History Film / TheThing1982

* EyesDoNotBelongThere:

* EyeScream: The Thing has the tendency to sprout eyes on it body as it transforms, most notably on the Dog-Thing just before it's torched.

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

* EyeScream:

** The Norwegian scientists finding the saucer is an exact recreation of the scene in the 1951 film.

* TakingYouWithMe: [=MacReady=] grabs a bundle of dynamite and threatens to light if the others try to rush him. It also keeps them from burning him.

* ThrowAwayGuns: While demolishing the vehicles and radio equipment, Blair uses a revolver to try and keep the other men from stopping him. After getting off a few rounds (none of which hit) he throws the gun at one of the men (and also misses). This is justified by the fact that he was under a lot of stress and not quite thinking straight.
* TomatoInTheMirror: Discussed. The survivors wonder, if the Thing perfectly mimics who it copies, does ''it'' even know it's a fake? The novella claims it does, absorbing the memories and personality of the Thing, and Carpenter in the commentary says 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 [[spoiler:secretly building a craft to attempt to escape]], it seems probable that they know what they are.\\
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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. ([[spoiler:He's very much correct.]]) Note his reaction when offered [[spoiler:Garry's gun -- "I'm not up to it."]]. Note also Nauls's expression when his turn comes for the blood test. [[spoiler:Though he does turn out to be human,]] it is pretty clear that he is terrified he will not pass the test.

** Clark trying to attack an armed Macready after he'd already just burned the Norris-Thing ends as well as you'd expect. That said, everyone, Clark included were especially paranoid and jumpy after days of sleeplessness, so he wasn't thinking quite straight to begin with.

** Clark letting the Dog-Thing wander around the base for hours instead of putting it in the kennel right away arguably falls into this as well, given that it almost certainly infected [[spoiler: Norris and Palmer]] while it was roaming. Had he not allowed it to do so, it would have been found out much earlier, the body count could have been lower and the [[TakingYouWithMe drastic measures]] employed by Macready at the end of the film could very well have been avoided. As it stood, not only did Clark's oversight cause multiple infections as well as fuel much of the plot, it indirectly led to the deaths of [[spoiler: Dr. Copper and Windows.]]

** [=MacReady's=] reaction to the [[FreezeFrameBonus cheating chess game]] foreshadows the ending: [[spoiler:In the end, it seems like The Thing will inevitably win, but [=MacReady=], Childs, and Nauls pay the ultimate price to stop it, destroying the entire base in the process.]]

** When [=MacReady=] and Dr. Copper visit the Norwegian base at the beginning of the film, a lot of damage and environmental cues mirror things that will happen later at the American base.
** Before the blood test, when [=MacReady=] has everyone tied, including [[spoiler:Copper and Clark]], [[spoiler:Palmer]] protests that it is unnecessary as they are already dead. At first it may pass for an understandable reaction to the absurdity of what's happening, but [[spoiler:it's established that the Thing can attack even after its human form is appearently dead.It would be in the Thing's interest to take everyone's attention away from that.]]
** During the blood test, [[spoiler:Palmer]] is the only one who doesn't visibly seem upset or agitated. More significantly, while Mac is potentially getting ready to set any of them on fire, ''he's not even looking at [=MacReady=].'' He seems just resigned.

** The Bennings-Thing's scream. It still disturbs many fans of the movie. And in some fanfics, it causes a reaction of horror in the individual cells of any non-Thing life form.

--->[[spoiler:"Whether we make it or not, we can't let that thing freeze again. Maybe we'll just warm things up around here. We're not getting out of here alive... but neither is that thing."]]
** Also {{implied}} with [[spoiler:Fuchs]], who is found as a charred corpse. There was no reason for the Thing to kill him off instead of assimilating him, so it's safe to assume that he did it to himself in order to avoid being assimilated and thus being used to assimilate the rest.

* InvulnerableKnuckles: When [=MacReady=] punches out Blair in the radio room, he leaves shaking his hand that he used to punch him.

