This is how u Kno childs was infected.. Thought i saw Blair, went after him.. I got lost in the storm? Earlier Childs didn't want mac to come back in , and wanted to just let him freeze to death outside?? So why Chase Blair now? 1. Mac told you to stay here..and the guard the door at all cost.. 2. Go outside in below freezing temperatures to chase a hunch? Very unlikely.. 3. When Childs ask how will we make it? Mac responds .. mabye we shouldn't.. Childs goes on the defensive immediately.. As if he's concerned about his or the things survival.. When its obvious that all Hope in being rescued is minimal to none.. 4. Asks again " So.. what will we do"? Now mac has already answered this question.. " Mabye we Shouldn't" So why reiterate the same Question again to him? Because The Thing is worried about it's survival.. 5. When Childs asks again.. This time Mac plays along..and says.. " Maybe we should just wait here , see what happens" Mac has made it clear that no one is coming and he's ready to die.. the 1st time.. 6. The J&B Bottle Mac never took a sip , he just casually handed it to childs.. Was it Scotch or Gasoline? Ethier way .. Doc Fuchs already told the camp to prepare thier own meals and not to drink after anyone.. Childs Ignores this to the very end. As a matter a fact Childs doesn't even Question where mac has been?? Or suspect him to be infected at the end.. This is odd , The childs from earlier questioned and suspected everyone? What changed?
All excellent points except for one. Mac is literally about to take a sip from his bottle just before Childs shows up so I don’t think he tried to trick Childs. The fact that a 40 year old horror films still had people divided is a testament to how great a film it is. Thanks for taking the time to comment 👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾
@@stevesmgt That must mean Macready really didn't care anymore because he knew he was going to die.. Regardless of Doc fuchs wishes... like i stated..
One point people miss many times is the conversation with Mac and Fuchs. People assume Mac told the rest. But we never see or hear him mention it to anyone. And then Fuchs dies so quickly after that conversation. Really think about that. Only Mac and Fuchs spoke about that. We can however assume Blaire knew this already. Because he was a biologist. But even that isn't certain, not even implied Everything else seems to point to Childs though..
One thing against this theory is that Childs is depicted throughout the movie as a hot-head. Several characters mention that, and we see it several times. So it would have been completely in keeping with his character for Childs to think he sees the Blair-Thing out in the snowstorm and just... get a rush of blood to the head. Hot-damn, there he is, I'm gonna nail his sorry ass with this flamethrower! So, yeah, it is VERY likely that Childs would go out chasing after shadows. As for repeating the question, well, MacReady does the same thing with respect to the generator, when the power goes out he immediately assumes that the Blair-Thing has sabotaged it to kill them all. So he decides to torch the entire camp so that they take the Thing down with them. Then they go into the generator room and MacReady be all Check The Generator, Garry... Garry: It's gone, MacReady MacReady: Can it be fixed? Garry: It's GONE, MacReady. Pardon? Hadn't MacReady already decided that he is going to torch the entire base to kill the Thing? What's this about seeing if the generator can be fixed? Childs is doing the same in the end scene: mulling events out loud, looking for an angle, asking MacReady's opinion, because he's staring death in the face and he's trying to work out an "out". As for the whisky bottle, well, MacReady was just about to swill out of it before he became aware that Childs is behind him. It was obviously Whisky. And from Childs' PoV what does it matter at this point in time if it was tainted or not? He knows he is going to freeze to death within the hour, which is well before anything in that bottle can get him. And, yes, it is very clear that Childs is as suspicious of MacReady as the latter is suspicious of him. But note that Childs is toting a flamethrower, whereas MacReady is armed with a blanket. And note also that Childs doesn't get close to MacReady - he gives himself the space he would need to torch MacReady the moment he starts turning into a MacReady-Thing. Look, to my mind the most telling reason why Childs is not a Thing is this: he asks MacReady if they are the last two survivors, and when he gets affirmation he DOESN'T turn into a Thing and assimilate the unarmed and helpless human that is sitting in front of him. Instead he sits down and discusses what a whacky day this has turned out to be. That is - to say the least - a VERY un-Thing thing for Childs to do.
Thank you Steve and Alex for your comments of the Thing, one of my favorite horror movies, coincidentally I was watching the trailer 1 week ago in order to rewatch the movie by Halloween. Thank you gentlemen!
Yes, Norris (the guy who’s chest bursts open, chopping off the doctor’s hands with its bear-trap teeth) had a bad heart, and when the Thing took him over and perfectly imitated him, it also faithfully recreated his heart defect, which eventually caused Norris to suffer a heart attack for real during a high-stress moment. The Thing would have been happy to hide itself in a presumably “dead” body, but it couldn’t tolerate the electro-shocks from the defibrillator and was thus forced to reveal itself.
I like that idea! However what still baffles me is that in a previous scene Norris is shown holding his chest. At that point in the movie Norris should have already been replicated. So during that stressful dynamite scene was it actually having a heart attack or was it using the heart condition as a way to stop Mac from potentially killing them all??
This was always my impression i.e. the Norris-Thing reacted to the defibrillator shocks in exactly the same way it would if it was being deliberately attacked by Copper.
First off, I'll say what I said first time I saw the film: the guys in the helicopter are shooting at the dog. If I were the Americans, especially in the isolation of Antarctica, and I saw them doing that, I'd assume the animal had some virus or something, for the guys to be chasing it so desperately. I'd have shot it myself before it got close. lol but then we'd have no movie....
