The Thing

This article is about the film. For other meanings of thing, see Thing.

John Carpenter's The Thing is a 1982 science fiction film directed by John Carpenter. Ostensibly a remake of the 1951 Howard Hawks film The Thing from Another World, Carpenter's film is actually more faithful to the short story that serves as both films' source material, "Who Goes There?" by John W. Campbell, Jr.. The musical score was by Ennio Morricone, a rare instance of Carpenter not scoring one of his own films. Carpenter considers this to be the first part of his so-called Apocalypse Trilogy, followed by 1987's Prince of Darkness and 1995's In the Mouth of Madness.

Contents

1 Characters
2 Plot
3 Critical reception and themes
4 Sequel or not?
5 DVD releases
6 Other media
7 Trivia
8 External links

Characters

The Thing is unusual in having an all-male cast.

MacReady, helicopter pilot (Kurt Russell)
Blair, doctor and lead scientist (A. Wilford Brimley)
Nauls, cook (T.K. Carter)
Palmer, assistant facilities mechanic (David Clennon)
Childs, facilities mechanic (Keith David)
Copper, doctor (Richard Dysart)
Norris, geophysicist (Charles Hallahan)
Bennings, meteorologist (Peter Maloney)
Clark, dog handler (Richard Masur)
Garry, camp administrator (Donald Moffat)
Fuchs, biologist (Joel Polis)
Windows, radio operator (Thomas Waites)

Plot

[Spoiler warningSpoiler warning]: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The story takes place in Antarctica during the winter of 1982. America research station (Outpost #31) receives a surprise visit from two seemingly insane Norwegian team members from another scientific research station. From their helicopter, they are attempting to shoot a runaway Husky dog with an MP5 submachine gun, throwing grenades at it as well. The U.S. team members watch guardedly from their camp as the helicopter lands. As the Norwegians get out of the helicopter, one of the Norwegians attempts to throw a grenade, but it slips out of his gloved hand and is buried in the snow behind him ; as he frantically digs through the snow for it, it explodes, destroying the helicopter and killing him. The other Norwegian strides into camp shooting at the dog, screaming in Norwegian, wounding Bennings when he gets in the way. He is shot and killed by Garry. The dog remains calm amid all the activity, and seems to have found a friend in Clark, the dog handler at the U.S. camp.

Copper thinks the members of the Norwegian camp may have gone "stir crazy" and he persuades MacReady to fly him to the site in the U.S. camp's helicopter. Upon arrival, they find the camp in shambles, with holes punched through the wooden walls. There they discover a frozen corpse who seems to have slit his own wrists and throat. They also find numerous video tapes, papers (written in Norwegian of course) and a portable recorder, which they bring back to their camp. MacReady discovers a huge slab of blue permafrost ice in the final storeroom; the center of the block of ice has been cut out, indicating the Norwegians found something buried in the ice and excavated it. Finding no other trace of life, Copper and MacReady proceed outside and find a ghastly smouldering pile of what appear to be distorted and hideous human remains, hastily burned with cans of kerosene which are strewn about it.

They return to the camp with the strange remains and Blair is asked to start an autopsy. He finds what appears to be normal human internal organs. The team watches the Norwegians' video tapes, and conclude that they found the remains of something massive buried in the ice. MacReady at once takes the helicopter to the site where he and Norris find a huge crater with an apparent UFO partially revealed. Norris estimates the ice it sits in is at least 100,000 years old. A short distance from the saucer, they find the spot where the Norwegians had carved out and removed the block of ice found at the Norwegian camp.

Bringing back with them a small section of alien metal, MacReady starts to piece together the puzzle: "I dunno, thousands of years ago it crashes, and this thing gets thrown out, or crawls out, and ends up freezing in the ice." Blair keeps his thoughts to himself but he appears deeply troubled by the discovery.

