In fairness to the Norwegian, he's attempting to shoot a moving target from a platform that is also moving. Also he might not have been in the calmest state of mind.
Also, he's probably not a very good shot. Maybe it's the 'Merica in me, but it seems like a lot of people from other countries have no idea how to handle a firearm. Don't get me wrong, neither do I, but I have at least shot before.
@@josephcline3652 I used to do training where I’d run for a few minutes to get my heart rate up and then start shooting. Massive difference. His heart rate, stress, the fact that it’s freezing and he’s on a chopper, shooting at a moving target, wearing gloves, lack of sleep.
There are two kinds of people who react to The Thing: "No don't hurt the dog! I hope nothing happens to the dog!" or "That dog is acting really sus right now."
Mostly (but not always) it seems to be the ladies who worry most about the hound. Even as a kid (I first saw The Thing when I was 14 ish) my reaction was "they're shooting at the dog, I wonder what's wrong with the dog?"
I agree, Edd. First time I saw it, I wondered what was wrong with the dog. But whenever anyone watches this for the first time, they always ask "why are they shooting at the dog?" and I tell them that, chances are, if they watch the movie, they'll find out.
Wilford Brimley, the actor who played Blair, was actually a marine and a bodyguard of Howard Hughes. So regardless if he wasn't in his prime anymore the scene were the others have to gang up on him to knock him out isn't actually too far fetched at all.
Kurt's hat was used so he could be recognized from the other 9 people at a distance in the glaring snow. And the reason Kurt looked stunned after he threw the dynamite at the thing when Palmer went through the wall was because he was using real dynamite and it gave him a concussion being so close to the blast. Yes, they used real dynamite back in the 80's for special effects.
@@heavyvacation ummm that’s the whole point of these commentaries. To listen their thoughts and opinions throughout the movie. They’re going into this completely blind and unaware of background info to give a genuine reaction. I don’t know every damn thing about every movie I watch and the only reason why most people know a lot about this movie is because of how iconic it is. So I don’t think it’s actually fair to insult them based on that.
The Thing fans to this day still debating whether MacReady and Childs are the Thing. Amazing this film is approaching its 40 year anniversary since its theatrical release. The Things stands the test of time ladies.
What is the debate? MacReady is Human, Childs is The Thing. It's very cold. You can see MacReady's breath every time he breathes. Childs' breath? Not at all.
@@scotthewitt258 as others have pointed out, Carpenter himself stated that it's just because of the angle of filming. Further, Bennings-thing clearly breathed, so that theory makes no sense given the information from the movie.
The end isn't anticlimatic, it's frightening. Two men, uncertain of each other, finally giving up as they realize either one of them could be The Thing. By the way, lots of fan theories, but many people point towards Childs being The Thing. Look into it, it's awesome.
People that think the ending scene is anticlimactic, didn't really watch the scene. You can see Mac's breath, but not Childs'. MacReady hands Childs the bottle he's drinking and Childs take it and drinks from it, when they aren't supposed to share food items.
John Carpenter apparently deliberately made the end ambiguous, through the whole movie any of the characters could have been infected by the alien. Fear and paranoia added to the tension, and sitting in the freezing ruins of the camp either Childs or MacReady (or both) could have been The Thing.
@@Fizbin1701 But you can see Childs' breath, especially in the higher quality director's cut. Also, if the thing truly mimics all your cells, why would it not have breath? That fan theory does not make any sense imho. Also, in those potentially last moments, knowing you will die, do you think you'd really care about sharing a drink lul? :)) But yeah, watch the comic that Paul mentioned, it's pretty good.
Just a little note, Blair wasn't building a "spaceship" there. It was a simple transport to get him out of the camp to a more populated area. Loved the reaction.
@@youtubeistrash953 To be fair, we're never told what it is the Thing built, but it's easier to believe a boat than a spaceship, and why leave the only world within billions of miles that's full of lifeforms and technology I can use for my survival and reproduction?
@@waterbeauty85 I just think it's left ambiguous on purpose. How do we know it assimilates on instinctual command ? We really don't know... the damn Thing might just be trying to survive and decided the friendly way with humans and this planet thus far wasn't an option. I'm just saying I see no evidence for either side, though why make a spaceship to get to another continent when you could just fix the helicopter lol.
That "anticlimatic" ending has gone down as one of the great endings in horror movie history. The real terror of The Thing was the complete paranoia. Not knowing who to trust. Feeling completely alone even while surrounded by people...or what you thought were people. And 'The Thing" was one of the greatest monster conceptions in history -- one drop, one bit, makes it back to civilization, and the whole world is consumed in grotesque fashion. And so you bring back the simple heartbeat beat, and you fade to black with two men, or not men, staring at each other not knowing, and you not knowing, and if either one is a thing the entire fate of the planet at stake. It's an ending that has sponsored endless debate. Childs' story is suspicious. How did McCready survive that explosion? All the thing wants to do is freeze and wait for the rescue team. Theories as to who is who have abounded, some say Mac was testing Childs by offering the drink, and maybe the drink wasn't even a drink but rather a last molotov full of gas, and Childs did not react. Others think maybe MacCready was the thing and used the drink to pass on the infection to Childs. But the not knowing for sure is exactly in line with the tone of the entire movie.
@@Justin977 But Carpenter endorsed the PS2 "The Thing" video game as canon, and it contradicts the "The Thing From Another World" comic. Keep in mind that the company that publish "The Thing From Another World" also published a comic book series featuring the continuing adventures of Newt from "Aliens," but "Alien 3" would reveal that Newt died as a 6 year old girl without ever coming out of the cryosleep she went into at end of "Aliens." They would later publish a comic showing that Newt's adventures were just a dream that she had while in cryosleep, but point is that their movie comics can't be taken as canon.
There's a very interesting article about how The Thing was made in the edit. Originally, there was more creature featured and the audience was "in-the know," i.e., more like a regular slasher movie. Carpenter wasn't happy, so he took some downtime (I think there were funding problems?) and edited the movie in a way that you never see the creature take over people and ti's always unclear who is infected and who isn't. Best. Desicion. Ever.
The dog stared a lot because it was actually half wolf. It apparently freaked out a lot of people on set because of its constant staring. As for the special effects, you can thank Rob Botin for them. He worked on a lot of notable movies, including The Howling and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
It has been confirmed (officially) that Childs was the Thing, as if you take careful notice, MacReady was like a choochoo train when he talked and breathed in the frigid cold, while Childs was literally cool as a cucumber with no steam whatsoever. ;)
@@chrisrabideau9910 No, you can see him breathing in the shot, and regardless, that would make no sense as a tell as we clearly see Bennings thing breath very frosty breath earlier in the movie when he is wailing. The movie established that the thing is a perfect imitation, with all the internal organs and everything. Like the 'gasoline' drink theory, which relies on the Thing arbitrarily having no sense of taste or smell, both again which are not established, it just doesn't fit with what we know of the thing in the movie. 'Officially' Childs would be human in the scene, but I use 'officially' here very loosely as there really isn't anything truly official. There has been some claims that the filmmakers were intending for Childs to be a thing, but there is also Carpenter endorsing the sequel game which has Childs as human. There is also a sequel comic where Childs was human at least initially, and if you want to use the prequel, both mechanisms to detect a thing from the prequel confirm Childs is human (he has a visible earring, and if you look close you can see he still has his filling, which does feel deliberate on the part of the prequel makers). In the end, it is still ambiguous, to the point that both could be things that just aren't sure of the other.
ehm. hej greetings from germany. if dont get it wrong: it was the black guy. he just took a nip from the bottle mcready gave him. and mcready drunk before out of it. both now it could be evrybody and taking just a bit of dna of this thing turns you into one of those.
Blair was NOT infected when he flipped out. He's the only one thinking straight at that point. (He's already figured out what the rest don't realize until later - that none of them are going to survive) He made the noose because he'd rather die than be infected - but of course The Thing approached him disguised as one of the other guys. When he was telling them to watch Clark, he was still human. But once he started to ask come back inside... Once he was infected, he could mutate into his larger form and dig the hole in a couple minutes the way we saw it come up from the ground at the end. He could build his makeshift vehicle that fast because he can grow extra arms. If you think about it, The Thing's species probably did not *develop* technology. It would have no reason to, it would clearly dominate any ecosystem it evolved into. Some other advanced space-faring race found it and got infected, and it *stole* all their technical knowledge and then began invading other worlds. (Or even, some advanced race *created it* for some reason and it got loose and infected a spaceship crew and started infecting the galaxy)
CLAP CLAP CLAP!! Great description! The thing is similar to the Goa'uld of Stargate. They were worms...no technology. This is one of my top 10 films. Anyway thanks again.
I wonder if it can simply infect another organism and grow inside them until taking over completely. Blair kept putting his hands in the thing when they were doing autopsy after autopsy. I wonder if cells from the thing could have gotten into his skin and slowly taken over him like an infection. Quite the ultimate organism.
@@Mortismors After living through a pandemic, we're watching these guys and wondering how they survived ten minutes. He's got surgical gloves on, but he's reaching inside the thing up to his elbows...
Actually, Stuart Cohen, one of the producers of the movie, said that Blair was a Thing when he went Berzerk, so that he would be isolated from the others and be able to plant evidence and build the ship in peace while the others were suspicious of each other.