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: [=MacReady=]. He blows up an expensive computer for no reason other than it beat him at chess, [[spoiler:isn't even sad at the death of Bennings, which was partly his fault for bringing the Norwegian Thing back to base, threatens to kill Nauls just because he showed them evidence he was a Thing, holds the entire team hostage and kills Clark. However, when Norris has a heart attack, he orders them to untie the doctor, even though there is a high chance he could be a Thing, only holds the team hostage because they were trying to murder him, seems concerned when Bennings is shot in the leg, seems very reluctant to shoot Childs when he protests and tells Mac to shoot him, and at the end he is willing to sacrifice his life to stop the Thing. He also forgets his grudge with Childs, as they both sit in the freezing snow, knowing they can't survive]].

** [=MacReady=]'s test makes the Thing's AlienBlood ''scream'' and jump out of the dish, made much more startling in that he ''assumed'' said testee was human, and telling the next person he was going to check that he assumed ''he'' was the Thing.

** When Mac torches the [[spoiler:Palmer]]-Thing with a flamethrower, then blows it to pieces with an entire bundle of dynamite for good measure.

* MadeOfPlasticine: Dr. Copper tries to resuscitate Norris via defibrillation. As he attempts to strike the patient's chest with the defibrillator, the patient's stomach opens up and grabs hold of the doctor's arms with a massive set of teeth, tearing his arms off. Now sure, this would probably be legitimate, alien strength and all...if the arms hadn't torn off a few inches above the teeth grip.

* MalevolentMaskedMen: The [[CassandraTruth apparently insane]] Norwegian who is taking potshots at a harmless dog is wearing snow goggles. As the weather worsens people also wear goggles whenever they are outside, adding to the ParanoiaFuel with their sinister appearance.

** Mostly in the first part with the dog wandering around, and it's putting on an incredible performance.
** When Macready and Copper take the helicopter to find out what's going on at the Norwegian camp, the terror lies in the fact that something utterly horrific has ''already'' concluded and the Americans are LateToTheTragedy. Aside from the corpse of one man who apparently committed suicide and the burned remains of the Split-Faced Thing, no other bodies are shown and we're given only hints of what might have gone on in the camp and what happened to the people there; such as a bloody fire axe buried in a door or a hollowed out block of ice that clearly once contained some huge mass or creature...

** A great example is in the blood test scene, when the infected [[spoiler:Palmer]]'s head starts mutating. His transformation is broken up into three phases - one where he's just kind of making a weird expression, the second where his face starts ''bubbling'', and third where his head has collapsed into a hideous fleshy ''blob'' that's no longer recognizable as human - all of which are shown in their horrific glory, but twice the camera cuts between [[spoiler:Palmer]] and the horrified reactions of the other guys to avoid showing the transitional mutations ''between'' each phase.

* PatiencePlot: The movie ends with the entire facility in flames and only [=MacReady=] and Childs left alive, facing each other down. Neither one of them knows if the other is a Thing or not, and there's no way to prove it to themselves because they don't dare get close to each other. Once the fires go out, if they're human they'll freeze to death. If they're a Thing, they'll go into hibernation and wait for a rescue team to arrive. The film ends with both of them sitting and staring at each other. Waiting.

* PragmaticAdaptation: The film is more faithful to the original short story than the original film, as it actually uses the shape-shifting alien, but it updates the setting to the year it was released and simplifies the cast to only twelve men (although most of them were in the original book).