I think The Thing is John Carpenter's best movie out of his collection of pictures. After 41 years and counting, movie buffs and horror-sci-fi, fans are still discussing the movie's greatness as a whole as well as the famous, mysterious & ambiguous ending. Is The Thing Childs or MacReady??? 🤔 Carpenter said, one of them is the Thing, back in 2012 interview. I believe it's Childs. Maybe this is a stretch, but, the poster of The Thing that they used since the movie came out in 82' to date, it's physique looks like Childs aka David Keith and he's wearing a dark blue winter bomber jacket. Hmmm??? 🤔
I saw this movie as a kid in the 80's, it scared me so badly and on a level that no other movie has, in fact I actually think it traumatized me, so much so it was a long time before i could watch it again. it was on vhs back then and movies were more scary on vhs because you couldn't see every detail so clearly, also the actors were just like real people, no super pretty hollywood faces plus the way it was filmed was almost like a documentary with no obvious hero type, no happy ending and dripping with relentless tension and paranoia. Every layer of this film is surgically designed to get to you psychologically and scare you shitless. It even turned mans best friend against you and gave you nothing to hang on to. I do wonder if it was a victim of its own effectiveness and people just couldn't handle it which meant they didn't appreciate how perfect the movie was at doing what it was designed to do, and thats probably a big part of why it was critically panned, Alien came out in 1977 and that did well so it wasn't like people werent ready for a sci-fi horror. I know a lot of people blame the success of E.T and that being in the zeitgeist at the time as the reason why The Thing was hated and i'm sure that didn't help either.
I saw "The Thing" when it first came out in the theatre, and I was not impressed. From the 2nd time I saw it until about the 20th time I watched it, it is my favorite film of all time. I never heard anybody talk about if neither Childs or McReady are the Thing, and they both are heroes for sacrificing their lives, for the survival of mankind. Just another rabbit-hole to fall down that makes me want to watch it again right now.
Yeah, I’ve always loved it. FYI I didn’t get to talk about in the video but the TV edit for this film is a whole different movie. Me and Alex will have to revisit this one some day!
A few issues arise around the bottle. One that always got me with Mac was his conversation with Fuchs, many people seem to assume everyone else was somehow told about the discovery of how it can transmit. When it was ONLY mac an fuchs that spoke about it. Then with Fuchs dying so quickly afterwards. Nobody else was told or spoke about it. Only Mac was the person who knew about that issue People get thrown off and ASSUME the rest of the camp knew because of a clever move by Carpenter. He shows a scene with Blaire in that room he's locked up in, eating from a can. I think people them assume he knows about the transmission issue. But they never realise nobody else spoke about the issue other than Mac and Fuchs.. 😆 Another issue that always bothered me is WHY Mac takes a sip of the bottle he gives to Blaire hold up in the cabin. I think Carpenter makes us assume that's what drinkers would do, also showing us at the start after the dog jumps up on bennings, mac hands him the bottle of J&B, so it goes unquestioned. But i've always found it important, it's the way Blaire is staring at it, and Carpenter draws the camera to focus on him doing it..
Note also that Fuchs didn't come up with that idea. He got it from reading Blair's notes, and Blair was insane at that point. There is actually no evidence presented in the movie that this was anything other than the crazy notion from a mentally-unstable Blair, whereas everything we do see tells us that assimilation is a violent, intrusive and bloody process. It is indisputable that Blair didn't tell anyone, because Fuch's only found out by reading the notes. I'd be confident that Fuchs didn't told anyone but MacReady, and there is no evidence that MacReady had ANY time to rely that warning to ANYONE before all hell broke loose with Norris and then Palmer being revealed to be Things. Events became pretty whacky from that point.
“The Thing” is suspicion, mistrust, and paranoia personified! It is the story of desperate men, isolated and hopelessly trapped in the middle of nowhere, caught up in a terrifying life-and-death battle with an inhuman enemy, in which the fate of the entire world hangs in the balance. What would you do?
GUYS, GUYS, the first one to be turned in the U.S. camp was the Pothead, the dog turned him! The dog was trying to blend in. Like Clark said, just wondering around camp. Then the real dogs blew his cover. Thats when he had to fight. Palmer/The Thing stayed hidden until the blood test. Remember him and Childs, I think were roommates. The shadow had big hair. Watch how the shadow moved. How he turned and looked, oh its just a dog. Not a care in the world. Like someone thats high all the time. (chill-your word) Anyone else would have said dog get the hell out my room. (All U.S. dogs were locked in the kennel) That was Palmer's underwear Nauls found in his kitchen. Palmer/The Thing WAS doing your, "What if question?" Without the blood test he would have stayed chill until the summer. Regardless what was happening around him. It was him, because when I was a teen. I thought Childs got it from him. (Puff, Puff, Pass) The earring does not clear Childs. If Childs was turned it would just put on his earring. It has all your memories. (Take the earring off dead Childs) Like The Thing/Creature wore the real Blair's eyeglasses.
Your comment = 🤯🤯🤯🤯 (my brain) 🤣🤣 you make a very convincing argument and honestly I think you may have nailed it! This movie and the potential solutions have taken on a life of they’re own. Thanks for the comment!
The person in the shadow is wearing a polo-neck. Palmer doesn't wear that, but Norris does. It is far more likely to be Norris. (and, no, we see the shadow turn to look at the dog, but then the scene cuts IMMEDIATELY) Note that we later see Palmer alone with Childs, yet Childs was not assimilated. Which, again, suggests that Norris was the human-mimicked Thing at that point. Note also that it is Norris, Palmer and MacReady who take the second helicopter trip, so if Palmer were already a Thing then the two of them could have assimilated MacReady. I'm guessing that Norris attacks Palmer sometime between the botched assimilation of Bennings and Blairs meltdown in the Communications room. No, the earring does not clear Childs, but it is much more suggestive than you claim: it's an earring, and while a Thing retains the memory of its victim how often, really, does anyone give any thought to a stud in their ear? It is a purely cosmetic bit of jewelry, unlike Blair's glasses (a Thing will mimic Blair's bad eyesight and so will need to put on those specs)
Childs was definitely human if you use logic. Blair was infected and in human form when it absorbed and killed Gary, then combined with Gary it took Nauls when he wondered off without a weapon. The final battle scene happens and then Macready and Childs meet outside. Childs was safe via the bloodtest when he waited outside the tunnel with the flamethrower. So Blair as the thing would have had to catch Childs off guard first and then go back to the tunnel and finish the rest off, the odds are unlikeky Childs got overpowered since his character was younger and more fit, and had a weapon, also he was still holding the flamethower as proof in the end, which is what a human would do, the odds he got overpowered by a middle aged man and then picked up the flamethrower again as the thing makes no sense. Also it would have just fried Macready once it realized he was the only one remaining and eliminated its final threat, then froze and waited for the rescue team and start the whole process again. If anything Macready could have been the thing, since he seemed to convince Childs not to fry him, then it could just freeze to death with Childs and wait for the rescue team. It was probably neither of them and they were both ready to die in all likelihood, but the idea of Childs letting Macready as the alien live is something fun and ironic to speculate since he had not trusted him all movie.