@@Mortismors There is also the question of how much control the creature can assert from a small start. An individual infected by a few cells may take a considerable period of time to be taken over. Perhaps this is what happened to Blair. Realising that it was aboard, he goes crazy trying to fight back. His calmness returns as its hold on him grows.
@@jt1929 They had shot the B-role footage of the helicopter pilot who was his stunt double already. The pilot loved the hat and wore it in every scene so Kurt had to wear it for continuity’s sake.
Yeah he is amazing. He has worked on so many superb films. As a person he has a great sense of humor and has a laid back demeanor...though he works like a devil. Great guy. One of the best effects Masters,
@@galleryphotogenie4999 agreed. A friend of mine did a documentary called Fantastic Flesh (it’s on UA-cam) and interviewed him. Can confirm everything you said.
Rob Bottin, the special effects artist for this movie, was 22 when he did the effects for The Thing. According to the Making Of... documentary on the dvd Bottin pushed himself so hard that afterward he needed to be hospitalized for exhaustion and pneumonia. The dog kennel attack scene was done by an uncredited Stan Winston who later did the effects for: The Terminator 1 & 2 as well creating the Iron Man suit for the first Iron Man movie.
"Is he infected or just crazy?" "I think he realizes that if any of them escape they could infect humanity." Ma'am you are wise and way ahead of the characters.
@@SamuelBlack84 I know assimilating causes it excruciating pain...I read the novelization and it mentioned it was like giving birth to the thing from every orifice and it took on any medical illness of the animal or human it assimilated Cause you can hear it screaming in the dog kennel before it was shot
I love that every reaction video about The Thing starts the same way. "You bastard! Don't hurt that dog!" And everyone who's seen the movie is just smiling and shaking their head.
In 2010, author Peter Watts wrote a creepy little sequel called 'The Things'. It tells the same story, but from the alien's point of view. The thing finds us as horrifying as we find it, and thinks it's doing us a favour ...
Who Goes There? was seriously abridged when it was originally published. It was finally restored just in the last few years, the full novella is called Frozen Hell I believe.
@@jherrenor And it's almost finished! It just needs to scrounge up an old antimatter generator and a makeshift warp drive... To be fair, what it built was impressive, but we never saw a sign that it built a WORKING spacecraft from scraps. Of course it is pretty likely that given time it might be able to recover the rest from the crashed ship.
It's not smart at all. It burrows info from the saucer aliens it took over. It's pure instinct and survival, using the knowledge of its victims to blend in and survive.
I think that the reason you guys thought that the ending was anticlimactic , is because lately we are all so use to the big Marvel CGI endings... It's almost expected nowadays.
What does cgi have to do with anything? Most endings tend to not be ambiguous this isn't something that only modern movies have pretty much most stories have an ending like that with a resolution it was like that even when the thing came out as well. Why do dumb comments get so many upvotes?
Its actually DEVOLVING into lesser lifeforms in order to stay hidden. Before it even crashed in the ice sheet the thing had assimilated life forms so far in advance of anything on this planet. Thats what makes it so scary. Its collectively all the creatures it has ever encountered at once. Yes it can act in a basic animalistic manner such as the head after Norris cpr and the sample during the blood test. But the assimilated Blair clearly had access to a collective knowledge. Enough that he could try to build a rudimentary craft to get him closer to civilization. If you watch Palmer and Norris closely knowing they have already been assimilated they act in such perfectly human fashion. Norris isnt brave enough for leadership and Palmer continues his wisecracking personality. Also his face as he is about to be test is great: the thing clearly knows its about to be exposed.
You should watch the 2011 version. It explains what went on at the Norwegian camp and literally ends where this version begins. However, there is no Kurt Russell and it's a bit predictable in some spots. But it's a worthy prequel, even though they could've done a LOT more with it.
@@Diskoboy1974 I really enjoyed it for explaining what happened. The massive 'The Thing' fan in me is very irritated by their lack of continuity when it comes to the alien ship and how it was discovered, etc. (They used film from the original 'The Thing from Another World' in the scene where McCready is watching the Norwegian tapes.) The effects were mildly irritating in that the CG was used over the already present, and apparently awesome, practical effects.
Blair-Thing, in the shed, could have grown several arms with sharp claws which he could use to dig a deep hole and construct a craft quickly. A shape-changer can be very productive.
28:45 "Maybe they wanted to leave it as a mystery." Spot On. Several comic books, a prequel and even a video game, almost 40 years later, it's STILL a mystery. Classic.
Me the first time I watched this movie: "Their must be something seriously fucked up about that dog, that they're so desperate to kill it" Every single other person ever, the first time they watch this: "Nooooooooooo, don't kill the poor dog"
It depends on which decade of horror movies you begin with. 90's and 2000's avoided killing kids and animals. It wasn't till streaming we started killing kids and pets consistantly again
23:51 when kurt russel threw the explosive the explosion was bigger than the film crew expected, and it went off sooner than planned. Thats why kurt has a look on his face right after which was genuine shock
RE: Blair - the way I always saw it was he had a noose tied and then all of a sudden decided he was okay and wanted to come back inside. The Thing got to him before he had a chance to kill himself. Edit: oh yeah, now you can watch The Thing song! ua-cam.com/video/8faq5amdK30/v-deo.html
I think he got a low level dose of the alien early on from his autopsies and it took time to establish control. He realises what is happening and goes berserk trying to prevent it going beyond him. When they lock him up, he still has enough control to rig the noose, but is thwarted in his desire to die when the alien establishes control. The later calm Blair is the "Thing".
Yep. For 1982, the effects are astounding and they still are. Incidentally, the tentacles coming out of the Dog thing was actually reverse motion. Stan Winston was actually so impressed with Rob Bottin's effects that he refused to take credit.
Well, Norris and Palmer - who were also infected - could’ve contributed to it without anyone noticing, so perhaps you aren’t too far off with that conjecture. The creepiest thing about this movie isn’t that the creature can take the form of any living thing, but the fact that there can be multiple of them.
CG is used now because it's cheaper, quicker, most of the good practical effects artists are not with us anymore, and most of the movie-going public don't really care. They'll gladly eat up whatever garbage the studio shovels at them, like Godzilla vs Kong for example. It might be technically amazing (and it is) but at the end of the day, it just looks like a video game to me.
@CYB3R2K30 Something subjective can't be "false". Recent example -- "Godzilla vs Kong". The effects and visuals on that were praised as amazing. I think they look like what they are, computer generated imagery. Yes, it is cutting edge and looks better than anything before it. But, they still look fake as hell. At least if I see a puppet on a screen, I know that was a real object, in a real physical location, doing real things. CGI just looks like a damn video game to me. It could look really nice, but it looks like GRAPHICS, because that's all it is.
@CYB3R2K30 The proof of how wrong you are is their reaction. Practical fx are visceral. CGI is great on the large scale but they just don't feel real the way practical does.
@CYB3R2K30 Yes, I agree. And they can look great. Because it does, for what it is. But at the end of the day, they all scream to me "this was generated by a computer" which completely takes me out of the story being told. I'd much rather watch an old Ray Harryhausen movie, like Jason and the Argonauts, or Clash of the Titans. Now that's good stuff. I don't care about technical wizardry. I care about the story and how the story is being told, not that my eyes are being blasted with realistic light scattering or bajillions of textured polygons. Sure, it's very impressive, and it looks nice, and I know it took a team of people months to do it, but it's all style and no substance to me. There's no right or wrong here, it's just personal preference.
The reason it was able to build a spaceship is because the thing adopts the knowledge and memories of what it assimilates, so that means that it most likely has the knowledge of other species and creatures as well, making it very intelligent
@@eddiepolo6047 literally everywhere I've looked, which includes the original script calls it a spaceship or ufo, so stop being so picky. Besides they say in the movie it was trying to freeze so someone would come pick it up and bring it to a populated area, so the blair thing wouldn't need it own transportation device unless it was trying to get off world
The reactions on your faces have been the best ever to this film. Although you say Blair building the spaceship was ridiculous remember he was taken over by an alien which was light years ahead of human abilities so to me that was credible. I was lucky to see this at a cinema when it came out and I too looked like your reactions during the film all those decades ago. Fascinating to watch you. Keep going and stay safe.
It was actually building a vehicle to just get away from that installation, not go to space. Kurt and gang were on to it so it was trying to escape them and begin assimilating somewhere else on the continent - and then the world.
The Thing from another world (1951) is the original movie actually. It is extremely tame compared to this version. For one thing, you barely see the alien in the film. A lot of horror/sci-fi directors and fans love this 1982 film and it is a cult classic.
This started as a 1938 science fiction short story called "Who Goes There?" It was made into a movie in 1951 called, "The Thing From Another World." This version shortened the name to "The Thing." There is a 2011 prequel movie also called "The Thing."
Yeah, I typically correct the people who thing the 2011 movie is a remake, and then point out that they must not have been paying attention of they thought it was a remake. Lol
@@thelazygamer1639 I wish someone would react to the 1951 version because it's really good, but it's almost impossible to get millennials to do a 1950s movie. Look at "The Day the Earth Stood Still," "North by Northwest," "The War of the Worlds," "Stalag 17," "Forbidden Planet," "Shane," "Some Like it Hot," "Vertigo." All masterpieces. I suggest these things from time to time to various reactors, but I guess they think I'm lying.
