In the Thing video game (scripted by Carpenter), you see Childs' dead frozen body sat up against a wall. Whereas McReady is nowhere to be seen, until he shows up right at the end to save the main character and escape in her helicopter. No doubt assimilated by the thing, waiting for an opportunity to leave Antarctica. Clearly he didn't attack Childs' because Childs' was holding the flame thrower and the thing didn't want to risk getting destroyed as fire is its weakness. So it waited for Childs to freeze to death and probably went dormant as well, until a rescue party or researchers turned up.
The Tillman Review If the bottle was a Molotov cocktail, why can we see Mac lift the bottle up to his mouth as if he was about to drink from it? Childs comes up behind him seconds later which means he genuinely was about to drink from it, as he could not have seen Childs at that point. Even if that wasn’t the case, you’re forgetting a very very basic function of The Thing - it perfectly imitates every organism it assimilates. The real Childs would’ve known if he had take a sip of gasoline, and therefore so would have Childs-thing. My personal belief is that there are no Things at the end. There are multiple hints that could possibly point to Childs, and many say that the fact he drank from the bottle despite the risk of infection is a telltale sign of a Thing.. but he’s just given up. This is what they’re discussing in the scene. They’ve given up and know that there’s no escape for them - why care about a contaminated drink? And the theory about the missing dark navy coat can be written off as a continuity error as you see the same coat to the right of the screen. However, if this is not a continuity error, then it is my full belief that Childs is a Thing.
I love how there's three possibilities here: a) Childs is the Thing. That's the most strongly implied due to no steam, his wording, and the drinking a bottle of what could be fuel in a clever test by Macready. He finally won his game of chess. b) Neither are The Thing, but are now so paranoid they can't work together and will both die as a result. c) Mac is the Thing and infects child's with the bottle of beer, which is why the music starts and he laughs. The Thing has won. The fact all three of these could be true makes this movie a masterpiece. The best part of the movie is this ending. It's brilliant.
Also Macready was a cancer to the thing , if he took over macready it would have a piece of his consciousness and to the thing it would be like a cancer cell, so they could both be human and Mac was The Things Thing. I don’t think Mac was infected because if it where gasoline in the bottle that’s check mate. But he was motioning to sip out of it before he saw Childs. Plus if child’s was the thing he could have especially killed Mac with the flames thrower or by it’s attacking nature and freeze until someone came across the camp and waited to thaw out. There’s so many hidden themes like the different jackets and other stuff.
Such a powerful ending. They both know they are going to die. They both know the other could be the thing. They both know they are weak. Yet they face death head on. No fear.
@@ItsFireTiger Originally in the script ( don't know if it made it in the movie) both had flamethrowers with MacReady's being hidden. Both are ready to smoke each other.
I have a different take , It seems like if one of them is the Thing then it knows that it has already won in the sense that all it has to do is just wait there and go back into hinernation until the next rescue party shows up ,It knows that the Human will freeze to death waiting.. So there is really no need to show itself... There is no other place to escape to they are hundreds of miles from anywhere ,So all there is left to do is relax and share a drink with the other last survivor knowing that there is no need to kill him because the arctic weather will soon take care of that anyway..... In a way maybe it is a moment of mercy....
I do prefer the theory that they are both human, and that they still can't trust each other and will die with no comfort because none of them can be sure they won. But the paranoia this ending instills it's absolutely chilling. This movie is perfect, it's not only a masterpiece of horror but of cinema in general. I watched it so many times and it's still beautifully haunting - and heartbreaking.
I heard an interesting theory that MacReady was a Thing that was playing a long-game infiltration strategy that included preparing for and compromising the blood test that it itself proposed as a means of securing the trust of the humans. That by the end of the film, MacReady-thing had abandoned immediate plans to escape antarctica to was instead playing it safe by trying to reset the board back to a "Frozen Thing patiently bides its time" state by guaranteeing that all humans die and that a Thing survives to freeze. That MacReady-Thing's true goal with the explosives was to destroy the rest of the facility in the fighting so that no humans could survive as wildcards to potentially thwart the Thing. That the reason that MacReady-Thing relaxed when Childs accepted the drink was because the drink was infected, and it wouldn't matter whether or not Childs torched MacReady-Thing or not. Either way, the Thing survives to keep playing the long game.
Child’s is the thing notice he has no spark of light in his eyes, also lack of breath compared to macready also child’s as the thing drink petrol I believe from that bottle which was a Molotov if he was human he’d of noticed it wasnt alcohol and spat it out but he didn’t and macready gives of a smile so he knows child’s isn’t hum
My personal interpretation: neither is the alien, but they were too paranoid and worn out to be sure, so they both just froze to death. They kept Earth safe, but it was a bittersweet victory.
It's strange, part me likes the idea of Childs being the thing, but another part of me likes the idea of neither of them being the thing, and their paranoia being the reason they end up staying there. It adds to the whole, "who can you trust" type of deal. Really a great movie
Remember that Mccready killed an innocent man earlier in the film purely because there was a possibility that he was The Thing. It could very well be that Childs is not The Thing but waiting to see if Mccready attempts to kill him out of paranoia.
I honestly love the theory that Childs is the Thing. The fact he says "you're the only one who survived" instead of "we", the music playing when he drinks from the bottle, and then Macready laughing after he drinks it. The tension is so thick you could cut it with a knife.
The way that he looks at Childs when he gives him the drink, the way the music starts playing right at this moment plus all the evidence and subtle clues throughout that accumulate at the end signifies to me that it’s great movie.
Actually if you pay attention you can see that Kurt Russell's breathing but you cannot see the other guys breathing at all that's kinda weird don't you think?
@@luishernandez-id4dk There are several scenes of The Thing breathing, including the first scene in which we see a assimilated human. So yeah, your theory is objectively wrong and easily debunked.
@@retrox2326 But they had a big talk before about not touching food or drinks touched by someone else. Macready passed him the bottle as a test. Childs did not hesitate to accept it and drink, test failed.
@@matalvis It didn't matter anymore to Macready because he knew he was going to die. That's why he said why don't we sit here and wait. That was a drink and not a molotov because Macready was about to drink it before Childs showed up. Since Macready didn't care anymore it wasn't a test, it was just enjoying something before they knew they were going to freeze to death.
@@BOOTHe was smoking pot towards the beginning of the movie way before The Thing started infecting people. Pretty sure Muslims don’t partake on that either given they refuse any intoxication.
It was because it came out only few weeks after ET which was seen as better since it's a family film and the thing also was underrated because on the exact day it came out, 25 July 1982, another famous sci fi movie came out, Blade Runner, I personally think the three movies are amazing but for me the thing is the best out of the three
@@donpadre2659 I absolutely agree,its just that at the time people easily made the two look better since one was a family friendly movie and the other was staring Harrison Ford only a year after Indiana Jones, if you only heard that you had to go for two out of three movies and the only description from the critics you get was, one is made by one of the greatest directors, this one had one of the greatest actors at his prime, and the third one which relays too much on the bad special effects. I am not saying the thing has bad effects, I think they are the best, it's just how the critics wrote the movie off and praised the other two
Just rewatched this in theaters on its 40th anniversary and just as awesome as when I first watched it. The small chuckle Macready gives himself and how he rests his head (either in defeat or victory) after he sees Childs take a swig of who knows what is masterful writing + acting leaving us the audience to decide and debate 40 years later what the final outcome is.
@@SergyMilitaryRankings Not at all, if you look close Mac thought he was the only one left and he was lifting the battle to his mouth and about to drink it before Childs showed up, Pretty sure Mac wasn't suicidal which means it was definitely liquor
Child's is the Thing. Everyone agreed to prepare their own meals and drinks. By McCready sharing his drink as a test and Child's took and drank it with no questions asked. That's why McCready laughed.
Evidence that Childs is the Thing: -The large blue coat to the right of his post is missing in a mastershot, implying that human-Childs was attacked and had his original coat damaged, prompting Childs-thing to don a new coat. -Childs claims to have seen Blair in the snow, though the generator shuts off shortly after, implying that the Blair-thing was already in the generator room. -Childs isn't wearing any kind of head gear to protect his significantly hairless head from the cold. He hasn't pulled his hood over his head either. -He asks MacReady, "You the only one who made it?" instead of asking anything like "Where's Nauls and Garry?" or "You seen Blair?" The latter would've been portent as he claims to have been searching for Blair in the snow. -He takes the drink without question or worry of infection. If the bottle was in fact filled with kerosene, then Childs-thing outed himself to MacReady. Evidence that Childs is not the Thing: -The only one who could've assimilated him is the Blair-thing, which is down in the generator room. It's possible, but dubious. How did the Blair-thing know that Childs was alone and by the door? Why take a detour to the door Childs is guarding? -Childs does not attack MacReady, despite knowing he's the last (other) person left. Childs-thing might just be waiting for MacReady to freeze, but why take the chance? Just kill him while he's vulnerable. -MacReady doesn't immediately attack Childs after he takes a drink. If the drink was some kind of test, then MacReady would've torched Childs the second he thought he was a Thing. He didn't hesitate to torch any other thing in the movie. -Childs returns to the camp after it's been destroyed. If Childs was a Thing, why wouldn't it just immediately try to freeze to death? It had no idea what Blair-thing's plan was, and once the camp is destroyed, it would have no reason to stick around as any potential threats would be dead or doomed to freeze. -Childs still has his earring, and the Thing cannot imitate non-biological material. Even ignoring the 2011 prequel, this film establishes that it can't mimic clothing. Even if it took the earring from Childs's corpse, how would it give itself a piercing? How would it even know what a piercing is? Personally, I don't think Childs is a thing. The point of the scene is that even though the Thing has been defeated, both men are doomed and still can't trust each other. The true horror of the Thing is how it completely destroys trust.
@@thetwitterdick That's not how Death of the Author works. Death of the Author is only for an author's interpretation of their writing. If an author claims that their literature is an allegory of something, and readers interpret said literature as something else, then it is Death of the Author. If the author claims something tangible about the story like in this case, that one of them is The Thing, then that is final. All else is fanfiction.
there's comics that continue afterwords neither of them are the thing here child's even brings mac to another populated base where he gets medical attention then goes back to burn the remaining bodies mac follows after when he wakes up later in the story childs sacrifices himself getting himself infected and then mac kills the child's thing
One day I came across an interesting theory in the comments, which says that Childs and MacReady are humans and none of them are infected. The fact is that each cell of the Thing is a separate autonomous organism that has two goals: assimilation and survival. Also, the Thing has increased self-preservation. And as the blood test showed, it reacts very instinctively to any threat that can kill it at the cellular level, be it fire or acid, and alcohol belongs to the group of poisons. Ethanol has toxic and deadly effects on the organism that can kill cells. At this moment, after Childs drank the bottle, he did not turn into a monster, and the smile on MacReady's face could mean that Childs had passed the "test" and he was not infected.
@@seanpazdera6407 the game doesn't make sense anyway and shouldn't be considered canon. The same goes with the thing short story 'the things' by peter watts which focused on the creature's POV.
I personally subscribe to this theory and I think MacReady's chuckle is that he's remember the chess game in the beginning - he used alcohol to stop the computer from winning the game...but now there's no more games to play. And yeah, Childs "passed" the test but they're both gonna freeze anyway. It's morbid, it's darkly funny, but I think that's Mac's laugh explained
It's amazing that these men were willing to sacrifice themselves to make sure that creature didn't make it out of the facility while at the same time, making sure of one another that they weren't the creature. I can see this being one of the best horror movie endings.
Just two tired men having faced horrors too tired to keep fighting on but with enough will and resolve to stay and make sure the thing stays dead even if it means freezing to death.
The way I interpret this scene is that Childs is the thing, both Macready knows this and the Thing knows that Macready knows. Their dialogue is a subtle conversation without giving it away to the viewer. Childs asking if he killed the other Thing and the status on everyone else as Macready doesn't really need to lie to it at this point. When Macready asks ''Where were you Childs'' what he was really asking was ''What was Childs doing when you killed him?''. The Thing answered from the perspective of Childs basically saying ''He thought he saw Blair and got lost in the storm, the rest is history''. The thing tells him that he's going to die once the fire goes out, and wants to know how they can both move on from this stalemate, asking how they can sort of work together in a sort of truce so both can survive. The Thing prioritizes its survival, and probably assumes that any living being would as well, so he's basically asking Macready to survive with it but Macready's ''Maybe we shouldn't'' line states his willingness to die to win. When Childs says ''If you're worried about me'' he wasn't saying this as ''If you're worried about me being the thing..'' he was saying ''If you're worried about me killing you at this point, don't''. I think the Thing was fully willing to cooperate to find a solution for both of them to live for its own survival. But Macready states that he's not worried about that at all since they're both in no condition to attack the other at this point. So the Thing asks ''So what do we do?'' but you should read it as ''So, what are we going to do about this stalemate?''. Macready then shares a toast to the Thing for a game well played, he wasn't trying to give him some gasoline taste-test or hiding some kind of molotov, he was acknowledging a ''good game'' and we're left to wonder what happens next after that.
I think you're catching the dying when the fire goes out part all wrong,the thing wants to be frozen,so that it can survive,if Childs is ''The Thing'' it will freeze untl the rescue team comes in spring. So rather,the Thing won if it is in fact Childs.
