It's a credit to the greatness of the script and production that 42 years later we're still all thinking about it, analyzing it, and asking hypotheticals about it. What a wonderful, awesome movie.
Mine too. Whatever "it" is, it doesn' seem to be able to build a spacecraft and pursue space travel. With bodies, limbs and probably cognitive campacity changing all the time - I mean at one point it has the shape and the brain of a dog.
@@monikaengelsfeld686I don't think the doc knows how to build alien spaceships. The Thing in some way still has to know it's not actually whatever it's mimicking. Even when it looks like a dog, it knows itself that it's not a dog.
@@Legs_ To me It's a parasitic lifeform and the point of being a parasite is they do nothing on their own. I can't imagine how over centuries it does research and science when it's constantly hiding and on the run all the while changing species. I always thought it assimilates the knowledge of the host, like, the dog thing knew it would be saved if it shows distress and licks the human and tries to bond with him. If you take the prequel into account, in the end the thing hops on the snow rover and perfectly knows how to operate it and drives off. But whether the doc or the thing builds the vessel, I think it's one of the movies plot holes, like, how can you have the materials to build a spaceship just lying around in a shed in Antarctica.
Dissecting and discusses individual scenes is what Rob Ager does. Go to his website Collative Learning and he's got over a hundred video's dissecting scenes from some forgotten gems and some famous classic films.
my fav scene is the probability of takeover, right before the doctor loses his mind...and look at the docs use of the pencil, touching it and then back in his mouth
Regarding the agony, there is the only on-screen assimilation, which is Gary, and it doesn’t look like he is having a good time. However, it appears he is soon unconscious or plain dead shortly thereafter as he is dragged along.
Bennings was also being assimilated onscreen. Though it was the last part of the copy process, He also wasn't having a good time himself. If the thing has to fast assimilate, it looks as if it kills the host as it copies them. If it has time, a slow process will not cause exposure to itself with the host and help it keep its cover and spread itself.
Ive always thought that this is the best movie monster ever. It doesn't lose its mystery when its revealed and we never find out fully how powerful or intelligent this creature is. Plus its a threat to mankind not just the people trapped with it.
Yes, agreed. It is by far the most "scientifically-reasonable" creature that is also taken as far afield creatively than any other sci-fi foe ever, in both film and print. Ever.
@@ranulf8477 I think it's a foregone conclusion that the Earth was eventually destroyed by it. As soon as it made landfall in the alien craft, the misfortune in it having landed in a frozen part of the globe was only a delay. The combat it faced with humans in-the-know, again, just stalling for time. A single "cell" (or portion of plasma) is enough to concur the entire planet. Humans can't even stop a pitiful virus that can't even crawl across a countertop without our aid. We didn't stand a chance in hell in stopping this thing.
@@michaeldavid6832 I think it's also survival horror movie... since the main characters barely survived... just like in Alien 1979... as well as Alien Isolation...
I just noticed while watching this clip that most people fixate on whether Blair put the pen in his mouth after touching the body with it, but when they take the tarp off the monster, it's clearly covered in bloody goo and all people holding it didn't have gloves on. You can even see it on Blair's right hand after it's uncovered. Copper also has blood all over his arms and I can't tell if Blair reaches all the way in past his gloves to the body cavity when retrieving the organs. Way more opportunities for infection before the pen.
Yeah you can see Blair wipe his hand on the tarp a bit in that shot too. I don't think these are indications these men were infected in that way, but they add to the disease paranoia element. We never get to find out just how big a thing specimen has to be to assimilate someone.
I always thought of the pencil lip touch as being a clue from John Carpenter that Blair might be the victim of a slow infection from The Thing. Certainly not conclusive but it's fun to speculate. 😊
@@flea1972 Yeah mate, so many people get this scene wrong. If you know anything about light sources, and shadows (assume you are older than 9) the rubber end of the pencil does not reduce the shadow to a fine point as it would if it made contact. Also the 'slow assimilation' is a recurring annoyance that gets my goat... similar to the 'dog licks Bennings' (it actually doesn't) BS. Logically, if the saliva of the dog was enough to slowly assimilate cell by cell - then all the dog Thing would have to do is go around the camp licking door handles, plates, cups. I don't know, sometimes I think people just enjoy being dumb.
There is an easy way around that. The thing cannot attack or assimilate in the freezing cold. So , anyone getting any part of its blood wouldn't be able to infect anyone. It would be reasonable they cleaned up afterwards. Simple.
I cannot get enough of this movie. I will always say even the dog in the beginning gives me chills. It’s a dog obviously but the way it acts you can see it’s thinking like a human/thing. It’s eye contact throughout shows its plotting in its brain as to how to survive and move on. I heard on another channel someone said it was a husky /wolf mix. Expertly trained. But Everytime I watch the film which is countless I’m fixated on the dog acting like a human/alien and without really doing anything seems like it’s not a dog. Just its eye contact and its eyes intently watching and listening to everyone in its vicinity shows its thinking and plotting. Bravo to the dog and its trainer
The idea that the frozen Thing is still alive, and might wake up, is right out of AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS. In Lovecraft's story, Dr. Lake dissected the impossibly ancient frozen nonhuman "corpses" he had unearthed; but they weren't dead at all, and shortly afterward the rest of the 'Elder Things' woke up and wiped out his entire expedition. (Although not via assimilation, in fact these creatures possibly did it in revenge, for the dissection of one of their own. The 'Thing' in Carpenter's movie seems more like a 'Shoggoth' than one of the strangely civilized 'Elder Things'.)
@@donweatherwax9318 “Poor Old Ones! Scientists to the last -- what had they done that we would not have done in their place? God, what intelligence and persistence! What a facing of the incredible, just as those carven kinsmen and forbears had faced things only a little less incredible! Radiates, vegetables, monstrosities, star spawn -- whatever they had been, they were men!”. This always made me sad af. I think it`s also mentioned how terrified they must have been, being awakened and attacked by two-legged and four-legged monsters.
That two-faced creature is like the space jockey in Alien. The characters in both are completely stunned and don't know what they're looking at. But with The Thing, it's actually the focus of the movie.
0:45 they're definitely dead, yes. It literally replaces every single cell in the body, that means that there is nothing left of the infected person, they cease to exist on a cellular level.