These theories are never ending 🤣🤣 the New Rockstars Deep Dive channel just did this yesterday, it’s a really good watch. They believe and potentially prove that Childs is a thing! th-cam.com/video/hF2hHhVy9aU/w-d-xo.htmlsi=TVLeAo2t-OEsJbr-
Note that the Palmer-Thing was able to run amok because both MacReady and Windows didn't know how to use the flamethrower correctly. Childs was the expert, which is why they called upon him to torch the Dog-Thing in the kennel. So, yeah, in the third act they put Childs in charge of guarding the camp, he is armed with a weapon that can make short work of a Thing, and he is under very strict instructions to torch Blair the moment Childs catches sight of him. He is also holed up in an area that has one wall protecting him, and no easy way to sneak up on him. Hard to see the Blair-Thing taking him by surprise. And you are correct: a Childs-Thing would only hesitate to attack MacReady if there were any eye-witnesses around, but Childs has already asked and received affirmation from MacReady that it was just the two of them. So a Childs-Thing has no reason to just sit down and talk with MacReady when the alternative is to attack and assimilate the last human within hundreds of miles. That way two Things would freeze and wait for a rescue team to come along and thaw them out. But that didn't happen, so the logical conclusion is that Childs is not a Thing. Note: MacReady can't be the Thing, since a) he passed the blood test b) from then on was constantly with Garry and Nauls until c) the final confrontation between MacReady and the Blair-Monster and d) the Blair-monster was killed in that confrontation At which point there were no Things left to assimilate him. And even if there were (there isn't) the problem remains that MacReady is wearing the same clothes (including silly hat) all the way from the blood test scene to the final scene with Childs - even though we know that being assimilated tears your clothing to shreds.
@@stevesmgt I played The Thing game on the PS1. I'm sure Carpenter was involved, he loves videogames, and I'm pretty sure that it confirms both MacReady and Childs were human. You discover Childs frozen and MacReady missing.
The heart attack was real, because Norris-Thing winces several times when there was no need for it to play-act. But, yes, Norris-Thing had already attacked Palmer by then. It couldn't have been much earlier since Norris and Palmer were the two who accompanied MacReady to the UFO site. If they were both Things at that point then they could have assimilated MacReady with ease and then all three could then have taken the chopper to the Norwegian camp and carried out they next move in perfect safety. And note this: Palmer knows how to fly a chopper , so a Palmer-Thing could have stolen the chopper and made a solo-escape that way. Blair takes that option away by taking the axe to it, so Palmer must have been assimilated either just before or just after Blair's meltdown (and, let's note, Blair's meltdown was the single MVP act of the movie because it took out the chopper). So after the second helicopter trip, but before Norris-Thing's heart attack. PROBABLY after Bennings was attacked (Palmer and Norris are both present in that scene) and MOST LIKELY just before Blair's meltdown in the Comms Room (note that Norris is there, but Palmer isn't)
No, he doesn't, as any budgerigar breeder would tell you. Childs coat is Blue, and so in the daylight it looks.... Blue. But the last scene isn't in daylight: it is lit by the burning camp, which is putting out a yellow glow. And as any budgie-breeder will tell you: Blue + Yellow = Green. There is actually a youtube video where someone takes the BlueRay footage and color-corrects it for the yellow light source. They did that and Child's coat turned.... Blue. It's the same coat.
Cable? .....You guys don't know what scary is! I saw this film in en mostly empty theater on a freezing night in Finland and it scared the shit out of me despite the fact that I was an experienced horror movie fan. i.ve seen it many times on Blu ray and there's no comparison - it 's way scarier on the big screen in dark theater.
Obviously Childs and MacReady are both human. Obviously, they both parish in the cold. We just don't see that part. Why? Because the story ends before that happens... The narrative of this film is tightly self-contained. It wraps itself up nicely and neatly, while seeming to be loose-ended... What is the situation at the end of the movie? The Thing is destroyed. The camp is destroyed. MacReadys tape is destroyed. And the two men who know about the Thing are about 20 minutes away from freezing to death... when the rescue team comes they will find no evidence. No trace that this event took place. Just a burned up camp and two dead bodies. The only ones who know are us, the audience.
This was literally my thought process for the ending of this movie for most of my life, until I allowed theories to enter my brain a few years ago 🤦🏾♂️🤦🏾♂️ thanks for your comment!
Childs still has his earing in the final scene. Pause and you'll see it in his right ear. Confirmed he has a loop earing in his right ear. Childs is human.
@@AmericanGadfly The Thing in the Norwegian camp hadn't worked it out, which is why it ended up torched in the tractor. And the Dog-Thing that escaped the Norwegian camp hadn't witnessed that event, so how was it to know that this was something that needed to be done? A Thing is a perfect copy of a human, even down to its memories and thoughts. And if you have an erring how often during a normal day do you give any thought to your erring?
@@johnreynolds7996 youre going 9ff the prequel. When the original was made the prequel didnt exist so you cant really say for sure what it does or doesnt know at the beginning of the original. I have to assume its not stupid.
@@AmericanGadfly I don't need the prequel for the core of what I was saying: A Thing should give no more thought to an ear stud than the human it is mimicking. As in: none. Not true of glasses, because a Thing is going to mimic the poor eyesight of its victim, so it has a reminder to pick up the glasses and put them on.