@@KukiJaNai but what if the thing isn't recovered by some chance, then ultimately it loses. Yes it can survive being frozen but it does nothing if nobody can find it to revive it.
@@pancytryna9378 There were many characters that split up man. Did you see at the end there was 4 of them, and the other black guy Childs was split and only 3 went together?
Macready knew Childs was The Thing when he took that drink. And Ennio Morricone obviously knew too, with the ominous music starting at exactly that moment. Lovely.
Reading that made me think of this. When Childs receives the whiskey offer from Mac he does something interesting. He raises the bottle in a small "toast" to Macready like a non-verbal "good game."
Nothing for Granted this. I think the childs thing “ if he is the thing” accept the d that Mac in the end won. A bit of honor amongst genocidal creatures
The opening scene with McReady playing chess with a computer was a great foreshadowing, he refuses to just lose and does everything under his control to make sure that his oponnent cant remain victorious, even after it has already won.
The way Childs grins as he takes a sip from the bottle with the background music is one of the most chilling moments in cinema. This movie truly is a work of art. I can't believe it got bad reviews when it was initially released.
@@SmokeDog1871 Nope, what happened is this came out at the same time as Spielberg's E.T... People wanted to see movies about friendly, cuddly aliens, and this movie was so devastatingly nihilistic, there was just no taste for it
I remember that it did (critics have some weird agendas) and I waited till it came out in VHS. Bad decision because I had a chance to watch it , first run in a theatre.
The Thing was too bleak. Critics felt that Alien already covered extraterrestrial horror and that The Thing was unnecessary and too gory. Years later, it's considered one of the greatest horror films ever.
Am I the only one that didn’t think this movie was great? I loved the gore aspect of it but it felt like it solely relied on that to provide the horror factor. It severely lacked suspense so the attacks or scary scenes had little weight to them. After just watching Alien, a movie that is perfectly paced to build suspense and anxiety, this one just kind of let me down, especially for how highly it is spoken of. The blood test scene was great I concede. It didn’t feel like there was much character building so I didn’t find myself attached to anyone other than Mac and maybe Child’s in the looses regard. This made any death just seem less impactful and I felt like I was watching a movie with one main character and a bunch of extras. I have to say I did appreciate the ending though, I’m a big fan of this final scene
One of the best movie endings ever. The more I think on the points about Childs being the thing (no steam from breath and drinks the bottle with no reaction then Macs laugh after the drink), it seems obvious that he is. But the suspense and eeriness of never truly finding out is far far more effective than them showing some stupid jump scare and actually finding out he was though. That score at the end too.
Blu Ray release you do see Child's breath. Also Benning's thing death scene you can clearly Benning's breath. The thing is a perfect imitation liver, heart and...lungs.
I just now noticed that instead of Childs getting defensive like he always does when asked of his whereabouts he complies by trying to give an alibi which indicates it isn't childs. 😊
This parallels the start where mac plays chess with the computer. Now he's at a stalemate with the thing and gives it a drink, just like with the computer when he pours the same drink into it.
Wasn’t Kurt Russell filling those bottles with gasoline for Molotov cocktails? Wouldn’t that mean Child’s was definitely The Thing? How would the alien know if he’s drinking gasoline or beer? 🤔 🧐 🤨
That is preposterous, not one of us can be the Thing. s̴̨̨̨͔͖̖͖͕͉̺̰͉̪̭͕̩͖͇̱̱̖̹̦͎̃̓̀̅͐̑̏͘͜ͅͅr̴̠̞̺̲̺̊̈́̉̅̆̾͘͜r̴̢̢̨̧̢̲̦͔̯̠̰̺͈̳͇͉͍̺̭̖̘̣̭̜͍͚̃̈̔̇̊̐͋̔̓̈́̈́̏̐̕͘ͅj̸̡̛̘̠̙̬̩͋̏̂̄̽͆̒̇́̆̃͆͒̔̄̐̓͗͊͘͘̕̚̕͝͝͝o̵̳͎̬̻̙̭͔̱̲̫̥̞͐̑͂̍͐̎͋̅́̑͝ ̸̡̨̨̛̯̟͙̠͍͎͕̺͍̭̲̞̼̙̲̖̳͑̀̈͂̐̾̃͒͑̔͐̾͒͑͛͛͑̇͊̄̍̚͜͝͠͝ͅm̷̧̢̹̺̙̰̘̗͇̪̥̩̮͙̞̤͈̘͓̩͇̫̄̂̍̇́͂̀̏̓̑͒̀̒̒̓́͒̈̈͠͝͝õ̸̟͍͙̹̱͍͊͠r̵̞̭̦̝͉͙̜̦͈̦̺͈̮̉̅̈̒́͒̄͑̐͋͒̏͝͝ͅǫ̷͕͔͒̆̐̅̑̎̄͠k̸̢̢̡̺̗͕̫͎̪̟̞͎̘̜̠̙̪̪̥̳̐̐̈̾̀̽̽͗̏̓͘͠ ̶̡̨̧̢̧̛̛̞̟͙͉͈̮̻͎̤̯̬̰̭̭͔̤̅̇̃̅̌̓́̃̓̾̀̒̾̂̕͝͠ͅͅͅẘ̶̹͖̱͚̞̮͚̖͈̞̠̙̿̀̓̒̀̉͋̆̋̂̉̋̏̕̚͠͠ͅq̷̢̫͈͍͈̟͕̩̯͖̳̠̣̗͇̺͉̗̍̿̐̄͆͜e̴͕̱̤͕̝̙̲̤̗̬̲̝͈͍̱̟̺̭̗͍̭̯̭͗̏͊̈̆́͑̋ͅr̷̬͓̯̹̗̭̘͓̹̖̦̐̽̐̒̾͂̑̎̓͌̇͋̔͂͗̍̚͜͠į̸̳̟͖̻͙͉̗͓̯̞͖̙͔̫̯͎̋͛̉̓͂͂́́́͑̓́̽̅͋̑̐̊͑̀̈́̈͒̚̕͝͝͠j̴̡̛̫͚̱̠̹̹̘̩̞̪̭̗̺̬̦͓̟̦̞̊͒̇̾̂́̓̏̀̂́͛̍́̎̎͘ͅͅ ̴̡̬̰̗̳̺͔͙̠̭͓̪̰̬̦̣̝̬͔͉̯̹̳̖̒̈́̈́͌͐̌͂̾͋̊̉̐͌̐̆r̵̨̛̘̰͖̳̱̪̮̘̥̳͉̥̻̤̦̎̈́̉̏͋̔̔́͌͛̊̈́̉͊̀͒̔͆̃́͌̓̏̕̕͘̕͝ͅq̶̛̥̥̣͇̗̳̞̼͕̳̖̐͆̆̓̉̏́̓͗̔̎͂̑̓̄̀͛̉̏͌͐̒̌̚͝͝͝͝͠ȩ̶̢̧̡̖͎̰͕̬̩̗̪̦̱͋͒ͅî̷̡̨̮̜̙͖͙͇̭̼̪̼͉̲͖̟̞̑̋̉̄̔͑͘j̴̢̪̱͚̦͈̙̞͎͇̩̹͙̩͚̜̗̝̣̦̅̾͊͌̑͒̾̏͌̅̋͒̀̓͒̑͊̅͗͘͘͜͝͝ͅ ̸̱̝̙͎̹͚̪̜͈͖̐̿̇͋̄̾̅̈̿̊͒̍̐̐̍͝ͅy̵̧̡̛͎̠̦̗̭͎̳̩̺̫̯̜̭̩̭̬̦̝̣̱̯̔̄e̸̡̨̢̯̝̤̝̭̘͓̝̱̱͔̣̣͓̪̬͖̫̺̞̻̰̹̳͗̒͆̂̓̌̃̐̀̈́̿̕͜y̴̡̹͓͙̙͖͉̮̗̟͖̝̠̳̣̙͉̏͑̓̊̆͂̔͂̅̊̌͂͐͋͐̓̈́̍̈̂̽͂̈̈̕̕u̸̧̨̡̱̻̙̳̳̲̣̣̗̜̟̝̬̟͕̝͎̜̥͓͎̲̗͉͙̘͐́͑͊̂̽͝ͅ s̸̢̨̟̊͌́̓͂̊͘r̴̨̡̛͎͍̝̟̻͎̅̾͂̎̉̊͆̃̚r̶͓͎̪͆̊̄̿̌̃͐̅j̴̡̜̳̲͎̭̱͎̯̬̪̫͚̬͖̏̍̉̊͠ǫ̶̗̺͖͓̣̰͔̝̈͛̓͋̆́̆͘͘ ̷͖͔̓͐́ḿ̶̢̛̖͓̚o̶͉̎̌̐̐̂̀͘r̴̨͕̞̥̖̗̤̜̭̬̮̐̽̈́̎ͅͅo̷̝̦̪̼̊̓̾͌̈́́̀̈̿͒̒͘ḱ̵͚͐́̈́̂̂̽͋̌͘͘ ̴̛͈͚̝̹̪̫̽̄̈́̔́̚w̸̨̧͚͚͉̤̪͖̰̼̦̪̯̞̣͝q̶̣͛͂̇̈́̉͋̄̈́͑͝ẽ̶̡̧̮̜͉̠̜̝̥̘̈͂̿̂͑̋́̕r̸̢̻̜̘̠̹͇̜̭̘̍̋̊̑̀̈́͋̾̕̕͜ī̶̹͕͙͖̞̱͙̹̂͆̀̽̈́̈̽̕̚͘͝͠j̷̙̥̣̝̫̉̽̇̕ ̷̡̧̪̩̩͔̦͚͋́̆͗̓͊̃̆r̴͖͚̙̬͓̖͔̫͓͉͈̮̫͓̽̓͛͊͗q̷̛̺͒̀̆̐͐̏͋̍̇͋̇̌̾ė̷̛̙̱̭͔̗̻̪͚͙͚̐͛̓̎̋͒͂͗͆i̸̧̢̭̣͕̬̺̭͔͕̱̹͒̑̽̈́̔̈j̷̛̩̏͂̽͛̌̀̾͊̚ ̸̧͔͙̦̫̼̰͍̹͉͖̀̐̊͠ͅy̴̨̙̞̝̥̦͛̀̎̾̍̕ĕ̶̳̥̟̗̗̣̹̘͑ỹ̶̮̲̲͇̗̤̐͐̈́͒͂̋̋̈́͘̚͜͝͝͝ư̵̢̖̖͕̭̲̭̼͎̪̪̙͗̋̓̔̅̀̍͗̈͛̓͝ s̵̝̪͙̬͉̿̎̂́̒ͅȑ̶̖͊̔͂r̶̙͍͓͙̺̎̐̄̐̒͐̓̽͠j̵̡̡̡̧̯̠͎̺̘̗̔̂̍̀̇̈́͋̔͑̈́ỏ̴̡̗̣̔ ̷͇̰̇̒̓̃͝ͅm̸̪̾̆͂̓͝o̷̡̨̪͍̟͖̱͚͖͛̍̍̇́͗̒̈́́͠r̷͇͔̟̽́̀͒̈͂̏o̴̢͔̦͖̗̬̯̗̓̓̈́͜k̶̨̗̠͚͖̻̪̔ ̵̧̼͑̐͋̆̒̕͘͝͝ẃ̴̱̫͂͌̆q̶̹̲͇͖̬̱̝̜̪̔̃͘͜ȩ̵̟̟̞͉̘̙͍͑̆̓̓̃̏͒͑̕͝ṙ̸̡̭͛̆͒̈́͐̍̍̚͘í̷̤̩̿j̴̲͍̮̥̋́̄͆̇̐͘ ̵̛͉̖̟̗̰͍͈̇͂́͂̕͜r̸̡̹̤͍̊̄̇͝q̵͖̠̏͑̿̍ë̸̤́i̶̡̙̺̺͚͎̩̓̊̽j̶̧͕̦̦̺̆̉̉̌̑̾͠͠ ̴̛̳͖̰̐̐͆̾̎̒̿̿̋͜y̶̝̠̻̬͕̝̘̠͛͌͊͐̐͆͝ế̸͍̪̠̝̟͖͉̂̿͘͝y̶̪̿̒͝ų̷̹̱̪̜̇͠
The way the music shifts when Childs takes the drink and Macready laughs can mean 3 things to me: 1) This is Macready sadly laughing, as he realises they are both going to freeze to death once the fire goes out,and all they can do is drink.This assumes both are not things. 2)This is Macready laughing, as in that moment he knows childs is a thing, or at least he failed the test, as until now Childs has been very distrusting of him and followed the no sharing rule, so for Childs to suddenly take the drink like that no questions asked makes him sure he’s a thing.He laughs as he realises for all the things cleverness, it still can let its guard down too easily. 3) This is him laughing as he realises it doesn’t matter anymore, the camp is destroyed, everyone else is dead, there’s no contact and no one around for a very long time, especially as the Norwegian camp is gone too, so Childs doesn’t even care anymore about contamination, as the thing if it is still around will just freeze and hibernate for however long until it thaws. Either ending is bleak and depressing, yet oh so good compared to generic monster dies human wins storyline.
