What makes the thing an actually scary horror movie is because the protagonists can be smart and still get killed due to chance or just being outmaneuvered. A lot of horror movies rely on dumb decisions alone for people to get killed when the scariest thing is being very careful and still dying horribly.
This is massive problem that separates people who just so happen to have directed/written movies and great directors/writers. Don’t assume your audience needs help following. *spoilers up ahead* No country for old men is one of the best movies I’ve ever seen *last spoiler warning for real* and the protagonist is a hardened veteran used to hunting and very resourceful. Throughout the movie you can’t help but think how clever his moves are or the fact you wouldn’t have thought of that. He still dies.
To fix this I would first have to give up any chance of my own survival. Then I would radio to the world that everyone is dying from small pox. Not just any small pox, but an air strain so virulent that most of us died in days. While taking all the appropriate protective measures. Then explain all the proper and extreme measures we took. Then we still died. Then we would recommend a nuke.
The thing about The Thing in The Thing and The Thing but not The Thing is that The Thing is really good at doing the thing to hide its identity as The Thing.
I gotchu fam. The quickest way to win this. Everyone stands together far away from each other, all armed with molotovs. Each person goes around the room cutting themselves and testing their own blood. If someone refuses or fails the test, wreck them.
@@some-one-else Maybe they wouldn't be able to. If a human cuts themselves the blood hisses. If a Thing cuts themselves the blood reacts in self preservation. If the Thing could lie and somehow fake the blood test then it wouldn't have worked in the movie.
This is one of the only movies where a pocket nuke is ideal. Kill everyone and everything. Full scorched earth. The radiation will keep rescue teams away too.
You would have to explain the need to do so to the world powers extinction level situation at the base. But if the Thing gets wind of this it will run into the wilderness to freeze so it can survive.
@@hurmangaines7858 a barrage of thermobaric warheads would do the same as a nuke and be relatively under the radar. Thermobaric weapons are the only weapons apart from nukes that can vaporise humans.
I don't think there is anyway you could convince the government of any nuclear armed nation in the early 80's to drop a nuke and not come shoveling around later to potentially uncover the alien IF it survived.
@@FallingPicturesProductions And I don't know how quickly a country like America could even agree to even drop a bomb when there's not even a war going on, not to mention how this would be impacted by the Antarctic Treaty.
The thing can’t replicate inorganic material, yes? What if they enforced a strict policy where everyone must wear full body covering clothes at all times? I believe this combined with the three people strategy could work. If the Thing wanted to infect someone, it would have to take off both the clothes covering it and the person it wanted to infect. Therefore, enforce a rule where everyone must wear them at all times, and burn anyone who tries to take their’s or someone else’s off.
seeing as it can replicate fur it wouldnt surprise me if it could replicate clothing, i assume things like metal or fully inorganic textiles like nylon are beyond it though
@@FantasmaNaranja well its seen to change clothes in the film when it destroys clothes killing someone, so I don't think it can replicate all clothing, maybe just some
It kills you, _then_ takes your clothes. Having three-person groups only works if it can't get two people at the time, which, um, have you seen how big it can get? 🤨
My solution would be to, at the very least, TRY and talk to it. The Thing is intelligent, and it's able to understand the language of those it copies, so why not communicate? Of course, have flamethrowers at the ready in case conversation goes south, but it's honestly surprising that no one in the OG film ever tried that. Get everyone in the room together and say "hey alien let's just talk. Clearly you can think and maybe we could find a solution where no one has to die?" Especially since it seemed the Thing was on Earth by complete accident. Maybe it just wants to go home or something.
This is at the very least worth a try. And if it mimicking a human then maybe it has the emotions that come with and therefore the empathy? Edit: Especially if it's mimicking the brain since emotions are just chemicals in the brain.
My issue with that is that it's not wanting to communicate. It's whole bit is to spread by any means necessary. I mean how likely are you going to go "Hi. My name is Bob. And I really don't want to be eaten. Nice to meet you."? One can surmise that it's a conqueror of worlds. Very intelligent yet very single minded.
@@FallenAngelHiroko I don't think it's exactly a world conqueror. It seemed more like it just wanted to get home, in my opinion at least. Regardless, I think communication with a valid path to try.
In the movies whenever the thing is outed it tries to kill humans instantly. In 1981 movie it could make sense as after all the first time humans saw it morph a dog they tried to kill it, but after the prequel we know the alien attacked first. It could be that he believed the humans put it in the ice, but it's unlikely because it is smart and through interaction/memory steals with humans it should realise that's not the case. So TLDR I dont think the thing wants to communicate at all
Since the thing cannot mimic non organic materials, the only other way i can imagine of keeping track of it is to force everyone to surgically add a piece of metal into their bodies and keep metal detectors handy, although that is just a much worse version of the blood tests again, but hey, it's something. EDIT: I managed to think of another one, but it's even more impractical You'd have to capture a piece of the thing and keep it in an isolated room/cage to use as a "thing sensor", hurting the captive to check if any other "pieces" of the thing reacts, the easiest ways would probably be heating the room/cage to the point where it would scald/burn the thing, or even worse use gas. Yes, I know, extremely impratical.
@Llama the idea i had is if they find a dead body or suspect someone has been replaced, then they use the metal detector, although I dont know the exact shape-shift powers of the thing, so maybe it could just eat a piece of metal or carry it arround with it? I was just trying to come up with ANYTHING at all that could also help in this situation, and i believe the blood test from the film is indeed still the best option, and my ideas are slightly helpful at best and useless at worst.
It's like the first time, when "JUST NUKE EM LOL" actually makes sense. I mean, you have an alien ship research facility and government support, having access to some emergency nukes is totally possible here, and it is a way to guarantee burning all of the thing instances.
It's not a research station for aliens, it's a regular one than just so happens to find an alien, so no emergency nukes. Contacting the government would probably result in them trying to capture the Thing and study it.