Later that night, Clark puts the Norwegian's dog into the kennel with the U.S. team's dogs. It enters the kennel cautiously, then lies down in the middle of the floor. After Clark leaves, the other dogs sense something is not right with the newcomer and they begin barking ferociously. Suddenly, the Norwegian dog undergoes a shocking transformation; its head folds out into four parts, the skull dropping out onto the hay. It grows arachnid-like legs and sprouts long tentacles, and proceeds to attack the other dogs, continuing to transform itself into a hellish pile of flesh in the process.

macready hears the dogs wailing and pulls the fire alarm. The team races to the kennel. MacReady tells Childs to bring the flamethrower. Throwing open the kennel door, the team are horrified to discover a mutated dog creature. In the first of many shocking visual effects sequences, the dog monster has enveloped the other dogs and is in the process of digesting them. Without wasting time, MacReady and Garry fire several rounds into the thing, but it appears to have little effect other than to make it scream and bellow. The team watch in horror as two enormous outstretched arms reach up to the ceiling, smash it open and part of the creature crawls away into an attic. Childs arrives with the flamethrower and MacReady yells at him to burn the remaining part of the creature, just as its flesh splits apart, revealing another tentacle with a mouth-like structure (composed of dog tongues and teeth) hurtling towards them.

Back in the lab, Blair examines the creature's remains and provides his hypothesis: "You see, what we're dealing with here is an organism that imitates other life forms, and it imitates them perfectly. When this thing attacked our dogs it tried to digest them...absorb them...and in the process shape its own self to look like them." The group now realizes that the creature possesses the ultimate camouflage; it is a perfect reproduction of its host, down to absorbing the host's memories.

The stress of living in the claustrophobic confines of the research station has pushed the men to their edge; now that one or more of them may be a Thing, the paranoia reaches almost unbearable levels. Blair uses computer analysis to determine a probability of 75% that one of more of the men may be reproductions. The analysis also provides the grim hypothesis that if the creature escapes the camp and reaches populated areas, the entire population of the world would be infected (absorbed) within 27,000 hours (just over 3 years). The findings drive Blair mad, and he destroys the camp's vehicles and communications equipment in an apparent attempt to isolate them from the outside world and trap the Thing. He even theatens to kill anyone who will stop him. After he is subdued he is locked into the toolshed to protect him and everyone else so that he cannot cause any more damage.

Dr. Copper devises an idea to detect the Thing through a blood test, only to discover that the blood supplies have been destroyed. This causes more paranoia and distrust among the team. The remains from the Norwegian camp begin to thaw and dispatch several members of the team. MacReady discovers that someone turned the lights on in his cabin and goes to investigate. Some evidence indicated that he may be a Thing and the crew abandons him in the cold. He makes his way back into the building and threatens the team with a bundle of TNT.

The tension causes Norris to have a heart attack and he collapses. Dr. Copper attempts to revive him with defibrillators. On the second attempt, Norris' chest opens and literally becomes a huge mouth with teeth, which clamp down and sever Copper's arms. Copper collapses and dies from blood loss and shock as the creature begins to emerge from Norris's stomach. MacReady sets the creature on fire but doesn't notice that Norris' head has taken on a life of its own and separates itself from the burning body and to the floor. The head uses its tongue as a lasso to move across the room and then sprouts legs and eye stalks, becoming a bizarre crab-like creature. The crew is astonished and horrified when they see the macabre beast escaping and torch it with the flamethrower.

Noting each and every individual part of Norris had an instinctive will to survive, MacReady theorizes that a victim's blood would react against a white-hot needle. Before he can perform the test, Clark attempts to attack MacReady who shoots him in the head, killing him instantly. MacReady ties group to chairs and slowly administers the tests, unting the members who are not replicated. He even tests Dr. Copper and Clark, both of which were revealed not to have been replicated. Palmer's blood violently reacts to the burning needle and the creature, knowing it has been revealed starts to emerge from Palmer and kills Windows. MacReady burns it with the flamethrower and the creature crashes through a wall to escape. It is destroyed as he throws a stick of TNT at it, blowing it apart.

Now only four men remain - MacReady, Garry, Nauls, and Childs. The former three troop to Blair's cabin to administer the blood test, leaving Childs behind to guard the main encampment. They discover that Blair has been absorbed by the Thing, and that the creature has almost completed the construction of a new spacecraft with stolen pieces from the scavenged machinery. They destroy the craft and return to the encampment, and Nauls spies Childs staggering out into the snow, where he disappears from sight. The creature destroys the camp's generator, and the three realize that the Thing is planning to return to its frozen state, waiting until a rescue team comes for the camp, when it can emerge and make its way to the mainland. They resolve to burn the camp down in order to destroy the Thing, an act that means their own certain demise.