I know the Molotov theory got disproved, but something about how the music kicks in when child’s takes a sip just feels like confirmation that child’s is the thing
Unless the other guy is the thing and infects Childs by sharing the drink, which is why he laughs when Childs takes a drink and then says "Let's just wait and see what happens".
To me it's a call back to when they said not to drink or eat from anything except their own prepared rations. Childs doesn't hesitate and drinks the scotch as the music kicks in.
I love the ambiguity that comes with every subtle action and gesture that Childs and MacReady make. Like that subtle laugh that Mac makes after Childs takes a drink can be taken so many different ways.
It was genius of Carpenter to purposefully make it ambiguous and up for interpretation. It could've been a "whew I'm safe" laugh. It could've been a "well I'm screwed" laugh. No right or wrong answer. (though the sequel comic and video game have different answers)
Wow, really? All the roles Keith David has had over the years and you're most familiar with him from a video game trilogy? I mean, don't get me wrong, Mass Effect is awesome and I liked Admiral Anderson. But did you just completely sleep on everything he did before that?
Just got out of the theater for the 40th anniversary, so glad I went to see it in cinemas. Absolutely fantastic, loved this movie. I was just staring at the screen as the music played and the credits rolled. So dark. So amazing.
My favorite theory on this scene is still the one I saw on Reddit. They said it wasn't Whiskey at the end that Mac gave to Childs, it was another one of the Molotov Cocktails that he used to destroy the facility, full of gasoline. They then went on to make the point that Mac gave it to Childs and once Childs drank it without reacting, it would have proved he was The Thing because since he is an alien, he wouldn't know what Gasoline tastes like and therefore wouldn't react and spit it out.
+tankmaster1018 Even if it was whiskey, somebody said earlier in the movie that nobody should drink from other people's bottles to avoid infection. If Childs was human he wouldn't have drank. This explains why Mac Ready smiles at the end. Also, when Childs is about to sit down, you can hear the Thing laughing
+tankmaster1018 Have loved th movie for decades and only read the gasoline theory just now. Watching the ending again, note he silent laugh that Kurt Russell gives when Childs drinks from the bottle, like he knows the truth and it doesn't matter anymore.
Greatest ending ever. Instead of the standard Hollywood ending of Macready getting rescued after triumphing, we get two men about to die and one of them may be the monster. It took balls of steel to finish the movie like this.
Yeah I love the idea that either of them can be the Thing or neither. In a movie where paranoia rules over everyone and no one can trust anyone, it's the perfect ending. The audience is left with the same feeling or uncertainty. I get why people debate on who is the Thing in this final scene and come up with all sorts of theories and justifications, but at the same time it's kinda pointless. You're not supposed to know, but to be questioning, just like the characters in the movie, if one or the other is the monster. John Carpenter really made an effective ending because some still claim they can prove one or the other is the Thing just so they can satisfy their own uncertainty.
@@josephkissel6062 IDK that's reaching. Even if they are both still human, they are going to talk about the effect of all the fires. They should have done a blood test now that it's just the 2 of them.
@josephkissel6062 Not really. Child's most likely is the Thing, but he's not saying that because he's saying I'm going to kill you when the lights go out. The Thing could have killed McCready right away. He had a flame thrower. But he didn't. He asked that question because the Thing can't survive in the cold either. And was likely trying to egg McCready to come up with a solution for both of them.
I love this scene. An evil alien and a human, both of them are almost dying, both of them lost, but, in someway, they both won. Idk how to describe it, but it feels so epic, they're staring at each other like there's nothing left to do. Touché
Or, two humans that want to believe the other is human as well, but can't trust each other. They're cold and exhausted and are unable to do anything if their suspicions are correct. The only thing left is wait and see, while death creeps closer one way or another.
@@jackd.183 he also stated they were both human. He does this all the time. He said the comics were cannon then went back in his word and said they're not. He wants to keep it mysterious
Neither were the thing. They both made it. Carpenter came out some years back and talked about it. What happens is all the the Thing2 video game. Child's does freeze to death though and Macready takes off.
What really added to the horror of this classic movie is the musical score. I was lucky enough to watch this movie at a theater with my dad when I was a kid.
I do like ambiguous endings like this. Lets the viewer decide how things end. With a threat like the Thing, I chose to believe that Childs wasn't assimilated. They both froze to death but saved the world.
+TheHeartlessFour Yeah for sure. Its Interesting all the other theory's as to what the ending suggests but I think the same. too many things Indicate that they are both fine.
+TheHeartlessFour Indeed. They accomplish in destroying the alien, but unfortunately, because basically they don't have any form of communications, they basically freeze to death. These types of endings I like. The heroes win, but at the cost of their lives
+TheHeartlessFour Childs was infected. He doesn't breathe smoke in the cold air like Macready. Watch the clip again. Also, he takes a drink without being concerned if Macready is infected. Macready laughs.... also there was a Sci Fi miniseries that was approved by Carpenter but was shelved for some reason....
+Samantha Anastasiou The brilliance of this scene is as you point out there are a lot of indicators that could make Childs be infected. There are several more than you have not even mentioned. However, I think they were intentionally placed there to just mislead us. Basically to give the audience a last feeling of fear and paranoia before the end. I remember reading that Carpenter planned some both Childs and Mac to be survivors and was going to use them in a Thing 2 and explain their age differences by saying they had serious frostbite. However, this is long after the fact. I bet it was filmed this way so he would have room to make a decision on it later.
Ultimately, choose the interpretation you prefer, because they're both good interpretations. Two humans, filled with paranoia and mistrust, their last moments free of the alien horror spent in private torture, or the last human alive laughing to himself as he comes to terms with just how alone he truly is, facing down the most terrible creature to ever walk the earth.
Well a small note: if they are both human, Childs and Mac who have been at odds all movie, finally agree that they'd rather die than let it loose. A tiny bond in the end.
@@specialnewb9821well one thing is for certain we definitely know that Childs is human cause if you pay close attention in this scene he has on an earring however with Mac there is literally no way to tell
Yea I just thought it was an ending of two guys accepting that they're gonna die, now I see that there was probably some crazy fight between the two of them the moment it faded to black.
@@loganmcleod3593 Well the music starts back up when Childs sips from the bottle. Earlier in the film Fuchs stated that a single particle of the Things DNA is enough to take over an entire organism. He then goes on to say that they should prepare their own meals and eat from cans to not infect one another. My theory is that Childs blew his cover from drinking from the whiskey bottle that Macready hands him. Macready himself had already been sipping from the bottle. Had Childs been human he would've refused to share the bottle with Macready to not risk becoming infected.
I think the fact that Mac already killed someone who wasn't infected and Childs calling him a murderer makes it tougher for Mac to just go with his gut without proof.
Actually if you pay attention you can see that Kurt Russell's breathing but you cannot see the other guys breathing at all that's kinda weird don't you think?
Blade Runner comes close. Intricate plot twist that the Asian hunter was after Decker, and *knew* he also was a Replicant! (the origami "man" matchstick) And he let Rachel live...leaving the unicorn origami as a sign that he *knew* she had no expiration date! Subtle... 🤔 All these 80's movies! If you like plot twists, check out "Body Heat" (1981, William Hurt, Kathleen Turner). Entwined plot twists that carry you along believing just like the main character...until the very. last. damn. scene. Then you suddenly realize you've been played, just like him lol! Brilliant.🤔😳😖🤦 "The Usual Suspects" also comes to mind...absolutely brilliant! 🤔
My god what a great ending. I’m so glad Carpenter has the balls to stick to his vision. When Child’s takes a drink and the music kicks back in it just make my hair stand up. It’s brilliant.
How can you be lost in a storm in the middle of Antartica and magically find your way back without a map or compass and look totally normal, no shivering, no frostbite, not out of breath at all and explaining it so calmly? Something doesn't seem right...
I think the point is they can't make it back, so they just stay there and wait to freeze to death, or for the Thing to reveal itself and end their misery.
If he was the thing, why would it go back to mcready and risk his life instead of waiting somewhere else for a rescue team? I feel like childs is still a human in this scene
@@G-ManXErlikbut it has no reason to gloat. It isn’t a creature with a sense of passion like The Predator, it isn’t a being who takes pride in victory like Michael Myers, The Thing is a wild animal who above all else values self-preservation. If Childs really WAS a Thing, it should’ve had every reason to try to kill MacReady, or best case scenario, infect him. Yet it just…didn’t. Because it’s a human
That's an interesting idea, but I highly doubt it. McCready has hurt the thing plenty already and they both talk as if they don't know whether each-other is the thing. And even if the thing couldn't tell, when McCready says "maybe we shouldn't" that immediately tells me he's not the thing since he's willing to die. If McCready was the thing trying to fool Childs he definitely wouldn't say anything of the like to "let's kill each-other" which is basically what the line means since they both have flamethrowers. It'd probably say, "let's go look for the others and make sure", or something and kill him off-guard.
There are several hints that Childs is the Thing: 1.) He doesn't seem to be breathing. 2.)He's not wearing the same clothing that he was wearing when he went out after Blair. 3.)He claims to have gotten lost in the storm, but he isn't covered in frost. 4.)(And this is the biggest one)MacReady added gasoline into all of his alcohol to make Moltov Cocktails, but the Thing wouldn't know what either of the two tastes like. 5.)The creepy music starts playing as soon as he takes a sip of aforementioned Cocktail. 6.)"I got you, you bastard." is practically written all over MacReady's smirking face.
There are also several hints that he is not the thing: 1) 1:27 you can see his breath 2) His coat IS completely covered in snow/frost the lighting messes it up 3)Childs ear ring is still on HIS right ear if it was a thing it would be mirrored (see prequel)
Why does everyone use the breathing thing as evidence? 1) The Thing does breathe. It has human lungs that perform respiration. Remember when Bennings-thing screams and you can see its breath? 2) The lighting obviously made it difficult to see, but Childs was definitely breathing whether he was a thing or not.
This, in my opinion, is one of the best endings to a film. I know that both men know each other isn't the thing, but... human nature always has a hair string of doubt. They are to weak to fight, so they chose to die understanding that they were the only possibilities left. Even if they survived who's going to believe them. Did they survive? ... the movie keeps going in my mind, and that is what makes a good ending, when you genuinely want more.
child's actor did an interview where he said the whole breath thing was due to the angles or something. you can see he is breathing but the fire is making it seem like he's not i like to thing their both human, both dying know they've saved the world but who knows
Child's wouldn't even open the door for someone on the outside of the base. Now he claims he pursued someone he saw out there and got lost? Smells like bs to me.
Amy Greemalder The Thing perfectly imitates every organism, so he is breathing - you just can’t see it. It retains literally every biological function, memory, etc. and would know if it was drinking gasoline out of the bottle instead of alcohol. It’s a shame that this theory is so widespread considering it’s so easily debunked if you take a moment to think about it.
Supo A They didn’t say anything about the gas theory, and it is still a giveaway because no one in their right mind would drink from the bottle in a situation like this.
This movie is a masterpiece, really, it has everything: a great story, great characters, an amazing soundtrack and above all an interesting monster and atmosphere.
+KoeSeer He did say on twitter that one of them was The Thing but left it at that. However, in the sequel to the film - The Thing on PS2/Xbox/Windows PC, it's shown that Mac is still alive and most likely not The Thing and that Childs was The Thing.
actually, it's Bill Lancaster who takes credit for that. Yes, Carpenter "made" the film, and I love John Carpenter...but Bill Lancaster wrote the script and that's based off a novella by Joseph Campbell Jr.
He also played the voice of one of the transformers in the Nintendo DS game. After hearing his voice from this, I had to search it up and it turns out I was right 😂
Yeah Keith David, he's been in so many things, Does alot of voice work mainly, Mass Effect (Anderson) The President In Rick and Morty, even Elliot's fish on Mr Robot, and can't forget about his role in Carpenter's "They Live" featuring the greatest movie fist fight between him and Roddy Piper. The man is as much a legend as Kurt Russel (Atleast in my opinion)
Actually yeah, I can see that happening too. That's a pretty cool idea actually. All the good men and women who fought hard for the freedom of the "innocent aliens" in Area 51, only for two to come out... but one of them is not human, but an imitation... a skinwalker from the coldness of space. Something much more sinister that the government was hiding for a reason. But now, it's far too late. America is doomed.
For me the ending goes like this: Both are still human but the whole situation has made them paranoid so they accept the inevatibility of death. In a way The Thing gets the last laugh here,it might be dead but they will soon follow it in death as well
It's amazing how many people don't understand the point of this ending. You're not supposed to know who the Thing is! It could be 1 of them or it could be neither! The whole movie is about paranoia and it ends with that theme fully.
@@lucash5025 I stand corrected but to be fair it's sort of hard to see also I read the comics and *SPOILERS* *SPOILERS* it turns out childs is not a thing
Paladin Fernando Doesn’t matter. The whole “Thing not breathing thing” has long been debunked. Re-watch the movie. The Bennings-Thing clearly breathes and you can see his breath in the snow. So that disputes your claim buddy.
I love this ending so much with how ambiguous it is. People always want to say its this theory or that, but thats the beauty of it. It's unknown and its to make you wonder.