If The Thing is to a populated area it would impossible to beat. Considering you wouldn't know what The Thing was until it got into close proximity before it struck. And we have to be honest most people wouldn't have the leadership skills McCready or old girl from The Thing the prequel.
The Thing would also be able to abuse the fuck out of insects and birds. Antarctica is literally the only place that humankind has a leg up against it because there's almost no other organic vector for it to escape with unless it finds Penguins/seals/migratory arctic birds.
“Burn it. Burn it all! Lean *into* arson! It’s a good thing!” And “The only cost is *everyone’s lives* (a relatively small price to pay)” had me fucking rolling!
one by one, bring them into a room. suddenly, while they are looking at you, pull out the flame thrower and point it at them, say "I know you are the thing" if it is the real one, it will try to survive, where you can kill it. the only problem is that if you can't use the method twice, and if the thing sees you do this it might get suspicions
@@obi501 yea in my comment I mentioned it, and since so many flaws have been discovered, it would probably just be a simple method that would be good to try out
What if it says "i'm not"? Since the ppl who are not it would say they are not it, or panic cuz ur pointing a weapon at them. And the alien would also either say they're not it so you don't kill them, or panic cuz you know. Either way the reaction between real ppl and the alien would be similar.
Lacking further knowledge, we'd need a way to isolate the thing long enough to find a further counter-measure. Use the 3-man rule for that effect. Assign 2 different teams to testing the same thing so hopefully the thing isn't in both. From its known abilities as a colonial organism, it seems disparate cells lack the same intelligence, so hopefully this will work for long enough. In principle, given the cell's reaction to other stimuli, there should exist other stimuli that can kill it besides heat. Systemic examination may find one that affects it but not human. It's possible that the human body could tolerate higher temps, at least for a short time, than the thing's cells. In which case we need to raise the ambient temperature to the limits of human endurance, say 150 degrees farenheit, and hope that's enough. Wood burns at 451 farenheit, which iirc seems to be enough, while 99 F, ie human body temperature, is not. One can only hope 150 is sufficient. Gradually increase from there if not. In principle a human should be able to tolerate up to 200 F for short periods. Rig up a furnace to 'hot house' a heavily insulated room and gather everyone there. Hopefully this will show results. My best non-heat guess would be solvents. I'd start with acetone, as it's readily available in most laboratory settings, including in Antarctica. If that fails, diluted bleach is another that's handy. Human skin consists primarily of dead cells, but ALL of the Thing's cells are alive. A human should be able to tolerate a higher degree of exposure than the Thing. Rig the sprinkler system (assuming there is one... I've not seen the movies I'm afraid) to spray the solvent over the entire base. Assuming the human either dissolve or come out clean, evacuate and burn the building.
There is the sprinkler system so I guess this could work either Adam (prequel) or Fuchs (82 version) could do that but we don't know if acid could actually kill it besides just revealing it.
@@greenherb3229 I mean presumably a powerful enough acid could, the question is whether it would also kill the humans. And whether it would be available. Bleach and acetone are likely to be at the base, but anything stronger probably wouldn't.
@@professorhaystacks6606 yeah that's the problem, acid may not work or at least we don't have strong enough acidic compounds to even work seeing we aren't going by "Halt! Who goes there?" logic which also includes electricity as a way to kill it and the crew literally tearing The Thing apart with their bare hands all while grinning.
I think that the thing is actually unbeatable in that scenario, since it can detach small pieces of itself, you could never be sure to have burned all of it; the only option (outside of the scenario) would be to call help, and say that all members of the base are affected by an unkown pathogen, that makes people behave very aggressively, this way anyone coming to investigate would both wear protective gear, and come prepared to defend against physical assaults; once it becomes all clear, and the evidence is overwealming, it would be possible to spread radioactive compounds on the base and its sourroundings, so that any THING-cell would die because of the radiations
@@theomnissiah-9120 bad idea. the thing loses intelligence as it loses body mass. That's why the blood test works, each blood cell runs away. The loose parts would just attack people.
If the Thing reacts to heat, why not keep hot metal by entrances to all locations and make it a rule to always touch it upon entering or leaving? Small burns on the hand or arm are a small price to pay.
Because the Thing is smart and has self control. The blood test works because just few cells on themselves are not smart and don't know they are been tested.
I like how the solution is to do the opposite of what you would normally do in a disaster setting: go on a psychotic rampage, destroying any vehicles, equipment, and animals in your warpath, before setting everything on fire.
I mean, if they're working for the American government, maybe calling in an nuclear strike is actually possible? (though in all honesty they may not take the threat seriously, take too long or ignore the advice and send vehicle backup, the opposite of what you want)
I would suggest 'doubling down' on using the cold to your advantage. While being frozen isn't fatal to the Thing, it was able to immobilize the creature previously. So stay in parties of three and perform a Test when possible, while limited the heat present on the base. The Thing will have to play along or be forced back into hibernation on your terms.
What I think would've been best is, during the testing scene, have everyone locked locked different rooms that have kerosene on the floor. Than when you test them, if they are negative let them out, but if they are positive just toss in a lit match. I think this would solve the problem of them being together. Macready would still test himself infront of the others than lock them away.
I would put a heated glass tubes full of lithium, sodium, potassium, rubidium, or cesium on everyone because when heated and they’re exposed to oxygen they will combust. So if someone’s attacked the glass will break being exposed to oxygen and burning both the thing and the person who was attacked up stopping the spread.
Small problem with that, why would an antarctic research base have pure cesium? It's one of the most reactive elements and isn't really used in a non-compound form outside of labs
Did you know, that when MacReady was leaving the voice recording (Nobody trusts anybody now), there was somebody hiding behind the door in the room with him. You can see the door move behind him.
Man I love your videos so much. I really enjoy the “how to beat” category of vids on TH-cam and IMO yours are the best ones because you actually come out with these solid tactics 🙌🏼🙌🏼 keep it up man your content is GREAT
I have to say this is one of my favorite movies, the enemy is extremely difficult and powerful, yet the human characters actually are pretty intelligent and find way to fight it. I do hate the dumb character cliche that other movies have in this time period
Im glad you finally got around to making your The Thing video! I was very excited when you mentioned it to me in the comments section a while ago. Keep up the good work Film Herald!