@@brandonflorida1092 I can say I've at least seen the original The Day the Earth Stood Still, watched it in 5th Grade. I actually have a DVD that had both the remake and the original. No idea where it is now though.
@@thelazygamer1639 If you can possibly swing it, see the 1951 "The Thing From Another World." It's different, but it's very good. One thing it shares with the 1982 version is that the alien is smart enough to cooperate with Earth beings, but has zero inclination to do so.
What is hilarious is that a lot of 'analysts' refer to the whole 'Thing' thing as a metaphor for Cold War paranoia, when the original story long predates the Cold War.
I love watching people discover what I consider to be one of the top 5 horror movies of all time. The movie is a faithful adaptation of the novella _Who Goes There?_ The first adaptation was 1951's _The Thing from Another World,_ which is also a great movie itself.
The dog was so well trained it scared the other dogs. Haha. There is actually a follow up tie-in comic to this (a few actually but only the first one is very good) and a terrible videogame. Tehehe
Only 1 reactor I have seen so far who was suspicious of the dog from the beginning. Everyone else is so happy that the guy got shot for trying to shoot the dog. The girl on the left was very happy he was killed.
Yay! Another great watch! The Thing is one of them movies that really gets under your skin from start to finish! Great reaction as usual Tasha, Emma, & Emma's Mom!
Fun fact Carpenter was such a fan of the 50's The Thing From Another World it actually makes an appearance on the TV on Halloween and he ended up making this sorta remake a few years later.
Wow, you three actually wanted MORE at the end? You lot truly appreciated The Thing more than any other reaction to this movie; I've been watching mostly male reactions, and you three made observations that NO ONE picked up on, I was so surprised. You also pointed a couple of things that never occurred to me, and I've seen this movie many times. Best reaction ever (especially when you contrasted the girl on the left mouthing "Cool" while the others were repulsed at the first special fx with the dogs).
Oh my god i can’t believe you guys finally decided to watch the remake of The Thing from 1982 that was directed by John Carpenter who also gave us Halloween, Halloween II, The Fog, Escape From New York, They Live, Vampires, Assault On Precinct 13, Big Trouble In Little China, In The Mouth Of Madness, Prince Of Darkness, Ghosts Of Mars, Escape From LA, Christine, Dark Star, Star Man, and Village Of The Damned. I’m sure that this movie was worth watching for one reason or another. Thank you for your time Tasha and enjoy the rest of your Monday! ☀️🌈🌹❤️
Fun facts: At the US arctic research facility, the staff watch this movie annually, when winter hits. Then mystery of who took the keys and destroyed the blood supply is at least partially explained with an audio cue. When Windows (the man with the perpetual sunglasses) finds Bennings covered in Thing-worms, you hear him drop the keys. Either Norris-thing or Palmer-thing must have done it. Probably Palmer, because he wasn't with them when they burned Bennings. This movie is damned near perfect, and is my favorite horror movie.
I saw this movie in the theater when I was about 11. It became my favorite movie of all time. I've seen it over one hundred times and I never get tired of it. The effects are outstanding and there will never be anything as good since most effects are CGI now. Thanks for watching this classic movie. 👍👍🤘🤘
6:15 that cut where all the audience look at his eyes intensely, and then in the next frame the dog is EXACTLY framed so it's right where we were already looking, amazing cinema
Thank you for this! So fun to watch! And between the "ah! why does it have eyes?!" and the Daffy Duck "shoot him now" clip, just absolute class. Well done.
The dog actor is able to convey intelligence and deliberation. One theme of the movie is that humans are social creatures, while The Thing is totally selfish. The humans are willing to die in order to protect the rest of humanity from having the creature escape Antarctica. On the other hand, each part of the creature is totally selfish. Tissue from The Thing will not accept a silent death from a hot needle in order to protect the identity of its host.
In a Q&A, when someone asked if Childs was an alien at the end, John Carpenter said "I know Mac is an alien. I don't know about Childs," but when pushed for an explanation, Carpenter said "Look, I was just kidding. I don't know who was an alien at the end. Nobody does. That's the whole point." However, Carpenter also endorsed the PS2 "The Thing" sequel game as canon. In the game, you find Childs' corpse and discover that he was human and died of hypothermia, and game ends with Mac flying in with a helicopter and saving your life. Emma's apparent calmness throughout this movie is cracking me up. Whether you do a reaction video or not, you should watch the 2015 western, horror, suspense movie "Bone Tomahawk" starring Kurt Russell, Patrick Wilson and Matthew Fox. It has some intense action and horror in the last act, but most of the movie is mounting suspense and Tarantino-like dialogue and character development.
That movie has one of the most unnecessarily grotesque and inhumane deaths in cinema. Like there was no reason to make it that gruesome other than the shock factor.
Fun fact: Wilford Brimley (the actor who played Blair) served in the marines and was a bodyguard for Howard Hughes. Even though he wasn’t exactly in his prime, he still was very strong. So it’s not super unrealistic that omit took multiple guys to subdue him.
The big thing with this movie is that it purposely leaves more questions than it answers. Even at the end, you don't know who was the Thing, or when they turned.
Blair got infected when he tapped the alien remains with his eraser tip then put the eraser on his lip. The creature took him over on an extreamly minuet cellular level
Nope. The pencil eraser never goes into the remains. He simply uses the eraser as pointer. "That's not dog". Points. You see the shadow if the pencil hovering over it, if you really watch it. If you believe in the cellular theory that it can take over you slowly. Blair is literally elbow deep in the autopsies or even better. Look at the scene when they unravel splitface on the table. Look at Blair, hes the only one to get a whole lot of thing gloop on his hand from the sheet. Watch him, he literally looks at it and then wipes his hands on the corner of the sheet. He could have been the first infected.
The ending is great. It leaves you wondering if one of them is the thing or not because Childs suspiciously disappeared and allowed Blair to blow up the generator. And It could be MacReady because Palmer who was infected had been shown to work against his own kind to assure his own survival....
I love when people are like "whoah, these effects look good for being an old movie". The 80's/90's was the golden age of practical effects. People are too used to seeing movies that are just like 90% CG effects now. I say if you want to see CG effects, play a video game.
That was such a fun video, i'm already saw this movie like 20 times but never have a thought about *THE HAT* lmfao!!!! i can't get over it now xD xD xD
There is a prequel to this done in 2011. There is also a series of comic books telling us the story of Childs and Macready after the encounter with The Thing.
Hey, Tasha! This John Carpenter classic is a masterful exercise in paranoia and practical effects! I discovered "The Thing" during my junior high school years on VHS when going through a Carpenter phase. Originally a 1938 pulp novella written by John W. Campbell called "Who Goes There?", the story was first adapted to film as a 1951 Howard Hawks production called "The Thing From Another World". A '50's-era sci-fi classic in its own right, the original was taken to a whole new level by John Carpenter abetted by the incredible practical effects wizardry of Rob Bottin. A prequel was made in 2011 chronicling what happened at the Norwegian base but wasn't nearly as good. Led by a world-weary Kurt Russell, Carpenter assembled a cast of terrific veteran character actors including Keith David, Richard Dysart, Wilford Brimley, David Clennon, Charles Hallahan, Donald Moffat and Richard Masur who believably inhabit their roles and ratchet up the tension by degrees. Carpenter would direct Russell in five films including "Elvis", "The Thing", "Big Trouble in Little China", "Escape From New York" and "Escape From LA". He would direct Keith David again in "They Live!" John Carpenter is a one-man band who writes, directs, edits and scores all his films. In a rare exception, the score for "The Thing" was provided by composing great Ennio Morricone. Carpenter's body of work includes a number of pulpy classics and B-movie greats like "Assault on Precinct 13", "Halloween", "Someone's Watching Me!", "The Fog", "Escape From New York", "The Thing", "Christine", "Starman", "They Live!", "Memoirs of an Invisible Man", "Body Bags", "In the Mouth of Madness", "Vampires" and "The Ward". His first film, "Dark Star", was a sci-fi horror-comedy that partially inspired "Alien"! He also wrote the screenplay for "The Eyes of Laura Mars", an American giallo. His scores are instantly recognizable with their throbbing notes and he expertly uses silence and stillness to generate unbearable tension. Wilford Brimley's Blair sabotaged the vehicles after making the discovery that there was a high probability of someone being infected and seeing the grim projection that three years would be all it would take for the Thing to spread over the Earth! He was determined to trap them there which is the same realization Macready comes to at the end. He's taken to the shack a human but, the second time they check on him, he's probably a Thing because his demeanor is so calm. The funny noises he says he was hearing must've gotten to him before he could avail himself of the noose he fashioned as an escape from its clutches! As a Thing, he was building a craft under the shed to travel to the mainland. The Thing has absorbed countless beings including space-faring species. The knowledge to construct a craft that can take him to the mainland was absorbed from a host so it's not far-fetched that he can do this with so much metal and electronic equipment around. Additionally, alien engineering and propulsion principles could function in a vastly simpler way than what 20th-century humans are aware of. My favorite non-horror moment in "The Thing" is Donald Moffat's slow-burning explosive outburst while tied to the couch. "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 F**KING COUCH!" It gets me every time. The ambiguous ending leaves you with four possible outcomes and they're all bleak. Lol. The best case scenario is that both Childs and Mac are human, the Thing was destroyed and the survivors DIE of hypothermia. The other three options are that one or the other or both survivors are Things who will copy the remaining human and the rescue party as well eventually dominating the Earth. There is a popular fan theory that Things lack eye gleam and Childs doesn't have it in that last scene. It could also be a trick of light. There is another popular fan theory that claims Mac tests Childs by giving him a flask of kerosene instead of liquor which Childs consumes! Mac chuckles with fatalistic resignation realizing he has failed and humanity is doomed. That is, unless, he has a spare stick of dynamite he can use to blow himself up along with a now very flammable Childs! Lol. The only sequels exist as a series of Dark Horse comics and a video game featuring John Carpenter himself as a Dr. Faraday!