It's interesting how everybody is talking about the lack of breath from Childs, but nobody seems to have mentioned the fact he has a different coat to the navy one we saw him wear throughout the entire thing. We know that The Thing will tear through clothing when it imitates somebody. The popular Collative Learning analysis of Childs that's on youtube made some amazing points, but mainly that when Childs is guarding the back door, there's a very deliberate cut to the generator room, and a very deliberate shot of the coats behind him. Suggesting that Blair was hiding in the generator room, attacked Childs and put on the beige coat on the rack to still seem human. Once Childs has the shot of no longer guarding the door, the Coats have been re arranged and the beige coat is gone.
PNDKetchup We don't know how long Childs was wondering about outside. I've worn black coats in this kind of weather and it's only taken about five minutes for it to become white from the stuck on snow!
What about what he drank? There's a review that mentions that it wasn't whiskey in that bottle, but gasoline, because MacReady was making Molotov cocktails. I didn't quite hear it, but MacReady laughs when Childs drinks it -- "gotcha, sucker!". Humans can't drink petroleum products! Childs is a goddamn Thing!
I think Mac’s facial expression as he’s handing him the bottle of kerosene (as they dumbed the alcohol to make Molotovs) to blow the place up. And that look of satisfaction he has as Child’s takes a sip for me confirms that Child’s is in fact the Thing.
Wrong, the thing is a perfect imitation. Down to memories and all...If it was anything other than J&B it would have reacted accordingly. Also, if Childs was The Thing McCready was alone and defenseless it would have started assimilating him because there would be noone around to harm or interrupt the process.
To me the most powerful argument as to why Child is the thing is because he asks Mcready "How will we get out of here", as if he already doesn't know that there is no way out by this point.
A thing would know that as well if Childs knew it, though it. So he was either just making light conversation, or Childs genuinely didn't understand their situation.
Is it really an inhuman idea to still not want to die? Mcreadys seems to get the idea but then again if he’s the thing he doesn’t need to do a damn thing, except make sure childs doesn’t catch on.
Child-the thing is asking this question in order to escape and infect rest of the humanity and only Kurt's character who's human says that maybe they shouldn't so they won't endanger other people.
Maxlp92 or the mcready thing knows that a search team will come eventually to the base and dig up his body, meaning all he has to do is wait to be found to infect the world.
Say what you will about the fan theories, the point remains that something is very 'off' about Childs. We're supposed to believe this guy's been marching through an Arctic snowstorm for the last hour? He's not shivering, he doesn't even seem to be all that bothered by the cold. Compare that with not only Mac in this scene but also in the scene where Mac holds everyone hostage w his flamethrower, while the Doc tries to revive Norris - he could barely move in that instance! Childs here just looks kindof bored, like he's waiting for Mac to put his guard down and fall asleep or something lol..
The biggest thing for me is when Childs goes out to "look for Blair " but when McReady is trying to get in, he didn't want to face him with four people at his back. That's the biggest indicator to me, it would be against his character to go out in the storm like that.
He could be hypothermic. In which case he stop feeling cold. He'd also be exhausted on accounts of being out running in the cold during a storm, and possibly not sleeping much because of paranoia.
@@Spork. well I think it's a great ending if neither are. Two men that know they're gonna die, but can't really trust each other, but are unable to do anything about it. And that's the point. You draw your own conclusions
@@THEPELADOMASTER yeah that’s what I was trying to say. Either one is a great ending. But I don’t think they tested his blood right? If that’s the case there just a lot of hints leading up to him being the thing.
Love this film. The suspense, the creature effects, the score, all of it. I honestly don't know which theory to believe when it comes to the ending. Most all of them seem feasible, and that's what makes it so good. Leaving the audience questioning things, just like the characters
Neither Mac or child's were the thing. It's completely reasonable that childs saw something in the storm and if he was right about it being Blair, going after it and blasting it would have been vital considering it would have been the last one. The reason you don't see his breath is because he was out in the cold for a long time so his breath is colder than macs, and the lighting and angle make it hard to see but it's there. Also Childs IS wearing the same coat he was earlier. It's absolutely covered in snow (or rather the white makeup they used on the clothes to indicate they were out in a blizzard. The same was done to Nauls when he ditched mac in the cold) And for those of you who use the plot hole where he drinks after mac my theory is that A. It was the end of the movie and it was meant to be a cool end sequence. Or B. Childs knew the two were done for one way or another with no shelter so he took a drink of alcohol to at least prepare for it. C. The thing is smart. It absorbs its victims and presumably their mannerisms and memories. If the thing DID get to childs, it would have known this information. Besides all of what I just said, if EITHER of them WERE the thing, why would they even waste time talking? They're both tired and the fights out of them, no one else is left so they would have been easy prey at that point
I love how 30+ years later, we're still debating on who is or isn't The Thing.
I think that's a testament to how great this film is.
No John Carpenter said himself that one them IS INFECTED
Ronaldo Ramirez but not exactly who
Which is exactly why we still debating
It was childs. His breathing couldnt be seen like macs. And he drank gasoline. Case solved. Move on lol
Michael Lujan you could see child’s breath
until we know they all are 😂
Interesting when Childs says “are you the only one who made it”, instead of, “are WE the only ones who made it.
Interesting point.
The Tillman Review I think they are both human, and carpenter is just fueling the paranoia
In the Thing video game (scripted by Carpenter), you see Childs' dead frozen body sat up against a wall. Whereas McReady is nowhere to be seen, until he shows up right at the end to save the main character and escape in her helicopter. No doubt assimilated by the thing, waiting for an opportunity to leave Antarctica. Clearly he didn't attack Childs' because Childs' was holding the flame thrower and the thing didn't want to risk getting destroyed as fire is its weakness. So it waited for Childs to freeze to death and probably went dormant as well, until a rescue party or researchers turned up.
@@martyn1422 finally
The Tillman Review If the bottle was a Molotov cocktail, why can we see Mac lift the bottle up to his mouth as if he was about to drink from it? Childs comes up behind him seconds later which means he genuinely was about to drink from it, as he could not have seen Childs at that point.
Even if that wasn’t the case, you’re forgetting a very very basic function of The Thing - it perfectly imitates every organism it assimilates. The real Childs would’ve known if he had take a sip of gasoline, and therefore so would have Childs-thing. My personal belief is that there are no Things at the end. There are multiple hints that could possibly point to Childs, and many say that the fact he drank from the bottle despite the risk of infection is a telltale sign of a Thing.. but he’s just given up. This is what they’re discussing in the scene. They’ve given up and know that there’s no escape for them - why care about a contaminated drink? And the theory about the missing dark navy coat can be written off as a continuity error as you see the same coat to the right of the screen. However, if this is not a continuity error, then it is my full belief that Childs is a Thing.
"How will we make it?"
"Maybe we shouldn't."
Some of the coldest dialogue in history
Literally they're freezing to death
@hardstyle905 And of all comments you decide to point that out on one that's absolutely correct, lmao good job dumbass
@hardstyle905ok. It's a good line though.
I think of this line when I look at the current state of humanity...Maybe we shouldn't
@hardstyle905 maybe they all are
I love how there's three possibilities here:
a) Childs is the Thing. That's the most strongly implied due to no steam, his wording, and the drinking a bottle of what could be fuel in a clever test by Macready. He finally won his game of chess.
b) Neither are The Thing, but are now so paranoid they can't work together and will both die as a result.
c) Mac is the Thing and infects child's with the bottle of beer, which is why the music starts and he laughs. The Thing has won.
The fact all three of these could be true makes this movie a masterpiece. The best part of the movie is this ending. It's brilliant.
Also Macready was a cancer to the thing , if he took over macready it would have a piece of his consciousness and to the thing it would be like a cancer cell, so they could both be human and Mac was The Things Thing. I don’t think Mac was infected because if it where gasoline in the bottle that’s check mate. But he was motioning to sip out of it before he saw Childs. Plus if child’s was the thing he could have especially killed Mac with the flames thrower or by it’s attacking nature and freeze until someone came across the camp and waited to thaw out. There’s so many hidden themes like the different jackets and other stuff.
Well they both knew they were dead regardless of what they did so working together had no point
How id B confirmed?@dotcom721
@dotcom721 no its not. it would ruin the ending if it is ever "reveled"
For what it's worth John Carpenter himself ruled out theory B. I think it's childs but it would be a shock for it to be macready
“How will we make it?”
“Maybe we shouldn’t.”
One of my favorite exchanges in any movie
...and then that subtle, yet doomy last line from MacReady: "Why don't we just wait here for a little while... see what happens." Perfect ending.
Soon, they’ll experience even more scarier things. MacReady experiences Lo Pan and his dominions and Childs goes into the other world with Coraline
Yeah, big time. Gave me tingles just reading this comment
Also: "Did you kill it?"
"Where were you, Childs?"
The Thing compares well to The Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
The fear of the alien infiltrator is intense and thought provoking.
Macready’s beard could singlehandedly prevent an entire alien invasion
And an army of Replicants
Agreed and agreed☝🏽☝🏻☝🏾
@@rajathyagaraj1061 Replicators?
His beard IS the thing...
@@rajathyagaraj1061 Isn’t that Harrison Ford from Blade Runner?
Such a powerful ending. They both know they are going to die. They both know the other could be the thing. They both know they are weak. Yet they face death head on. No fear.
they face death jaded
Child's had the flamethrower though so he could've easily burned MacReady
the both know they are the thing..
@@ItsFireTiger Originally in the script ( don't know if it made it in the movie) both had flamethrowers with MacReady's being hidden. Both are ready to smoke each other.
I have a different take , It seems like if one of them is the Thing then it knows that it has already won in the sense that all it has to do is just wait there and go back into hinernation until the next rescue party shows up ,It knows that the Human will freeze to death waiting..
So there is really no need to show itself... There is no other place to escape to they are hundreds of miles from anywhere ,So all there is left to do is relax and share a drink with
the other last survivor knowing that there is no need to kill him because the arctic weather
will soon take care of that anyway..... In a way maybe it is a moment of mercy....
I do prefer the theory that they are both human, and that they still can't trust each other and will die with no comfort because none of them can be sure they won.
But the paranoia this ending instills it's absolutely chilling. This movie is perfect, it's not only a masterpiece of horror but of cinema in general. I watched it so many times and it's still beautifully haunting - and heartbreaking.
I heard an interesting theory that MacReady was a Thing that was playing a long-game infiltration strategy that included preparing for and compromising the blood test that it itself proposed as a means of securing the trust of the humans. That by the end of the film, MacReady-thing had abandoned immediate plans to escape antarctica to was instead playing it safe by trying to reset the board back to a "Frozen Thing patiently bides its time" state by guaranteeing that all humans die and that a Thing survives to freeze. That MacReady-Thing's true goal with the explosives was to destroy the rest of the facility in the fighting so that no humans could survive as wildcards to potentially thwart the Thing. That the reason that MacReady-Thing relaxed when Childs accepted the drink was because the drink was infected, and it wouldn't matter whether or not Childs torched MacReady-Thing or not. Either way, the Thing survives to keep playing the long game.
@@GeneralArmchair quite convoluted, and not my favourite theory, but very interesting!
Carpenter confirmed that one of them is the thing
Child’s is the thing notice he has no spark of light in his eyes, also lack of breath compared to macready also child’s as the thing drink petrol I believe from that bottle which was a Molotov if he was human he’d of noticed it wasnt alcohol and spat it out but he didn’t and macready gives of a smile so he knows child’s isn’t hum
If they were those things, they’d be out in the cold and away from the fire
My personal interpretation: neither is the alien, but they were too paranoid and worn out to be sure, so they both just froze to death. They kept Earth safe, but it was a bittersweet victory.
Amen brother.
John Carpenter confirmed that one of them was indeed The Thing, but we'll most likely never know who.
@@Dante-fb9ej It's Childs.
because of the frozen breath,of Mcready. ;v
@@lamejorversiondeti.6283 That has been debunked.
@@Dante-fb9ej John Carpenter may just be fueling fire.
It's strange, part me likes the idea of Childs being the thing, but another part of me likes the idea of neither of them being the thing, and their paranoia being the reason they end up staying there. It adds to the whole, "who can you trust" type of deal. Really a great movie
Remember that Mccready killed an innocent man earlier in the film purely because there was a possibility that he was The Thing. It could very well be that Childs is not The Thing but waiting to see if Mccready attempts to kill him out of paranoia.
@@HeavenDenies909 That was Clark.
Completely agree.
👏🏾
Canonicaly according with the author, none of them were the thing, the video game on the ps2 continues the story.
I honestly love the theory that Childs is the Thing. The fact he says "you're the only one who survived" instead of "we", the music playing when he drinks from the bottle, and then Macready laughing after he drinks it. The tension is so thick you could cut it with a knife.
The way that he looks at Childs when he gives him the drink, the way the music starts playing right at this moment plus all the evidence and subtle clues throughout that accumulate at the end signifies to me that it’s great movie.
Nothing ever hints to that bullshit, baseless, objectively garbage theory.
Actually if you pay attention you can see that Kurt Russell's breathing but you cannot see the other guys breathing at all that's kinda weird don't you think?
@@luishernandez-id4dk There are several scenes of The Thing breathing, including the first scene in which we see a assimilated human.
So yeah, your theory is objectively wrong and easily debunked.
@@aldiascholarofthefirstsin1051 actually John carpenter confirmed it actually in and interview so yes I am right
@@luishernandez-id4dk what interview?