The original black and white version, i remembered a scientist in it actually being all about not wanting to harm the creature because it was such a huge find scientifically
Actually in the 1982 version, Bennings disagrees with Window’s suggestion to burn the remains, based on the same principle. He felt that it was too important of a discovery to destroy. “We ought ta just burn these things.” - Windows - “Can’t burn the find of the century….. That’s gonna win somebody the Nobel prize.” -Bennings -
@@collativelearning yeah but that hand bursting through the door is still scary 70+ years later. But some of that movie is now funny unintentionally. The rest is just pure Fun. Love that movie, it's like comfort food. House on Haunted Hill (a much inferior movie) and the Vincent Price House of Wax (quite a good one) also serve a similar purpose.
It took me a couple of seconds, before realizing that you meant the 1951 version. I first thought was John Carpenter's The Thing originally supposed to be in black and white? But I think I have to watch it in black and white sometime (just mess around with the settings on the TV, and then you're good). I think watching horror movies in black and white really adds to the mood (I'm talking about horror movies that has color ofc). Movies like The Terminator (1984) and Blade Runner (1982) probably looks and feels awesome in black and white as well.
Something that some people don't think about with the film, is how if it had found a bird it would be the end of the population of earth, and it would not necessarily have to waste time being a human, any small creature even spores or fungus that could allow it to be breather in would totally assimilate all life very quickly. Interesting movie.
@@theexplosionist2019 in the prequel they show single cells of it killing and mimicking human cells. Theoretically one cell could get on you and slowly take over
I often explain to friends and family why this is the best horror film ever made. Whilst Aliens is one of my favourites too, this one edges it out in more departments; the isolation appears in both films (space and the snowy wastes) but when you look at the size of the Nostromo you realise that it's massive, thereby potentially providing plenty of space for the alien to hide even if the film only covers a fraction of it. Also when looking at the human element, The Thing beats Alien even if one of the most famous Alien tag lines was "nobody can hear you scream" - the alien in Alien was obviously an alien but in The Thing it could have been anyone. Lastly The Thing makes you think about the possibilities which I feel it does better than Alien. "Who sabotaged the blood bank? Let's try and rewind and trace everyone's steps" etc etc. I'd appreciate a video comparing these two great horror films one day Rob. Thanks again for the videos.
It's a close call between the two, but i think I agree Thing is slightly superior. The Thjing creature is more dangerous and unpredictable, but alien becomes a bit less interesting in the final act. We already know the beast quite well by then.
@@collativelearning I know for me i'd be a lot more frightened of the Thing, not to mention the insane paranoia of who's human and who's not. I'm not sure whether in the thing i'd just put one between my ears, and in Alien I would certainly try and defend myself. At least in Alien they had a chance, The Thing was so hopeless and there's nothing worse than not knowing who the enemy is and it could even be you.
Robert Picardo who played The Doctor Hologram on ST:VOY and that serial killer in The Howling was the model for the Splitfaced Thing. He and Rob Bottin are best friends going back years and years,
That would also explain why Picardo played Meg, that goblin creature from Legend who wanted to eat Tom Cruise. Bottin did the makeup effects for the movie. And Johnny Cab from Total Recall...Bottin also did the makeup effects. It all makes sense.
0:50 I always believed that Thingified people were still alive. If the Thing replaced each of your braincells with a functionally idental Thing-braincell one at a time, how would you know? We're already not in control of the cells replicating and replacing in our bodies, the Thing just has some extra malevolence in its code.
Possibly though you get the impression Bennings is dead when we see him mid-assimilation and Garry's body is completely limp when drug off after the face melding, suggesting it already terminated the brain function of the original body before fully absorbing it. Course you can still make the argument for opposite interpretations of those moments, which is part of the fun of this movie.
Pretty sure once you’re assimilated, you’re dead. Under the microscope the human cells were being replaced by the alien cells. I imagine it’s so painful because your new body is eating the old one from the inside.
I think it can assimilate in 2 ways, one in which its slow and your entirely unaware until it needs to attack or defend itself, and the other aggressively, where it wants to take your body NOW and this would probably feel like burning alive
@@SpacedCobraIIIhow about when Windows were covered in all goos but kind of in shock about what’s happening. It seemed like he knows the alien has taken over him but the process isn’t as simple as a quick death. When Palmer was assimilated, most of his actions were done by the Thing so that means he’s not in control or dead.
Never made the connection of the different expressions on the two faces of the thing. One of the being assimilated human in agony and the other of the assimilating alien grinning (sort of) is a very plausible explanation.
@@YonatanBornsteinno but it most likely feels a range of emotions. It’s quite intelligent. Probably feels the pleasure a predator feels while getting a kill and grinned while in its human form.
No matter how many times I watch this film, it never ceases to absolutely terrify. It is, by far, thee greatest horror film, sci-fi or otherwise...EVER! Even that iconic movie poster seems to exudes terror. It's my FAVORITE movie poster and a veeery close second is Saving Private Ryan's poster where there's a lone G.I. standing with his M-1 Garand and the faces of Capt. Miller and the other Rangers above...AWESOME! Ya' know, much is made about the "paranoia" amongst the characters in The Thing, but the thought of that creature violently assimilating human beings like that is utterly horrifying...like being eaten alive by a tiger shark or a grizzly bear. It's kinda peculiar that this isn't discussed more. And lastly, shoutout to the legendary composer, Ennio Morricone. My favorite film score composer creates a simple, yet extreeemely effective piece that evokes dread. The Thing(1982) is an absolute masterpiece, even from the start with the title sequence! One can NEVER say enough about this film. Simply put, it's perfect.
Rob, your Thing videos are the perfect balance between insightful and entertaining. Thanks for this series, teaches me new things about one of my all-time favourite films.
That was the mystery of this creature. Why did it not infect multiple people and create an army of itself? When it attacked the dogs, it seemed to be consuming them by absorption, rather than infecting them and becoming multiple dogs. Also, it crashed in one craft, presumably as a single being. One of the reasons this movie is so awesome as a horror film is, the creatures motivations are so, dare I say, Alien, that they seem illogical. If you don't understand what a hostile force wants, it makes it much more difficult to come up with an effective defense against it.