A young man named 2dimm did a breakdown recently showing that not only was Maccreedy a thing, he was the first thing after the dog. I highly recommend giving that a watch. I think he nailed it personally
@@johnreynolds7996 it didnt know where childs was, and it was imperative that all the humans get got. It had to keep up pretenses till it knew there were no more
@@AmericanGadfly Then why does the Blair-Thing reveal itself? Plus it is very obvious from MacReady's reaction to Childs appearance after all the mayhem that he believed Childs to be as dead as Garry and Nauls (neither of whom MacReady sees killed). But if MacReady were a Thing then why would the Blair-Thing attack him? It has to be assumed that one Thing can detect that what is in front of them is another Thing. That must be true because otherwise Blair computer simulation of the rate of spread would be laughably inaccurate. After all, Things would be attacking other Things left, right, and center believing them to be "uninfected". That final confrontation in the tunnel make NO sense if both the protagonist and antagonist are Things.
@@johnreynolds7996 i already explained to you why mcreedy would attack blaire if both of them are things. They dont know where chikds is and mcreedy has to keep up appearances until ALL humans are infected or dead. And blaire popped up because mcreedy was blowing all its shit up
Steve’s MGT The assimilation timeline goes like this The dog thing infects the person in the room that has the shadow on the wall which to me will always be Norris because of the hair style Split face absorbs Bennings Norris thing infects Palmer Norris/Palmer infects Blair Blair confronts Fuchs who lights himself on fire to avoid assimilation because the sound affect that appears with the shadow pops up again when Blair kills Garry Nauls sees Blair thing drag Garry off and is killed since we hear banging noises after Nauls wanders off in that direction Childs runs away to avoid confronting Blair after hearing him down in the generator room because he’s the person who was looking down at the staircase to the generator room because right after that Nauls sees him run out of the building and the power goes out the second after Childs runs away
The Dog-Thing assimilates Norris, because the shadow shows a polo-neck sweater, which is an item of clothing that only Norris wears. Norris-Thing must have assimilated Palmer just after all three of them return from the helicopter ride to the UFO (otherwise if it were Two Things + MacReady on that trip then it would have been Three Things making the return trip). Split-Face then infects Bennings, but is discovered mid-assimilation. Norris-Thing must have infected Palmer somewhere between the helicopter trip and Blair going bananas. One of them then picks up the dropped keys (when Bennings is infected) and sabotages the blood bank (before Blair goes bananas, because the keys are back on Garry's belt). NOTE: Palmer's assimilation is the hardest to pin down, since it has to be a time when BOTH Norris and Palmer are absent Both are present during the Bennings assimilation, so that can be ruled out. Only Norris is present during Blair's mental breakdown, so maybe Norris-Thing had already attacked Palmer and the Palmer-Thing was "recuperating". There doesn't appear to be any other opportunity from them on. I'm assuming that they go in pairs to take supplies to Blair, so all it would take is for Norris/Palmer to go together. Not convinced it was Blair that attempts to attack Fuchs. Could be any of those three. Once Norris Palmer and Windows are eliminated that leaves MacReady, Garry and Nauls to go to the tool shed, by which time Blair is definitely a Thing. Garry is killed first, then Nauls BUT note that Garry is NOT assimilated on the spot as Blair-Thing (a) knows MacReady is around the corner and (b) knows that MacReady will kill him if he takes too long by going all tentacle-like on Garry. So the Blair-Thing stays in Blair-form and simply kills Garry on the spot and then drags the corpse away. He then (presumably) does the same to Nauls. Childs wouldn't run away from a Blair-Thing. Childs is shown throughout the movie to be hot-headed, impulsive, and hyper-aggressive. Not the type to run away. I would think it is far more in keeping with the character to suggest he did exactly what he claimed he did i.e. he THOUGHT he saw Blair in the snowstorm and so he gets a rush of blood to the head and thinks to himself THIS ENDS NOW!!!!! and goes out chasing shadows.
@@johnreynolds7996 When Fuchs sees the shadow run past the door there’s a sound effect that comes with it which pops up again when Blair kills Garry so it’s most definitely Blair that runs past Fuchs and gets him to follow Blair
This is how u Kno childs was infected..
Thought i saw Blair, went after him.. I got lost in the storm?
Earlier Childs didn't want mac to come back in , and wanted to just let him freeze to death outside??
So why Chase Blair now?
1. Mac told you to stay here..and the guard the door at all cost..
2. Go outside in below freezing temperatures to chase a hunch? Very unlikely..
3. When Childs ask how will we make it? Mac responds .. mabye we shouldn't..
Childs goes on the defensive immediately.. As if he's concerned about his or the things survival.. When its obvious that all Hope in being rescued is minimal to none..
4. Asks again " So.. what will we do"?
Now mac has already answered this question.. " Mabye we Shouldn't"
So why reiterate the same Question again to him?
Because The Thing is worried about it's survival..
5. When Childs asks again.. This time Mac plays along..and says..
" Maybe we should just wait here , see what happens"
Mac has made it clear that no one is coming and he's ready to die.. the 1st time..
6. The J&B Bottle Mac never took a sip , he just casually handed it to childs.. Was it Scotch or Gasoline? Ethier way .. Doc Fuchs already told the camp to prepare thier own meals and not to drink after anyone.. Childs Ignores this to the very end.
As a matter a fact Childs doesn't even Question where mac has been?? Or suspect him to be infected at the end..
This is odd , The childs from earlier questioned and suspected everyone? What changed?
All excellent points except for one. Mac is literally about to take a sip from his bottle just before Childs shows up so I don’t think he tried to trick Childs. The fact that a 40 year old horror films still had people divided is a testament to how great a film it is. Thanks for taking the time to comment 👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾
@@stevesmgt That must mean Macready really didn't care anymore because he knew he was going to die.. Regardless of Doc fuchs wishes... like i stated..
