As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.
- Three words: Jed. The. Wolfdog. In a movie brimming with great character actors and memorable lines, it's the dog who ends up stealing the show with possibly the most unsettling and effective performance of anyone. To an extent, it's tempting to write it off as Enforced Method Acting— He was half-wolf, and probably as unsettled by the cast and crew as he did them— but keep in mind his other roles...
- The entire blood testing scene.
- Mac's final confrontation with the Thing. Facing the remains of most of his friends all mashed together in one giant Eldritch Abomination, he burns it, then when a piece tries to detach and escape....''Yeah, FUCK YOU, TOO!'' *throws dynamite*
- The transformations stand out being moments of awesome by itself.
- Also an off-screen Moment Of Awesome for Rob Bottin, who worked so hard he ended up in the hospital with exhaustion. (And a small one to Stan Winston, who declined prominent credit for working on the Dog-Thing sequence to ensure Bottin wouldn't be overshadowed.)
- Garry pulling off a Moe Greene Special against the crazed Norwegian. Sure, it's a case of Nice Job Breaking It, Hero, but it's still an impressive shot.
- Pretty much any time a flamethrower is used. The best is when MacReady burns Palmer-Thing up who then smashes his way through a wall and falls into the snow. MacReady isn't quite done: he throws a stick of dynamite and blows the burning corpse to pieces.
- The dog that tried to gnaw its way out from the pens to escape from the Thing. Unfortunately, it didn't make it, but it had the right idea.
- The Norwegians chasing the wolf dog by helicopter.
- Blair's computer simulation and the reveal of how bad things are, followed by his Properly Paranoid actions (assuming he wasn't already assimilated).
- Fuchs bringing the threat to everyones attention.
- Garry talking down a panicked Windows when he's grabbed a gun.
- Mac, along with his surviving compatriots, destroying the camp to prevent the Thing from returning to hibernation, at the probable cost of their own lives."Whether we make it or not, we can't let the Thing freeze again. Maybe we'll just warm things up a little around here. We're not gettin' outta here alive. But neither is that Thing."