"How will we make it?"
"Maybe we shouldn't."
Electrifying.
Electrifying...perfect description!
"What do we do"?
"Why don't we just wait here for a little while and...see what happens".
"Childs, what if we're wrong about him?"
"Well then, we're wrong!"
Well what we do?
The music is perfect here too. Amplifies every bit of tension.
It must be terrifying to know that the "Thing" is just right in front of you pretending to be someone you know.
Horrifying
I know nobody.
I believe they are both human. Macready only laughed because he saw that Childs was human in the way he acted to drinking the alcohol.
@@retrox2326 But they had a big talk before about not touching food or drinks touched by someone else. Macready passed him the bottle as a test. Childs did not hesitate to accept it and drink, test failed.
@@matalvis It didn't matter anymore to Macready because he knew he was going to die. That's why he said why don't we sit here and wait. That was a drink and not a molotov because Macready was about to drink it before Childs showed up. Since Macready didn't care anymore it wasn't a test, it was just enjoying something before they knew they were going to freeze to death.
40 years later, and this is still one of the greatest horror movies of all time :)
And I still believe it is in 2023!
Quite true.
Absolutely 💯.
Agree
yeah but short :(
@@narrowneptune5479 back then, sure. But today it has a MASSIVE legacy :)
The fact that the theme starts at the exact moment childs start drinking whatever is in maccready’s bottle is 👌👌
Allah forbids drinking, it's not Childs
@@BOOT Childs is Muslim?
@@mindriot91_96 At the time it was very popular/common for them to be or have converted.
@@BOOTHe was smoking pot towards the beginning of the movie way before The Thing started infecting people. Pretty sure Muslims don’t partake on that either given they refuse any intoxication.
@@BOOTright but he could also be christian
The idea of an evil alien and a Human chilling out before an uncertain future is awesome.
The Thing is an evolutionary superior organism, it's just trying to dominate just like humans.
It's not uncertain. They're both going to die. The thing will be frozen/die and Russell is going to die.
Nothing they do at this point matters
Bryan Mack definitely can
Enemy Mine.
Ironic that this is coming from Buu, an evil alien chilling with a human before an uncertain future
It's insane to think this movie flopped upon it's release.
It was because it came out only few weeks after ET which was seen as better since it's a family film and the thing also was underrated because on the exact day it came out, 25 July 1982, another famous sci fi movie came out, Blade Runner, I personally think the three movies are amazing but for me the thing is the best out of the three
@@paweleee3183 The Thing is a masterpiece, the other 2 are just good movies
@@donpadre2659 I absolutely agree,its just that at the time people easily made the two look better since one was a family friendly movie and the other was staring Harrison Ford only a year after Indiana Jones, if you only heard that you had to go for two out of three movies and the only description from the critics you get was, one is made by one of the greatest directors, this one had one of the greatest actors at his prime, and the third one which relays too much on the bad special effects.
I am not saying the thing has bad effects, I think they are the best, it's just how the critics wrote the movie off and praised the other two
Was Conan the Barbarian playing at the same time. Or did it come out before or after I'll have to go check.
It was ahead of its time
Just rewatched this in theaters on its 40th anniversary and just as awesome as when I first watched it. The small chuckle Macready gives himself and how he rests his head (either in defeat or victory) after he sees Childs take a swig of who knows what is masterful writing + acting leaving us the audience to decide and debate 40 years later what the final outcome is.
Damn that's a flex
@@armyofuno8196If you can read the comic, you will see why Macready did laugh.
MAC laughing cause he (The Thing) has won and knows childs will freeze to death
@@nicksandz3209no he's laughing because he gave Childs a Molotov cocktail and he just drinks it thinking it's alcohol
@@SergyMilitaryRankings Not at all, if you look close Mac thought he was the only one left and he was lifting the battle to his mouth and about to drink it before Childs showed up, Pretty sure Mac wasn't suicidal which means it was definitely liquor
Child's is the Thing. Everyone agreed to prepare their own meals and drinks. By McCready sharing his drink as a test and Child's took and drank it with no questions asked.
That's why McCready laughed.
that's kind of the feeling I got too .....truth is we'll never know
Nothing to know MacReady literally killed the Blair thing Childs gave himself up here with the are you the only one who made it instead of we
the answer to your doubt is clear: there is only one living thing in this scene, the other one is somebody who is dead and can still talk.
Childs laughs first.
I dont know why he tested childs, he couldnt do anything if he came to be the Thing anyways
Evidence that Childs is the Thing:
-The large blue coat to the right of his post is missing in a mastershot, implying that human-Childs was attacked and had his original coat damaged, prompting Childs-thing to don a new coat.
-Childs claims to have seen Blair in the snow, though the generator shuts off shortly after, implying that the Blair-thing was already in the generator room.
-Childs isn't wearing any kind of head gear to protect his significantly hairless head from the cold. He hasn't pulled his hood over his head either.
-He asks MacReady, "You the only one who made it?" instead of asking anything like "Where's Nauls and Garry?" or "You seen Blair?" The latter would've been portent as he claims to have been searching for Blair in the snow.
-He takes the drink without question or worry of infection. If the bottle was in fact filled with kerosene, then Childs-thing outed himself to MacReady.
Evidence that Childs is not the Thing:
-The only one who could've assimilated him is the Blair-thing, which is down in the generator room. It's possible, but dubious. How did the Blair-thing know that Childs was alone and by the door? Why take a detour to the door Childs is guarding?
-Childs does not attack MacReady, despite knowing he's the last (other) person left. Childs-thing might just be waiting for MacReady to freeze, but why take the chance? Just kill him while he's vulnerable.
-MacReady doesn't immediately attack Childs after he takes a drink. If the drink was some kind of test, then MacReady would've torched Childs the second he thought he was a Thing. He didn't hesitate to torch any other thing in the movie.
-Childs returns to the camp after it's been destroyed. If Childs was a Thing, why wouldn't it just immediately try to freeze to death? It had no idea what Blair-thing's plan was, and once the camp is destroyed, it would have no reason to stick around as any potential threats would be dead or doomed to freeze.
-Childs still has his earring, and the Thing cannot imitate non-biological material. Even ignoring the 2011 prequel, this film establishes that it can't mimic clothing. Even if it took the earring from Childs's corpse, how would it give itself a piercing? How would it even know what a piercing is?
Personally, I don't think Childs is a thing. The point of the scene is that even though the Thing has been defeated, both men are doomed and still can't trust each other. The true horror of the Thing is how it completely destroys trust.
Didn’t you just copy paste somebody else’s comment?
The director confirmed one of them was the thing
@@Loice_0 Death of the Author!
@@thetwitterdick That's not how Death of the Author works. Death of the Author is only for an author's interpretation of their writing. If an author claims that their literature is an allegory of something, and readers interpret said literature as something else, then it is Death of the Author. If the author claims something tangible about the story like in this case, that one of them is The Thing, then that is final. All else is fanfiction.
@@Loice_0 "one of them"
Isn’t it just great that nearly 40 years later, people are STILL debating the implications of this ending? I love it.
there's comics that continue afterwords neither of them are the thing here child's even brings mac to another populated base where he gets medical attention then goes back to burn the remaining bodies mac follows after when he wakes up later in the story childs sacrifices himself getting himself infected and then mac kills the child's thing
it just proves how great a movie it is
@@adamhogan5442
Heard the comic was non cannon
@@l0sts0ul89 no I'm pretty sure it is Canon
@@adamhogan5442
Maybe sucks that beautiful beard had to go.
One day I came across an interesting theory in the comments, which says that Childs and MacReady are humans and none of them are infected. The fact is that each cell of the Thing is a separate autonomous organism that has two goals: assimilation and survival. Also, the Thing has increased self-preservation. And as the blood test showed, it reacts very instinctively to any threat that can kill it at the cellular level, be it fire or acid, and alcohol belongs to the group of poisons. Ethanol has toxic and deadly effects on the organism that can kill cells. At this moment, after Childs drank the bottle, he did not turn into a monster, and the smile on MacReady's face could mean that Childs had passed the "test" and he was not infected.
According to the sequel video game, neither were the Thing.
@@seanpazdera6407 the game doesn't make sense anyway and shouldn't be considered canon. The same goes with the thing short story 'the things' by peter watts which focused on the creature's POV.
@@ShoppingBored That was just a glorified fanfic.
I personally subscribe to this theory and I think MacReady's chuckle is that he's remember the chess game in the beginning - he used alcohol to stop the computer from winning the game...but now there's no more games to play. And yeah, Childs "passed" the test but they're both gonna freeze anyway. It's morbid, it's darkly funny, but I think that's Mac's laugh explained
It's amazing that these men were willing to sacrifice themselves to make sure that creature didn't make it out of the facility while at the same time, making sure of one another that they weren't the creature. I can see this being one of the best horror movie endings.
Just two tired men having faced horrors too tired to keep fighting on but with enough will and resolve to stay and make sure the thing stays dead even if it means freezing to death.
The way I interpret this scene is that Childs is the thing, both Macready knows this and the Thing knows that Macready knows. Their dialogue is a subtle conversation without giving it away to the viewer. Childs asking if he killed the other Thing and the status on everyone else as Macready doesn't really need to lie to it at this point.
When Macready asks ''Where were you Childs'' what he was really asking was ''What was Childs doing when you killed him?''. The Thing answered from the perspective of Childs basically saying ''He thought he saw Blair and got lost in the storm, the rest is history''.
The thing tells him that he's going to die once the fire goes out, and wants to know how they can both move on from this stalemate, asking how they can sort of work together in a sort of truce so both can survive. The Thing prioritizes its survival, and probably assumes that any living being would as well, so he's basically asking Macready to survive with it but Macready's ''Maybe we shouldn't'' line states his willingness to die to win.
When Childs says ''If you're worried about me'' he wasn't saying this as ''If you're worried about me being the thing..'' he was saying ''If you're worried about me killing you at this point, don't''. I think the Thing was fully willing to cooperate to find a solution for both of them to live for its own survival. But Macready states that he's not worried about that at all since they're both in no condition to attack the other at this point.
So the Thing asks ''So what do we do?'' but you should read it as ''So, what are we going to do about this stalemate?''. Macready then shares a toast to the Thing for a game well played, he wasn't trying to give him some gasoline taste-test or hiding some kind of molotov, he was acknowledging a ''good game'' and we're left to wonder what happens next after that.
I think you're catching the dying when the fire goes out part all wrong,the thing wants to be frozen,so that it can survive,if Childs is ''The Thing'' it will freeze untl the rescue team comes in spring.
So rather,the Thing won if it is in fact Childs.
That’s an interesting way of looking at it.
My favorite theory on here
@@KukiJaNai but what if the thing isn't recovered by some chance, then ultimately it loses. Yes it can survive being frozen but it does nothing if nobody can find it to revive it.
@@codgumby4949 Theres no valid reason to think a search crew will not be sent to find the researchers after they have not established any contact.
Can we all just agree this movie is one of the most badass horror movies ever?
Agreed
YES
Also one of the very few without stupid characters.
Sequel would be nice.
@@pancytryna9378 yet the characters kept splitting up lol
@@jayv8068
The hell?
You watched other version of the movie then I did
@@pancytryna9378 There were many characters that split up man. Did you see at the end there was 4 of them, and the other black guy Childs was split and only 3 went together?
Over sixty years of my life watching scary movies and to this day this John Carpenter masterpiece is still my #1.
It was once my #1 for a long time too.
I agree, it’s IMO the best horror movie ever.
Mines too
Macready knew Childs was The Thing when he took that drink. And Ennio Morricone obviously knew too, with the ominous music starting at exactly that moment.
Lovely.
Childs is not the thing buddy
@@Desmond_miles121he is, buddy
The Thing was a game of chess.
In the end it was a stalemate.
Reading that made me think of this. When Childs receives the whiskey offer from Mac he does something interesting. He raises the bottle in a small "toast" to Macready like a non-verbal "good game."
Nothing for Granted yo, the thing is a bro. You just made me realize that
Nothing for Granted this. I think the childs thing “ if he is the thing” accept the d that Mac in the end won. A bit of honor amongst genocidal creatures
The opening scene with McReady playing chess with a computer was a great foreshadowing, he refuses to just lose and does everything under his control to make sure that his oponnent cant remain victorious, even after it has already won.
Or checkmate? A sequel will tell...
The way Childs grins as he takes a sip from the bottle with the background music is one of the most chilling moments in cinema. This movie truly is a work of art. I can't believe it got bad reviews when it was initially released.
This was right around the same time as alien, people probably just assumed it would be more like alien and were disappointed with the ambiguous ending
@@SmokeDog1871 Nope, what happened is this came out at the same time as Spielberg's E.T... People wanted to see movies about friendly, cuddly aliens, and this movie was so devastatingly nihilistic, there was just no taste for it
I remember that it did (critics have some weird agendas) and I waited till it came out in VHS. Bad decision because I had a chance to watch it , first run in a theatre.
The Thing was too bleak. Critics felt that Alien already covered extraterrestrial horror and that The Thing was unnecessary and too gory.
Years later, it's considered one of the greatest horror films ever.