Fans have a theory that at the end when Childs and Mac Creadie are talking...you can't see Childs cold breath which makes you think he still could be the thing. 😬
Since this film is a remake, and a significant number of the people watching it in the Eighties had seen the original (myself included), then of course we knew what to expect. We just weren't prepared for the darkness of it, and the outrageous monster effects. I first saw it as a teenager and have loved it ever since. One of the best monster films of all-time.
I'm late on this reaction but I got a kick out of it. As a kid (10-12 years), my dad would turn the AC real cold and turn all the lights off when he broke this movie out. It was like being right there with them.
Fun theory: The Thing arrives on Earth and it is Thing, but we aren't. This interestingly suggests that the Thing is everywhere else but not on Earth, or it's a fugitive from something that it can't survive. That we aren't already the Thing (and Thing-ness isn't universal) means that it's more like a disease, eradicated by those able to do that, and constantly on the run, evolving with new knowledge absorbed from it's victims. OR, Thing-ness is a very recent thing, and this is the only one surviving, or else it would be everywhere already.
30:50...there are several books guys. There's the original novella called Who Goes There? which was written by John W. Campbell in 1938. There's also an adaptation of the film written in 1982 by Alan Dean Foster. Both are very good.
John carpenter has said in interviews that at the end, one of them is the thing, but he won’t tell anyone which one of them it is. I love that we just don’t know.
There is a version where, we saw the camp burning in the distance- and then The dog crests the hill, looks over it's shoulder, and then runs off screen. Remember there was no CGI then. Everything you saw looked so real because it was real. ("practical effects")
This is my second video of yours, all three of you guys made me laugh at different points, and I often had to watch certain sections more than once to get all of your reactions! I'm subscribing! I saw this and The Exorcist. I really hope you do more "classics" at least from the late 60s-70s (and afterwards), an amazing time for acting, for special effects, for new ways of storytelling.......it doesn't have to be horror, it can be any genre, but I really loved watching you guys discover these two classics. I could write you out a long list, but I'll leave it just with great horror from the same era (and a little before) that I think you guys specifically would do great jobs with: "Carrie" (1976), "An American Werewolf In London" (1981), "Creepshow" (1983), "Invasion Of The Body Snatchers" (1978) Also: "Rosemary's Baby" (1968 - I've never seen women react to this!) and "The Stepford Wives" (1975 - I haven't seen anyone react to this!) I'd add "Poltergeist" and "The Shining" to the list, but I'm sure you've seen them already. But if not, add those as well! Really enjoyed both of these videos. You are an adorable family and I love that you all watch movies together and have fun. Thanks for sharing these with us! :)
Fun fact: during the whole runtime of the movie and shooting of the movie (in the script) noone knew who was the creature at any time, not even the person who would be the creature at the time.... The director wouldn't tell them until the very last minute and he would only tell the person who was the creature right before it was their time so the other actor never knew who the thing was or if they themselves were the thing. The director said that he wanted to create a authentic atmosphere of paranoia, fear, uncertainty and confusion.... That's why they could play these parts so well and why their reactions to things seem so real and authentic.
The movie is based on a short story by John W. Campbell published in 1938 called Who Goes There? It was first made in to a move called The Thing from Another World in 1951.Blair infected himself during the autopsy. He was using a pencil to touch the remains of the Thing and then without thinking touched the pencil to his mouth. He tuned and then faked being crazy so they would lock him up. He could then work on the ship undisturbed.
In fairness to the Norwegian, he's attempting to shoot a moving target from a platform that is also moving. Also he might not have been in the calmest state of mind.
Not to mention he might have hit it multiple times.....it would just heal up
Also, he's probably not a very good shot. Maybe it's the 'Merica in me, but it seems like a lot of people from other countries have no idea how to handle a firearm. Don't get me wrong, neither do I, but I have at least shot before.
@@deanwinward7469 That's my running theory personally.
Super stressed, no sleep, he watched a few people he knew got torn to bits... He's doing well to fire a rifle
@@josephcline3652 I used to do training where I’d run for a few minutes to get my heart rate up and then start shooting. Massive difference.
His heart rate, stress, the fact that it’s freezing and he’s on a chopper, shooting at a moving target, wearing gloves, lack of sleep.
There are two kinds of people who react to The Thing:
"No don't hurt the dog! I hope nothing happens to the dog!"
or
"That dog is acting really sus right now."
And typically it's the former.
Mostly (but not always) it seems to be the ladies who worry most about the hound. Even as a kid (I first saw The Thing when I was 14 ish) my reaction was "they're shooting at the dog, I wonder what's wrong with the dog?"
I agree, Edd. First time I saw it, I wondered what was wrong with the dog. But whenever anyone watches this for the first time, they always ask "why are they shooting at the dog?" and I tell them that, chances are, if they watch the movie, they'll find out.
@@Fizbin1701 and that is great advice mate.👍
The dog was creepy as shit even before the reveal.
Wilford Brimley, the actor who played Blair, was actually a marine and a bodyguard of Howard Hughes.
So regardless if he wasn't in his prime anymore the scene were the others have to gang up on him to knock him out isn't actually too far fetched at all.
Omg that's so interesting! I had no idea... thanks for sharing!!!! ❤️
He's running around on a horse shooting bad guys as Jean Claude Van Damme's badass uncle in "Hard Target" over a decade after this movie.
Never underestimate old man strength, lol
He was also someone who always looked old. He was 47 when they shot The Thing, but he looks 55-60.
Yes, he was only 47 when they filmed this. Not old.
Kurt's hat was used so he could be recognized from the other 9 people at a distance in the glaring snow. And the reason Kurt looked stunned after he threw the dynamite at the thing when Palmer went through the wall was because he was using real dynamite and it gave him a concussion being so close to the blast. Yes, they used real dynamite back in the 80's for special effects.
These three may not know about movies or what it is like to actually watch an intense movie without their buddies talking the whole time.
@@heavyvacation ummm that’s the whole point of these commentaries. To listen their thoughts and opinions throughout the movie. They’re going into this completely blind and unaware of background info to give a genuine reaction. I don’t know every damn thing about every movie I watch and the only reason why most people know a lot about this movie is because of how iconic it is. So I don’t think it’s actually fair to insult them based on that.
@@dakingbey Yes I get it. I'm sorry I was kinda being caught up with the movie itself and being a brat. Sorry. Keep it up.
There's only one way to blow shit up in a movie. Blow that shit up for real!
Similarly in Sorcerer (1977) they blow up a huge tree to clear the road. Real tree, real dynamite, real full-size massive explosion!
The Thing fans to this day still debating whether MacReady and Childs are the Thing. Amazing this film is approaching its 40 year anniversary since its theatrical release. The Things stands the test of time ladies.
As i remember very clearly going to see it in the cinema with my mates ... lord I am feeling old :lol:
What is the debate? MacReady is Human, Childs is The Thing. It's very cold. You can see MacReady's breath every time he breathes. Childs' breath? Not at all.
Childs still got his earring on his ear. The Thing can't make inorganic matter such as metals. So he can't be the thing.
@@scotthewitt258 as others have pointed out, Carpenter himself stated that it's just because of the angle of filming. Further, Bennings-thing clearly breathed, so that theory makes no sense given the information from the movie.
Truly a timeless movie - scaring people for generations more. Loved watching this video
The end isn't anticlimatic, it's frightening. Two men, uncertain of each other, finally giving up as they realize either one of them could be The Thing.
By the way, lots of fan theories, but many people point towards Childs being The Thing. Look into it, it's awesome.
People still talk about it today . That means it's a damn good ending
There is a comic series that's the actual conclusion to the story. Highly recommend reading or listening to a summary
People that think the ending scene is anticlimactic, didn't really watch the scene. You can see Mac's breath, but not Childs'. MacReady hands Childs the bottle he's drinking and Childs take it and drinks from it, when they aren't supposed to share food items.
John Carpenter apparently deliberately made the end ambiguous, through the whole movie any of the characters could have been infected by the alien. Fear and paranoia added to the tension, and sitting in the freezing ruins of the camp either Childs or MacReady (or both) could have been The Thing.
@@Fizbin1701 But you can see Childs' breath, especially in the higher quality director's cut. Also, if the thing truly mimics all your cells, why would it not have breath? That fan theory does not make any sense imho. Also, in those potentially last moments, knowing you will die, do you think you'd really care about sharing a drink lul? :)) But yeah, watch the comic that Paul mentioned, it's pretty good.
Just a little note, Blair wasn't building a "spaceship" there. It was a simple transport to get him out of the camp to a more populated area. Loved the reaction.