Another detail I noticed at 7:14 when Blaire is dissecting the monster notice how Copper is working on the Human in this scene aswell I think this a subtle nod to Copper being human and Blaire being a thing later, one more thing is that Fuchs is on the outside of the table with Blaire on the inside with the monster between them this might also be foreshadowing of Fuchs death later on if this was intentional that is an amazing detail
This movie is decades old and still has so many discussions and theories till this day. Some movies don’t need a sequel. This is a best example of it. (Cough cough joker 2)
The lack of precautions from the Outpost Team reminds me of the snide comments from the Wildfire Team scientists in "The Andromeda Strain" concerning NASA's protocols regarding contamination from space samples. Perhaps the lapse was spot on - even incredibly smart people make foolish decisions that look obvious in hindsight.
The attention to detail and subtle details in the world and cinematography.. shows true passion. Its no wonder the best films always have high attention to detail.
The thing ( at least the Carpenter version , I haven't seen the 50s flick)is probably one of the best examples of what the experience of meeting a truly alien being would be like. At a basic level it seems destructive ,bordering on malicious... But really nobody knows or is able to decode it's true motivations or line of thinking ,if it does have any at all, everything down to their cellular structure is a big mystery. The fear of the unknown physically represented. Awesome movie.
Also take into account that the Thing only reveals itself around the least amount of hosts possible. Minus the dog kennel part. But at least around the fewest hosts that can defend themselves, humans. Poor dogs didn't have much of a chance and the Thing knew that.
According to the science fiction horror film "The Thing," when you are "assembled" by the Thing, meaning it has absorbed and imitated your form, you are considered "gone" as your original identity is completely erased and replaced by the Thing's imitation; you no longer exist as yourself, only as a part of the creature. ROB AS USUAL GREAT VIDEO! 💯👏👏👏😃
This ends up a good argument that sometimes a film adaption can be superior to a novelization/source material, because not knowing is clearly far, far superior to this "information", which is (at least in terms of what's more frightening to imagine) a step down and better left unknown.
@@Cre80sThat's really just personal taste. It depends on how much you enjoy having loose ends or ambiguity in less significant things like these, when they're more enticing when it's done at a more "plot-related" level. Novels can do this as well, they just need to be written to be more open in this aspect, like lovecraft occasionally did, where the readers interpretation of what happened was limited to what the protagonist knew, had read or had seen. In other words, Allan Dean Foster could have chosen to not answer the question of whether a victim would keep part of its consciousness during assimilation, but he opted to give an answer instead.
@@verikan4241 It's actually not "just" a matter of personal taste. It's objectively true, not just personal preference, that the less we knew/know about this alien, the more compelling/scary it's nature is. Now, don't get me wrong; after the fact, we're all compelled to "research" it more out of completist curiosity, but that's different than having learned this data at the same time as first watching the story/movie. That's pretty much outside the sphere of opinion. It's a fact the movie would have sucked had we learned the full nature of the creature while being expected to be afraid of it alongside the characters in the film.
The idea that the disection scene ends with the camera panning onto the grinning face of the living, thawed body... making eye contact with the monster right then and there without knowing it invokes fearsome terror.
The fact that there is so little dialogue when they uncover the specimen helps the scene as well. The audience can fully focus on what is seen, without any dialogue that might distract from it.
It is a neat speculation, but I kinda doubt that the thing could actually hear them speaking, or was even conscious beyond something similar to humans when in a coma. We know it was alive, but I personally get the impression that it's consciousness didn't "resume" until it was oozing off the table with Bennings. I also don't personally believe it "feels pain" when simply cut. Since the creature can simply opt to separate itself wide open by choice, I don't think it feels any actual pain short of being burned thermally or chemically, which is killing large portions of it instantly. Of course, it's just my impression.
Interesting analysis of the dissection scene! I remember it raising more questions than not, is the thing still alive? What happened to it that it got frozen? Who got assimilated? We know that most of the team that first thawed it out were killed, one committed suicide, and the dog was infected. We also know that the team put up a fight based on the remnants of the base. And you’re right that sometimes realism takes a necessary back seat to a damn good story. No movie is perfect, so yeah the movie needs to emphasize the paranoia of contamination, to get us interested in the frozen body and to raise the stakes. I mean had the crew actually done what you said, act like real life scientists, which is to isolate the specimen, await further decontamination/hazardous equipment, and to leave it alone, possibly they might have survived. But we only have a limited time to tell the story so, no. Plus you’re talking about a story in which an alien creature assimilates living beings with the goal of conquering the planet. I mean it’s kinda silly. But I guess you could argue that the film does a good job to show that our protagonists are flawed and make bad decisions, are prone to not realizing the severity of the situation, and are not trained to deal with the Thing. The team is made up of technicians and scientists not soldiers. Plus their curiosity gets the better of them multiple times like when some of our protagonists check up alone on a suspicious activity. I mean as your video showed, windows is…sleeping by the radio. This is highlights just how much our team is doomed because you’d think that the all members would be worried at the violence they just witnessed when they arrived and that they have found a unknown creature in a burnt out base after coming into contact with the thing. Yet windows is ASLEEP at the radio. He easily could have been picked off, or have missed out a response from the mainland.
This video maybe called it a "beast" toward the end only to avoid too much repetition when naming the creature, but that triggered a couple common-expression associations for me: "different Beast entirely" and "a whole other Thing". Those fit the overall progression of horror/discovery in the movie -- early encounters associated with familiar animals (dogs are supposed to be man's trusted companions), expectation of human ability to conquer nature/beasts via superior intelligence, realizing the entity is unlike anything else and undermines knowledge and trust structures that were historically key to human survival and dominance.
Agree with you to the fullest; this movie is literally my all-time favorite movie, and I have it saved in my collection of favorite movies. This movie is legendary and will always be. One of the main reasons why I hate movies of the current time period is because of the CGI and over the top computer generated effects that make the entire premise seem unrealistic. Movies from the '80s and the early '90s they knew how to make things realistic, which only increases its credibility. Ah, the good old days.
The Thing is by far my favorite movie, and I have seen it a hundred times and I have never taken the specimen to be frozen, they had attempted to burn this at the Norwegian camp, and it is still steaming off in this scene.
My first viewing of The Thing was about 35 years ago during a snow from school. . . . I was alone at home with only the dog in the house with me. When that dog transformed, I yelled for the dog to get out of the room. 😂 No movie hits as hard as the Thing upon first viewing. Thanks for all your analysis. 🙂
This amazing movie is in my top ten favorites of all time! I rewatch it a few times each year. I love your videos on this movie (and many more) due to the depths you go to for analysis. You bring up things I've missed or add another perspective. Plus, I love your voice! I was thrilled to start watching your Shining videos, made me love that movie so much more! I appreciate your hard and thorough work!