Am I the only one that didn’t think this movie was great? I loved the gore aspect of it but it felt like it solely relied on that to provide the horror factor. It severely lacked suspense so the attacks or scary scenes had little weight to them. After just watching Alien, a movie that is perfectly paced to build suspense and anxiety, this one just kind of let me down, especially for how highly it is spoken of. The blood test scene was great I concede. It didn’t feel like there was much character building so I didn’t find myself attached to anyone other than Mac and maybe Child’s in the looses regard. This made any death just seem less impactful and I felt like I was watching a movie with one main character and a bunch of extras.
I have to say I did appreciate the ending though, I’m a big fan of this final scene
One of the best movie endings ever. The more I think on the points about Childs being the thing (no steam from breath and drinks the bottle with no reaction then Macs laugh after the drink), it seems obvious that he is. But the suspense and eeriness of never truly finding out is far far more effective than them showing some stupid jump scare and actually finding out he was though. That score at the end too.
You can see Childs's breath when he audibly exhales around 1:26. I don't think that the breath was meant to be a clue.
And his earing
Blu Ray release you do see Child's breath. Also Benning's thing death scene you can clearly Benning's breath. The thing is a perfect imitation liver, heart and...lungs.
@@redlion-o8855 Yeh that is fair, but the point still stands, having it implied rather than a jump scare revealing the answer is more effective.
Quit with that breath nonsense.
I just now noticed that instead of Childs getting defensive like he always does when asked of his whereabouts he complies by trying to give an alibi which indicates it isn't childs. 😊
This parallels the start where mac plays chess with the computer. Now he's at a stalemate with the thing and gives it a drink, just like with the computer when he pours the same drink into it.
Never thought about that
Or he thinks Child's is The Thing, and so gives it the same celebratory drink he gave the chess computer.
good point, what a nice detail
Wasn’t Kurt Russell filling those bottles with gasoline for Molotov cocktails?
Wouldn’t that mean Child’s was definitely The Thing? How would the alien know if he’s drinking gasoline or beer? 🤔 🧐 🤨
@@n0n9001 Nope, if you back up the scene a little, MacReady lifts the bottle to start to take a drink when he hears someone behind him.
You guy's theories have me thinking I might be the Thing now.
😂
That is preposterous, not one of us can be the Thing.
s̴̨̨̨͔͖̖͖͕͉̺̰͉̪̭͕̩͖͇̱̱̖̹̦͎̃̓̀̅͐̑̏͘͜ͅͅr̴̠̞̺̲̺̊̈́̉̅̆̾͘͜r̴̢̢̨̧̢̲̦͔̯̠̰̺͈̳͇͉͍̺̭̖̘̣̭̜͍͚̃̈̔̇̊̐͋̔̓̈́̈́̏̐̕͘ͅj̸̡̛̘̠̙̬̩͋̏̂̄̽͆̒̇́̆̃͆͒̔̄̐̓͗͊͘͘̕̚̕͝͝͝o̵̳͎̬̻̙̭͔̱̲̫̥̞͐̑͂̍͐̎͋̅́̑͝ ̸̡̨̨̛̯̟͙̠͍͎͕̺͍̭̲̞̼̙̲̖̳͑̀̈͂̐̾̃͒͑̔͐̾͒͑͛͛͑̇͊̄̍̚͜͝͠͝ͅm̷̧̢̹̺̙̰̘̗͇̪̥̩̮͙̞̤͈̘͓̩͇̫̄̂̍̇́͂̀̏̓̑͒̀̒̒̓́͒̈̈͠͝͝õ̸̟͍͙̹̱͍͊͠r̵̞̭̦̝͉͙̜̦͈̦̺͈̮̉̅̈̒́͒̄͑̐͋͒̏͝͝ͅǫ̷͕͔͒̆̐̅̑̎̄͠k̸̢̢̡̺̗͕̫͎̪̟̞͎̘̜̠̙̪̪̥̳̐̐̈̾̀̽̽͗̏̓͘͠ ̶̡̨̧̢̧̛̛̞̟͙͉͈̮̻͎̤̯̬̰̭̭͔̤̅̇̃̅̌̓́̃̓̾̀̒̾̂̕͝͠ͅͅͅẘ̶̹͖̱͚̞̮͚̖͈̞̠̙̿̀̓̒̀̉͋̆̋̂̉̋̏̕̚͠͠ͅq̷̢̫͈͍͈̟͕̩̯͖̳̠̣̗͇̺͉̗̍̿̐̄͆͜e̴͕̱̤͕̝̙̲̤̗̬̲̝͈͍̱̟̺̭̗͍̭̯̭͗̏͊̈̆́͑̋ͅr̷̬͓̯̹̗̭̘͓̹̖̦̐̽̐̒̾͂̑̎̓͌̇͋̔͂͗̍̚͜͠į̸̳̟͖̻͙͉̗͓̯̞͖̙͔̫̯͎̋͛̉̓͂͂́́́͑̓́̽̅͋̑̐̊͑̀̈́̈͒̚̕͝͝͠j̴̡̛̫͚̱̠̹̹̘̩̞̪̭̗̺̬̦͓̟̦̞̊͒̇̾̂́̓̏̀̂́͛̍́̎̎͘ͅͅ ̴̡̬̰̗̳̺͔͙̠̭͓̪̰̬̦̣̝̬͔͉̯̹̳̖̒̈́̈́͌͐̌͂̾͋̊̉̐͌̐̆r̵̨̛̘̰͖̳̱̪̮̘̥̳͉̥̻̤̦̎̈́̉̏͋̔̔́͌͛̊̈́̉͊̀͒̔͆̃́͌̓̏̕̕͘̕͝ͅq̶̛̥̥̣͇̗̳̞̼͕̳̖̐͆̆̓̉̏́̓͗̔̎͂̑̓̄̀͛̉̏͌͐̒̌̚͝͝͝͝͠ȩ̶̢̧̡̖͎̰͕̬̩̗̪̦̱͋͒ͅî̷̡̨̮̜̙͖͙͇̭̼̪̼͉̲͖̟̞̑̋̉̄̔͑͘j̴̢̪̱͚̦͈̙̞͎͇̩̹͙̩͚̜̗̝̣̦̅̾͊͌̑͒̾̏͌̅̋͒̀̓͒̑͊̅͗͘͘͜͝͝ͅ ̸̱̝̙͎̹͚̪̜͈͖̐̿̇͋̄̾̅̈̿̊͒̍̐̐̍͝ͅy̵̧̡̛͎̠̦̗̭͎̳̩̺̫̯̜̭̩̭̬̦̝̣̱̯̔̄e̸̡̨̢̯̝̤̝̭̘͓̝̱̱͔̣̣͓̪̬͖̫̺̞̻̰̹̳͗̒͆̂̓̌̃̐̀̈́̿̕͜y̴̡̹͓͙̙͖͉̮̗̟͖̝̠̳̣̙͉̏͑̓̊̆͂̔͂̅̊̌͂͐͋͐̓̈́̍̈̂̽͂̈̈̕̕u̸̧̨̡̱̻̙̳̳̲̣̣̗̜̟̝̬̟͕̝͎̜̥͓͎̲̗͉͙̘͐́͑͊̂̽͝ͅ
s̸̢̨̟̊͌́̓͂̊͘r̴̨̡̛͎͍̝̟̻͎̅̾͂̎̉̊͆̃̚r̶͓͎̪͆̊̄̿̌̃͐̅j̴̡̜̳̲͎̭̱͎̯̬̪̫͚̬͖̏̍̉̊͠ǫ̶̗̺͖͓̣̰͔̝̈͛̓͋̆́̆͘͘ ̷͖͔̓͐́ḿ̶̢̛̖͓̚o̶͉̎̌̐̐̂̀͘r̴̨͕̞̥̖̗̤̜̭̬̮̐̽̈́̎ͅͅo̷̝̦̪̼̊̓̾͌̈́́̀̈̿͒̒͘ḱ̵͚͐́̈́̂̂̽͋̌͘͘ ̴̛͈͚̝̹̪̫̽̄̈́̔́̚w̸̨̧͚͚͉̤̪͖̰̼̦̪̯̞̣͝q̶̣͛͂̇̈́̉͋̄̈́͑͝ẽ̶̡̧̮̜͉̠̜̝̥̘̈͂̿̂͑̋́̕r̸̢̻̜̘̠̹͇̜̭̘̍̋̊̑̀̈́͋̾̕̕͜ī̶̹͕͙͖̞̱͙̹̂͆̀̽̈́̈̽̕̚͘͝͠j̷̙̥̣̝̫̉̽̇̕ ̷̡̧̪̩̩͔̦͚͋́̆͗̓͊̃̆r̴͖͚̙̬͓̖͔̫͓͉͈̮̫͓̽̓͛͊͗q̷̛̺͒̀̆̐͐̏͋̍̇͋̇̌̾ė̷̛̙̱̭͔̗̻̪͚͙͚̐͛̓̎̋͒͂͗͆i̸̧̢̭̣͕̬̺̭͔͕̱̹͒̑̽̈́̔̈j̷̛̩̏͂̽͛̌̀̾͊̚ ̸̧͔͙̦̫̼̰͍̹͉͖̀̐̊͠ͅy̴̨̙̞̝̥̦͛̀̎̾̍̕ĕ̶̳̥̟̗̗̣̹̘͑ỹ̶̮̲̲͇̗̤̐͐̈́͒͂̋̋̈́͘̚͜͝͝͝ư̵̢̖̖͕̭̲̭̼͎̪̪̙͗̋̓̔̅̀̍͗̈͛̓͝
s̵̝̪͙̬͉̿̎̂́̒ͅȑ̶̖͊̔͂r̶̙͍͓͙̺̎̐̄̐̒͐̓̽͠j̵̡̡̡̧̯̠͎̺̘̗̔̂̍̀̇̈́͋̔͑̈́ỏ̴̡̗̣̔ ̷͇̰̇̒̓̃͝ͅm̸̪̾̆͂̓͝o̷̡̨̪͍̟͖̱͚͖͛̍̍̇́͗̒̈́́͠r̷͇͔̟̽́̀͒̈͂̏o̴̢͔̦͖̗̬̯̗̓̓̈́͜k̶̨̗̠͚͖̻̪̔ ̵̧̼͑̐͋̆̒̕͘͝͝ẃ̴̱̫͂͌̆q̶̹̲͇͖̬̱̝̜̪̔̃͘͜ȩ̵̟̟̞͉̘̙͍͑̆̓̓̃̏͒͑̕͝ṙ̸̡̭͛̆͒̈́͐̍̍̚͘í̷̤̩̿j̴̲͍̮̥̋́̄͆̇̐͘ ̵̛͉̖̟̗̰͍͈̇͂́͂̕͜r̸̡̹̤͍̊̄̇͝q̵͖̠̏͑̿̍ë̸̤́i̶̡̙̺̺͚͎̩̓̊̽j̶̧͕̦̦̺̆̉̉̌̑̾͠͠ ̴̛̳͖̰̐̐͆̾̎̒̿̿̋͜y̶̝̠̻̬͕̝̘̠͛͌͊͐̐͆͝ế̸͍̪̠̝̟͖͉̂̿͘͝y̶̪̿̒͝ų̷̹̱̪̜̇͠
Where were you... Meta
@@emperorthylord High fiving the crew members.
Lmfao
The way the music shifts when Childs takes the drink and Macready laughs can mean 3 things to me:
1) This is Macready sadly laughing, as he realises they are both going to freeze to death once the fire goes out,and all they can do is drink.This assumes both are not things.
2)This is Macready laughing, as in that moment he knows childs is a thing, or at least he failed the test, as until now Childs has been very distrusting of him and followed the no sharing rule, so for Childs to suddenly take the drink like that no questions asked makes him sure he’s a thing.He laughs as he realises for all the things cleverness, it still can let its guard down too easily.
3) This is him laughing as he realises it doesn’t matter anymore, the camp is destroyed, everyone else is dead, there’s no contact and no one around for a very long time, especially as the Norwegian camp is gone too, so Childs doesn’t even care anymore about contamination, as the thing if it is still around will just freeze and hibernate for however long until it thaws.
Either ending is bleak and depressing, yet oh so good compared to generic monster dies human wins storyline.
2} Well at that point they were already doomed so the 'make your own meals/drinks' wouldn't apply?
This is one of the best endings ever in a horror movie. Carpenter knew exactly how much to show and when to show it.
I know the Molotov theory got disproved, but something about how the music kicks in when child’s takes a sip just feels like confirmation that child’s is the thing
Unless the other guy is the thing and infects Childs by sharing the drink, which is why he laughs when Childs takes a drink and then says "Let's just wait and see what happens".
@@peoplez129 paranoia 😔
To me it's a call back to when they said not to drink or eat from anything except their own prepared rations. Childs doesn't hesitate and drinks the scotch as the music kicks in.
U never see child's breath...
@@garwalsh9500 it's faint but you see it
I love the ambiguity that comes with every subtle action and gesture that Childs and MacReady make. Like that subtle laugh that Mac makes after Childs takes a drink can be taken so many different ways.
Excellent film making.
It was genius of Carpenter to purposefully make it ambiguous and up for interpretation. It could've been a "whew I'm safe" laugh. It could've been a "well I'm screwed" laugh. No right or wrong answer. (though the sequel comic and video game have different answers)
it is gasoline, thats why mcready laughs, because in that point he knows he lost.