* ReCut: Of the TV variety. When the movie was due to premiere on TBS, a good deal of gore was cut out -- to the point where they were falling under the expected runtime. To make up for the cut footage, previously cut material (such as character exposition) was edited in. A new twist to the ending was also featured in this version, but not in broadcasts on other networks (such as AMC or Sci-Fi). [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0euB529UHA There were also character introductions]], which included some interesting tidbits about their backgrounds. [=MacReady=] used to be a [[AcePilot test pilot]] before getting into a confrontation with top management, [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere then resigned]] and took the pilot job in Antarctica. Childs is an [[TheEngineer expert mechanic]] who used to work in the airline industry. Garry has a 30-year career in the army and became an officer. Clark is doing a study on the effects of extreme cold on animal behavior. Palmer intends to open his own business as a mechanic after his work there is done. Norris is a geophysicist and was [[TheProfessor a professor]] at Cal Tech. Copper graduated from Harvard, trained at Massachusetts General Hospital, [[DarkAndTroubledPast but an unknown personal tragedy]] caused him to leave and move his work to Antarctica. Bennings has been in the meteorology field long enough to be published many times. Blair is a microbiologist who specialized in cellular growth and laid the groundwork for genetic engineering, and Fuchs worked with him at the Rockefeller Foundation.

* RewatchBonus: Many. A good one is during the blood test, where [[spoiler:Palmer]] has a curiously calm, almost ''resigned'' expression on his face like "Well, shit. Here goes."
** After the store blood is tampered with, the group questions how someone could have gotten the key that was on Copper's belt. But when you rewatch the scene where Bennings gets taken over, he tells Windows to go get the keys to lock up while he gets some stuff out. When Windows comes back, he has the keys. And when he finds the Thing having a hold of him, you can hear the sound of the keys being dropped. This explains Windows' "Oh shit" during the scene when everyone was wondering how anyone could have gotten to the blood.

--> '''Garry''': (''calmly'') I know you gentlemen have been through a lot, but when you find the time... I'd rather not spend the rest of this winter ''TIED TO THIS FUCKING COUCH!''

** [[spoiler:Palmer is outed as a Thing after the blood test goes awry and gets burned alive and dynamited for good measure.]]

* EvenEvilHasStandards: A BlackComedy example with [[spoiler: Palmer-Thing's reaction to Head-Norris -- or at least if you're going off the interpretation that it ''wasn't'' an act and that Palmer-Thing ''was'' genuinely flabbergasted a part of "himself" would be so stupid to try to escape in such an obvious fashion.]]

* EvilDetectingDog: Notably averted. The Thing's first form is a husky, which is put in with the other huskies... absolutely ''none'' of which react at all. This establishes that the Thing is an ''amazing'' mimic, able to duplicate everything about the shapes it takes, down to the ''scent'', until the time comes to drop the disguise.

* EyeOnAStalk: The spider-like Thing that splits off from a duplicated body grows eyestalks to see with.

* AnArmAndALeg: Dr. Copper has his arms bitten off by the titular Thing. This kills him likely due to blood loss as the next time we see him, it's as a corpse tied up next to another (seemingly) human corpse to be blood tested alongside the survivors.

* BellyMouth: One of the many ways in which the eponymous being surprises the humans, and the first time it reveals its ability to take human form, is when Dr. Copper tries to electrically resuscitate Norris and has his arms bitten off when the Thing opens its chest into a toothy maw before he can zap it further.

* BizarreAlienLocomotion: When one human-impersonating Thing is burned, its head breaks off, extends a very long tongue, and uses this to drag itself across the floor.

** A horrifying deleted scene [[spoiler:showed Nauls' death, but it wasn't filmed due to time and budget constraints. The scene is shown in storyboard and takes place in the final act; after the Blair-Thing assimilates Garry, Mac and Nauls split up. Nauls goes down a narrow hallway and eventually stops in front of a large cabinet. He finds Garry's body, then looks up and is grabbed by Blair, looming above him in a tentacled, blob-like form with a malformed arm. The next scene would've been Nauls' death scene occurring just before the final form of the Blair-Thing appeared in front of Mac. After the floor burst open, Nauls' head emerged from the hole, rolling and crying out "Help me!" Then the rest of Nauls' body would rise out, ''[[ImMelting skin and flesh melting off the bones]] and missing a hand''. While Mac stared horrified, '''[[BodyHorror small tentacles pop out all over Nauls' body while a large one moved up his throat then out his mouth]]''', silencing his cries. Nauls' head rolled around as the large tentacle ballooned before it burst Nauls' jaw and ribcage open, killing him.]]