• 4:30 - I'm pretty sure the game is canonical (and takes place some indeterminate amount of time after the 1982 movie, and confirms that MacReady wasn't a Thing-I don't recall what, if anything it says about Childs). • 9:38 - Can the Thing reproduce non-genetic modifications like scars or amputations? 🤔
A possible way to beat the thing would be to disrupt it's ability to communicate with itself and other assimilations. This would involve a lot of trial and error and wouldbe difficult to test, but it could potentially cripple it enough so it wouldn't be able to spread. This is just a guess, but exposing it to a high amount of radiation might damage the cells enough so that they wouldn't be able to communicate with each other, and by extension, manipulate it's body. Cancer is already deadly to humans and curing it is a dice roll. Imagine the damage it could do to a colony of cells that would have to perform mitosis countless times to grow it's extra appendages.
I appreciate the amount of time and effort put into your videos. I don’t mind the upload schedule because I am always looking forward to your next video!
One way you could beat the thing is to do go to an isolated part of the base (like a hangar or shack) along with some of the people you have tested and proved to be human. there you can all use a pistol to fire off bullets in the amount of people you have,including yourself. this might trick the alien into thinking most of the humans have commited suicide,and then you simply wait it out for the alien to go into hibernation. whilst hibernating. you could dispose of the alien with either the flamethrower or if you live near the coastal edge of antarctica,you could use a boat to bring the hibernating alien into the ocean and dump the thing over the edge. since it is encased in ice whilst hibernating,the alien would most likely sink to the ocean floor,where the most it could do is assimilate fish,or if your lucky the alien may not be able to breath under water. this would be a much more permanent way of getting rid of it,but it is incredibly risky because it might be able to wake up during transport. especially if it wakes up on the boat,then it could kill the people on the ship and there would be a situation like jurassic park: the lost world. but even if it does wake up,you can go with the flamethrower as a backup option.
If The Thing tries to go back into hibernation wouldn't another solution be to let it freeze, but out a block of ice with it inside, either dump it somewhere deep it can't crawl out of fast enough or put it inside something that can easily heated, like an oil drum, and then just essentially cook it to death? Hell you can probably just lock it in an industrial oven or a kiln of some sort.
Everyone agrees: you each take turns getting locked in a room while everyone else tests your blood. If you pass, you're let out and the event is repeated with the next person. It's so flawless, the thing will have to reveal itself as soon as everyone agrees, before anyone even gets a chance to get locked in.
Thing seems to out itself at the first sign of anything that could hurt it (hot wire in the blood, using a defibrillator on it, etc). So, just heat up a piece of metal and start branding folks, the moment it makes contact it'll try to attack though, so you'll need to be ready with some fire.
this might not be true, as the needle used to extract the blood could be seen as a threat as the skin cells are damaged and we can conclude that the cells are just multiple cells to compound a being
Fire is likely not the only way to kill the Thing, but was the only method they had in abundance at the antarctic bases. You could take a cue from the 50s film and use huge amounts of current to fry it. Heck, in the 82 version its how they got the blood samples to react, as the Things cells reacted to the current like a very real threat. Very caustic chemicals like lye or acids could likely do it too. Anything that can kill every cell in an organism would likely also work on the Thing. So a device that might actually seriously stymie the Thing for a bit (but likely not kill it) would be a taser, especially if you can goose the juice to beyond the manufacturer's maximum. Not something that was available in 82 but might be more available if the scenario took place nowadays. It could definitely give a human crew more of a chance. Also, the gradual microbial infection method likely does NOT work on living targets, I'm guessing because of active immune systems. In the prequel, she took samples from a dead subject, not a living one. If the microbial infection method worked, then the Thing would just have to explode itself as soon as everyone was gathered in one room, infecting everyone at once with a thousand spatters of blood. Instead, it had to stalk and trick and attack them individually.
Hi Film Herald I rarely commeny on anything on youtube BUT i must come forward and say you are my fav youtuber and I wish you the best of luck. Sincerily, a fan
Side note about the blood test, The reason mac's flamethrower didn't work was because he dropped it on its muzzle. th-cam.com/video/m6shktwDwzM/w-d-xo.html
The only way I would improve on the test is to test 3 volunteers and have them do it with everyone else tied in separate rooms. Once someone is clear, you open the door to free them and arm them. The second you find out who the thing is, you take as many armed people as you can to the small room you cornered it in and fight it, leaving one to free and inform the others of who it is. It's not a bulletproof plan but I don't think there is one.
There is a song in spanish called "El quinto teletubi" (the fifth teletubbie). From a peruvian rock band called "Los Chabelos" We have been talking about the fifth teletubbie for over 20 years now.
Thank you so much for doing The Thing, it's my all-time favorite horror movie, the execution, the characters, and the effects place it leagues above anything else I've watched. And honestly, the best solution would be to try to radio the military, explain the situation, and get them to drop a nuke on the base, but idk if they'd be willing to since it might spark WWIII. That's the absolute best solution I can think of though.
I'd recommend having notes, journals, photos/videos, and other such evidence around, so that if it does come down to a nuclear option, the investigators can know what to look out for.
There's a Japanese version of The Thing except it's not alien but supernatural (created by Junji Ito) - her name is Tomie Kawakami and she basically lives as a human being among others in the towns and cities of Japan
the original novel is hilarious because instead of trying to build a spaceship the thing tries to build an anti-gravity device, so that it can - in one long jump - cross the ocean and get to civilization.
I’ve got an idea. If the thing really wants to refreeze itself, let it! Let it freeze itself, then, cut out the block it is in, lock the block of ice in a secure closed location, then torch the fucker once it thaws. Or better, just leave it there and wait until the government arrives so they can take care of it.
Since the thing can cut itself apart and multiply into more things, then the best solution would be to destroy the facility and the area around in order to best minimize the chance of it escaping. However this would require lots of fire or explosives which the group may not have enough of.