That makes sense!
One point people miss many times is the conversation with Mac and Fuchs. People assume Mac told the rest. But we never see or hear him mention it to anyone. And then Fuchs dies so quickly after that conversation. Really think about that. Only Mac and Fuchs spoke about that. We can however assume Blaire knew this already. Because he was a biologist. But even that isn't certain, not even implied
Everything else seems to point to Childs though..
One thing against this theory is that Childs is depicted throughout the movie as a hot-head. Several characters mention that, and we see it several times.
So it would have been completely in keeping with his character for Childs to think he sees the Blair-Thing out in the snowstorm and just... get a rush of blood to the head.
Hot-damn, there he is, I'm gonna nail his sorry ass with this flamethrower!
So, yeah, it is VERY likely that Childs would go out chasing after shadows.
As for repeating the question, well, MacReady does the same thing with respect to the generator, when the power goes out he immediately assumes that the Blair-Thing has sabotaged it to kill them all. So he decides to torch the entire camp so that they take the Thing down with them.
Then they go into the generator room and MacReady be all Check The Generator, Garry...
Garry: It's gone, MacReady
MacReady: Can it be fixed?
Garry: It's GONE, MacReady.
Pardon? Hadn't MacReady already decided that he is going to torch the entire base to kill the Thing? What's this about seeing if the generator can be fixed?
Childs is doing the same in the end scene: mulling events out loud, looking for an angle, asking MacReady's opinion, because he's staring death in the face and he's trying to work out an "out".
As for the whisky bottle, well, MacReady was just about to swill out of it before he became aware that Childs is behind him. It was obviously Whisky. And from Childs' PoV what does it matter at this point in time if it was tainted or not? He knows he is going to freeze to death within the hour, which is well before anything in that bottle can get him.
And, yes, it is very clear that Childs is as suspicious of MacReady as the latter is suspicious of him. But note that Childs is toting a flamethrower, whereas MacReady is armed with a blanket. And note also that Childs doesn't get close to MacReady - he gives himself the space he would need to torch MacReady the moment he starts turning into a MacReady-Thing.
Look, to my mind the most telling reason why Childs is not a Thing is this: he asks MacReady if they are the last two survivors, and when he gets affirmation he DOESN'T turn into a Thing and assimilate the unarmed and helpless human that is sitting in front of him. Instead he sits down and discusses what a whacky day this has turned out to be.
That is - to say the least - a VERY un-Thing thing for Childs to do.
One of my favorite movies. I seen it as least 15 times.
🙌🏾🙌🏾💯
ONLY 15 lol!!!!
Thank you Steve and Alex for your comments of the Thing, one of my favorite horror movies, coincidentally I was watching the trailer 1 week ago in order to rewatch the movie by Halloween. Thank you gentlemen!
Thank you so much for your comment! We love this movie, I can watch it anytime
Yes, Norris (the guy who’s chest bursts open, chopping off the doctor’s hands with its bear-trap teeth) had a bad heart, and when the Thing took him over and perfectly imitated him, it also faithfully recreated his heart defect, which eventually caused Norris to suffer a heart attack for real during a high-stress moment. The Thing would have been happy to hide itself in a presumably “dead” body, but it couldn’t tolerate the electro-shocks from the defibrillator and was thus forced to reveal itself.
I like that idea! However what still baffles me is that in a previous scene Norris is shown holding his chest. At that point in the movie Norris should have already been replicated. So during that stressful dynamite scene was it actually having a heart attack or was it using the heart condition as a way to stop Mac from potentially killing them all??
This was always my impression i.e. the Norris-Thing reacted to the defibrillator shocks in exactly the same way it would if it was being deliberately attacked by Copper.
This is definitely my favorite horror movie. Nice video.
Great movies will ALWAYS be great! Thank you very much for your comment.
Really enjoyed your commentary. The Thing is one of my favorite movies.
Thank you so much, it’s a masterpiece of movie making!
Loved the synopsis guys!!! Excellent movie. I’ll absolutely be checking out more of yalls content
Thank you so much, hope to keep it coming!!!
I'd be like Windows - panicking and whining "Great!" in my best sniveling voice, and then when death looks me in the face I'd freeze up.
First off, I'll say what I said first time I saw the film: the guys in the helicopter are shooting at the dog. If I were the Americans, especially in the isolation of Antarctica, and I saw them doing that, I'd assume the animal had some virus or something, for the guys to be chasing it so desperately. I'd have shot it myself before it got close. lol but then we'd have no movie....
Outstanding review!!!!
Gracias 🙏🏾
I think The Thing is John Carpenter's best movie out of his collection of pictures. After 41 years and counting, movie buffs and horror-sci-fi, fans are still discussing the movie's greatness as a whole as well as the famous, mysterious & ambiguous ending. Is The Thing Childs or MacReady??? 🤔 Carpenter said, one of them is the Thing, back in 2012 interview. I believe it's Childs. Maybe this is a stretch, but, the poster of The Thing that they used since the movie came out in 82' to date, it's physique looks like Childs aka David Keith and he's wearing a dark blue winter bomber jacket. Hmmm??? 🤔
Hmmmm indeed!!! This movie is and will always be a masterpiece…. Thanks for the comment 👍🏾
You're absolutely correct@@anothermovienerd
Very True, wouldn't be much of a movie lol@@anothermovienerd
I saw this movie as a kid in the 80's, it scared me so badly and on a level that no other movie has, in fact I actually think it traumatized me, so much so it was a long time before i could watch it again. it was on vhs back then and movies were more scary on vhs because you couldn't see every detail so clearly, also the actors were just like real people, no super pretty hollywood faces plus the way it was filmed was almost like a documentary with no obvious hero type, no happy ending and dripping with relentless tension and paranoia. Every layer of this film is surgically designed to get to you psychologically and scare you shitless. It even turned mans best friend against you and gave you nothing to hang on to. I do wonder if it was a victim of its own effectiveness and people just couldn't handle it which meant they didn't appreciate how perfect the movie was at doing what it was designed to do, and thats probably a big part of why it was critically panned, Alien came out in 1977 and that did well so it wasn't like people werent ready for a sci-fi horror. I know a lot of people blame the success of E.T and that being in the zeitgeist at the time as the reason why The Thing was hated and i'm sure that didn't help either.