Thank you! So may people don't get that the Thing's objective is to get to someplace it can "infect" more lifeforms.
Add the intelligence of all the life forms it’s imitated and gleaned throughout the universe, so it is possible in that regard
@@waterbeauty85 how do we actually know this? Why not just leave the planet?
@@youtubeistrash953 To be fair, we're never told what it is the Thing built, but it's easier to believe a boat than a spaceship, and why leave the only world within billions of miles that's full of lifeforms and technology I can use for my survival and reproduction?
@@waterbeauty85 I just think it's left ambiguous on purpose. How do we know it assimilates on instinctual command ? We really don't know... the damn Thing might just be trying to survive and decided the friendly way with humans and this planet thus far wasn't an option. I'm just saying I see no evidence for either side, though why make a spaceship to get to another continent when you could just fix the helicopter lol.
That "anticlimatic" ending has gone down as one of the great endings in horror movie history. The real terror of The Thing was the complete paranoia. Not knowing who to trust. Feeling completely alone even while surrounded by people...or what you thought were people. And 'The Thing" was one of the greatest monster conceptions in history -- one drop, one bit, makes it back to civilization, and the whole world is consumed in grotesque fashion. And so you bring back the simple heartbeat beat, and you fade to black with two men, or not men, staring at each other not knowing, and you not knowing, and if either one is a thing the entire fate of the planet at stake. It's an ending that has sponsored endless debate. Childs' story is suspicious. How did McCready survive that explosion? All the thing wants to do is freeze and wait for the rescue team. Theories as to who is who have abounded, some say Mac was testing Childs by offering the drink, and maybe the drink wasn't even a drink but rather a last molotov full of gas, and Childs did not react. Others think maybe MacCready was the thing and used the drink to pass on the infection to Childs. But the not knowing for sure is exactly in line with the tone of the entire movie.
Personally I think they're both human at the end
28:40 Of these three women, the one on the left understood, "Maybe they wanted to leave it as a mystery."
Amanda Seyfried is wise.
@@commandercaptain4664 Wisdom is a recessive trait in that family-skips two generations.
This is my favorite horror movie of all time. The ending is suppose to reflect the theme of the moive: Paranoia. You will never know the truth.
Well said my friend!
There's a truth. There is a series of comic books depicting what happened to them both.
@@Justin977 But Carpenter endorsed the PS2 "The Thing" video game as canon, and it contradicts the "The Thing From Another World" comic. Keep in mind that the company that publish "The Thing From Another World" also published a comic book series featuring the continuing adventures of Newt from "Aliens," but "Alien 3" would reveal that Newt died as a 6 year old girl without ever coming out of the cryosleep she went into at end of "Aliens." They would later publish a comic showing that Newt's adventures were just a dream that she had while in cryosleep, but point is that their movie comics can't be taken as canon.
There's a very interesting article about how The Thing was made in the edit. Originally, there was more creature featured and the audience was "in-the know," i.e., more like a regular slasher movie. Carpenter wasn't happy, so he took some downtime (I think there were funding problems?) and edited the movie in a way that you never see the creature take over people and ti's always unclear who is infected and who isn't.
Best. Desicion. Ever.
@@Justin977 The comics were after the fact. What happened to them was filmed but not used in the release.
The dog stared a lot because it was actually half wolf. It apparently freaked out a lot of people on set because of its constant staring.
As for the special effects, you can thank Rob Botin for them. He worked on a lot of notable movies, including The Howling and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
And RoboCop
He was only 21 or 22 years old when he made The Thing special effects also, amazing
@@zachhoward9099 He was 21 at the time, Mr. Howard
It’s not anticlimactic. In the end you don’t know if one of them is the Thing. Either could be. Both could be. That’s what’s great about the ending.
It has been confirmed (officially) that Childs was the Thing, as if you take careful notice, MacReady was like a choochoo train when he talked and breathed in the frigid cold, while Childs was literally cool as a cucumber with no steam whatsoever. ;)
I seem to remember Carpenter or someone on the filming team said that it was the lighting. The way the scene was shot. Childs is clearly exhaling.
@@chrisrabideau9910 No, you can see him breathing in the shot, and regardless, that would make no sense as a tell as we clearly see Bennings thing breath very frosty breath earlier in the movie when he is wailing. The movie established that the thing is a perfect imitation, with all the internal organs and everything. Like the 'gasoline' drink theory, which relies on the Thing arbitrarily having no sense of taste or smell, both again which are not established, it just doesn't fit with what we know of the thing in the movie.
'Officially' Childs would be human in the scene, but I use 'officially' here very loosely as there really isn't anything truly official. There has been some claims that the filmmakers were intending for Childs to be a thing, but there is also Carpenter endorsing the sequel game which has Childs as human. There is also a sequel comic where Childs was human at least initially, and if you want to use the prequel, both mechanisms to detect a thing from the prequel confirm Childs is human (he has a visible earring, and if you look close you can see he still has his filling, which does feel deliberate on the part of the prequel makers). In the end, it is still ambiguous, to the point that both could be things that just aren't sure of the other.
@@chrisrabideau9910 you could see Childs earring
ehm. hej greetings from germany.
if dont get it wrong: it was the black guy. he just took a nip from the bottle mcready gave him. and mcready drunk before out of it. both now it could be evrybody and taking just a bit of dna of this thing turns you into one of those.
"Did they run out of money?"
Yes..... Thats actually EXACTLY what happened. They had alot more planned for the ending fight.
“The Thing better be good!”
I have good news for you...
LOL
It's only one of the best horror movies of all time
@@geekgirl616 Agreed
Blair was NOT infected when he flipped out. He's the only one thinking straight at that point. (He's already figured out what the rest don't realize until later - that none of them are going to survive)
He made the noose because he'd rather die than be infected - but of course The Thing approached him disguised as one of the other guys.
When he was telling them to watch Clark, he was still human. But once he started to ask come back inside...
Once he was infected, he could mutate into his larger form and dig the hole in a couple minutes the way we saw it come up from the ground at the end. He could build his makeshift vehicle that fast because he can grow extra arms. If you think about it, The Thing's species probably did not *develop* technology. It would have no reason to, it would clearly dominate any ecosystem it evolved into. Some other advanced space-faring race found it and got infected, and it *stole* all their technical knowledge and then began invading other worlds. (Or even, some advanced race *created it* for some reason and it got loose and infected a spaceship crew and started infecting the galaxy)
CLAP CLAP CLAP!! Great description! The thing is similar to the Goa'uld of Stargate. They were worms...no technology. This is one of my top 10 films. Anyway thanks again.
I wonder if it can simply infect another organism and grow inside them until taking over completely. Blair kept putting his hands in the thing when they were doing autopsy after autopsy. I wonder if cells from the thing could have gotten into his skin and slowly taken over him like an infection. Quite the ultimate organism.
@@Mortismors After living through a pandemic, we're watching these guys and wondering how they survived ten minutes. He's got surgical gloves on, but he's reaching inside the thing up to his elbows...
Actually, Stuart Cohen, one of the producers of the movie, said that Blair was a Thing when he went Berzerk, so that he would be isolated from the others and be able to plant evidence and build the ship in peace while the others were suspicious of each other.
@@Mortismors There is also the question of how much control the creature can assert from a small start. An individual infected by a few cells may take a considerable period of time to be taken over. Perhaps this is what happened to Blair. Realising that it was aboard, he goes crazy trying to fight back. His calmness returns as its hold on him grows.
Is there anybody in the recorded history of humanity who could tell Kurt Russell to NOT wear a hat he wants to wear?
I think not.
Exactly! I'm glad someone else understands 🤣
Kurt Russell says in the commentary that the hat was chosen for the character before he signed on
@@jt1929 They had shot the B-role footage of the helicopter pilot who was his stunt double already. The pilot loved the hat and wore it in every scene so Kurt had to wear it for continuity’s sake.
@@tashatipton2141 gl r
@@tashatipton2141 g
Rob Bottin is the effects master who created most of the practical effects. He’s awesome.
Yeah he is amazing. He has worked on so many superb films. As a person he has a great sense of humor and has a laid back demeanor...though he works like a devil. Great guy. One of the best effects Masters,
@@galleryphotogenie4999 agreed. A friend of mine did a documentary called Fantastic Flesh (it’s on UA-cam) and interviewed him. Can confirm everything you said.
He was 23
Rob Bottin is God.
This guy and others he worked with had to have been great to work with. Young and creative.
Rob Bottin, the special effects artist for this movie, was 22 when he did the effects for The Thing. According to the Making Of... documentary on the dvd Bottin pushed himself so hard that afterward he needed to be hospitalized for exhaustion and pneumonia.
The dog kennel attack scene was done by an uncredited Stan Winston who later did the effects for: The Terminator 1 & 2 as well creating the Iron Man suit for the first Iron Man movie.
"Is he infected or just crazy?" "I think he realizes that if any of them escape they could infect humanity." Ma'am you are wise and way ahead of the characters.
Diabetic us Diabetic people quick to Anger lol
Well, it helps to see the bigger picture. Those guys were just surviving.
Love that scream from Bennings best alien scream ever.
Maybe he's begging them not to kill him in one of many languages it knows
That wasn't Bennings.