You want a better solution? Well similar to the suicide pact, it's just... A nuke. Now, hear me out - calling for a team to obliterate the entire base (nuke or airstrike, anything to that effect) means that any and every instance of The Thing is disintegrated, and no miscount or 'maybe there's a hand monster in another room' is involved. Plus, it can be done from the air so The Thing can't latch onto a rescue team.
5:56 i mean it’s a spacecraft and it looks like snow on top (didn’t see the movie, don’t know what the scene looks like) so it should be easily able to go break through it …… maybe
Maybe you could lock everybody in separate rooms to do the blood test, or have everybody burn themselves just enough for the thing to react, say a candle, or match sure it would hurt everyone but once it reveals itself you light it up
Store canned food, save some radio equipment, blow the base (aside from a small hub) blood test everyone, flame throwers and blood tests til help arrives, then blow everything when leaving. Boom there ya go.
I didin't watch the films throughly but here it goes; Give everyone a single earring and tell them to wear it at all times, just to make it more apparent that they are wearing it attach a pice of sting to it and tie someting at the end of it. Since the thing identifies the piercing hole as a threat, some of its cells deateach and attack others. If people has old-piercing holes, thell them to stuck it somewhere else
One of the situations where, contacting and convincing some government to nuke the place is an actual logical solution, if not a bit impractical (with the whole convincing the government to do such a thing).
I know I'm a bit late to the party, but if all the cells act individually, surely you don't need a blood sample for the heat test. You could just use cheek cells instead (maybe even hair.) It would be a lot less messy and leaves less room for contamination or the cells escaping.
If the thing is intelligent then winning the scenario is truly impossible since it can immediately split off a small portion of itself and hide it in the camp so even a full suicide pact wouldn’t help because the shared memories will alert the smaller portion to run and hibernate or simply wait till the fire ends for an eventual oblivious rescue team
Fun fact child's was the alien at the end. It's proven in the comic sequel. Also if you watch closely you can't see childs breath wile you can see McCreadys. This leeds into the two cannon comics, there's others after that but none of those were shown to be cannon
What makes the thing an actually scary horror movie is because the protagonists can be smart and still get killed due to chance or just being outmaneuvered. A lot of horror movies rely on dumb decisions alone for people to get killed when the scariest thing is being very careful and still dying horribly.
I mean, tying up everyone real close to another while knowing that one of them might be the Thing has bothered me for years.
@@guccifer764 honestly I’d probably do the same thing but I’m not an Antarctic scientist under attack by a alien parasite so idk
This is massive problem that separates people who just so happen to have directed/written movies and great directors/writers. Don’t assume your audience needs help following.
*spoilers up ahead*
No country for old men is one of the best movies I’ve ever seen *last spoiler warning for real* and the protagonist is a hardened veteran used to hunting and very resourceful. Throughout the movie you can’t help but think how clever his moves are or the fact you wouldn’t have thought of that. He still dies.
To fix this I would first have to give up any chance of my own survival. Then I would radio to the world that everyone is dying from small pox. Not just any small pox, but an air strain so virulent that most of us died in days. While taking all the appropriate protective measures. Then explain all the proper and extreme measures we took. Then we still died. Then we would recommend a nuke.
I love horror, but I think the reason is most horror writers aren't very smart lol. Or at least not smart enough to come up with clever scenarios.
When he said, “luckily we’re not looking at my thing,” I thought we were going into a manscaped ad
among us
only ad I would ever watch
Missed opportunity
The thing about The Thing in The Thing and The Thing but not The Thing is that The Thing is really good at doing the thing to hide its identity as The Thing.
Yes
I'm a scientists and this sentence checks out.
@@professionalunsmart3054 yea
As a non native english speaker, i feel proud of understanding this first try
now say that 4 times faster
I gotchu fam. The quickest way to win this. Everyone stands together far away from each other, all armed with molotovs. Each person goes around the room cutting themselves and testing their own blood.
If someone refuses or fails the test, wreck them.
They could lie
Explain in more detail
@@brentambrielcabigas1086 They would presumably test themselves in view of everyone else. So they couldn't lie.
@@some-one-else yeah probably
@@some-one-else Maybe they wouldn't be able to. If a human cuts themselves the blood hisses. If a Thing cuts themselves the blood reacts in self preservation. If the Thing could lie and somehow fake the blood test then it wouldn't have worked in the movie.
@@Taygon45 but each cell reacts individually. So if it cut itself and applied fire to its own blood the blood should still react in theory.
This is one of the only movies where a pocket nuke is ideal. Kill everyone and everything. Full scorched earth. The radiation will keep rescue teams away too.
They might be able to actually access one too
This does being something up, how would radiation effect the thing’s supercell since radiation is energy that rips apart dna kinda like a machine gun
You would have to explain the need to do so to the world powers extinction level situation at the base. But if the Thing gets wind of this it will run into the wilderness to freeze so it can survive.
Monsters? Aliens? Vampires?
Humanity only has one answer: *NUKE!*
@@hurmangaines7858 a barrage of thermobaric warheads would do the same as a nuke and be relatively under the radar. Thermobaric weapons are the only weapons apart from nukes that can vaporise humans.
Unironically, the scientists can explain to the USA army who dont want that alien around,to Nuke it
Nuke does sound pretty attractive. One global existential threat to another, I'd prefer the one we can control somewhat.
"hey, we need you to nuke Antarctica"
"What? Wh-"
"You remember that movie? The Thing"
"...understood"
FINALLY NUKE IS A SOLUTION HE CANNOT DENY IT
I don't think there is anyway you could convince the government of any nuclear armed nation in the early 80's to drop a nuke and not come shoveling around later to potentially uncover the alien IF it survived.
@@FallingPicturesProductions And I don't know how quickly a country like America could even agree to even drop a bomb when there's not even a war going on, not to mention how this would be impacted by the Antarctic Treaty.
