History Film / TheThing1982

* DecapitationRequired: Subverted [[LosingYourHead horribly]].

* FridgeLogic: Considering brief physical contact is sufficient for infection, if the Thing had opted not to transform (most obviously in the dog pen), it could have taken over everybody in the camp before anyone even realized there was a real and present danger. Of course, that would have been a quite short and relatively dull movie.

Unrelated to [[ScaryStoriesToTellInTheDark that thing,]] [[TheCatInTheHat those things,]] [[Series/TheAddamsFamily this thing,]] [[TheThingThatGoesDoink this other thing]], [[FantasticFour the ever-lovin' Thing,]] [[BuffySpeak you know, that thingy thing,]] or an alternate English name of {{Mothra}}.

** Windows gets several of these -- when he realizes whoever got to the blood did so by retrieving the keys to the fridge that ''he'' dropped, when he sees [[spoiler: Bennings being assimilated]], [[spoiler: the Palmer-Thing drops down from the ceiling in front of him]].
** Everyone during the failed [[spoiler:defib scene.]]

* AnyoneCanDie: By the end of the movie [[spoiler: only Mac and Childs are alive. It's entirely possible that one of them is the Thing.]]

* PoorCommunicationKills: [[spoiler:If only they knew to speak Norwegian or the Norwegian knew English]].

** Several different eyes can be seen on the the body of the Dog-Thing, presumably belongings of the dogs it was in the process of assimilating.

** Right after one of the movie's most intense fight scenes.

** It's {{implied}} that [[spoiler: even they will freeze to death, leading to a KillEmAll.]]

* EyeScream: You, scream, we all scream.

** The Dog-Thing has multiple eyes

* GoneHorriblyRight: In one interpretation, the Thing becomes a perfect copy of the original organism, even its flaws. This would mean that [[spoiler:Norris' weak heart condition was transfered into the Thing, causing it to have a heart attack. However, it's possible that Norris's heart stopped beating ''because'' he was being taken over, and the process was completed as he lay inert]].

* JerkassHasAPoint: By smashing up all the equipment, Blair essentially trapped everyone there, but he had recognized the danger of allowing the Thing access to the outside world, a concept which the others would soon pick up on. [[spoiler:Of course, he might have been taken over by this point anyway. One of the major points still debated by fans is exactly when Blair was assimilated, in which case the Blair-Thing intentionally destroyed the radio and vehicles so they'd be trapped with it for months. Given that it's he who plants the seed of mistrust among them ("I don't know who to trust. Watch Clark."), this is not impossible.]]

** [[spoiler:[=MacReady=]'s test makes the Thing's AlienBlood ''scream'' and run away.]]

* MusicalEpisode: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8faq5amdK30&feature=player_embedded John Carpenter's THE THING: THE MUSICAL]] is [[LighterAndSofter a very cheerful and upbeat]] nutshelling of the movie that actually lacks none of the original's {{Gorn}} or {{Squick}}—all in the musical style of Frank Sinatra.

* NotHisSled: The effect isn't tremendous because ''Literature/WhoGoesThere'' isn't that well known, but [[spoiler:everyone who was the Thing in the original short story turns out to be human in the film]], with the exception of [[spoiler: Blair]].

** Windows gets several of these -- when [[spoiler:the Palmer-thing drops down from the ceiling in front of him]], when [[spoiler:he sees Bennings being assimilated]], and when [[spoiler:he realizes whoever got to the blood did so by retrieving the keys to the fridge that ''he'' dropped]].

-->You gotta be fucking ''kidding''.
** When the 'lynch mob' breakdown of the storeroom door [[spoiler:to find Mac holding a flare inches away from a bundle of dynamite.]]

* [[DeathByPragmatism Assimilation By Pragmatism]]:[[spoiler: Blair is the first character to realize how incredibly dangerous the Thing is, and flips out, destroying the radio, the vehicles, and killing the surviving dogs. Admittedly, destroying everything the team could have used to warn the surrounding station about the Thing isn't a particularly pragmatic solution, but considering [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt what will happen if the Thing escapes the Antarctic,]] it's at least partially justified. This gets him locked in a storage shed, alone, with multiple Things seeking organisms to infect roving the base. [[YouWillBeAssimilated Guess what happens.]] ]]

* BilingualBonus: The Norwegian pilot explains that the dog is a shapeshifting Thing right in the opening scene.
* BittersweetEnding: By the end of the film the characters have lost so much it isn't worth it to be paranoid anymore. [[spoiler: On the plus side, the Thing is dead.[[OrIsIt Maybe.]] On the downside, [[KillEmAll they soon will be, too.]] This is the good ending. JohnCarpenter felt it was inspiring that each of the survivors were willing to give their lives to save the rest of the world.]]