@@SamuelBlack84 I know assimilating causes it excruciating pain...I read the novelization and it mentioned it was like giving birth to the thing from every orifice and it took on any medical illness of the animal or human it assimilated
Cause you can hear it screaming in the dog kennel before it was shot
I love that every reaction video about The Thing starts the same way.
"You bastard! Don't hurt that dog!"
And everyone who's seen the movie is just smiling and shaking their head.
For real. 😂
In 2010, author Peter Watts wrote a creepy little sequel called 'The Things'. It tells the same story, but from the alien's point of view. The thing finds us as horrifying as we find it, and thinks it's doing us a favour ...
omg I'm so glad i found this comment. And I found it wow just wow
I'm glad I read your comment...now to track that book down
Yeah, that story was chilling!
@@Kainlarsen and Norris having a heart issues and the thing intentionally wanted to "get out of his body mass"
@@Chuck_EL
Well no, it's that the Thing, as a shapeshifter, simply can't comprehend the idea of a defective organ.
"Who Goes There?" by John W. Campbell is the short story that the film was based on. Recommend reading it.
There was also an older movie based on that, but I forget the name of it.
Who Goes There? was seriously abridged when it was originally published. It was finally restored just in the last few years, the full novella is called Frozen Hell I believe.
@@kickstart_1.3 The Thing From Another World (1951)
@@kickstart_1.3 Also called "The Thing" from 1951, produced by Howard Hawks.
Just that title is creepy.
The fact that in 48 hours it could build (part of) a flying saucer from scrounged parts is supposed to show HOW MUCH smarter it is than us.
I could build one in LESS than 48 hours!.....I just don't want to.
The Thing was able to build this in a CAVE! With a box of SCRAPS!
@@jherrenor And it's almost finished! It just needs to scrounge up an old antimatter generator and a makeshift warp drive...
To be fair, what it built was impressive, but we never saw a sign that it built a WORKING spacecraft from scraps. Of course it is pretty likely that given time it might be able to recover the rest from the crashed ship.
It's not smart at all. It burrows info from the saucer aliens it took over. It's pure instinct and survival, using the knowledge of its victims to blend in and survive.
@@NiceGuyEddy12 something we don't actually know but okay lol
I think that the reason you guys thought that the ending was anticlimactic , is because lately we are all so use to the big Marvel CGI endings...
It's almost expected nowadays.
What does cgi have to do with anything?
Most endings tend to not be ambiguous this isn't something that only modern movies have pretty much most stories have an ending like that with a resolution it was like that even when the thing came out as well. Why do dumb comments get so many upvotes?
The reason is because the creature blowing up was not important, the encounter of macready and childs is what is important
man!!....you girls..!! i watched this movie every saturday...every saturday for over 10 years.....and now i can never unsee the Hat thingy....omg...
It’s insane how much Wyatt Russell, now, looks like his dad, then, from “The Thing”
I want Wyatt to be in Escape From Earth and Big Trouble in Little Italy.
@@commandercaptain4664 🤣🤣🤣🤣
@@commandercaptain4664 he sounds exactly like his dad when he was jack in big trouble in little china
Imagine Ego and John Walker meeting up
The cool thing about this Alien is that it's continually evolving through the movie.
Yup, it can take the form of everything it has ever consumed, and by the looks of it, lots of non earthly alien life forms before it hit earth.
Ultimate Organism
Its actually DEVOLVING into lesser lifeforms in order to stay hidden. Before it even crashed in the ice sheet the thing had assimilated life forms so far in advance of anything on this planet.
Thats what makes it so scary. Its collectively all the creatures it has ever encountered at once. Yes it can act in a basic animalistic manner such as the head after Norris cpr and the sample during the blood test. But the assimilated Blair clearly had access to a collective knowledge. Enough that he could try to build a rudimentary craft to get him closer to civilization.
If you watch Palmer and Norris closely knowing they have already been assimilated they act in such perfectly human fashion. Norris isnt brave enough for leadership and Palmer continues his wisecracking personality. Also his face as he is about to be test is great: the thing clearly knows its about to be exposed.
That's the main reason why I got scared of this and A L I E N. It's Gumpian horror: you never know what you're gonna get.
“Exhausted and slowly freezing to death, they acknowledge the futility of their distrust and share a bottle of scotch.”
You should watch the 2011 version. It explains what went on at the Norwegian camp and literally ends where this version begins.
However, there is no Kurt Russell and it's a bit predictable in some spots. But it's a worthy prequel, even though they could've done a LOT more with it.
@@Diskoboy1974 I really enjoyed it for explaining what happened. The massive 'The Thing' fan in me is very irritated by their lack of continuity when it comes to the alien ship and how it was discovered, etc. (They used film from the original 'The Thing from Another World' in the scene where McCready is watching the Norwegian tapes.) The effects were mildly irritating in that the CG was used over the already present, and apparently awesome, practical effects.
Blair-Thing, in the shed, could have grown several arms with sharp claws which he could use to dig a deep hole and construct a craft quickly. A shape-changer can be very productive.
I got no problem with him digging the hole, but where did he put the dirt?
28:45 "Maybe they wanted to leave it as a mystery." Spot On. Several comic books, a prequel and even a video game, almost 40 years later, it's STILL a mystery. Classic.
There is a part 2 in the works... :)
Me the first time I watched this movie: "Their must be something seriously fucked up about that dog, that they're so desperate to kill it"
Every single other person ever, the first time they watch this: "Nooooooooooo, don't kill the poor dog"
You were not the only one. ;)
It depends on which decade of horror movies you begin with. 90's and 2000's avoided killing kids and animals. It wasn't till streaming we started killing kids and pets consistantly again
@@kyleellis9177 killing kids and pets is so in right now 😂
Rational people noticed the dog was suspicious.
whys the dog getting gross......
23:51 when kurt russel threw the explosive the explosion was bigger than the film crew expected, and it went off sooner than planned. Thats why kurt has a look on his face right after which was genuine shock
RE: Blair - the way I always saw it was he had a noose tied and then all of a sudden decided he was okay and wanted to come back inside. The Thing got to him before he had a chance to kill himself.
Edit: oh yeah, now you can watch The Thing song! ua-cam.com/video/8faq5amdK30/v-deo.html
I think he got a low level dose of the alien early on from his autopsies and it took time to establish control. He realises what is happening and goes berserk trying to prevent it going beyond him. When they lock him up, he still has enough control to rig the noose, but is thwarted in his desire to die when the alien establishes control. The later calm Blair is the "Thing".
Yep. For 1982, the effects are astounding and they still are. Incidentally, the tentacles coming out of the Dog thing was actually reverse motion. Stan Winston was actually so impressed with Rob Bottin's effects that he refused to take credit.
Top notch experienced actors really made this movie great saw it at the theater and loved it thanks for sharing your reaction
It wasn't just Blair building the spaceship. There's no telling how many "things" there are in the camp helping him.
Well, Norris and Palmer - who were also infected - could’ve contributed to it without anyone noticing, so perhaps you aren’t too far off with that conjecture.
The creepiest thing about this movie isn’t that the creature can take the form of any living thing, but the fact that there can be multiple of them.
shame you had to cut the reaction to gary's test results- best line in the film right there :D
LOL The daffy duck bit go me. :)
Girl on left...I think this movie scarred her for life and nightmares and PTSD!
Ah, the practical fx of the 80's. So much better than CGI.
That's too much work and talent nowadays...
CG is used now because it's cheaper, quicker, most of the good practical effects artists are not with us anymore, and most of the movie-going public don't really care. They'll gladly eat up whatever garbage the studio shovels at them, like Godzilla vs Kong for example. It might be technically amazing (and it is) but at the end of the day, it just looks like a video game to me.
@CYB3R2K30 Something subjective can't be "false". Recent example -- "Godzilla vs Kong". The effects and visuals on that were praised as amazing. I think they look like what they are, computer generated imagery. Yes, it is cutting edge and looks better than anything before it. But, they still look fake as hell. At least if I see a puppet on a screen, I know that was a real object, in a real physical location, doing real things. CGI just looks like a damn video game to me. It could look really nice, but it looks like GRAPHICS, because that's all it is.
@CYB3R2K30 The proof of how wrong you are is their reaction. Practical fx are visceral. CGI is great on the large scale but they just don't feel real the way practical does.
@CYB3R2K30 Yes, I agree. And they can look great. Because it does, for what it is. But at the end of the day, they all scream to me "this was generated by a computer" which completely takes me out of the story being told. I'd much rather watch an old Ray Harryhausen movie, like Jason and the Argonauts, or Clash of the Titans. Now that's good stuff. I don't care about technical wizardry. I care about the story and how the story is being told, not that my eyes are being blasted with realistic light scattering or bajillions of textured polygons. Sure, it's very impressive, and it looks nice, and I know it took a team of people months to do it, but it's all style and no substance to me. There's no right or wrong here, it's just personal preference.
The reason it was able to build a spaceship is because the thing adopts the knowledge and memories of what it assimilates, so that means that it most likely has the knowledge of other species and creatures as well, making it very intelligent
Just imagine knowing every fact about the entire universe
It wasn't a "space ship" The Thing in Blair built.
It was a transportation vehicle to get it safely to a more populated area.