The three survivors destroy the upper floors with dynamite and molotov cocktails, and head down to the generator room. The three split up to plant their charges, and the Thing-as-Blair reappears to kill Garry. Nauls goes to investigate and disappears; though we never see his end, we assume that the indistinct banging spells his doom. (The storyboard reveals that he was indeed killed).

The Thing finally reveals itself to attack MacReady, bursting through the floor, grabbing the detonator for the remaining charges and crushing it. Dubbed the "Blairmonster" by the filmmakers, the huge creature is a hideous sight, composed of Blair's upper body atop a giant snake-like tenticle, with insect-like arms protruding from its left side and a large tooth filled dinosaur-like mouth protruding from the side of Blair's head. A dog-like creature bursts through the chest and snarls menacingly at MacReady. MacReady narrowly avoids being devoured and hurls a stick of dynamite at the creature to set off a reaction that destroys the encampment. MacReady settles down amongst the ruins of the camp to await his inevitable death by freezing with a bottle of J&B whisky. Childs reappears, claiming to have gotten lost in the storm after seeing Blair, and he and MacReady make an uneasy peace as the camp burns down around them.

The movie has an almost dreamlike quality - thanks to the Antarctic weather, there's no indication of night or day, and only a few references to time passing. In addition, some long scenes were cut, resulting in violations of logic, such as Nauls' disappearance and the suspiciously rapid suicide-by-flare of another team member.

Many characters' names are taken directly from the original Campbell story, as is a scene in which Russell's character devises a test to see who may be infected, by exposing a sample of each man's blood to extreme heat. The creature itself is never named but is always referred to as The Thing.

Critical reception and themes

Upon its release, the film was lambasted by critics for its special make-up effects, created by Rob Bottin, which were seen as excessively bloody and repulsive. The film fared poorly at the box office, mainly due to the release of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial two weeks earlier, with its more optimistic view of alien visitation. Yet its reputation improved in the late nineties through home video releases. It is now regarded by the majority of Carpenter's admirers as one of his finest films. A collector's edition DVD was released in 1999.

This film is the first installment in Carpenter's 'Apocalypse Trilogy', followed by 1987's Prince of Darkness and 1995's In the Mouth of Madness. The plots and characters of the films are not connected. The film is also notable in Carpenter's career for two reasons—it was his first foray into studio film-making and it was Carpenter's first film to be made without Debra Hill in a co-producing effort. The Thing was the fifth film shot with Dean Cundey as his Director of Photography (following Halloween, The Fog, Escape From New York and Halloween II. Cundey and Carpenter re-teamed one more time in 1986 with Big Trouble in Little China)—all of these films share a unique camera style and palette and it is, coincidently, these films that are acknowledged by fans to be amongst Carpenters career highlights.

Just as the 1951 film had taken advantage of the national mood to enhance its terror effect, this film did likewise. The early 1980s were a period of low public morale in American history; the nation was experiencing poor economic conditions and high unemployment. For many, the United States was appearing more and more isolated and vulnerable to outside attack, much like the crew of the Antarctic outpost in the film. Though strictly unintentional, certain elements of the film (transmission of the alien organism through bodily fluids, the use of a blood test to detect the presence of disease, the inability to determine infection simply by sight) paralleled the first reports of a new disease, AIDS (both Carpenter and Kurt Russell acknowledge this connection on the DVD edition's commentary track.)

In 2004 another The Thing collector's edition DVD was released. The only differences between the two are an improved anamorphic transfer and removal of the isolated score from the 1999 release.

Sequel or not?

Due to the unclear fates of the characters portrayed by Kurt Russell and Keith David, many fans of the film have hoped for a sequel. An alternative ending was originally shot showing MacReady rescued and a blood test proving he was human but it was done as a precaution and never used even for test screening and not part of John Carpenter's original vision for the film. Some still speculate about the content of a possible sequel and have even made their own fan scripts and fan fiction of their vision of how things might have turned out.

