John Carpenter's The Thing Discussion Thread(Please add spoiler tags)

Racquel Darrian

Distinguished Member
Joined
Aug 18, 2003
Messages
5,574
Reaction score
13,895
Points
3,497
Age
55
I've decided to start a discussion thread on this amazing movie and anything connected with it.

Previous discussion can be found here:
Shout Factory 3 disc The Thing Steelbook

Please do not read this thread until you have seen this film or are not bothered about seeing spoilers.

If you come into this thread and have the film spoiled, that’s your own fault.
 
OK I've just watched this again.

....if a lick of a pencil rubber can cause infection then why wasn't Bennings infected when the dog licked him....

The dog doesn't lick him on the skin it licks him on his hand and he's wearing a glove.

When Blair does the autopsy on the dog mutation he's wearing gloves but he rubs his right arm against the thing and gets its blood on his arm.
Then when he's explaining the imitation he touches the thing with the pencil rubber and then touches the rubber to his lip (I've already mentioned this) but if you then watch he actually licks his lip where he touched it with the rubber.

Windows definitely drops the keys when he sees Bennings being absorbed. Watching after this I would go with Palmer getting to the blood.

When Windows is taking blood samples for "the test" I'm assuming he is using the same scalpel to cut each person hence infecting them one by one after the blood has been taken. Hence the blood would still test negative. Before he takes his own blood sample he just wipes the scalpel on his leg jeans/trousers.

Who opened the tool shack door where Blair was locked up? It was bolted from the outside.

Edit: Copper had his hands bitten off by the Norris thing but passes the blood test. So there is more to this than simply being infected by a mere touch of the thing.
 
Last edited:
Peter Watts - The Things

 
OK I've just watched this again.

The dog doesn't lick him on the skin it licks him on his hand and he's wearing a glove.

When Blair does the autopsy on the dog mutation he's wearing gloves but he rubs his right arm against the thing and gets its blood on his arm.
Then when he's explaining the imitation he touches the thing with the pencil rubber and then touches the rubber to his lip (I've already mentioned this) but if you then watch he actually licks his lip where he touched it with the rubber.

Windows definitely drops the keys when he sees Bennings being absorbed. Watching after this I would go with Palmer getting to the blood.

When Windows is taking blood samples for "the test" I'm assuming he is using the same scalpel to cut each person hence infecting them one by one after the blood has been taken. Hence the blood would still test negative. Before he takes his own blood sample he just wipes the scalpel on his leg jeans/trousers.

Who opened the tool shack door where Blair was locked up? It was bolted from the outside.

Edit: Copper had his hands bitten off by the Norris thing but passes the blood test. So there is more to this than simply being infected by a mere touch of the thing.

I wonder if we can ask a mod to move the other stuff over?

About to watch myself..

I Will check the Bennings scene as well i know it jumps up on him & i always thought i saw it have a good lick but you have just watched so i totally believe you, damn i guess that explines why Bennings is assimilated later in the film.

Your right about all the other scenes maybe Doc Copper wasnt infected because he died & we suspect it can only host in a living being.

Yes windows does indeed drop the keys, hence why his look in the blood storage room is no surprise.

I know Mr C knows whom the Thing is at the end but he'll never spoil his own movie.

As to Blair one can only wondered who unlocked the door to get in, but if he dug a hole & built a small UFO i doubt a locked door would present much of an issue still who knows.

Nice post & thread nice not to have to use spoilers as it kind of ruins the moment thank you i'll be back.
 
Last edited:
Your right about the Bennings scene gloves etc but Jed does give him a good lick (what dog wouldn't) but misses the face as well but there's a decent cut away to the Norwegians but hey i think we can rule Bennings out at this time.
 
 
Something I spotted years ago.

When Copper wants to go to the Norwegian camp Palmer offers to give him a lift.
You can hear Mac say, "Forget it Palmer".
But Mac isn't in the room he's by the burning helicopter.
 
I wonder if we can ask a mod to move the other stuff over?

About to watch myself..

I Will check the Bennings scene as well i know it jumps up on him & i always thought i saw it have a good lick but you have just watched so i totally believe you, damn i guess that explines why Bennings is assimilated later in the film.

Your right about all the other scenes maybe Doc Copper wasnt infected because he died & we suspect it can only host in a living being.

Yes windows does indeed drop the keys, hence why his look in the blood storage room is no surprise.

I know Mr C knows whom the Thing is at the end but he'll never spoil his own movie.

As to Blair one can only wondered who unlocked the door to get in, but if he dug a hole & built a small UFO i doubt a locked door would present much of an issue still who knows.

Nice post & thread nice not to have to use spoilers as it kind of ruins the moment thank you i'll be back.
Maybe Blair didn't unlock the door. Might have been someone else who got in and infected Blair?

Dean Cundy did a light effect which, he claimed, identified who was a thing.
If there was no light reflection from the eyes of the character then they were a thing.
At the end there's a reflection from Macs eyes but not from Childs.
Did Carpenter reveal the secret of who is the thing at the end to Cundy for him to do this light effect?
 
Last edited:
The eye shine theory.

 
Last edited:
I remember watching D-Tox when it first came out and instantly saw a resemblance to John Carpenter's The Thing. Worth a watch.

 
Did you know former porn star Sasha Grey is a huge fan of John Carpenter's The Thing.
She named her Doberman MacReady.
He even has his own Twitter account.

MacReady (@themacready) on Twitter

ec5ad28fd662e97e7bec639ffe4b0900--sasha-gray-grey.jpg
 
The Thing Art Book.

 
Last edited:
Last edited:
Pingu version of The Thing

 
A really good video Exploring The Thing:

 
A tidbit that always amused, some critic bemoaned the effects of the scene where the autopsy scientist gets his arm chomped off as 'so unrealistic'. That is, until the director pointed out that they used an actual double amputee for that scene.
 
Dang, wish I had a chance to post yesterday, so I could have kept up with the conversation. :p I'll leave these here anyway.

when was Blair assimilated & by whom then if there wasn't more than one?
I don't dispute there may have been more than one mate, my answer was referring merely to the blood test scene. ;)

But the copy is perfect even down to actions and thoughts so it also copied the host in every way including Norris's heart condition. Unlike, for instance, Invasion of the Body Snatchers where the copy wasn't right and people could tell something wasn't right with them, "That's not my wife."

I think the comic letter/response was saying the alien is inside and just watching through the perfectly duplicated host, only exposing itself when it had to or thought it was safe to.
The point I was trying to make was that when the host is fully absorbed, or perfectly copied, by the alien it retains their memories, experiences, flaws etc. but their individuality, or the human/animal part of them so to speak, is overtaken. Thus the alien is in full control of the host from there on.

...like yourself & Bemused One we obliviously just love this movie & i suspect with a bottle we could go on for hours.
I completely agree and would gladly do so with any fans. :)
 
Last edited:

The latest video from AVForums

Is 4K Blu-ray Worth It?
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Back
Top Bottom