Couldn't have said it better myself!!!!!
Damn this is long...hell ya
🤣🤣🤣 we try to keep it short but it never works!
the movie made me hungry for crab legs. : )
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Subbed!
I saw "The Thing" when it first came out in the theatre, and I was not impressed. From the 2nd time I saw it until about the 20th time I watched it, it is my favorite film of all time. I never heard anybody talk about if neither Childs or McReady are the Thing, and they both are heroes for sacrificing their lives, for the survival of mankind. Just another rabbit-hole to fall down that makes me want to watch it again right now.
Yeah, I’ve always loved it. FYI I didn’t get to talk about in the video but the TV edit for this film is a whole different movie. Me and Alex will have to revisit this one some day!
A few issues arise around the bottle. One that always got me with Mac was his conversation with Fuchs, many people seem to assume everyone else was somehow told about the discovery of how it can transmit. When it was ONLY mac an fuchs that spoke about it. Then with Fuchs dying so quickly afterwards. Nobody else was told or spoke about it. Only Mac was the person who knew about that issue
People get thrown off and ASSUME the rest of the camp knew because of a clever move by Carpenter. He shows a scene with Blaire in that room he's locked up in, eating from a can. I think people them assume he knows about the transmission issue. But they never realise nobody else spoke about the issue other than Mac and Fuchs.. 😆
Another issue that always bothered me is WHY Mac takes a sip of the bottle he gives to Blaire hold up in the cabin. I think Carpenter makes us assume that's what drinkers would do, also showing us at the start after the dog jumps up on bennings, mac hands him the bottle of J&B, so it goes unquestioned. But i've always found it important, it's the way Blaire is staring at it, and Carpenter draws the camera to focus on him doing it..
This movie will be talked about forever! Gina have to talk about this very comment in our follow up video 👍🏾👍🏾
Note also that Fuchs didn't come up with that idea. He got it from reading Blair's notes, and Blair was insane at that point.
There is actually no evidence presented in the movie that this was anything other than the crazy notion from a mentally-unstable Blair, whereas everything we do see tells us that assimilation is a violent, intrusive and bloody process. It is indisputable that Blair didn't tell anyone, because Fuch's only found out by reading the notes.
I'd be confident that Fuchs didn't told anyone but MacReady, and there is no evidence that MacReady had ANY time to rely that warning to ANYONE before all hell broke loose with Norris and then Palmer being revealed to be Things. Events became pretty whacky from that point.
“The Thing” is suspicion, mistrust, and paranoia personified! It is the story of desperate men, isolated and hopelessly trapped in the middle of nowhere, caught up in a terrifying life-and-death battle with an inhuman enemy, in which the fate of the entire world hangs in the balance. What would you do?
GUYS, GUYS, the first one to be turned in the U.S. camp was the Pothead, the dog turned him! The dog was trying to blend in. Like Clark said, just wondering around camp. Then the real dogs blew his cover. Thats when he had to fight.
Palmer/The Thing stayed hidden until the blood test.
Remember him and Childs, I think were roommates. The shadow had big hair. Watch how the shadow moved. How he turned and looked, oh its just a dog. Not a care in the world. Like someone thats high all the time. (chill-your word) Anyone else would have said dog get the hell out my room. (All U.S. dogs were locked in the kennel) That was Palmer's underwear Nauls found in his kitchen. Palmer/The Thing WAS doing your, "What if question?" Without the blood test he would have stayed chill until the summer. Regardless what was happening around him. It was him, because when I was a teen. I thought Childs got it from him. (Puff, Puff, Pass)
The earring does not clear Childs. If Childs was turned it would just put on his earring. It has all your memories. (Take the earring off dead Childs)
Like The Thing/Creature wore the real Blair's eyeglasses.
Your comment = 🤯🤯🤯🤯 (my brain) 🤣🤣 you make a very convincing argument and honestly I think you may have nailed it! This movie and the potential solutions have taken on a life of they’re own. Thanks for the comment!
The person in the shadow is wearing a polo-neck. Palmer doesn't wear that, but Norris does. It is far more likely to be Norris.
(and, no, we see the shadow turn to look at the dog, but then the scene cuts IMMEDIATELY)
Note that we later see Palmer alone with Childs, yet Childs was not assimilated. Which, again, suggests that Norris was the human-mimicked Thing at that point.
Note also that it is Norris, Palmer and MacReady who take the second helicopter trip, so if Palmer were already a Thing then the two of them could have assimilated MacReady.
I'm guessing that Norris attacks Palmer sometime between the botched assimilation of Bennings and Blairs meltdown in the Communications room.
No, the earring does not clear Childs, but it is much more suggestive than you claim: it's an earring, and while a Thing retains the memory of its victim how often, really, does anyone give any thought to a stud in their ear? It is a purely cosmetic bit of jewelry, unlike Blair's glasses (a Thing will mimic Blair's bad eyesight and so will need to put on those specs)
Man I wish we saw this comment before we recorded our follow-up video, thanks!@@johnreynolds7996
Childs was definitely human if you use logic.
Blair was infected and in human form when it absorbed and killed Gary, then combined with Gary it took Nauls when he wondered off without a weapon. The final battle scene happens and then Macready and Childs meet outside.
Childs was safe via the bloodtest when he waited outside the tunnel with the flamethrower.
So Blair as the thing would have had to catch Childs off guard first and then go back to the tunnel and finish the rest off, the odds are unlikeky Childs got overpowered since his character was younger and more fit, and had a weapon, also he was still holding the flamethower as proof in the end, which is what a human would do, the odds he got overpowered by a middle aged man and then picked up the flamethrower again as the thing makes no sense.