* BlobMonster: The Thing really is an amorphous being, being simply a multi-cellular organism. Unfortunately, not only does it absorb its prey, it is also extremely plastic, hence it can both copy its victims and assume grotesque, hideous, and gory forms.

** During its initial appearances, the Thing only makes incoherent animal noises and appears to be driven by simple instinct, but it soon becomes apparent that it's highly intelligent. Granted, this was already strongly implied by the spaceship (assuming the spacefarers weren't its victims, too), but that doesn't change how unnerving it is when the [[spoiler:ruined blood samples]] make it clear just ''how'' intelligent it is.

* DownerEnding: In some versions edited for broadcast on TNT/TBS, an alternate ending is included that is much grimmer than the original cut. After fading to black on the [[spoiler: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.]] Blair did say earlier that a dog couldn't make it very far, so there may be hope yet.

** When Macready and Copper take the helicopter to find out what's going on at the Norwegian camp, the terror lies in the fact that something utterly horrific has ''already'' happened and the Americans are LateToTheTragedy. Aside from the corpse of one man who apparently committed suicide and the burned remains of the Split-Faced Thing, no other bodies are shown and we're given only the merest hints of what might have gone on in the camp and what happened to the people there.

%%* ArchEnemy: The Thing to R.J. [=MacReady=].

%%* EvilIsVisceral: The alien while assimilating its victims.

%%* MysteriousAntarctica

%%* NoBiochemicalBarriers: Cross-Species Disease.

%%* PreMortemOneLiner:
%%--->'''[=MacReady=]:''' Yeah, fuck you, too!

%%* PyrrhicVictory: If the protagonists have won at all, it's come at a devastating cost.

%%* ShapeshifterMashup: The Thing's final form is this.

%%* SkeletonCrew: Not on board a vessel of any kind, but the dead man in the Norwegian camp counts.

%%* SurprisinglySuddenDeath: Pretty much whenever the Thing's new host is uncovered.

%%* TheyLookLikeUsNow: Milked for all the paranoia fuel it's worth.

%%* VirusVictimSymptoms: Played with in a scene with [[spoiler:Blair]], which just underscores the paranoia.

* HeroicSuicide

* LateToTheTragedy: The alien got dug up by, and slaughtered, a Norwegian expedition team before it found its way into the American outpost in Antarctica. Some of the American team go to find out what happened at the Norwegian outpost and find that it's been almost completely destroyed by fire, with signs of a very nasty struggle, including a fire axe buried in a door -- and beyond that door, a man who clearly committed suicide by slashing his throat and wrists. Apart from his corpse and the burned remains of the split-faced Thing, there's no trace of anyone else. The [[Film/TheThing2011 2011 prequel film]] goes into much further detail on what happened at the Norwegian outpost.

** When Macready and Copper go to find out what's going on at the Norwegian camp, the terror lies in the fact that something utterly horrific has ''already'' happened and the Americans are LateToTheTragedy. Aside from the corpse of one man who apparently committed suicide and the burned remains of the Split-Faced Thing, there are no other bodies and we're given only the merest hints of what might have gone on in the camp and what happened to the people there.

* NothingIsScarier

** When Macready and Copper go to find out what's going on at the Norwegian camp, the terror lies in the fact that something utterly horrific has ''already'' happened and the Americans are LateToTheTragedy. We're given only the merest hints of what might have gone on in the camp and what happened to the people there; aside from the corpse of one man who apparently committed suicide and the burned remains of the Split-Faced Thing, there's ''no'' trace of anyone else.

** When Macready and Copper go to find out what's going on at the Norwegian camp, the terror lies in the fact that something utterly horrific has ''already'' happened and the Americans are LateToTheTragedy. We're given only the merest hints of what might have gone on in the camp and what happened to the people there.