Adaptations are always interesting. "Who Goes There?" was the "original" story (there is another version available on UA-cam, check it out), and the FIRST B&W movie, while one of my favorite childhood movies, doesn't come close to the creepiness of the Carpenter masterpiece. It's not a remake. The 1984 entry is a total reimagining, while the prequel has nothing original to contribute (almost a textbook example of non-creativity).
I remember bumping into this channel with the excellent video of the road warrior some months ago And now I find it again after having watched the thing for the first time a few days ago what??
When I think about 'The Thing' (1982) I think that you have the pieces in place for a masterpiece akin to 'The Shining'(1980). Something about a snow-ridden outpost that is invaded by a supernatural presence that just excites & terrifies me. McCready is perhaps the perfect man to survive this dreadful scenario b/c he is just a 'working Joe' but tough & aware inside with the yearning to stay alive no matter the odds. McCready wants to know what they're dealing with & to warn mankind of it's arrival.
First off I want to say that your videos have been instrumental in expanding my understanding of this film. On that note I would like to point out that because the Thing exists on a cellular level it could actually be incapacitated during the dissection scene and not feeling any pain at all, only to later regain consciousness after continuing it's cellular processes.
I haven’t even watched the video yet, but I wanted to thank you, Mr. Ager, for providing so much content for free on UA-cam. I’d love to download your entire collection, but sadly, my financial duties preclude it.
What terrifies me more than the possibilities is the unknown. Not knowing what happens to an assimilated person’s consciousness never ceases to make me uneasy. It’s a lack of closure. We desire closure, even if the knowledge is bad.
I always thought of the assimilation phase, like the Blob absorbing its victims, because the Thing absorbs its victims. (from 1988 Blob, "inside he tried to scream"). For a good phase of the assimilation cycle, the original cell structure has to be alive, at least until the nervous system, and the brain has been replicated. To me as a kid when I first saw this movie, the split face shows that phase, and just made the whole idea even more terrifying. But also the deal with the Thing feeling the autopsy or having a nervous system, being a shape shifter, it would make sense that it has the ability not to feel, or doesn't at all. If you view the Thing from the assimilation phase and you see the multitude of different alien species, this, in Blairs words "not sure it is any cell structure,"(from a deleted scene) thing is just a pile of replicated cells. Like the human body, anything and everything around us as well is uniform pile of cells and atoms already. The Thing cell is just a chaotic cell that wants to be a uniform structure but it gets uglier the more it survives on replicating. In a way, the Thing cell seems almost engineered. But if this all just replicated cells, it might just all be show and it can't have that ability. Screaming while on fire might just be a survival instinct that the replicated cells know its in danger by its one weakness. Or could possibly be a survival technique, screaming indicating dying, and the possibility of something trying to stop the fire in an early burning stage with cells still alive inside the structure. Of course this is all speculation and for entertainment purposes only. 😂
I choose to believe this is the thing going ape-sht after being burned and eventually freezing. I HATE the prequel that shows it as two guys melding together. This is one face that is morphing/melting into two halves.
Are you suggesting this is some sort of internal, primitive defense mechanism like the T-1000 short circuiting so to speak into past copies of others when it was being boiled?
Thank you for continuing to make videos on The Thing, it is my favorite horror film of all time! And I've seen your videos on a script of a possible thing sequel you would want to contribute to making, I really hope you get this chance some day, I think your sequel ideas would make an amazing Thing sequel, please don't give up on this idea of yours you have my vote 100% and I will be first in line to get a movie ticket!
Funny enough, the only reason the actors are covering their noses and mouths in that scene is because what they sprayed the prop with was noxious and toxic. Their hacking cough reactions were legit. Also, almost none of the gore is in Bill Lancastor's script (which I read last weekend). Most of it was conceived and added by Botin during production. The dog assimilation scene is entirely in the dark and almost all off screen.
I always like your interesting and thought-provoking insights. Personally, I was always appalled when Blair seemed to touch the dog Thing with the eraser of his pencil and then stuck it to his lips while in thought.
It wouldn't feel pain when being sliced open as it's just trillions of independent thing cells connected - it only feels pain when those individual cells are destroyed with fire or heat
Yeah it's also possible that it was still in some kind of alien hibernation state, perhaps semi conscious enough to have some awareness but not enough to react to any type of stimuli. But like many people I like the fire explanation too, that scene with the blood and the hot wire was some tense stuff.
In the 2011 film, they completely redesigned this creature. They make it a lot bigger and more insect-like. Plus, it’s made up of two people and not one. I think it’s a cool design, but it doesn’t seem consistent between the two films.
@@collativelearning I think it would have been better had they stuck with the practical effects as originally planned. I saw some of the practical effects from the studio (Amalgamated something) and it looked amazing, like it was gonna be paying homage to the original , but the suits thought otherwise.
No one gives The Prequel any credit but that performance and mix of practical and some ok cgi for how this thing forms is terrific. Idc what anyone says, that was a great scene and the followup tension is great as well. The absorption scene is god damn scary.
The Thing is an ambush predator that uses shapeshifting as camouflage, it also knows that in its burnt/frozen form while thawed out is still extremely vulnerable (it could also simply be too cold for it to move in its current state) also if you watch the prequel, the origin of the 2 face thing was the identical twins from the Norwegian station.
THING FILM LORE STATES AS FOLLOWS: At the very end of the film, Childs shows himself to be the Thing. This is because the 'drink' McReady passes to Childs is a molotov cocktail (many molotovs were just thrown to set the research station on fire) and after drinking the gasoline, Childs has NO REACTION and makes NO COMMENT. A human would either not drink from the bottle because of the smell, or would spit the gasoline out immediately, but the Thing has no reference to the smell or taste of ANY fluid and as a result 'outs' itself to McReady. Thing and human then sit down together in the freezing cold to 'see what happens next'...
@@Ron4885 - Cheers Brother- There is also a second Childs is the Thing theory as well if your keen on finding it on YT. When McReady and two others towards the end of the film go out to the shack to give the Doc the blood test, they leave Childs guarding the door of the station. If you look as they exit, there are 3 coats hanging on pegs behind Childs. A little later, it is shown 1 coat is missing. The Thing rips your clothes when it takes over a person, hence Child’s took 1 coat for himself to replace his own ripped coat. It’s on YT somewhere and this is explained in more detail…
It's a credit to the greatness of the script and production that 42 years later we're still all thinking about it, analyzing it, and asking hypotheticals about it. What a wonderful, awesome movie.