The thing can’t replicate inorganic material, yes? What if they enforced a strict policy where everyone must wear full body covering clothes at all times? I believe this combined with the three people strategy could work. If the Thing wanted to infect someone, it would have to take off both the clothes covering it and the person it wanted to infect. Therefore, enforce a rule where everyone must wear them at all times, and burn anyone who tries to take their’s or someone else’s off.
seeing as it can replicate fur it wouldnt surprise me if it could replicate clothing,
i assume things like metal or fully inorganic textiles like nylon are beyond it though
@@FantasmaNaranja well its seen to change clothes in the film when it destroys clothes killing someone, so I don't think it can replicate all clothing, maybe just some
It kills you, _then_ takes your clothes. Having three-person groups only works if it can't get two people at the time, which, um, have you seen how big it can get? 🤨
@@user-vn7ce5ig1z yeah but it would destroy the clothes in the process of killing you
Yeah but then they’d all look like among us characters which is even worse than the thing escaping
My solution would be to, at the very least, TRY and talk to it. The Thing is intelligent, and it's able to understand the language of those it copies, so why not communicate? Of course, have flamethrowers at the ready in case conversation goes south, but it's honestly surprising that no one in the OG film ever tried that. Get everyone in the room together and say "hey alien let's just talk. Clearly you can think and maybe we could find a solution where no one has to die?" Especially since it seemed the Thing was on Earth by complete accident. Maybe it just wants to go home or something.
This is at the very least worth a try. And if it mimicking a human then maybe it has the emotions that come with and therefore the empathy?
Edit: Especially if it's mimicking the brain since emotions are just chemicals in the brain.
He needs to see this one*
My issue with that is that it's not wanting to communicate. It's whole bit is to spread by any means necessary. I mean how likely are you going to go "Hi. My name is Bob. And I really don't want to be eaten. Nice to meet you."? One can surmise that it's a conqueror of worlds. Very intelligent yet very single minded.
@@FallenAngelHiroko I don't think it's exactly a world conqueror. It seemed more like it just wanted to get home, in my opinion at least. Regardless, I think communication with a valid path to try.
In the movies whenever the thing is outed it tries to kill humans instantly. In 1981 movie it could make sense as after all the first time humans saw it morph a dog they tried to kill it, but after the prequel we know the alien attacked first.
It could be that he believed the humans put it in the ice, but it's unlikely because it is smart and through interaction/memory steals with humans it should realise that's not the case.
So TLDR I dont think the thing wants to communicate at all
Since the thing cannot mimic non organic materials, the only other way i can imagine of keeping track of it is to force everyone to surgically add a piece of metal into their bodies and keep metal detectors handy, although that is just a much worse version of the blood tests again, but hey, it's something.
EDIT: I managed to think of another one, but it's even more impractical
You'd have to capture a piece of the thing and keep it in an isolated room/cage to use as a "thing sensor", hurting the captive to check if any other "pieces" of the thing reacts, the easiest ways would probably be heating the room/cage to the point where it would scald/burn the thing, or even worse use gas.
Yes, I know, extremely impratical.
u could nuke it
@@audunms4780
Yeah but what if the thing is just mimicking that nuke and it doesn't go off
@Llama the idea i had is if they find a dead body or suspect someone has been replaced, then they use the metal detector, although I dont know the exact shape-shift powers of the thing, so maybe it could just eat a piece of metal or carry it arround with it? I was just trying to come up with ANYTHING at all that could also help in this situation, and i believe the blood test from the film is indeed still the best option, and my ideas are slightly helpful at best and useless at worst.
Yeah I ran into the same problem. Every idea I had ended with "but the blood test is just better than that"
@@drewlop it can only mimic organic materials
The Thing 1982 is one of my favorite horror movies of all time and I'm so glad he did a how to beat video
Same. Always surprised how rewatchable it is. It really holds up in spite of its age. The music, the practical effects... Chef's kiss.
@@FilmHerald Are you planning to do more old movies how to beat videos because I would like to see you more of that
@@FilmHerald if you are going to do more how to beat videos on old movies I suggest alien next.
@@FilmHerald Man the main theme is just so awesome
It's like the first time, when "JUST NUKE EM LOL" actually makes sense. I mean, you have an alien ship research facility and government support, having access to some emergency nukes is totally possible here, and it is a way to guarantee burning all of the thing instances.
you also risk the person that contacts the government for the nuke being the thing, as well as movie magic with radiation that gives it more powers
It's not a research station for aliens, it's a regular one than just so happens to find an alien, so no emergency nukes. Contacting the government would probably result in them trying to capture the Thing and study it.
If The Thing is to a populated area it would impossible to beat. Considering you wouldn't know what The Thing was until it got into close proximity before it struck. And we have to be honest most people wouldn't have the leadership skills McCready or old girl from The Thing the prequel.
It's easy, just nuke everything
The Thing would also be able to abuse the fuck out of insects and birds. Antarctica is literally the only place that humankind has a leg up against it because there's almost no other organic vector for it to escape with unless it finds Penguins/seals/migratory arctic birds.
@@FallingPicturesProductions BINGO! If it leaves Antarctica its basically game over.
@@FuegoXxx yea wait can it assimilate plants?
@@beezmanit2683 yes
“Burn it. Burn it all! Lean *into* arson! It’s a good thing!” And “The only cost is *everyone’s lives* (a relatively small price to pay)” had me fucking rolling!
one by one, bring them into a room. suddenly, while they are looking at you, pull out the flame thrower and point it at them, say "I know you are the thing" if it is the real one, it will try to survive, where you can kill it. the only problem is that if you can't use the method twice, and if the thing sees you do this it might get suspicions
Though, you may want to bring someone you can trust with you, as the Thing may just spear you before you get a chance to act upon your new info.
The Thing generally complies until it gets hurt though. Hence allowing the blood test in the film.
