frozen to death in the storm. McReady could also be laughing at the futility of all, as in they literally kill and destroy the entire base just to end up dying anyway. I personally think the end is ambiguous enough to be lots of things, and I do like the idea of Charles being the Thing too, it's like the movie also points you out to think that way, like when McReady dissappears and everybody think it's him.

[@StoneyBrownTV]

You've gone over The Thing prequel too and Childs passes the earring test still. So I'm still not convinced he's a Thing. I do love how so many theories come.from this film. Just an absolutely perfect movie and will forever be one of my favorites.

[@anthonyortiz1288]

that was why I was thinking at 6:12 mark his earring is clearly visible

[@SleepingGod2002]

He also has a gold tooth. I can't see how he'd be able to put that in and have it look right if he was the thing.

[@andrewmasson4829]

Yup I suspect he just knew he was dead no matter what. He was angrier and pushier when there was a chance to survive. But now it just doesn't matter, either the Thing kills him or the cold does so why bother?

[@donjohn2695]

I think childs and McCready are both human it's just left to the characters at the end being suspicious of who is human and who's the thing John carpenter said both where human he was going to film where they get saved and then tested to end the film proving both are human but he decided leaving a more depressive ending where both are human and have defeated the thing but will die

[@StoneyBrownTV]

@donjohn2695 I do remember that. Plus the comics say the same thing. This really is a great movie for discussion. I like the different outlooks

[@TheLeagueOfSteve]

This is BRILLIANT. I wonder... could The Thing control the rate at which it consumes the host organism?

[@pepleatherlab3872]

I don't think this virus would concern itself that way. After all, every particle is a separate creature attempting to survive and propagate. My estimation is that infection rates depend largely on the volume of exposure. Blair had his arms up into the dog/spider right away. A large exposure and he knew his hours were numbered. Every time I see him probing the creature with that pencil then putting it to his lips I always cringe. 😖

[@keithsummers_]

I’m sick and just watched the prequel and the OG back to back. Theory Time: I think Mac was The Thing. He drank from the bottle after the dog licked the first guys face (infection sets in). As for sharing the bottle, I think Mac was the only one who was told not to share food or water. He was the only one in the room with him when he said that. Also, his clothes were shredded. Not mention he was the one that mentioned the hibernation theory and convinced everyone to blow up the camp so he could hibernate. I think him laughing at the end was him acknowledging that he just passed the virus on to Childs because Mac was the only one told about passing on the virus. Thats my theory time. Also, homeboy had a filling when they were opening his month right before he turned into the thing. I have a picture to prove it. 😂

[@SolaireofAstora-c4n]

Best film ever made in my opinion. I absolutely love it. Great video by the way 👍

[@fathersun5765]

Truly just one of the best films ever made

[@pacman_17]

Thank you for solving the mystery in old thriller horror movies

[@pieroog]

So the thing could talk, hear, behave, run, build a saucer, and tactically kill.... but couldn't smell a gasoline. Fans of this theory should finally stop it.

[@nickmorris5546]

Agree. But it’s testament to a 41 year old film that people still theorize

[@Kazanko28]

Gasoline wasn't in the bottle. Right before Childs walks up MacReady is about to take a drink. If it was gasoline, he wouldn't have done that.

[@merchant_of_kek5697]

If it’s a almost infinitely smarter species then it should’ve had a better way to kill than these sporadic rather pointless spikes

[@danny_decheeto8300]

@@Kazanko28yeah, there are other reasons to be suspicious of Childes

[@Riseofaiden]

I watched it again last night and I did spot something new. Around 1 hour and 3 minutes into the film, Macready is documenting what’s going on on the tape recorder. As he begins to say his last line, the music changes and you see the door behind him slowly swing forward. Shortly after, Macready’s clothes are found out in the snow. As far as my take on the ending, I do believe it’s kerosene in the bottle and he’s laughing after Childs takes a drink because he realizes that they BOTH are the Thing.

[@jimmydesouza4375]

No, the "fan theory" described in this video is actually how the film was written to end. The ending has an extra minute or so of shot content where MacReady is shown to be hiding a flamethrower under his poncho right before Childs shows up and then after he started laughing he pulls it out and that is where the film was originally going to end. They cut this out because Carpenter wanted to leave the ending ambiguous.

[@joeevans7576]

my fave film of all time.never ever gets old or boring.a true master class in filmmaking and effects.legendary in every sense of the word!!

[@deadbodychic75]

Very interesting. The Thing is my all time favorite horror movie. Child's earing always throws me off that he is infected though. I know it's the premise for the 2011 movie, but it would still make sense for the creature.

[@redpillnibbler4423]

The thing is (pardon the pun) - what’s to stop a copied person reinserting an earing?

[@5ch3nk]

I never really put thought into how Mac offers Childs a drink at the end, when they know they're going to freeze and there's nothing they can do about it. I found this interesting because earlier it's suggested that just a molecule of The Thing is enough to take over an organism, and that everyone should prepare their own food/eat of cans from that point forward. Makes me wonder if Macready did end up getting taken over at some point, maybe even after he blows up the last/biggest alien. If that was the case he'd be trying to spread it to Childs before they freeze over and into a hibernative state for the alien. ....he could also just be offering Childs a drink on what is essentially their death bed..but hey, the whole movie is left open for our own interpretation.