Give John W. Campbell some love too
Goes to show how great the movie was, and why it's the greatest horror movie of all time
My view was always that the crew of the spaceship were also victims of the thing that’s why it crashed
Mine too. Whatever "it" is, it doesn' seem to be able to build a spacecraft and pursue space travel. With bodies, limbs and probably cognitive campacity changing all the time - I mean at one point it has the shape and the brain of a dog.
You do have the doc building one under his shed, though.
@@cjwetterer9579 True, but isn't that doc's knowledge though? How does it know human materials and tools?
@@monikaengelsfeld686I don't think the doc knows how to build alien spaceships.
The Thing in some way still has to know it's not actually whatever it's mimicking.
Even when it looks like a dog, it knows itself that it's not a dog.
@@Legs_ To me It's a parasitic lifeform and the point of being a parasite is they do nothing on their own. I can't imagine how over centuries it does research and science when it's constantly hiding and on the run all the while changing species. I always thought it assimilates the knowledge of the host, like, the dog thing knew it would be saved if it shows distress and licks the human and tries to bond with him. If you take the prequel into account, in the end the thing hops on the snow rover and perfectly knows how to operate it and drives off. But whether the doc or the thing builds the vessel, I think it's one of the movies plot holes, like, how can you have the materials to build a spaceship just lying around in a shed in Antarctica.
The fused faces are like theater masks, comedy and tragedy. It represents the terrifying loss of identity, individuality, and humanity.
Nothing comedic about the double-face thing.
@@UA-cam-tied I’ll bet the Thing thinks it’s hilarious.
@@UA-cam-tied Comedy doesn't always mean funny. Such as in Dante's Divine Comedy. It can mean it's just a Narrative Poem with a happy ending.
Pretentious
@@UA-cam-tied Comedy = Tragedy + Time
Man I love that every scene of this film is still being dissected and discussed more than forty years later. A real testament to its greatness.
A classic. And to think it bombed when it was released and the critics hated it.
Dissecting and discusses individual scenes is what Rob Ager does. Go to his website Collative Learning and he's got over a hundred video's dissecting scenes from some forgotten gems and some famous classic films.
my fav scene is the probability of takeover, right before the doctor loses his mind...and look at the docs use of the pencil, touching it and then back in his mouth
Regarding the agony, there is the only on-screen assimilation, which is Gary, and it doesn’t look like he is having a good time. However, it appears he is soon unconscious or plain dead shortly thereafter as he is dragged along.
Yeah. I believe it kills that person and then copies.
Bennings was also being assimilated onscreen. Though it was the last part of the copy process, He also wasn't having a good time himself. If the thing has to fast assimilate, it looks as if it kills the host as it copies them. If it has time, a slow process will not cause exposure to itself with the host and help it keep its cover and spread itself.
It had to keep Gary quiet.
I know you gentlemen have been thru a lot...
But when you find the time...i'd rather not spend the rest of this winter *TIED TO THIS FUCKING COUCH!*
🤣 great line.
One of the best movie lines ever.
Lines delivered in such a brilliant way
Chariots of the gods man, they practically own South America.
Love that scene. Homeboy is tied to a couch with an alien creature going apeshit right next to him.
Ive always thought that this is the best movie monster ever. It doesn't lose its mystery when its revealed and we never find out fully how powerful or intelligent this creature is. Plus its a threat to mankind not just the people trapped with it.
Yes, agreed. It is by far the most "scientifically-reasonable" creature that is also taken as far afield creatively than any other sci-fi foe ever, in both film and print. Ever.
+ We never find out if it defeat the humans and take over the world.
@@ranulf8477 I think it's a foregone conclusion that the Earth was eventually destroyed by it. As soon as it made landfall in the alien craft, the misfortune in it having landed in a frozen part of the globe was only a delay. The combat it faced with humans in-the-know, again, just stalling for time. A single "cell" (or portion of plasma) is enough to concur the entire planet. Humans can't even stop a pitiful virus that can't even crawl across a countertop without our aid. We didn't stand a chance in hell in stopping this thing.
It has no form of its own which is very unsettling.
@@redpillnibbler4423 like a meta-life form, it's got regular lifeforms all figured out already, prays on them all as a collective, cosmic horror
The Thing 1982 is still one of the best sci fi horror survival movies...
Yup, and The Thing 2011 sucks a$$.
@@coinraker6497
Indeed.
You misspelled "the best horror movie ever" and "one of the best movies ever"
@@michaeldavid6832
I think it's also survival horror movie... since the main characters barely survived... just like in Alien 1979... as well as Alien Isolation...
@@michaeldavid6832 Alien is arguably a better Sci-Fi horror movie so one of the best is the best way to phrase it.
Fastest click in the west.
But I shoot with this hand!
In the WORLD.
😂 fr
Fastest like in the west!
UA-cam hiding this from me for 7 hours, whilst filling my feed with utter crap. I've ruined my algorithm!
Rob Bottin was an absolute genius. Only in his early 20's too.
He's only in his 20s? Just imagine how young he was in 1982!
@@H2Mass1- 40 ?
I just noticed while watching this clip that most people fixate on whether Blair put the pen in his mouth after touching the body with it, but when they take the tarp off the monster, it's clearly covered in bloody goo and all people holding it didn't have gloves on. You can even see it on Blair's right hand after it's uncovered. Copper also has blood all over his arms and I can't tell if Blair reaches all the way in past his gloves to the body cavity when retrieving the organs. Way more opportunities for infection before the pen.
Yeah you can see Blair wipe his hand on the tarp a bit in that shot too. I don't think these are indications these men were infected in that way, but they add to the disease paranoia element. We never get to find out just how big a thing specimen has to be to assimilate someone.
👍 and the pen doesn't actually touch the remains. (watch the pen shadow... and watch it good 😏).