Also it would have just fried Macready once it realized he was the only one remaining and eliminated its final threat, then froze and waited for the rescue team and start the whole process again.
If anything Macready could have been the thing, since he seemed to convince Childs not to fry him, then it could just freeze to death with Childs and wait for the rescue team.
It was probably neither of them and they were both ready to die in all likelihood, but the idea of Childs letting Macready as the alien live is something fun and ironic to speculate since he had not trusted him all movie.
These theories are never ending 🤣🤣 the New Rockstars Deep Dive channel just did this yesterday, it’s a really good watch. They believe and potentially prove that Childs is a thing! th-cam.com/video/hF2hHhVy9aU/w-d-xo.htmlsi=TVLeAo2t-OEsJbr-
Note that the Palmer-Thing was able to run amok because both MacReady and Windows didn't know how to use the flamethrower correctly. Childs was the expert, which is why they called upon him to torch the Dog-Thing in the kennel.
So, yeah, in the third act they put Childs in charge of guarding the camp, he is armed with a weapon that can make short work of a Thing, and he is under very strict instructions to torch Blair the moment Childs catches sight of him. He is also holed up in an area that has one wall protecting him, and no easy way to sneak up on him.
Hard to see the Blair-Thing taking him by surprise.
And you are correct: a Childs-Thing would only hesitate to attack MacReady if there were any eye-witnesses around, but Childs has already asked and received affirmation from MacReady that it was just the two of them. So a Childs-Thing has no reason to just sit down and talk with MacReady when the alternative is to attack and assimilate the last human within hundreds of miles.
That way two Things would freeze and wait for a rescue team to come along and thaw them out.
But that didn't happen, so the logical conclusion is that Childs is not a Thing.
Note: MacReady can't be the Thing, since
a) he passed the blood test
b) from then on was constantly with Garry and Nauls until
c) the final confrontation between MacReady and the Blair-Monster and
d) the Blair-monster was killed in that confrontation
At which point there were no Things left to assimilate him.
And even if there were (there isn't) the problem remains that MacReady is wearing the same clothes (including silly hat) all the way from the blood test scene to the final scene with Childs - even though we know that being assimilated tears your clothing to shreds.
It faked the heart attack...I think it was already Palmer AND Norris at that point.
The sign of a good movie = never ending rabbit holes 🤣🤣
Definitely 2 creatures at that time. The dynamite was the biggest threat at the time so a distraction was needed.
@@stevesmgt I played The Thing game on the PS1. I'm sure Carpenter was involved, he loves videogames, and I'm pretty sure that it confirms both MacReady and Childs were human. You discover Childs frozen and MacReady missing.
Ah, now I need to go and check that out!!!
The heart attack was real, because Norris-Thing winces several times when there was no need for it to play-act.
But, yes, Norris-Thing had already attacked Palmer by then.
It couldn't have been much earlier since Norris and Palmer were the two who accompanied MacReady to the UFO site. If they were both Things at that point then they could have assimilated MacReady with ease and then all three could then have taken the chopper to the Norwegian camp and carried out they next move in perfect safety.
And note this: Palmer knows how to fly a chopper , so a Palmer-Thing could have stolen the chopper and made a solo-escape that way. Blair takes that option away by taking the axe to it, so Palmer must have been assimilated either just before or just after Blair's meltdown (and, let's note, Blair's meltdown was the single MVP act of the movie because it took out the chopper).
So after the second helicopter trip, but before Norris-Thing's heart attack. PROBABLY after Bennings was attacked (Palmer and Norris are both present in that scene) and MOST LIKELY just before Blair's meltdown in the Comms Room (note that Norris is there, but Palmer isn't)
Childs had a different jacket on at the end.
Yeah that blew my mind when I noticed
No, he doesn't, as any budgerigar breeder would tell you.
Childs coat is Blue, and so in the daylight it looks.... Blue.
But the last scene isn't in daylight: it is lit by the burning camp, which is putting out a yellow glow.
And as any budgie-breeder will tell you: Blue + Yellow = Green.
There is actually a youtube video where someone takes the BlueRay footage and color-corrects it for the yellow light source.
They did that and Child's coat turned.... Blue.
It's the same coat.
I just subbed
✊🏾✊🏾 thanks!
Cable? .....You guys don't know what scary is! I saw this film in en mostly empty theater on a freezing night in Finland and it scared the shit out of me despite the fact that I was an experienced horror movie fan. i.ve seen it many times on Blu ray and there's no comparison - it 's way scarier on the big screen in dark theater.
I could only imagine 🤣🤣
Obviously Childs and MacReady are both human. Obviously, they both parish in the cold. We just don't see that part. Why? Because the story ends before that happens... The narrative of this film is tightly self-contained. It wraps itself up nicely and neatly, while seeming to be loose-ended... What is the situation at the end of the movie? The Thing is destroyed. The camp is destroyed. MacReadys tape is destroyed. And the two men who know about the Thing are about 20 minutes away from freezing to death... when the rescue team comes they will find no evidence. No trace that this event took place. Just a burned up camp and two dead bodies. The only ones who know are us, the audience.
This was literally my thought process for the ending of this movie for most of my life, until I allowed theories to enter my brain a few years ago 🤦🏾♂️🤦🏾♂️ thanks for your comment!
@@stevesmgt The great thing about this film is that it is ambiguous enough to allow for all sorts of wild theories.
Absolutely 💯
Childs still has his earing in the final scene. Pause and you'll see it in his right ear. Confirmed he has a loop earing in his right ear. Childs is human.
🤯 now i gotta go back and look 👀
After the norwegian camp and then this camp im sure it figured out putting an earring back in
But i agree, childs is human.
@@AmericanGadfly The Thing in the Norwegian camp hadn't worked it out, which is why it ended up torched in the tractor. And the Dog-Thing that escaped the Norwegian camp hadn't witnessed that event, so how was it to know that this was something that needed to be done?