* TheCorpseStopsHere: Although for once this is actually a rather sensible policy, given that the "corpse" is a really contagious alien organism. Clark becomes prime suspect #1 due to his creepy behavior and prolonged exposure to the infected dogs. [[spoiler:Funnily enough, after [=MacReady=] kills him in self-defense it turns out he was human all along.]]

* EyeScream: The Norwegian is shot in the eye.

* GenreSavvy: In the end, being Genre Savvy didn't save most of them, and a lot of them had moments of {{Genre Blind}}ness that eventually killed them. For example, try talking to Windows after he stood right in front of the [[spoiler:Palmer-Thing with a flame thrower and ended up getting his face eaten alive.]]
* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: The initial cut was so gory that test audiences complained of nausea. JohnCarpenter alleviated this by ''changing nothing.'' Carpenter got away with more gore than the censors would typically allow for an R-rated movie by using different colors for the AlienBlood. In the kennel scene, the dog-Thing bleeds yellow. [[spoiler:Norris]]-Thing has blue-green slime for blood.

** In another scene, after killing [[spoiler: the Bennings Thing]], they bulldoze snow around it to form a pit, pour kerosene on it, and take several minutes to make sure it's completely burned.

* NotHisSled: The effect isn't tremendous because ''Literature/WhoGoesThere'' isn't that well known, but [[spoiler:everyone who was the Thing in the original short story turns out to be human in the film, with the exception of Blair.]]

* BlackDudeDiesFirst: [[spoiler:Inverted. Of the two black dudes, both survive into the final act, when there are four humans left including them. We don't actually see either of them die, although it's {{implied}} that everybody dies.]]

* AnyoneCanDie: [[spoiler:By the end of the movie only two characters are alive.]]
** [[spoiler:It's {{implied}} that even they will freeze to death, leading to a KillEmAll.]]
* AndThenJohnWasAZombie: Probably one of the most horrific example to be put on film

* BittersweetEnding: By the end of the film the characters have lost so much it isn't worth it to be paranoid anymore. On the plus side, the Thing is probably dead. On the downside, [[KillEmAll they soon will be, too.]] This is the good ending. JohnCarpenter felt it was inspiring that [[spoiler:each of the survivors were willing to give their lives to save the rest of the world.]]

* TheComputerIsACheatingBastard: When we meet [=MacReady=], he loses a game of chess to the computer, accuses it of being a "cheating bitch", and then pours whiskey into the CPU. [[EstablishingCharacterMoment [=MacReady's=] character will destroy the game rather than lose it]] - [[spoiler:which is what he does at the end of the movie, burning down the camp in order to deny the Thing victory. This was noted in an article in Script Magazine.]]

* DownerEnding: In some versions edited for broadcast on TNT/TBS, an AlternateEnding is included that is much grimmer than the original cut. [[spoiler: After fading to black on the burning camp, the camera fades up again on a husky running across the Antarctic landscape. So not only is everyone dead but the Thing definitely survived. [[http://youtu.be/2Xu2cFljkPw?t=3m32s Can be seen here.]]]]

* FacePalmOfDoom: A painful-looking variation by [[spoiler:Blair]].

* RedHerring[=/=]RedHerringMole: [[spoiler:All the characters set up to be The Thing turn out to be human. In fact, in the end it turns out that only 3 minor characters (Palmer, Norris and Blair) had been infected.]]

* RuleOfSymbolism:[=MacReady=] destroying the chess computer by pouring whiskey into it [[spoiler: mirrors the metaphorical game of chess played through the rest of the movie, and how he will destroy the game, or burn down the entire facility, to prevent his opponent from winning. Notice how in the end, he hands Childs a drink?]]

* TomatoInTheMirror: Discussed. The survivors wonder, if the Thing perfectly mimics who it copies, does ''it'' even know it's a fake? The novel [[spoiler:claims it does, absorbing the memories and personality of the thing, and Carpenter in the commentary agrees that if it did, it wouldn't matter - it'd use their personality to react accordingly. Given that the Thing-imitations take several actions to frame unassimilated humans, and one of them is secretly building a hovercraft, it seems probable that they know what they are.]]
** That said, the actor playing [[spoiler: Norris]] mentions in the commentary that he played his character as being worried that he might be the Thing without knowing it (he's [[spoiler: correct]]). Note his reaction when offered [[spoiler: Gerry's gun - "I'm not up to it."]].
* TrashTheSet: The burned-down Norwegian camp was actually the same set as the American camp after the [[spoiler:final battle]].
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: We never find out [[spoiler:who sabotaged the blood samples.]]

->Those poor bastards in the snow\\

Thi~ng!!!