I always thought of the pencil lip touch as being a clue from John Carpenter that Blair might be the victim of a slow infection from The Thing. Certainly not conclusive but it's fun to speculate. 😊
@@flea1972 Yeah mate, so many people get this scene wrong. If you know anything about light sources, and shadows (assume you are older than 9) the rubber end of the pencil does not reduce the shadow to a fine point as it would if it made contact. Also the 'slow assimilation' is a recurring annoyance that gets my goat... similar to the 'dog licks Bennings' (it actually doesn't) BS. Logically, if the saliva of the dog was enough to slowly assimilate cell by cell - then all the dog Thing would have to do is go around the camp licking door handles, plates, cups. I don't know, sometimes I think people just enjoy being dumb.
There is an easy way around that. The thing cannot attack or assimilate in the freezing cold. So , anyone getting any part of its blood wouldn't be able to infect anyone. It would be reasonable they cleaned up afterwards. Simple.
I cannot get enough of this movie. I will always say even the dog in the beginning gives me chills. It’s a dog obviously but the way it acts you can see it’s thinking like a human/thing. It’s eye contact throughout shows its plotting in its brain as to how to survive and move on. I heard on another channel someone said it was a husky /wolf mix. Expertly trained. But Everytime I watch the film which is countless I’m fixated on the dog acting like a human/alien and without really doing anything seems like it’s not a dog. Just its eye contact and its eyes intently watching and listening to everyone in its vicinity shows its thinking and plotting. Bravo to the dog and its trainer
The idea that the frozen Thing is still alive, and might wake up, is right out of AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS. In Lovecraft's story, Dr. Lake dissected the impossibly ancient frozen nonhuman "corpses" he had unearthed; but they weren't dead at all, and shortly afterward the rest of the 'Elder Things' woke up and wiped out his entire expedition. (Although not via assimilation, in fact these creatures possibly did it in revenge, for the dissection of one of their own. The 'Thing' in Carpenter's movie seems more like a 'Shoggoth' than one of the strangely civilized 'Elder Things'.)
Didn’t one of the creatures dissect Dr. Lake as well?
I’ve always thought of The Thing being a Shoggoth as well.
@@wcw2793 So they did; and even in the context of the story, they might not have done it out of revenge, but more out of scientific curiosity.
@@donweatherwax9318 “Poor Old Ones! Scientists to the last -- what had they done that we would not have done in their place? God, what intelligence and persistence! What a facing of the incredible, just as those carven kinsmen and forbears had faced things only a little less incredible! Radiates, vegetables, monstrosities, star spawn -- whatever they had been, they were men!”. This always made me sad af. I think it`s also mentioned how terrified they must have been, being awakened and attacked by two-legged and four-legged monsters.
Possibly my favorite Lovecraft story, and "The Thing" has always put me in mind of it!
That two-faced creature is like the space jockey in Alien. The characters in both are completely stunned and don't know what they're looking at. But with The Thing, it's actually the focus of the movie.
0:45 they're definitely dead, yes. It literally replaces every single cell in the body, that means that there is nothing left of the infected person, they cease to exist on a cellular level.
The original black and white version, i remembered a scientist in it actually being all about not wanting to harm the creature because it was such a huge find scientifically
Funny when he tries to talk to it and it just whacks him in the face.
Actually in the 1982 version, Bennings disagrees with Window’s suggestion to burn the remains, based on the same principle. He felt that it was too important of a discovery to destroy.
“We ought ta just burn these things.”
- Windows -
“Can’t burn the find of the century…..
That’s gonna win somebody the Nobel prize.”
-Bennings -
@@collativelearning yeah but that hand bursting through the door is still scary 70+ years later. But some of that movie is now funny unintentionally. The rest is just pure Fun. Love that movie, it's like comfort food. House on Haunted Hill (a much inferior movie) and the Vincent Price House of Wax (quite a good one) also serve a similar purpose.
It took me a couple of seconds, before realizing that you meant the 1951 version. I first thought was John Carpenter's The Thing originally supposed to be in black and white? But I think I have to watch it in black and white sometime (just mess around with the settings on the TV, and then you're good). I think watching horror movies in black and white really adds to the mood (I'm talking about horror movies that has color ofc). Movies like The Terminator (1984) and Blade Runner (1982) probably looks and feels awesome in black and white as well.
@@CarlFredrik-uo1cu yeah the old one where they fight it with batteries or something….i saw it a long time ago lol
It is amazing that they are all engaging this creature remains without gloves initially or masks, or even protective wear of any kind.
This scene was utterly revolting. How they brought themselves to touch the remains is beyond my comprehension.
They touched it so we can feel the way we do during those moments 👌
Something that some people don't think about with the film, is how if it had found a bird it would be the end of the population of earth, and it would not necessarily have to waste time being a human, any small creature even spores or fungus that could allow it to be breather in would totally assimilate all life very quickly. Interesting movie.
Right, which is why the Antarctic is the only plausible setting for the Thing.
You leave skin cells when you touch anything so the thing could leave cells all over the place anywhere it is
I think its made clear "infection" isn't as easy as just a single cell. It has to directly absorb or invade a target.
@@theexplosionist2019 in the prequel they show single cells of it killing and mimicking human cells. Theoretically one cell could get on you and slowly take over
I often explain to friends and family why this is the best horror film ever made. Whilst Aliens is one of my favourites too, this one edges it out in more departments; the isolation appears in both films (space and the snowy wastes) but when you look at the size of the Nostromo you realise that it's massive, thereby potentially providing plenty of space for the alien to hide even if the film only covers a fraction of it. Also when looking at the human element, The Thing beats Alien even if one of the most famous Alien tag lines was "nobody can hear you scream" - the alien in Alien was obviously an alien but in The Thing it could have been anyone.
Lastly The Thing makes you think about the possibilities which I feel it does better than Alien. "Who sabotaged the blood bank? Let's try and rewind and trace everyone's steps" etc etc.
I'd appreciate a video comparing these two great horror films one day Rob. Thanks again for the videos.
It's a close call between the two, but i think I agree Thing is slightly superior. The Thjing creature is more dangerous and unpredictable, but alien becomes a bit less interesting in the final act. We already know the beast quite well by then.
You can’t compare them.Both are cream of the crop.
@@collativelearning I know for me i'd be a lot more frightened of the Thing, not to mention the insane paranoia of who's human and who's not. I'm not sure whether in the thing i'd just put one between my ears, and in Alien I would certainly try and defend myself. At least in Alien they had a chance, The Thing was so hopeless and there's nothing worse than not knowing who the enemy is and it could even be you.