Other fans reject the idea of a sequel, believing it would ruin the first film, which to them should stand alone, as they see it to be a masterpiece. If one were made now, they continue, it would only be lacking and not do the first film any justice. Others feel the video game version is an adequate surrogate for a sequel.

There have been many rumors concerning sequels spreading throughout the blogosphere. All of them are false, according to Carpenter. One very lengthy script was discovered and thought to be an actual sequel script, due to the vast content and detail, but it turned out to be yet another fan script. A false article stated that Carpenter had written a script, a rumor he shot down.

The Sci-Fi Channel had announced it would be doing a four-hour mini-series sequel to the film in 2003. In Carpenter's reply regarding the false script rumor, he wrote he had heard about the mini-series as well and believed the project should proceed, but because of the lack of updates and the removal of all mention of it from the Sci-Fi Channel homepage, it is likely now abandoned, if it ever existed at all. Sci-Fi did however air the original made-for-TV movie Alien Hunter, which bears a remarkable resemblance to Carpenter's film, both plot-wise and stylistically.

DVD releases

The Thing has been released on DVD twice, both times by Universal. The first edition was a Universal Collector's Edition released in September of 1998. It contains the superb documentary Terror Takes Shape on the making of The Thing, along with deleted scenes (shown in the television version), a theatrical trailer and production notes. The only thing lacking was that the transfer was not anamorphic widescreen, losing some of Carpenter's true bleak vision. This was remedied with a new DVD release in October of 2004, which features a new anamorphic transfer while maintaining the identical supplements of the 1998 release.

Other media

A novelization by Alan Dean Foster was released in 1982.

In 2002, a video game was released, taking the form of a sequel to the film. The game — also titled The Thing — makes use of the elements of paranoia and mistrust intrinsic to the film, and was released on multiple platforms: PC, PlayStation 2, and Xbox. The game is horror-based with action elements. The game's trust-based mechanics, which allowed you to test your fellow team members for Thing-infection, were undermined by the game's insistence on automatically converting previously uninfected team members into Thing infectees at certain waypoints. This lent a feeling of pointlessness to the game's testing mechanic, as you could test somebody, find out that they're clean, and then see them erupt into a Thing as soon as you walked through an invisible waypoint.

The game features a cameo appearance by John Carpenter as the character Dr. Faraday (Carpenter provided the character's likeness and voice), and the voice of William B. Davis as Colonel Whiteley, the game's main antagonist.

Trivia

Kim Henkel wrote an unused script prior to Bill Lancaster signing on for screenwriting duties.
Alan Dean Foster's novelization is based on the second draft of the screenplay and includes the sequence from that draft in which MacReady, Bennings, and Childs are forced to chase after some infected dogs who escaped onto the Antarctic tundra.
The dog being chased by the Norwegians at the beginning was named Jed.
The Norwegian rifleman who was shooting at the dog was played by associate producer Larry Franco, who delivered his lines in a mixture of Scandinavian gibberish and genuine Norwegian.
John Carpenter and Kurt Russell have confessed that they never decided what would happen after the film's ending, and indeed still do not know which of the surviving characters (if either of them) is infected.
A television version of the film features numerous differences when compared to the theatrical/DVD version (aside from editing the film for language and violence/gore). The beginning of the film (which has been recut) features narration that introduces each character and explains their purposes for being at US Outpost # 31. Also, there are several deleted scenes that are included (and which can be seen as extras on the DVD) so as to fill out the film's running time (due to the gory creature scenes being heavily truncated). During the scene where Blair uses the computer to study the Thing's life-cycle and learns that the world population will be infected in 27,000 hours from first contact, there's voiceover from Blair as he reads aloud all the lines of text on the computer screen as they appear (whereas in the theatrical/DVD version, the audience must read the text themselves, as Blair says nothing in the scene). Finally, after the last scene at the burning outpost, there's a scene that takes place during the daytime, in which we see a dog running away from the smoking remains of the outpost, with narration that warns the audience to wonder what terrors outer space could send to us in the future (the footage, minus narration, can be seen as an extra on the DVD).

External links

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