@@felipewerner6670 the thing absorbs memories of those who it kills so it would know what gasoline was.
@@kuatojones6950 there is nothing in the carpenter remake thats says it absorbs memories, at least as i remember.
Even if those two were still humans, the camp is full of remains that could still be alive, that creature is not affected by freezing.
How am I just learning that Keith David played Childs? I know him best as Admiral Anderson in the Mass Effect video games.
Don't forget he also played the voice of Spawn back in the 90's created by Tod McFarlane, and also the president in Rick and Morty
Decker in Fallout and As himself and Julius in saints row.
And my boy thel vadam (arbiter) in halo
Goliath from Gargoyles as well.
Wow, really? All the roles Keith David has had over the years and you're most familiar with him from a video game trilogy? I mean, don't get me wrong, Mass Effect is awesome and I liked Admiral Anderson. But did you just completely sleep on everything he did before that?
Without a doubt one of the best movie endings ever
Epic
it really is
And the title at the end
next to Donald Sutherland's scream at the end of Invasion of the Body Snatchers
@@DD-xe8lv no
Both actors really depict the perfect amount of exhaustion and resignation
Just got out of the theater for the 40th anniversary, so glad I went to see it in cinemas. Absolutely fantastic, loved this movie. I was just staring at the screen as the music played and the credits rolled. So dark. So amazing.
at 1:29 you can see Child's breath. So I think that theory is out of the water.
My favorite theory on this scene is still the one I saw on Reddit. They said it wasn't Whiskey at the end that Mac gave to Childs, it was another one of the Molotov Cocktails that he used to destroy the facility, full of gasoline. They then went on to make the point that Mac gave it to Childs and once Childs drank it without reacting, it would have proved he was The Thing because since he is an alien, he wouldn't know what Gasoline tastes like and therefore wouldn't react and spit it out.
Carpenter stated it was whiskey not gas
+tankmaster1018 Even if it was whiskey, somebody said earlier in the movie that nobody should drink from other people's bottles to avoid infection. If Childs was human he wouldn't have drank. This explains why Mac Ready smiles at the end. Also, when Childs is about to sit down, you can hear the Thing laughing
+TBStudios91 wait a second, what is that laughing?
Father Sun circa at 0:20, when Childs says "Got lost in the storm", you can hear a faint laughter, twice. It's a bit low, but it can be heard
+tankmaster1018 Have loved th movie for decades and only read the gasoline theory just now. Watching the ending again, note he silent laugh that Kurt Russell gives when Childs drinks from the bottle, like he knows the truth and it doesn't matter anymore.
Greatest ending ever. Instead of the standard Hollywood ending of Macready getting rescued after triumphing, we get two men about to die and one of them may be the monster. It took balls of steel to finish the movie like this.
Or worse, we didn't get the cheap jumpscare ending, where one of them turns into thing and screams at the camera, cutting to credits instantly.
That’s how Predator should have ended, with Dutch dying with the Yautja.
@@wowalamoiz9489 neh
Was probably also cheaper
Yeah I love the idea that either of them can be the Thing or neither. In a movie where paranoia rules over everyone and no one can trust anyone, it's the perfect ending. The audience is left with the same feeling or uncertainty. I get why people debate on who is the Thing in this final scene and come up with all sorts of theories and justifications, but at the same time it's kinda pointless. You're not supposed to know, but to be questioning, just like the characters in the movie, if one or the other is the monster.
John Carpenter really made an effective ending because some still claim they can prove one or the other is the Thing just so they can satisfy their own uncertainty.
41 years later and this movie STILL ages like fine-wine! Goes to show that NO ONE can direct a Horror Movie like Carpenter!
One of the best final lines in any film. Love the way the music kicks in.
I felt chills down my spine when childs said, “ The fire set the temperature up all over the camp but it won’t last long though.” 👀
Yeah ... That's definitely The Thing's way of saying "You're going to die soon ... "
@@josephkissel6062 IDK that's reaching. Even if they are both still human, they are going to talk about the effect of all the fires. They should have done a blood test now that it's just the 2 of them.
@josephkissel6062 Not really. Child's most likely is the Thing, but he's not saying that because he's saying I'm going to kill you when the lights go out. The Thing could have killed McCready right away. He had a flame thrower. But he didn't. He asked that question because the Thing can't survive in the cold either. And was likely trying to egg McCready to come up with a solution for both of them.
@@josephkissel6062both were human, childs did freeze to death some time after that. Macready ends up living based on the game.
@@josephkissel6062 To me, that is also exactly how Childs would have said it. Had he been human.
I love this scene. An evil alien and a human, both of them are almost dying, both of them lost, but, in someway, they both won. Idk how to describe it, but it feels so epic, they're staring at each other like there's nothing left to do. Touché
Or, two humans that want to believe the other is human as well, but can't trust each other. They're cold and exhausted and are unable to do anything if their suspicions are correct. The only thing left is wait and see, while death creeps closer one way or another.
@@THEPELADOMASTER the director stated that one of them was the thing
@@jackd.183 he also stated they were both human. He does this all the time. He said the comics were cannon then went back in his word and said they're not. He wants to keep it mysterious
Neither were the thing. They both made it. Carpenter came out some years back and talked about it. What happens is all the the Thing2 video game. Child's does freeze to death though and Macready takes off.
@@jackd.183 hes also stated that neither is, that he dosent know, that he dosent care, and that MacReady is the Thing. So this proves nothing.
The fact John Carpenter made the only two movies that gave me nightmares as a kid (Halloween & The Thing) commands respect. Well done.
What really added to the horror of this classic movie is the musical score. I was lucky enough to watch this movie at a theater with my dad when I was a kid.
I do like ambiguous endings like this. Lets the viewer decide how things end. With a threat like the Thing, I chose to believe that Childs wasn't assimilated. They both froze to death but saved the world.
+TheHeartlessFour Yeah for sure. Its Interesting all the other theory's as to what the ending suggests but I think the same. too many things Indicate that they are both fine.
+TheHeartlessFour I think there is a video game sequel
+TheHeartlessFour Indeed. They accomplish in destroying the alien, but unfortunately, because basically they don't have any form of communications, they basically freeze to death. These types of endings I like. The heroes win, but at the cost of their lives
+TheHeartlessFour Childs was infected. He doesn't breathe smoke in the cold air like Macready. Watch the clip again. Also, he takes a drink without being concerned if Macready is infected. Macready laughs.... also there was a Sci Fi miniseries that was approved by Carpenter but was shelved for some reason....
+Samantha Anastasiou
The brilliance of this scene is as you point out there are a lot of indicators that could make Childs be infected. There are several more than you have not even mentioned. However, I think they were intentionally placed there to just mislead us. Basically to give the audience a last feeling of fear and paranoia before the end.
I remember reading that Carpenter planned some both Childs and Mac to be survivors and was going to use them in a Thing 2 and explain their age
differences by saying they had serious frostbite. However, this is long after the fact. I bet it was filmed this way so he would have room to make a decision on it later.
Ultimately, choose the interpretation you prefer, because they're both good interpretations. Two humans, filled with paranoia and mistrust, their last moments free of the alien horror spent in private torture, or the last human alive laughing to himself as he comes to terms with just how alone he truly is, facing down the most terrible creature to ever walk the earth.
Well a small note: if they are both human, Childs and Mac who have been at odds all movie, finally agree that they'd rather die than let it loose. A tiny bond in the end.
@@specialnewb9821well one thing is for certain we definitely know that Childs is human cause if you pay close attention in this scene he has on an earring however with Mac there is literally no way to tell
Very well stated.
Next level among us
@@nicksandz3209 Not to sound stupid, but what does the earring imply? Does the thing not like jewelry or metal or something?
For some reason, “Where were you Childs?” Gives me chills..No pun intended.
After rewatching this clip, I never known that Child’s was played by Keith David, He was so young then!
The comments here makes me more paranoid then the movie itself, lol
Yea I just thought it was an ending of two guys accepting that they're gonna die, now I see that there was probably some crazy fight between the two of them the moment it faded to black.
@@0IIIIII carpenter confirmed it though so......
Josh Pecker no he didn’t lol
Rishi Eastwood wow so
Funny
@@joshpecker4352 he just said one of them was the Thing, not who
The way he looks at him while giving the bottle and the music starts playing signifies to me that infact Child's is the thing.
But that all would imply MacReady is The Thing.
@@loganmcleod3593 Well the music starts back up when Childs sips from the bottle. Earlier in the film Fuchs stated that a single particle of the Things DNA is enough to take over an entire organism. He then goes on to say that they should prepare their own meals and eat from cans to not infect one another. My theory is that Childs blew his cover from drinking from the whiskey bottle that Macready hands him. Macready himself had already been sipping from the bottle. Had Childs been human he would've refused to share the bottle with Macready to not risk becoming infected.
@@spoiledmilkfilms4164 i think someone confirmed the bottle is whisky by director words
@@d3stime077 not to offend but at this point it is not a matter of think, there needs to be solid evidence. Just like the Thing a bit lol
They BOTH are imagine what the thing would say to ITSELF in this situation and this conversation is exactly what you’d hear
I firmly believe that Macready is human, but I genuinely don't know about Childs, and that's the amazing part about this movie. My absolute favorite
I think the fact that Mac already killed someone who wasn't infected and Childs calling him a murderer makes it tougher for Mac to just go with his gut without proof.
Actually if you pay attention you can see that Kurt Russell's breathing but you cannot see the other guys breathing at all that's kinda weird don't you think?
I always used to think it was Childs but after rewatching you can see Childs has a piercing in his ear so who knows?
I love all of Carpenter's films but the fact he took an oldschool story and turned it into something so intense is what makes it his best film imo
Best ending scene in movie history.
It is hilarious how nobody can come close to this masterpiece of 1982
Blade Runner comes close. Intricate plot twist that the Asian hunter was after Decker, and *knew* he also was a Replicant! (the origami "man" matchstick) And he let Rachel live...leaving the unicorn origami as a sign that he *knew* she had no expiration date! Subtle... 🤔
All these 80's movies! If you like plot twists, check out "Body Heat" (1981, William Hurt, Kathleen Turner). Entwined plot twists that carry you along believing just like the main character...until the very. last. damn. scene. Then you suddenly realize you've been played, just like him lol! Brilliant.🤔😳😖🤦
"The Usual Suspects" also comes to mind...absolutely brilliant! 🤔
It is excellent, dont get me wrong, but the ending in "The Mist" also has its charm.
Empire strikes back?
Se7en has entered the chat
Why write an ending when you can just blow stuff with the best cgi
Just two guys chilling out by the fire and enjoying a bottle of whiskey in their final moments, not afraid to die. Strong scene.
Or two things?
@@jameszack7158 We are all things
@@jameszack7158 Nah nah, just one.
Maybe a bottle of gasoline.
@@thejanusproject32Mac was Definitely The Thing
My god what a great ending. I’m so glad Carpenter has the balls to stick to his vision. When Child’s takes a drink and the music kicks back in it just make my hair stand up. It’s brilliant.
40 years have passed. And not a single horror movie in history ever came even remotely close to this masterpiece.
Where were you Childs?
I was in electrical
Man, these Among Us memes so funny
I play the thing soundtrack when I play among us cause I instantly saw a connection lol no joke
Too funny
You were in electrical? and you *_didn't die?_*
Among us fans trying to be not unfunny part 36
How can you be lost in a storm in the middle of Antartica and magically find your way back without a map or compass and look totally normal, no shivering, no frostbite, not out of breath at all and explaining it so calmly? Something doesn't seem right...
I think the point is they can't make it back, so they just stay there and wait to freeze to death, or for the Thing to reveal itself and end their misery.
The explosion/fires around the camp can be one hell of a beacon and also a way to get warm.
Agreed on the other points, but the not having a map isn't necessary being there was an explosion and flames 🔥
Child himself mentions this when Nauls finds a piece of Mac's clothes...
Well, fire has the temp up and he didn't just kill a giant alien with dynamite so he shouldn't be too shook up.
I never understood the “debate” behind this. Childs is very clearly the Thing & the original script all but confirms this.
If he was the thing, why would it go back to mcready and risk his life instead of waiting somewhere else for a rescue team? I feel like childs is still a human in this scene
@@Darth_vader_solosto gloat. The same way the thing did in the scene where it stole the bomb instead of outright attacking Mac
@@G-ManXErlikbut it has no reason to gloat. It isn’t a creature with a sense of passion like The Predator, it isn’t a being who takes pride in victory like Michael Myers, The Thing is a wild animal who above all else values self-preservation. If Childs really WAS a Thing, it should’ve had every reason to try to kill MacReady, or best case scenario, infect him. Yet it just…didn’t. Because it’s a human
This movie is real horror. No current movie could compete with his mounting tension and doom's oppressive tone.
That's why we have Stranger Things.
perhaps their both the thing and it's just debating by itself what to do.
it works nice call
it works nice call
it works nice call
Fuck...I never even thought of that, but i'm listening to it now as you say it...and fuck that makes a lot of sense. Like two rivals.