* LateToTheTragedy: The alien got dug up by, and slaughtered, a Norwegian expedition team before it found its way into the American outpost in Antarctica. Some of the American team go to find out what happened at the Norwegian outpost and find that it's been almost completely destroyed by fire, with signs of a very nasty struggle, including a fire axe buried in a door -- and beyond that door, a man who clearly committed suicide by slashing his throat and wrists. The [[Film/TheThing2011 2011 prequel film]] goes into much further detail on what happened at the Norwegian outpost.

* LateToTheTragedy: The alien got dug up by, and slaughtered, a Norwegian expedition team before it found its way into the American outpost in Antarctica. The [[Film/TheThing2011 2011 prequel film]] shows what happened at the Norwegian outpost.

* DidntThinkThisThrough: Mac tying up everyone during the Blood Test. On paper, the theory's sound; it ensures they can't fight back or flee if they're exposed. In practice, however, it backfires. [[spoiler: The Thing gets exposed, but it's ''not'' the person Mac suspected. Worse, the other potential suspects are now tied to the same couch as the beastie and can't escape, thereby making them easy pickings (a situation made worse by Mac's flamethrower unexpectedly malfunctioning and Windows freezing up at the worst possible moment).]]

* RiddleForTheAges: The ending. [[spoiler:Is Childs a Thing or not? Is [=MacReady=]?]] There's plenty of evidence towards any number of conclusions and fans are still debating it to this day.
** For what it's worth, the [[Videogame/TheThing video game sequel]] and the [[Comicbook/TheThingFromAnotherWorld comic book sequels]] provide contradictory answers. In the game, [[spoiler:Childs isn't because he froze to death shortly after the film ended, but it's still ambiguous if [=MacReady=] is.]] In the comic, [[spoiler:neither is a Thing at the end of the film, but Childs gets infected over the course of the comic.]]

The visceral depictions of the [[ShapeShifterMashup anatomically creative forms]] the lifeform adopts when attacking or threatened were milestone achievements in both SpecialEffects rigging and creature design thanks to a fusion of masterful puppetry, makeup, and advanced FX rigging, bolstered by new green-screen effects like high-end claymation, matte painting, and early CGI. By using each for the tasks it did best, and combining several approaches in a single shot to create seamless composite effects, Carpenter and co. left surprisingly little room for {{Narm}} to set in, and created one of the first cinematic environments to believably pull off DaylightHorror sequences. The film's effects have since been cited as influences for later franchises like ''Franchise/DeadSpace'' -- especially [[VideoGame/DeadSpace3 the third one]], as both take place on remote icy outposts.

* DaylightHorror: Somewhat. The base is entering a polar winter, so beyond a certain point in the movie it's just dark all the time. The alien usually attacks when it happens to be dark outside. However, some of the most intense scenes in the movie happen in the well-lit interiors of the base in plain view.

* ThrowAwayCountry: The Norwegians only serve to introduce the title creature.

** [[spoiler: When the Thing assimilates Norris, it also copies and inherits its host's heart problems. This ends up biting the Norris-Thing in the ass when it has an unexpected, actual heart attack that prematurely exposes it.]]

* HandGagging: Played for horror when [[spoiler:the Blair-Thing shows up to kill Garry, simultaneously silencing and assimilating him by MORPHING HIS HAND INTO HIS MOUTH. Afterwards we're shown Garry's body being dragged by the hand-melded mouth]].

* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: As mentioned above, when The Thing first reveals itself in the kennels, the dogs become utterly terrified, so much so that one tries to escape by biting through the fence. You can even see it glance at the fence and back again, as if realizing the futility of the situation. Two of the dogs do indeed get away, and they don’t stop once they’re out of the kennels.

* TheSleepless: The whole cast ends up staying awake over three or four days, probably not wanting to go to sleep out of fear of being vulnerable to assimilation. Naturally things get horrific when this mixes with the mass paranoia...

* AerithAndBob: Windows... isn't a very common given name.