A Thing is a perfect copy of a human, even down to its memories and thoughts. And if you have an erring how often during a normal day do you give any thought to your erring?
@@johnreynolds7996 youre going 9ff the prequel. When the original was made the prequel didnt exist so you cant really say for sure what it does or doesnt know at the beginning of the original. I have to assume its not stupid.
@@AmericanGadfly I don't need the prequel for the core of what I was saying: A Thing should give no more thought to an ear stud than the human it is mimicking. As in: none.
Not true of glasses, because a Thing is going to mimic the poor eyesight of its victim, so it has a reminder to pick up the glasses and put them on.
Why didnt yall bring up the giant ice cube they found!!???
I think we got lost in our own review 🤣🤣🤣
A young man named 2dimm did a breakdown recently showing that not only was Maccreedy a thing, he was the first thing after the dog. I highly recommend giving that a watch. I think he nailed it personally
Thanks I’ll have to look into it, I’m about to go on a trip so I s hold have some spare time to check it out 👍🏾
So why would a MacReady-Thing keep up the pretense in the tunnel when it is confronted by the Blair-Thing? Who is it trying to impress at that point?
@@johnreynolds7996 it didnt know where childs was, and it was imperative that all the humans get got. It had to keep up pretenses till it knew there were no more
@@AmericanGadfly Then why does the Blair-Thing reveal itself?
Plus it is very obvious from MacReady's reaction to Childs appearance after all the mayhem that he believed Childs to be as dead as Garry and Nauls (neither of whom MacReady sees killed).
But if MacReady were a Thing then why would the Blair-Thing attack him?
It has to be assumed that one Thing can detect that what is in front of them is another Thing.
That must be true because otherwise Blair computer simulation of the rate of spread would be laughably inaccurate.
After all, Things would be attacking other Things left, right, and center believing them to be "uninfected".
That final confrontation in the tunnel make NO sense if both the protagonist and antagonist are Things.
@@johnreynolds7996 i already explained to you why mcreedy would attack blaire if both of them are things. They dont know where chikds is and mcreedy has to keep up appearances until ALL humans are infected or dead.
And blaire popped up because mcreedy was blowing all its shit up
So if Palmer was the pothead, was the Palmer-Thing smoking pot?
Aliens get high too 🤣🤣
Palmer wasn't assimilated until later.
Steve’s MGT
The assimilation timeline goes like this
The dog thing infects the person in the room that has the shadow on the wall which to me will always be Norris because of the hair style
Split face absorbs Bennings
Norris thing infects Palmer
Norris/Palmer infects Blair
Blair confronts Fuchs who lights himself on fire to avoid assimilation because the sound affect that appears with the shadow pops up again when Blair kills Garry
Nauls sees Blair thing drag Garry off and is killed since we hear banging noises after Nauls wanders off in that direction
Childs runs away to avoid confronting Blair after hearing him down in the generator room because he’s the person who was looking down at the staircase to the generator room because right after that Nauls sees him run out of the building and the power goes out the second after Childs runs away
Noted! Will have to talk about this in our follow up video, thanks 🙏🏾
The Dog-Thing assimilates Norris, because the shadow shows a polo-neck sweater, which is an item of clothing that only Norris wears.
Norris-Thing must have assimilated Palmer just after all three of them return from the helicopter ride to the UFO (otherwise if it were Two Things + MacReady on that trip then it would have been Three Things making the return trip).
Split-Face then infects Bennings, but is discovered mid-assimilation.
Norris-Thing must have infected Palmer somewhere between the helicopter trip and Blair going bananas.
One of them then picks up the dropped keys (when Bennings is infected) and sabotages the blood bank (before Blair goes bananas, because the keys are back on Garry's belt).
NOTE: Palmer's assimilation is the hardest to pin down, since it has to be a time when BOTH Norris and Palmer are absent
Both are present during the Bennings assimilation, so that can be ruled out.
Only Norris is present during Blair's mental breakdown, so maybe Norris-Thing had already attacked Palmer and the Palmer-Thing was "recuperating".
There doesn't appear to be any other opportunity from them on.
I'm assuming that they go in pairs to take supplies to Blair, so all it would take is for Norris/Palmer to go together.
Not convinced it was Blair that attempts to attack Fuchs. Could be any of those three.
Once Norris Palmer and Windows are eliminated that leaves MacReady, Garry and Nauls to go to the tool shed, by which time Blair is definitely a Thing.
Garry is killed first, then Nauls
BUT note that Garry is NOT assimilated on the spot as Blair-Thing (a) knows MacReady is around the corner and (b) knows that MacReady will kill him if he takes too long by going all tentacle-like on Garry. So the Blair-Thing stays in Blair-form and simply kills Garry on the spot and then drags the corpse away. He then (presumably) does the same to Nauls.
Childs wouldn't run away from a Blair-Thing. Childs is shown throughout the movie to be hot-headed, impulsive, and hyper-aggressive. Not the type to run away. I would think it is far more in keeping with the character to suggest he did exactly what he claimed he did i.e. he THOUGHT he saw Blair in the snowstorm and so he gets a rush of blood to the head and thinks to himself THIS ENDS NOW!!!!! and goes out chasing shadows.
@@johnreynolds7996
When Fuchs sees the shadow run past the door there’s a sound effect that comes with it which pops up again when Blair kills Garry so it’s most definitely Blair that runs past Fuchs and gets him to follow Blair
@@davidgarrido5506 Or it is just the generic sound effect to gee up the audience.
@@johnreynolds7996
No if it was something like that then the movie wouldn’t play it twice
1st with the shadow and then again when Blair kills Garry
What makes me angry 2011 the thing the makers of the movie they did it practical effects like 1982 one but studio interference wanted in full CG
Omg I know, it’s so so infuriating 😡😡
I’m always a little jealous of ya’ll who get scared when watching movies 😅
🤣🤣
'Promo SM' 🌈