@@eddiepolo6047 literally everywhere I've looked, which includes the original script calls it a spaceship or ufo, so stop being so picky. Besides they say in the movie it was trying to freeze so someone would come pick it up and bring it to a populated area, so the blair thing wouldn't need it own transportation device unless it was trying to get off world
The reactions on your faces have been the best ever to this film. Although you say Blair building the spaceship was ridiculous remember he was taken over by an alien which was light years ahead of human abilities so to me that was credible. I was lucky to see this at a cinema
when it came out and I too looked like your reactions during the film all those decades ago. Fascinating to watch you. Keep going and stay safe.
It was actually building a vehicle to just get away from that installation, not go to space. Kurt and gang were on to it so it was trying to escape them and begin assimilating somewhere else on the continent - and then the world.
Yeah I thought it was snow craft to get to the ship.
The Thing from another world (1951) is the original movie actually. It is extremely tame compared to this version. For one thing, you barely see the alien in the film.
A lot of horror/sci-fi directors and fans love this 1982 film and it is a cult classic.
This started as a 1938 science fiction short story called "Who Goes There?" It was made into a movie in 1951 called, "The Thing From Another World." This version shortened the name to "The Thing." There is a 2011 prequel movie also called "The Thing."
Yeah, I typically correct the people who thing the 2011 movie is a remake, and then point out that they must not have been paying attention of they thought it was a remake. Lol
@@thelazygamer1639 I wish someone would react to the 1951 version because it's really good, but it's almost impossible to get millennials to do a 1950s movie. Look at "The Day the Earth Stood Still," "North by Northwest," "The War of the Worlds," "Stalag 17," "Forbidden Planet," "Shane," "Some Like it Hot," "Vertigo." All masterpieces. I suggest these things from time to time to various reactors, but I guess they think I'm lying.
@@brandonflorida1092 I can say I've at least seen the original The Day the Earth Stood Still, watched it in 5th Grade. I actually have a DVD that had both the remake and the original. No idea where it is now though.
@@thelazygamer1639 If you can possibly swing it, see the 1951 "The Thing From Another World." It's different, but it's very good. One thing it shares with the 1982 version is that the alien is smart enough to cooperate with Earth beings, but has zero inclination to do so.
What is hilarious is that a lot of 'analysts' refer to the whole 'Thing' thing as a metaphor for Cold War paranoia, when the original story long predates the Cold War.
I love watching people discover what I consider to be one of the top 5 horror movies of all time. The movie is a faithful adaptation of the novella _Who Goes There?_ The first adaptation was 1951's _The Thing from Another World,_ which is also a great movie itself.
Except for the actual monster; the legendary giant carrot, played by James Arness...
It is so hard to convey :paranoia" and "distrust" in a film, Carpenter is a genius. Along side the power of Ennio Morricone.
The Thing Is A Masterpiece
The dog was so well trained it scared the other dogs. Haha. There is actually a follow up tie-in comic to this (a few actually but only the first one is very good) and a terrible videogame. Tehehe
THIS IS WHEN THE GORE BECOMES AN ART.
SUPERCLASIC MOVIE.
HELLO FROM COSTA RICA.
All the reactions I've seen to this movie are hilarious because every ones like "why is he tryin to kill the dog!?"
Only 1 reactor I have seen so far who was suspicious of the dog from the beginning. Everyone else is so happy that the guy got shot for trying to shoot the dog. The girl on the left was very happy he was killed.
@@buklau1985 i think i watch that channel too.
Yay! Another great watch! The Thing is one of them movies that really gets under your skin from start to finish! Great reaction as usual Tasha, Emma, & Emma's Mom!
'Oh, it's still growing!' Phrasing! xD
Fun fact Carpenter was such a fan of the 50's The Thing From Another World it actually makes an appearance on the TV on Halloween and he ended up making this sorta remake a few years later.
anyone notice how when palmer started changing into the thing, he flew to the roof like a goddam possessed demon lol
Wow, you three actually wanted MORE at the end? You lot truly appreciated The Thing more than any other reaction to this movie; I've been watching mostly male reactions, and you three made observations that NO ONE picked up on, I was so surprised. You also pointed a couple of things that never occurred to me, and I've seen this movie many times.
Best reaction ever (especially when you contrasted the girl on the left mouthing "Cool" while the others were repulsed at the first special fx with the dogs).
Oh my god i can’t believe you guys finally decided to watch the remake of The Thing from 1982 that was directed by John Carpenter who also gave us Halloween, Halloween II, The Fog, Escape From New York, They Live, Vampires, Assault On Precinct 13, Big Trouble In Little China, In The Mouth Of Madness, Prince Of Darkness, Ghosts Of Mars, Escape From LA, Christine, Dark Star, Star Man, and Village Of The Damned. I’m sure that this movie was worth watching for one reason or another. Thank you for your time Tasha and enjoy the rest of your Monday! ☀️🌈🌹❤️
"The Thing had better be good. It had better be scary."
*FULFILLED EXPECTATIONS INTENSIFY*
YES!!! My favourite horror movie.
Tied with The Howling and the original Salem's Lot for me. Great flick!
Tied with A L I E N for me.
@@commandercaptain4664 Another all timer for sure.
Tied with Candyman (1992) for me.
@@littleredhen8205 Ah yes!....one of my best friend's favorite movies! She had such a HUGE crush on Virginia Madsen. Very creepy atmospheric flick.
Fun facts:
At the US arctic research facility, the staff watch this movie annually, when winter hits.
Then mystery of who took the keys and destroyed the blood supply is at least partially explained with an audio cue. When Windows (the man with the perpetual sunglasses) finds Bennings covered in Thing-worms, you hear him drop the keys. Either Norris-thing or Palmer-thing must have done it. Probably Palmer, because he wasn't with them when they burned Bennings.
This movie is damned near perfect, and is my favorite horror movie.
Girl on the right: "This movie better be scary" - Oh boy...
Girl on the left: Doesn't say anything at all through out the whole movie....
I saw this movie in the theater when I was about 11. It became my favorite movie of all time. I've seen it over one hundred times and I never get tired of it. The effects are outstanding and there will never be anything as good since most effects are CGI now. Thanks for watching this classic movie. 👍👍🤘🤘
Girls, you should definitely react to Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) and Alien (1979) too. Both films inspired The Thing in some way
6:15 that cut where all the audience look at his eyes intensely, and then in the next frame the dog is EXACTLY framed so it's right where we were already looking, amazing cinema
Three girls worried about the dogs. Then the next scene there like f**ken torch it! 🤣
Thank you for this! So fun to watch! And between the "ah! why does it have eyes?!" and the Daffy Duck "shoot him now" clip, just absolute class. Well done.
Yay! I'm so glad you enjoyed the video! ❤️ ❤️ ❤️
The dog actor is able to convey intelligence and deliberation. One theme of the movie is that humans are social creatures, while The Thing is totally selfish. The humans are willing to die in order to protect the rest of humanity from having the creature escape Antarctica. On the other hand, each part of the creature is totally selfish. Tissue from The Thing will not accept a silent death from a hot needle in order to protect the identity of its host.
I must also be an alien as I would happily sacrifice humanity to save myself 🙂
"How'd it get that cold that fast?" It's the South Pole. Hello?
In a Q&A, when someone asked if Childs was an alien at the end, John Carpenter said "I know Mac is an alien. I don't know about Childs," but when pushed for an explanation, Carpenter said "Look, I was just kidding. I don't know who was an alien at the end. Nobody does. That's the whole point." However, Carpenter also endorsed the PS2 "The Thing" sequel game as canon. In the game, you find Childs' corpse and discover that he was human and died of hypothermia, and game ends with Mac flying in with a helicopter and saving your life.
Emma's apparent calmness throughout this movie is cracking me up.
Whether you do a reaction video or not, you should watch the 2015 western, horror, suspense movie "Bone Tomahawk" starring Kurt Russell, Patrick Wilson and Matthew Fox. It has some intense action and horror in the last act, but most of the movie is mounting suspense and Tarantino-like dialogue and character development.
It is a very effective little horror movie with no supernatural elements or aliens on the loose.
That movie has one of the most unnecessarily grotesque and inhumane deaths in cinema. Like there was no reason to make it that gruesome other than the shock factor.
Fun fact: Wilford Brimley (the actor who played Blair) served in the marines and was a bodyguard for Howard Hughes. Even though he wasn’t exactly in his prime, he still was very strong. So it’s not super unrealistic that omit took multiple guys to subdue him.
Best Trained Wolf-Dog Ever! Until it turns into Frightening Alien Monster! 🤣 🙄
Daffy Duck: "SHOOT HIM! SHOOT HIM NOW!!"
🤣 Brilliant
Love these horror movie reactions when the three of you get together!
Yay! I'm so glad you are enjoying the videos!!!! ❤️
I cannot stress enough how much I enjoyed watching you guys react to this, I was smiling the whole time 😂😂
The big thing with this movie is that it purposely leaves more questions than it answers. Even at the end, you don't know who was the Thing, or when they turned.
Blair got infected when he tapped the alien remains with his eraser tip then put the eraser on his lip. The creature took him over on an extreamly minuet cellular level
I've heard this is a myth from people that worked on the film
Nope. The pencil eraser never goes into the remains. He simply uses the eraser as pointer. "That's not dog". Points. You see the shadow if the pencil hovering over it, if you really watch it. If you believe in the cellular theory that it can take over you slowly. Blair is literally elbow deep in the autopsies or even better. Look at the scene when they unravel splitface on the table. Look at Blair, hes the only one to get a whole lot of thing gloop on his hand from the sheet. Watch him, he literally looks at it and then wipes his hands on the corner of the sheet. He could have been the first infected.