Unrelated to [[ScaryStoriesToTellInTheDark that thing,]] [[TheCatInTheHat those things,]] [[Series/TheAddamsFamily this thing,]] [[TheThingThatGoesDoink this other thing, [[FantasticFour the ever-lovin' Thing,]] [[BuffySpeak you know, that thingy thing,]] or an alternate English name of {{Mothra}}.

Unrelated to [[ScaryStoriesToTellInTheDark that thing,]] [[TheCatInTheHat those things,]] [[Series/TheAddamsFamily this thing,]] [[FantasticFour the ever-lovin' Thing,]] [[BuffySpeak you know, that thingy thing,]] or an alternate English name of {{Mothra}}.

** [[spoiler:It's implied that even they will freeze to death, leading to a KillEmAll.]]

* BlackDudeDiesFirst: [[spoiler:Inverted. Of the two black dudes, both survive into the final act, when there are four humans left including them. We don't actually see either of them die, although it's implied that everybody dies.]]

* KillEmAll: [[spoiler:It's implied that even the characters who make it to the end will freeze to death.]]

* IdiotBall: Several instances:
** 1. Nobody in the base thought it strange that the Norwegians were so hell bent in killing the dog. It would be prudent/logical to assume the dog is a carrier of some kind of disease and at least isolate it into a separate cage until it is clear what is going on with it.
*** Not completely true. They bring up how odd it is that they were so determined to kill the dog and believe that they had gone crazy from the isolation in Antarctica.
** 2. They completely forget about the dog and let it roam freely for the duration of the day(!?). Even if quarantine never crossed anyone's mind, the whole "they were desperately trying to kill the dog" angle should have reminded SOMEONE to put it with others and not let it sneak around.
** 3. After a part of the creature escapes through the ceiling before Childs has a chance to torch it, they again completely forget about it... seriously guys?
** The Norwegian guy first [[PoorCommunicationKills speaks]] [[HidingBehindTheLanguageBarrier Norwegian to Americans]], then shoots hastily, missing the dog for Bennings, and [[TooDumbToLive walks quietly into an American camp]].

* JerkassHasAPoint: By smashing up all the equipment, Blair essentially trapped everyone there, but he had recognized the danger of allowing the Thing access to the outside world, a concept which the others would soon pick up on. [[spoiler:Of course, he might have been taken over by this point anyway. One of the major points still debated by fans is exactly when Blair was assimilated, in which case the Blair-Thing intentionally destroyed the radio and vehicles so they'd be trapped with it for months.]]

** Also, [[spoiler:when the doctor is trying to use shock paddles on Norris, and a giant mouth opens in his chest and bites off the doc's hands]].

* ParanoiaFuel: InUniverse.

** And of course the probably most remembered line of the entire movie, right after one of the movie's most intense fight scenes.

* StandardHollywoodStrafingProcedure: How the Norwegians in the helicopter attack the fleeing dog with a rifle.
* SurprisinglySuddenDeath: Pretty much whenever the Thing's new host is uncovered. And who can forget the heart attack scene?

* TomatoInTheMirror: Discussed. The survivors wonder, if the Thing perfectly mimics who it copies, does ''it'' even know it's a fake? The novel [[spoiler:claims it does, absorbing the memories and personality of the thing, and Carpenter in the commentary agrees that if it did, it wouldn't matter - it'd use their personality to react accordingly. Given that the Thing-imitations take several actions to frame unassimilated humans, and one of them is secretly building a hovercraft, it seems probable that they know what they are.]])

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse:
** We never find out [[spoiler:who got to the blood.]]
** [[spoiler:The alien blood is unaccounted for]].

* BlackDudeDiesFirst: [[spoiler:Inverted. Of the two black dudes, both survive into the final act, when there are four humans left including them. One is the last guy to die, and the other is one of the two survivors in the final scene.]]

Has a [[Characters/TheThing character page]] under construction.

It stars KurtRussell, KeithDavid, and Wilford "Diabeetus" Brimley.

JohnCarpenter's 1982 film ''The Thing'' is a much more faithful [[TheRemake adaptation]] of Creator/JohnWCampbell's "Literature/WhoGoesThere" than the original adaptation, HowardHawks' 1951 production ''TheThingFromAnotherWorld''. It focuses on twelve men who are stuck in an Antarctic camp for the winter of 1982. After finding that the neighbouring Norwegian camp has been mysteriously destroyed, they realize that a deadly alien life form is on the loose. Most terrifying of all is the fact that this alien can [[VoluntaryShapeshifting change shape]], infecting a person on a molecular level and then relentlessly absorbing and duplicating their cells, imitating them from the inside out until there is nothing human left. Therefore, at least one among them may be the Thing.