Robert Picardo who played The Doctor Hologram on ST:VOY and that serial killer in The Howling was the model for the Splitfaced Thing. He and Rob Bottin are best friends going back years and years,
Picardo was “Eddie “ in the Howling. Can’t remember if Bottin did the effects but I suspect he was.
That would also explain why Picardo played Meg, that goblin creature from Legend who wanted to eat Tom Cruise. Bottin did the makeup effects for the movie. And Johnny Cab from Total Recall...Bottin also did the makeup effects. It all makes sense.
Its always a good day when Bob Ager uplaods a Thing video. Thanks again.
I always enjoy your commentaries, Rob, thank you!
The fact that we're still talking about The Thing many years later, just tells us how fascinating the movie was.
0:50 I always believed that Thingified people were still alive. If the Thing replaced each of your braincells with a functionally idental Thing-braincell one at a time, how would you know? We're already not in control of the cells replicating and replacing in our bodies, the Thing just has some extra malevolence in its code.
Possibly though you get the impression Bennings is dead when we see him mid-assimilation and Garry's body is completely limp when drug off after the face melding, suggesting it already terminated the brain function of the original body before fully absorbing it. Course you can still make the argument for opposite interpretations of those moments, which is part of the fun of this movie.
“Thingified” 🤣
Pretty sure once you’re assimilated, you’re dead. Under the microscope the human cells were being replaced by the alien cells. I imagine it’s so painful because your new body is eating the old one from the inside.
I think it can assimilate in 2 ways, one in which its slow and your entirely unaware until it needs to attack or defend itself, and the other aggressively, where it wants to take your body NOW and this would probably feel like burning alive
@@SpacedCobraIIIhow about when Windows were covered in all goos but kind of in shock about what’s happening.
It seemed like he knows the alien has taken over him but the process isn’t as simple as a quick death.
When Palmer was assimilated, most of his actions were done by the Thing so that means he’s not in control or dead.
Wow, I just watched it last night. Excellent video and timing.
Never made the connection of the different expressions on the two faces of the thing. One of the being assimilated human in agony and the other of the assimilating alien grinning (sort of) is a very plausible explanation.
I don't think it has human emotions.
@@YonatanBornsteinno but it most likely feels a range of emotions. It’s quite intelligent. Probably feels the pleasure a predator feels while getting a kill and grinned while in its human form.
No matter how many times I watch this film, it never ceases to absolutely terrify. It is, by far, thee greatest horror film, sci-fi or otherwise...EVER! Even that iconic movie poster seems to exudes terror. It's my FAVORITE movie poster and a veeery close second is Saving Private Ryan's poster where there's a lone G.I. standing with his M-1 Garand and the faces of Capt. Miller and the other Rangers above...AWESOME! Ya' know, much is made about the "paranoia" amongst the characters in The Thing, but the thought of that creature violently assimilating human beings like that is utterly horrifying...like being eaten alive by a tiger shark or a grizzly bear. It's kinda peculiar that this isn't discussed more. And lastly, shoutout to the legendary composer, Ennio Morricone. My favorite film score composer creates a simple, yet extreeemely effective piece that evokes dread. The Thing(1982) is an absolute masterpiece, even from the start with the title sequence! One can NEVER say enough about this film. Simply put, it's perfect.
Rob, your Thing videos are the perfect balance between insightful and entertaining. Thanks for this series, teaches me new things about one of my all-time favourite films.
That was the mystery of this creature. Why did it not infect multiple people and create an army of itself? When it attacked the dogs, it seemed to be consuming them by absorption, rather than infecting them and becoming multiple dogs. Also, it crashed in one craft, presumably as a single being. One of the reasons this movie is so awesome as a horror film is, the creatures motivations are so, dare I say, Alien, that they seem illogical. If you don't understand what a hostile force wants, it makes it much more difficult to come up with an effective defense against it.
Maybe since it can't control or be in the same page as other things it's more of a problem rather than a solution.
Maybe it was taking over the other dogs?
Thank you Sir for continuing to dissect this classic!
Another detail I noticed at 7:14 when Blaire is dissecting the monster notice how Copper is working on the Human in this scene aswell I think this a subtle nod to Copper being human and Blaire being a thing later, one more thing is that Fuchs is on the outside of the table with Blaire on the inside with the monster between them this might also be foreshadowing of Fuchs death later on if this was intentional that is an amazing detail
That Thing had been partly cooked, which maybe why it didn't react: only some tissues were still 'alive' enough to reproduce.
I always imagined the two-headed thing was one person stretching opened like Palmer did.
Well we could see in the prequel that it was a fusion of alien and human
Always love a Thing video. Thanks Rob.
I had never considered whether it was awake and aware as they were autopsying it, very interesting!
This movie is decades old and still has so many discussions and theories till this day.
Some movies don’t need a sequel. This is a best example of it. (Cough cough joker 2)
Damn Rob you're plugging plot holes I never even knew existed ....another great Ager video
The lack of precautions from the Outpost Team reminds me of the snide comments from the Wildfire Team scientists in "The Andromeda Strain" concerning NASA's protocols regarding contamination from space samples. Perhaps the lapse was spot on - even incredibly smart people make foolish decisions that look obvious in hindsight.
I was just watching your video on Kyle Reese, and I stumbled on this. Thank you, sir, for still making videos.
The attention to detail and subtle details in the world and cinematography.. shows true passion. Its no wonder the best films always have high attention to detail.
The thing ( at least the Carpenter version , I haven't seen the 50s flick)is probably one of the best examples of what the experience of meeting a truly alien being would be like. At a basic level it seems destructive ,bordering on malicious... But really nobody knows or is able to decode it's true motivations or line of thinking ,if it does have any at all, everything down to their cellular structure is a big mystery. The fear of the unknown physically represented. Awesome movie.
It's a bioweapon developed by the alien species that ultimately, escaped
“How come you guys don’t freeze him (again)??!?!!???
Is what Parker would say if he wasn’t dead and from another movie.
Yep! 😂😂😂
Would it affect the bonus situation?
@@redpillnibbler4423 well he gets what he’s contracted for like everyone else (just don’t tell him that everyone else gets more than him).
You're the GOAT for film analysis.
You are a MASTER craftsman. Thank you 🙏
Also take into account that the Thing only reveals itself around the least amount of hosts possible.
Minus the dog kennel part.
But at least around the fewest hosts that can defend themselves, humans.