The ending is great. It leaves you wondering if one of them is the thing or not because Childs suspiciously disappeared and allowed Blair to blow up the generator. And It could be MacReady because Palmer who was infected had been shown to work against his own kind to assure his own survival....
That short little scream you made at 23:02 was priceless. That's the first one I've heard from ones I've seen react to this movie. lol
I love when people are like "whoah, these effects look good for being an old movie". The 80's/90's was the golden age of practical effects. People are too used to seeing movies that are just like 90% CG effects now. I say if you want to see CG effects, play a video game.
Good practical effects don't age.
That was such a fun video, i'm already saw this movie like 20 times but never have a thought about *THE HAT* lmfao!!!! i can't get over it now xD xD xD
Yay! I'm so glad you enjoyed the video!!! Welcome to the channel ❤️
There is a prequel to this done in 2011. There is also a series of comic books telling us the story of Childs and Macready after the encounter with The Thing.
There’s also a video game as well.
Hey, Tasha! This John Carpenter classic is a masterful exercise in paranoia and practical effects!
I discovered "The Thing" during my junior high school
years on VHS when going through a Carpenter phase.
Originally a 1938 pulp novella written by John W. Campbell called "Who Goes There?", the story was first adapted to film as a 1951 Howard Hawks production called "The Thing From Another World". A '50's-era sci-fi classic in its own right, the original was taken to a whole new level by John Carpenter abetted by the incredible practical effects wizardry of Rob Bottin. A prequel was made in 2011 chronicling what happened at the Norwegian base but wasn't nearly as good.
Led by a world-weary Kurt Russell, Carpenter assembled a cast of terrific veteran character actors including Keith David, Richard Dysart, Wilford Brimley, David Clennon, Charles Hallahan, Donald Moffat and Richard Masur who believably inhabit their roles and ratchet up the tension by degrees. Carpenter would direct Russell in five films including "Elvis", "The Thing", "Big Trouble in Little China", "Escape From New York" and "Escape From LA". He would direct Keith David again in "They Live!"
John Carpenter is a one-man band who writes, directs, edits and scores all his films. In a rare exception, the score for "The Thing" was provided by composing great Ennio Morricone. Carpenter's body of work includes a number of pulpy classics and B-movie greats like "Assault on Precinct 13", "Halloween", "Someone's Watching Me!", "The Fog", "Escape From New York", "The Thing", "Christine", "Starman", "They Live!", "Memoirs of an Invisible Man", "Body Bags", "In the Mouth of Madness", "Vampires" and "The Ward". His first film, "Dark Star", was a sci-fi horror-comedy that partially inspired "Alien"! He also wrote the screenplay for "The Eyes of Laura Mars", an American giallo. His scores are instantly recognizable with their throbbing notes and he expertly uses silence and stillness to generate unbearable tension.
Wilford Brimley's Blair sabotaged the vehicles after making the discovery that there was a high probability of someone being infected and seeing the grim projection that three years would be all it would take for the Thing to spread over the Earth! He was determined to trap them there which is the same realization Macready comes to at the end. He's taken to the shack a human but, the second time they check on him, he's probably a Thing because his demeanor is so calm. The funny noises he says he was hearing must've gotten to him before he could avail himself of the noose he fashioned as an escape from its clutches! As a Thing, he was building a craft under the shed to travel to the mainland.
The Thing has absorbed countless beings including space-faring species. The knowledge to construct a craft that can take him to the mainland was absorbed from a host so it's not far-fetched that he can do this with so much metal and electronic equipment around. Additionally, alien engineering and propulsion principles could function in a vastly simpler way than what 20th-century humans are aware of.
My favorite non-horror moment in "The Thing" is Donald Moffat's slow-burning explosive outburst while tied to the couch. "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 F**KING COUCH!" It gets me every time.
The ambiguous ending leaves you with four possible outcomes and they're all bleak. Lol.
The best case scenario is that both Childs and Mac are human, the Thing was destroyed and the survivors DIE of hypothermia.
The other three options are that one or the other or both survivors are Things who will copy the remaining human and the rescue party as well eventually dominating the Earth.
There is a popular fan theory that Things lack eye gleam and Childs doesn't have it in that last scene. It could also be a trick of light.
There is another popular fan theory that claims Mac tests Childs by giving him a flask of kerosene instead of liquor which Childs consumes! Mac chuckles with fatalistic resignation realizing he has failed and humanity is doomed. That is, unless, he has a spare stick of dynamite he can use to blow himself up along with a now very flammable Childs! Lol.
The only sequels exist as a series of Dark Horse comics and a video game featuring John Carpenter himself as a Dr. Faraday!
You spent wayyyyy too much time explaining things to these twits... especially the wino mom.
Fans have a theory that at the end when Childs and Mac Creadie are talking...you can't see Childs cold breath which makes you think he still could be the thing. 😬
Since this film is a remake, and a significant number of the people watching it in the Eighties had seen the original (myself included), then of course we knew what to expect. We just weren't prepared for the darkness of it, and the outrageous monster effects. I first saw it as a teenager and have loved it ever since. One of the best monster films of all-time.
I'm late on this reaction but I got a kick out of it. As a kid (10-12 years), my dad would turn the AC real cold and turn all the lights off when he broke this movie out. It was like being right there with them.
Fun theory: The Thing arrives on Earth and it is Thing, but we aren't.
This interestingly suggests that the Thing is everywhere else but not on Earth, or it's a fugitive from something that it can't survive.
That we aren't already the Thing (and Thing-ness isn't universal) means that it's more like a disease, eradicated by those able to do that, and constantly on the run, evolving with new knowledge absorbed from it's victims.
OR, Thing-ness is a very recent thing, and this is the only one surviving, or else it would be everywhere already.
30:50...there are several books guys. There's the original novella called Who Goes There? which was written by John W. Campbell in 1938. There's also an adaptation of the film written in 1982 by Alan Dean Foster. Both are very good.
Yes! I was going to mention Who Goes There?. It really is a classic.
@@benlee8436 ...👍
John carpenter has said in interviews that at the end, one of them is the thing, but he won’t tell anyone which one of them it is. I love that we just don’t know.
@rudy2fat there are just as many arguments for it being mcready
“He’s like 100 years old” lol he actually just passed away last year
The "for added measure" 23:50 is a meme waiting to happen. Really funny moment.
There is a version where, we saw the camp burning in the distance- and then The dog crests the hill, looks over it's shoulder, and then runs off screen. Remember there was no CGI then. Everything you saw looked so real because it was real. ("practical effects")
Sounds like the ending to the Omen
This is my second video of yours, all three of you guys made me laugh at different points, and I often had to watch certain sections more than once to get all of your reactions! I'm subscribing! I saw this and The Exorcist. I really hope you do more "classics" at least from the late 60s-70s (and afterwards), an amazing time for acting, for special effects, for new ways of storytelling.......it doesn't have to be horror, it can be any genre, but I really loved watching you guys discover these two classics. I could write you out a long list, but I'll leave it just with great horror from the same era (and a little before) that I think you guys specifically would do great jobs with: "Carrie" (1976), "An American Werewolf In London" (1981), "Creepshow" (1983), "Invasion Of The Body Snatchers" (1978) Also: "Rosemary's Baby" (1968 - I've never seen women react to this!) and "The Stepford Wives" (1975 - I haven't seen anyone react to this!) I'd add "Poltergeist" and "The Shining" to the list, but I'm sure you've seen them already. But if not, add those as well! Really enjoyed both of these videos. You are an adorable family and I love that you all watch movies together and have fun. Thanks for sharing these with us! :)
The girl on the left "just get through this...just get through this...just keep swimming"
She seems actually calm compared to The Exocist reaction.
Fun fact: during the whole runtime of the movie and shooting of the movie (in the script) noone knew who was the creature at any time, not even the person who would be the creature at the time.... The director wouldn't tell them until the very last minute and he would only tell the person who was the creature right before it was their time so the other actor never knew who the thing was or if they themselves were the thing. The director said that he wanted to create a authentic atmosphere of paranoia, fear, uncertainty and confusion.... That's why they could play these parts so well and why their reactions to things seem so real and authentic.
Omg that's genius! I had no idea about any of that...thank you so much for sharing! That was so interesting and I'm glad you told us ❤️ ❤️ ❤️
This is basically where the idea for the game Among Us came from.
_John Carpenter's The Sus_
The movie is based on a short story by John W. Campbell published in 1938 called Who Goes There? It was first made in to a move called The Thing from Another World in 1951.Blair infected himself during the autopsy. He was using a pencil to touch the remains of the Thing and then without thinking touched the pencil to his mouth. He tuned and then faked being crazy so they would lock him up. He could then work on the ship undisturbed.
Another Scary movie is ,Jeepers Creepers , A menace who appears every 23 years to eat.A very underrated Horror/Sci Fi movie
Yosemite Sam is thinking, "Who stole my hat?"
I think they were expecting a Marvel movie type of ending, nope, this ending is perfect as it is.
If they did do a big, dramatic, marvel like ending I would never watch the movie again. It would completely ruin everything the movie was setting up.
Love watching y'all and your reactions/comments!!!