That's an interesting idea, but I highly doubt it. McCready has hurt the thing plenty already and they both talk as if they don't know whether each-other is the thing. And even if the thing couldn't tell, when McCready says "maybe we shouldn't" that immediately tells me he's not the thing since he's willing to die. If McCready was the thing trying to fool Childs he definitely wouldn't say anything of the like to "let's kill each-other" which is basically what the line means since they both have flamethrowers. It'd probably say, "let's go look for the others and make sure", or something and kill him off-guard.
There are several hints that Childs is the Thing:
1.) He doesn't seem to be breathing.
2.)He's not wearing the same clothing that he was wearing when he went out after Blair.
3.)He claims to have gotten lost in the storm, but he isn't covered in frost.
4.)(And this is the biggest one)MacReady added gasoline into all of his alcohol to make Moltov Cocktails, but the Thing wouldn't know what either of the two tastes like.
5.)The creepy music starts playing as soon as he takes a sip of aforementioned Cocktail.
6.)"I got you, you bastard." is practically written all over MacReady's smirking face.
There are also several hints that he is not the thing:
1) 1:27 you can see his breath
2) His coat IS completely covered in snow/frost the lighting messes it up
3)Childs ear ring is still on HIS right ear if it was a thing it would be mirrored (see prequel)
Nope, Childs ear ring would still be there even if he is The Thing, all those ideas from the prequel weren't in the original.
Why does everyone use the breathing thing as evidence?
1) The Thing does breathe. It has human lungs that perform respiration. Remember when Bennings-thing screams and you can see its breath?
2) The lighting obviously made it difficult to see, but Childs was definitely breathing whether he was a thing or not.
Caleb Horton They're both in the same lighting
In the comic both are confirmed as human
Today's Hollywood would never make this film with such an ambiguous, nihilistic, apocalyptic ending. Carpenter was brilliant.
This, in my opinion, is one of the best endings to a film. I know that both men know each other isn't the thing, but... human nature always has a hair string of doubt. They are to weak to fight, so they chose to die understanding that they were the only possibilities left. Even if they survived who's going to believe them. Did they survive? ... the movie keeps going in my mind, and that is what makes a good ending, when you genuinely want more.
child's actor did an interview where he said the whole breath thing was due to the angles or something. you can see he is breathing but the fire is making it seem like he's not
i like to thing their both human, both dying know they've saved the world but who knows
John Carpenter said that one of them is in fact infected
this is the black guy cause the white guy give him a bottle of fuel and the black guy drank it
@@TheTillmanSneakerReview i feel bad for your mouth if you're breathing steam...
Child's wouldn't even open the door for someone on the outside of the base. Now he claims he pursued someone he saw out there and got lost?
Smells like bs to me.
@@RushGamma Childs is neither human nor thing, he is a bloody machine.
There's no way to know who's thing or human in this scene
We should just wait here a while to figure this out
See what happens
the video game confirmed that neither of them was the thing
There is a way. One produces smoke when he breathes ans the other not. This last Guy drink something indrinkable so... He is the thing
Amy Greemalder The Thing perfectly imitates every organism, so he is breathing - you just can’t see it. It retains literally every biological function, memory, etc. and would know if it was drinking gasoline out of the bottle instead of alcohol. It’s a shame that this theory is so widespread considering it’s so easily debunked if you take a moment to think about it.
@@artyom1792 So why the two aren't breathing in the same way?
@@Nature-and-Paint-Ambiance they are? Watch closely and u can see they both exhale condensation.
When Childs took a sip out of that bottle without the thought of being infected by the thing, Mac already knew what to do when he chuckled
1:15 eye gleam
1:27 his breath is visible
Child’s and Mac were both human
Macready's face when he hands Childs the bottle at 1:35 like 'yeah mate, I've figured you out'
Nope it's whiskey in that bottle
Supo A They didn’t say anything about the gas theory, and it is still a giveaway because no one in their right mind would drink from the bottle in a situation like this.
Or he just thought of something funny.
@@supoa9489 its clearly gas
Its gas
This movie is a masterpiece, really, it has everything: a great story, great characters, an amazing soundtrack and above all an interesting monster and atmosphere.
the paranoia, the claustrophobia, the mistrust... 🤔
Agree, it stands alone. The sequel didn't do it justice, they seldom do.
At 1:25-1:30 you can see a little bit of breath coming out of Childs. The whole he's not breathing thing is out of the window. They're both human.
Plus he still has his earring on which is something the Thing cannot replicate.
I'm glad this movie finally got the respect and admiration that it deserves, I can't believe everyone hated it when it first came out.
the debate below point how genius John Carpenter is. He puts the audience into paranoia even until the end.
+KoeSeer He did say on twitter that one of them was The Thing but left it at that. However, in the sequel to the film - The Thing on PS2/Xbox/Windows PC, it's shown that Mac is still alive and most likely not The Thing and that Childs was The Thing.
+Adam Dow it learned from that I think. It's not just a weird virus; the thing is an intelligent organism.
actually, it's Bill Lancaster who takes credit for that. Yes, Carpenter "made" the film, and I love John Carpenter...but Bill Lancaster wrote the script and that's based off a novella by Joseph Campbell Jr.
Or beyond the end in this case, since we're still debating on whom is the Thing in the end.
1:48 Love that laugh of Mac saying "aaaaah shiiiit.....it aint over"
One of my favorite movies, I can rewatch it endlessly and ending will always give me the chills.
The scene where Childs (or The Thing) starts drinking and the theme plays then the scene transitions back to the burning camp is an absolute ART!
After watching this many times, I realized child's play's the voice of Arbitor from Halo.
LOL sir you deserve a prize! Well noted!
alien confirmed
He also played the voice of one of the transformers in the Nintendo DS game. After hearing his voice from this, I had to search it up and it turns out I was right 😂
I think he's also admiral anderson from the mass effect trilogy. He's a pretty cool dude.
Yeah Keith David, he's been in so many things, Does alot of voice work mainly, Mass Effect (Anderson) The President In Rick and Morty, even Elliot's fish on Mr Robot, and can't forget about his role in Carpenter's "They Live" featuring the greatest movie fist fight between him and Roddy Piper. The man is as much a legend as Kurt Russel (Atleast in my opinion)
Me and my best mate leaving Area 51.
Actually yeah, I can see that happening too. That's a pretty cool idea actually.
All the good men and women who fought hard for the freedom of the "innocent aliens" in Area 51, only for two to come out... but one of them is not human, but an imitation... a skinwalker from the coldness of space. Something much more sinister that the government was hiding for a reason.
But now, it's far too late. America is doomed.
Until you realise he's the thing.
If aliens are really like the thing they're better off dead.
666 likes
That's a pretty cool idea dude cool comment 👍
For me the ending goes like this: Both are still human but the whole situation has made them paranoid so they accept the inevatibility of death.
In a way The Thing gets the last laugh here,it might be dead but they will soon follow it in death as well
I still believe in the whole drinking the molotov theory
It's amazing how many people don't understand the point of this ending. You're not supposed to know who the Thing is! It could be 1 of them or it could be neither! The whole movie is about paranoia and it ends with that theme fully.
Yes!
@Jade Green Someone said it was Mac who survived,not Childs
It could even be both and it's talking to itself.
The movie is brilliant, all I can say
@Jade Green for me i much prefer the ambiguity of this ending
I honestly believe neither of them are the Thing. Funny how it's the paranoia that ultimately kills them rather than the monster...
You can't see childs breath in the cold air
and you are correct.
@@g-saviour6581 lmao bruh did u not watch it u can see
@@lucash5025 I stand corrected but to be fair it's sort of hard to see also I read the comics and
*SPOILERS* *SPOILERS*
it turns out childs is not a thing
Paladin Fernando Doesn’t matter. The whole “Thing not breathing thing” has long been debunked. Re-watch the movie. The Bennings-Thing clearly breathes and you can see his breath in the snow. So that disputes your claim buddy.
I love this ending so much with how ambiguous it is. People always want to say its this theory or that, but thats the beauty of it. It's unknown and its to make you wonder.
“Are you the only one who made it?” asked the thing.
Keith David. Great actor. Underrated. Miss his style
It's interesting how everybody is talking about the lack of breath from Childs, but nobody seems to have mentioned the fact he has a different coat to the navy one we saw him wear throughout the entire thing. We know that The Thing will tear through clothing when it imitates somebody.
The popular Collative Learning analysis of Childs that's on youtube made some amazing points, but mainly that when Childs is guarding the back door, there's a very deliberate cut to the generator room, and a very deliberate shot of the coats behind him. Suggesting that Blair was hiding in the generator room, attacked Childs and put on the beige coat on the rack to still seem human. Once Childs has the shot of no longer guarding the door, the Coats have been re arranged and the beige coat is gone.
PNDKetchup We don't know how long Childs was wondering about outside. I've worn black coats in this kind of weather and it's only taken about five minutes for it to become white from the stuck on snow!
The frost from the blizzard turned his navy coat white
PNDK&M lol its ketchup and mustard from the FGC im subscribed and was on a random video trend and somehow saw this comment Haha lifes crazy
What about what he drank? There's a review that mentions that it wasn't whiskey in that bottle, but gasoline, because MacReady was making Molotov cocktails. I didn't quite hear it, but MacReady laughs when Childs drinks it -- "gotcha, sucker!". Humans can't drink petroleum products! Childs is a goddamn Thing!
PNDK&M Its the same coat, the thing is that is covered in snow.
I think Mac’s facial expression as he’s handing him the bottle of kerosene (as they dumbed the alcohol to make Molotovs) to blow the place up. And that look of satisfaction he has as Child’s takes a sip for me confirms that Child’s is in fact the Thing.
No, Mac was about to drink it before Child’s Appeared
Child’s isn’t the Thing, both he Mac are human
According to the sequel video game, neither were the Thing.
according to the dark horse comic, Childs was. @@seanpazdera6407
Wrong, the thing is a perfect imitation. Down to memories and all...If it was anything other than J&B it would have reacted accordingly. Also, if Childs was The Thing McCready was alone and defenseless it would have started assimilating him because there would be noone around to harm or interrupt the process.
Love the parallel between Mac “giving his computer a drink” at the start of the film to fry it and giving Childs a drink at the end.
He drank a molotov cocktail lol
To me the most powerful argument as to why Child is the thing is because he asks Mcready "How will we get out of here", as if he already doesn't know that there is no way out by this point.
A thing would know that as well if Childs knew it, though it. So he was either just making light conversation, or Childs genuinely didn't understand their situation.
Is it really an inhuman idea to still not want to die? Mcreadys seems to get the idea but then again if he’s the thing he doesn’t need to do a damn thing, except make sure childs doesn’t catch on.
Child-the thing is asking this question in order to escape and infect rest of the humanity and only Kurt's character who's human says that maybe they shouldn't so they won't endanger other people.
Maxlp92 or the mcready thing knows that a search team will come eventually to the base and dig up his body, meaning all he has to do is wait to be found to infect the world.
syed jawad sure he can. Why doubt it?
Say what you will about the fan theories, the point remains that something is very 'off' about Childs. We're supposed to believe this guy's been marching through an Arctic snowstorm for the last hour? He's not shivering, he doesn't even seem to be all that bothered by the cold. Compare that with not only Mac in this scene but also in the scene where Mac holds everyone hostage w his flamethrower, while the Doc tries to revive Norris - he could barely move in that instance! Childs here just looks kindof bored, like he's waiting for Mac to put his guard down and fall asleep or something lol..
The biggest thing for me is when Childs goes out to "look for Blair " but when McReady is trying to get in, he didn't want to face him with four people at his back. That's the biggest indicator to me, it would be against his character to go out in the storm like that.
He could be hypothermic. In which case he stop feeling cold. He'd also be exhausted on accounts of being out running in the cold during a storm, and possibly not sleeping much because of paranoia.
@@THEPELADOMASTER were over thinking it. I think it’s a great ending if he’s the thing
@@Spork. well I think it's a great ending if neither are. Two men that know they're gonna die, but can't really trust each other, but are unable to do anything about it.
And that's the point. You draw your own conclusions
@@THEPELADOMASTER yeah that’s what I was trying to say. Either one is a great ending. But I don’t think they tested his blood right? If that’s the case there just a lot of hints leading up to him being the thing.
Love this film. The suspense, the creature effects, the score, all of it. I honestly don't know which theory to believe when it comes to the ending. Most all of them seem feasible, and that's what makes it so good. Leaving the audience questioning things, just like the characters
Neither Mac or child's were the thing. It's completely reasonable that childs saw something in the storm and if he was right about it being Blair, going after it and blasting it would have been vital considering it would have been the last one. The reason you don't see his breath is because he was out in the cold for a long time so his breath is colder than macs, and the lighting and angle make it hard to see but it's there. Also Childs IS wearing the same coat he was earlier. It's absolutely covered in snow (or rather the white makeup they used on the clothes to indicate they were out in a blizzard. The same was done to Nauls when he ditched mac in the cold)
And for those of you who use the plot hole where he drinks after mac my theory is that
A. It was the end of the movie and it was meant to be a cool end sequence.
Or
B. Childs knew the two were done for one way or another with no shelter so he took a drink of alcohol to at least prepare for it.
C. The thing is smart. It absorbs its victims and presumably their mannerisms and memories. If the thing DID get to childs, it would have known this information.
Besides all of what I just said, if EITHER of them WERE the thing, why would they even waste time talking? They're both tired and the fights out of them, no one else is left so they would have been easy prey at that point