Can't use the method twice cos the thing gets the memories of the people it kills
@@obi501 yea in my comment I mentioned it, and since so many flaws have been discovered, it would probably just be a simple method that would be good to try out
What if it says "i'm not"? Since the ppl who are not it would say they are not it, or panic cuz ur pointing a weapon at them. And the alien would also either say they're not it so you don't kill them, or panic cuz you know. Either way the reaction between real ppl and the alien would be similar.
Lacking further knowledge, we'd need a way to isolate the thing long enough to find a further counter-measure. Use the 3-man rule for that effect. Assign 2 different teams to testing the same thing so hopefully the thing isn't in both. From its known abilities as a colonial organism, it seems disparate cells lack the same intelligence, so hopefully this will work for long enough. In principle, given the cell's reaction to other stimuli, there should exist other stimuli that can kill it besides heat. Systemic examination may find one that affects it but not human.
It's possible that the human body could tolerate higher temps, at least for a short time, than the thing's cells. In which case we need to raise the ambient temperature to the limits of human endurance, say 150 degrees farenheit, and hope that's enough. Wood burns at 451 farenheit, which iirc seems to be enough, while 99 F, ie human body temperature, is not. One can only hope 150 is sufficient. Gradually increase from there if not. In principle a human should be able to tolerate up to 200 F for short periods. Rig up a furnace to 'hot house' a heavily insulated room and gather everyone there. Hopefully this will show results.
My best non-heat guess would be solvents. I'd start with acetone, as it's readily available in most laboratory settings, including in Antarctica. If that fails, diluted bleach is another that's handy. Human skin consists primarily of dead cells, but ALL of the Thing's cells are alive. A human should be able to tolerate a higher degree of exposure than the Thing. Rig the sprinkler system (assuming there is one... I've not seen the movies I'm afraid) to spray the solvent over the entire base. Assuming the human either dissolve or come out clean, evacuate and burn the building.
then nuke
There is the sprinkler system so I guess this could work either Adam (prequel) or Fuchs (82 version) could do that but we don't know if acid could actually kill it besides just revealing it.
@@greenherb3229 I mean presumably a powerful enough acid could, the question is whether it would also kill the humans. And whether it would be available. Bleach and acetone are likely to be at the base, but anything stronger probably wouldn't.
@@professorhaystacks6606 yeah that's the problem, acid may not work or at least we don't have strong enough acidic compounds to even work seeing we aren't going by "Halt! Who goes there?" logic which also includes electricity as a way to kill it and the crew literally tearing The Thing apart with their bare hands all while grinning.
You’re doing yourself a massive disservice by not watching the 80s film. It is fantastic and I highly recommend it!
I think that the thing is actually unbeatable in that scenario, since it can detach small pieces of itself, you could never be sure to have burned all of it; the only option (outside of the scenario) would be to call help, and say that all members of the base are affected by an unkown pathogen, that makes people behave very aggressively, this way anyone coming to investigate would both wear protective gear, and come prepared to defend against physical assaults; once it becomes all clear, and the evidence is overwealming, it would be possible to spread radioactive compounds on the base and its sourroundings, so that any THING-cell would die because of the radiations
if i was a Thing i would be dropping tiny colonies of Thing cells everywhere I went. just as backup.
Worst part is
It’s probably smart enough to do that
@@theomnissiah-9120 probably not,
@@theomnissiah-9120 bad idea. the thing loses intelligence as it loses body mass. That's why the blood test works, each blood cell runs away. The loose parts would just attack people.
So like the savepoints in the game carrion
If the Thing reacts to heat, why not keep hot metal by entrances to all locations and make it a rule to always touch it upon entering or leaving? Small burns on the hand or arm are a small price to pay.
Because the Thing is smart and has self control. The blood test works because just few cells on themselves are not smart and don't know they are been tested.
Most humans react to getting burned too. ¬_¬
Who the hell would agree to that, I would rather do the blood test and get cut rather then grilling my skin everytime I enter a room
wow i never knew his thing inspired the monster in the thing. Now that's a thing
I like how the solution is to do the opposite of what you would normally do in a disaster setting: go on a psychotic rampage, destroying any vehicles, equipment, and animals in your warpath, before setting everything on fire.
I mean, if they're working for the American government, maybe calling in an nuclear strike is actually possible? (though in all honesty they may not take the threat seriously, take too long or ignore the advice and send vehicle backup, the opposite of what you want)
FINALLY someone mentioning The Thing from Another World!
That was one of my first horror movies ever and people forget The Thing was a remake
I would suggest 'doubling down' on using the cold to your advantage.
While being frozen isn't fatal to the Thing, it was able to immobilize the creature previously.
So stay in parties of three and perform a Test when possible, while limited the heat present on the base. The Thing will have to play along or be forced back into hibernation on your terms.
Am I the only one who loves his lil' puppets he uses for the videos? It makes his video so much more personal and entertaining ❤️
What I think would've been best is, during the testing scene, have everyone locked locked different rooms that have kerosene on the floor. Than when you test them, if they are negative let them out, but if they are positive just toss in a lit match. I think this would solve the problem of them being together. Macready would still test himself infront of the others than lock them away.
I would put a heated glass tubes full of lithium, sodium, potassium, rubidium, or cesium on everyone because when heated and they’re exposed to oxygen they will combust. So if someone’s attacked the glass will break being exposed to oxygen and burning both the thing and the person who was attacked up stopping the spread.
That's just suicide "solution" with extra steps
@@AAAAAAAA-vd6zv I mean not really. It only kills the Thing and the person being attacked, who would have likely died anyway.
@@some-one-else Tying homemade easily breakable containers with explosive materials to yourself isnt suicide, ok
@@AAAAAAAA-vd6zv to be fair, it isn't suicide if yours doesn't go off at least.
Small problem with that, why would an antarctic research base have pure cesium? It's one of the most reactive elements and isn't really used in a non-compound form outside of labs
Yes! I've been waiting for this one!
Same
among us
No you haven you LIAR LIER LIAR LISR
@@youtubegimme8646 yes I have
@@jack-v NOOO
Did you know, that when MacReady was leaving the voice recording (Nobody trusts anybody now), there was somebody hiding behind the door in the room with him. You can see the door move behind him.
Meanwhile, People who play among us for a living: “just like the simulations.”
Rewatching all the 'how to beat' videos to beat my severe case of Film Herald withdrawal
Man I love your videos so much. I really enjoy the “how to beat” category of vids on TH-cam and IMO yours are the best ones because you actually come out with these solid tactics 🙌🏼🙌🏼 keep it up man your content is GREAT
As person that wears bracers, I think I’m pretty safe. If I get assimilated into, they run the risk of getting sussed out pretty quickly.
I have to say this is one of my favorite movies, the enemy is extremely difficult and powerful, yet the human characters actually are pretty intelligent and find way to fight it. I do hate the dumb character cliche that other movies have in this time period
Solution:
1 Fire
2 Fire
3 Fire
4 Fire
5 fire
I think you might've forgotten Fire
6. Tactical nuke
7. Fire
among us
7:11 "the thing is among them"
Film Herald sounding kinda sussy ngl
Oh Film Herald your videos are like candy for us nerds. I look forward to these.
Uh oh, the Thing can turn into the nuke! RUUUUUNNNNN!!!
among us
Im glad you finally got around to making your The Thing video! I was very excited when you mentioned it to me in the comments section a while ago. Keep up the good work Film Herald!
Ahh yes, the original Among Us
The best solution is to vote it out
1:21 Ah yes, a fellow Abbott and Costello enjoyer. I've never seen another of my kind in the wild before
among us
@@crazycocopuff5307 who’s the imposter?
• 4:30 - I'm pretty sure the game is canonical (and takes place some indeterminate amount of time after the 1982 movie, and confirms that MacReady wasn't a Thing-I don't recall what, if anything it says about Childs).
• 9:38 - Can the Thing reproduce non-genetic modifications like scars or amputations? 🤔
A possible way to beat the thing would be to disrupt it's ability to communicate with itself and other assimilations. This would involve a lot of trial and error and wouldbe difficult to test, but it could potentially cripple it enough so it wouldn't be able to spread. This is just a guess, but exposing it to a high amount of radiation might damage the cells enough so that they wouldn't be able to communicate with each other, and by extension, manipulate it's body. Cancer is already deadly to humans and curing it is a dice roll. Imagine the damage it could do to a colony of cells that would have to perform mitosis countless times to grow it's extra appendages.
I appreciate the amount of time and effort put into your videos. I don’t mind the upload schedule because I am always looking forward to your next video!
I like it how this is the one time a nuke is a viable solution and there was no mention of it in the video
How could the researchers get a nuke?
@@rosestar1324 ask lol
I want to see a parody of the thing where there is no monster and everyone involved just had cabin fever and too much liquor
6:02 i think that if the Thing managed to dig up that amount of space in the ground two days it wouldnt have any issue to dig it up and fly anywhere.
Yeah, when every body is dead just take the time to dug it up, or it’s a spacecraft and it’s snow, go through that shit
One way you could beat the thing is to do go to an isolated part of the base (like a hangar or shack) along with some of the people you have tested and proved to be human. there you can all use a pistol to fire off bullets in the amount of people you have,including yourself. this might trick the alien into thinking most of the humans have commited suicide,and then you simply wait it out for the alien to go into hibernation. whilst hibernating.
you could dispose of the alien with either the flamethrower or if you live near the coastal edge of antarctica,you could use a boat to bring the hibernating alien into the ocean and dump the thing over the edge. since it is encased in ice whilst hibernating,the alien would most likely sink to the ocean floor,where the most it could do is assimilate fish,or if your lucky the alien may not be able to breath under water. this would be a much more permanent way of getting rid of it,but it is incredibly risky because it might be able to wake up during transport. especially if it wakes up on the boat,then it could kill the people on the ship and there would be a situation like jurassic park: the lost world. but even if it does wake up,you can go with the flamethrower as a backup option.
If The Thing tries to go back into hibernation wouldn't another solution be to let it freeze, but out a block of ice with it inside, either dump it somewhere deep it can't crawl out of fast enough or put it inside something that can easily heated, like an oil drum, and then just essentially cook it to death? Hell you can probably just lock it in an industrial oven or a kiln of some sort.
literally just searched for this kind of video in case it existed and then clicked on it and realised it was by you and uploaded a few days ago
I hope you all have a wonderful day/night.
among us
Everyone agrees: you each take turns getting locked in a room while everyone else tests your blood. If you pass, you're let out and the event is repeated with the next person. It's so flawless, the thing will have to reveal itself as soon as everyone agrees, before anyone even gets a chance to get locked in.
Thing seems to out itself at the first sign of anything that could hurt it (hot wire in the blood, using a defibrillator on it, etc). So, just heat up a piece of metal and start branding folks, the moment it makes contact it'll try to attack though, so you'll need to be ready with some fire.
this might not be true, as the needle used to extract the blood could be seen as a threat as the skin cells are damaged and we can conclude that the cells are just multiple cells to compound a being
THE THONG - John Pornster
You have to be Venom, Cell, Beast boy, Predator with the blue liquid and a Xenomorph to fight The Thing without being infected to death
This just supports the theory that first contact with intelligent alien life forms will be a bad thing.
Fire is likely not the only way to kill the Thing, but was the only method they had in abundance at the antarctic bases. You could take a cue from the 50s film and use huge amounts of current to fry it. Heck, in the 82 version its how they got the blood samples to react, as the Things cells reacted to the current like a very real threat. Very caustic chemicals like lye or acids could likely do it too. Anything that can kill every cell in an organism would likely also work on the Thing.
So a device that might actually seriously stymie the Thing for a bit (but likely not kill it) would be a taser, especially if you can goose the juice to beyond the manufacturer's maximum. Not something that was available in 82 but might be more available if the scenario took place nowadays. It could definitely give a human crew more of a chance.
Also, the gradual microbial infection method likely does NOT work on living targets, I'm guessing because of active immune systems. In the prequel, she took samples from a dead subject, not a living one. If the microbial infection method worked, then the Thing would just have to explode itself as soon as everyone was gathered in one room, infecting everyone at once with a thousand spatters of blood. Instead, it had to stalk and trick and attack them individually.
Hi Film Herald I rarely commeny on anything on youtube BUT i must come forward and say you are my fav youtuber and I wish you the best of luck.
Sincerily, a fan
That "Doctor" looks suspiciously like the mascot of surfshark
Side note about the blood test, The reason mac's flamethrower didn't work was because he dropped it on its muzzle.
th-cam.com/video/m6shktwDwzM/w-d-xo.html
The only way I would improve on the test is to test 3 volunteers and have them do it with everyone else tied in separate rooms. Once someone is clear, you open the door to free them and arm them. The second you find out who the thing is, you take as many armed people as you can to the small room you cornered it in and fight it, leaving one to free and inform the others of who it is. It's not a bulletproof plan but I don't think there is one.
There is a song in spanish called "El quinto teletubi" (the fifth teletubbie). From a peruvian rock band called "Los Chabelos" We have been talking about the fifth teletubbie for over 20 years now.
Captain Hindsight saves us again
If this happened to day the crew would be like-“I guess you could say there is an imposter among us”
Thank you so much for doing The Thing, it's my all-time favorite horror movie, the execution, the characters, and the effects place it leagues above anything else I've watched. And honestly, the best solution would be to try to radio the military, explain the situation, and get them to drop a nuke on the base, but idk if they'd be willing to since it might spark WWIII. That's the absolute best solution I can think of though.
I'd recommend having notes, journals, photos/videos, and other such evidence around, so that if it does come down to a nuclear option, the investigators can know what to look out for.
There's a Japanese version of The Thing except it's not alien but supernatural (created by Junji Ito) - her name is Tomie Kawakami and she basically lives as a human being among others in the towns and cities of Japan
(1:25) What type of helicopter was that?
Oh man, return to life. I am going to buy a SUFRSHARK account thanks to you
the original novel is hilarious because instead of trying to build a spaceship the thing tries to build an anti-gravity device, so that it can - in one long jump - cross the ocean and get to civilization.
Analyzing and adapting to various situations....determining how to beat each scenario.....the Film Herald is The Thing!
Top five favorite movies of all time I’m so psyched to watch this
I’ve got an idea. If the thing really wants to refreeze itself, let it!
Let it freeze itself, then, cut out the block it is in, lock the block of ice in a secure closed location, then torch the fucker once it thaws. Or better, just leave it there and wait until the government arrives so they can take care of it.
There are enough grenades that these guys are probably related to the military. Call in an airstrike at your location.
Got to say, this movie reminds me of among us.
Cuz among us was probably based off the same concept
Good stuff Ken!
among us
I just found your channel, i hope you upload again soon!
I subbed coz you did The Thing, now you can do great old school movies🔥
Since the thing can cut itself apart and multiply into more things, then the best solution would be to destroy the facility and the area around in order to best minimize the chance of it escaping. However this would require lots of fire or explosives which the group may not have enough of.
You want a better solution? Well similar to the suicide pact, it's just... A nuke. Now, hear me out - calling for a team to obliterate the entire base (nuke or airstrike, anything to that effect) means that any and every instance of The Thing is disintegrated, and no miscount or 'maybe there's a hand monster in another room' is involved. Plus, it can be done from the air so The Thing can't latch onto a rescue team.
This is my favorite horror movie and movie. Thank you for this. 😃
5:56 i mean it’s a spacecraft and it looks like snow on top (didn’t see the movie, don’t know what the scene looks like) so it should be easily able to go break through it …… maybe
Best option, they figure out there is a Thing. Someone outside finds out...just nukes...like everywhere
Method 3: Wait untill it vents, then call it sus
*DING DING DING DING DING DING DING*
*Breathes*
*DING DING DING*
Love your videos. Keep it up!
Maybe you could lock everybody in separate rooms to do the blood test, or have everybody burn themselves just enough for the thing to react, say a candle, or match sure it would hurt everyone but once it reveals itself you light it up
Store canned food, save some radio equipment, blow the base (aside from a small hub) blood test everyone, flame throwers and blood tests til help arrives, then blow everything when leaving.
Boom there ya go.
The THING is also taking notes
Oooh you did it, I heard you wanted to cover older films
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I didin't watch the films throughly but here it goes;
Give everyone a single earring and tell them to wear it at all times, just to make it more apparent that they are wearing it attach a pice of sting to it and tie someting at the end of it.
Since the thing identifies the piercing hole as a threat, some of its cells deateach and attack others. If people has old-piercing holes, thell them to stuck it somewhere else
"I say we ...nuke the site from orbit"
One of the situations where, contacting and convincing some government to nuke the place is an actual logical solution, if not a bit impractical (with the whole convincing the government to do such a thing).
(0:06) Always wondered why there wasn’t a blue one.
The simplest solution is keep the ice somewhere cool so it doesn't melt and have two people keep an eye on it. That way it won't escape
Love this series, keep it up
I know I'm a bit late to the party, but if all the cells act individually, surely you don't need a blood sample for the heat test. You could just use cheek cells instead (maybe even hair.) It would be a lot less messy and leaves less room for contamination or the cells escaping.
Finally, some good food
among us
Either the Thing isn't very smart, or else it cannot take you over with contamination. If it could it would sneeze into the silverware and wait.
If the thing is intelligent then winning the scenario is truly impossible since it can immediately split off a small portion of itself and hide it in the camp so even a full suicide pact wouldn’t help because the shared memories will alert the smaller portion to run and hibernate or simply wait till the fire ends for an eventual oblivious rescue team
One of my favorite Kurt Russell films
among us
Fun fact child's was the alien at the end. It's proven in the comic sequel. Also if you watch closely you can't see childs breath wile you can see McCreadys. This leeds into the two cannon comics, there's others after that but none of those were shown to be cannon