Poor dogs didn't have much of a chance and the Thing knew that.
According to the science fiction horror film "The Thing," when you are "assembled" by the Thing, meaning it has absorbed and imitated your form, you are considered "gone" as your original identity is completely erased and replaced by the Thing's imitation; you no longer exist as yourself, only as a part of the creature.
ROB AS USUAL GREAT VIDEO! 💯👏👏👏😃
The novelization by Alan Dean Foster says the same, the 'you' part of your brain is just switched off eradicating your persona.
This ends up a good argument that sometimes a film adaption can be superior to a novelization/source material, because not knowing is clearly far, far superior to this "information", which is (at least in terms of what's more frightening to imagine) a step down and better left unknown.
@@Cre80s 💯👍
@@Cre80sThat's really just personal taste. It depends on how much you enjoy having loose ends or ambiguity in less significant things like these, when they're more enticing when it's done at a more "plot-related" level.
Novels can do this as well, they just need to be written to be more open in this aspect, like lovecraft occasionally did, where the readers interpretation of what happened was limited to what the protagonist knew, had read or had seen.
In other words, Allan Dean Foster could have chosen to not answer the question of whether a victim would keep part of its consciousness during assimilation, but he opted to give an answer instead.
@@verikan4241 It's actually not "just" a matter of personal taste. It's objectively true, not just personal preference, that the less we knew/know about this alien, the more compelling/scary it's nature is. Now, don't get me wrong; after the fact, we're all compelled to "research" it more out of completist curiosity, but that's different than having learned this data at the same time as first watching the story/movie. That's pretty much outside the sphere of opinion. It's a fact the movie would have sucked had we learned the full nature of the creature while being expected to be afraid of it alongside the characters in the film.
This is still one of my favourite films 🎥
The idea that the disection scene ends with the camera panning onto the grinning face of the living, thawed body... making eye contact with the monster right then and there without knowing it invokes fearsome terror.
The fact that there is so little dialogue when they uncover the specimen helps the scene as well. The audience can fully focus on what is seen, without any dialogue that might distract from it.
It is a neat speculation, but I kinda doubt that the thing could actually hear them speaking, or was even conscious beyond something similar to humans when in a coma. We know it was alive, but I personally get the impression that it's consciousness didn't "resume" until it was oozing off the table with Bennings.
I also don't personally believe it "feels pain" when simply cut. Since the creature can simply opt to separate itself wide open by choice, I don't think it feels any actual pain short of being burned thermally or chemically, which is killing large portions of it instantly.
Of course, it's just my impression.
Excellent, intelligent and insightful critique.
Interesting analysis of the dissection scene! I remember it raising more questions than not, is the thing still alive? What happened to it that it got frozen? Who got assimilated? We know that most of the team that first thawed it out were killed, one committed suicide, and the dog was infected. We also know that the team put up a fight based on the remnants of the base.
And you’re right that sometimes realism takes a necessary back seat to a damn good story. No movie is perfect, so yeah the movie needs to emphasize the paranoia of contamination, to get us interested in the frozen body and to raise the stakes. I mean had the crew actually done what you said, act like real life scientists, which is to isolate the specimen, await further decontamination/hazardous equipment, and to leave it alone, possibly they might have survived. But we only have a limited time to tell the story so, no. Plus you’re talking about a story in which an alien creature assimilates living beings with the goal of conquering the planet. I mean it’s kinda silly.
But I guess you could argue that the film does a good job to show that our protagonists are flawed and make bad decisions, are prone to not realizing the severity of the situation, and are not trained to deal with the Thing. The team is made up of technicians and scientists not soldiers. Plus their curiosity gets the better of them multiple times like when some of our protagonists check up alone on a suspicious activity. I mean as your video showed, windows is…sleeping by the radio. This is highlights just how much our team is doomed because you’d think that the all members would be worried at the violence they just witnessed when they arrived and that they have found a unknown creature in a burnt out base after coming into contact with the thing. Yet windows is ASLEEP at the radio. He easily could have been picked off, or have missed out a response from the mainland.
Has to be one of the top films to get better and more appreciated over time, a masterpiece
This video maybe called it a "beast" toward the end only to avoid too much repetition when naming the creature, but that triggered a couple common-expression associations for me: "different Beast entirely" and "a whole other Thing". Those fit the overall progression of horror/discovery in the movie -- early encounters associated with familiar animals (dogs are supposed to be man's trusted companions), expectation of human ability to conquer nature/beasts via superior intelligence, realizing the entity is unlike anything else and undermines knowledge and trust structures that were historically key to human survival and dominance.
Excellent video. This is one of my favorite movies because of its deceptive complexity.
This was a GREAT movie.
Agree with you to the fullest; this movie is literally my all-time favorite movie, and I have it saved in my collection of favorite movies. This movie is legendary and will always be. One of the main reasons why I hate movies of the current time period is because of the CGI and over the top computer generated effects that make the entire premise seem unrealistic. Movies from the '80s and the early '90s they knew how to make things realistic, which only increases its credibility. Ah, the good old days.
Im a simple man. I see a new upload from Rob, I click
Spectacular video.
The Thing is by far my favorite movie, and I have seen it a hundred times and I have never taken the specimen to be frozen, they had attempted to burn this at the Norwegian camp, and it is still steaming off in this scene.
I would add. “Event Horizon,” to your list of effective gore in movies. It’s a damn shame all the other, more intense, gore scenes were destroyed.
Big time. Whoever lost those negatives is an a**hole lol. I honestly don't know what the actual story is but its a shame they're lost forever.
@themidnightchoir It's not in The Thing's stratosphere, but it is very good For gore, I should have also added, The Fly.
It's a underrated movie that should've gotten more recognition it just needed a little rewrite for the ending
Yes.I see!
@@Thespeedrap I would add Dark City to that list as well.
This is what infected Blair, some blood got on his forearms and slowly infected him over the movie lending to his descent into madness
... perhaps.
Maybe even likely.
But "definitely not definitely".
My first viewing of The Thing was about 35 years ago during a snow from school. . . . I was alone at home with only the dog in the house with me. When that dog transformed, I yelled for the dog to get out of the room. 😂 No movie hits as hard as the Thing upon first viewing. Thanks for all your analysis. 🙂
This amazing movie is in my top ten favorites of all time! I rewatch it a few times each year. I love your videos on this movie (and many more) due to the depths you go to for analysis. You bring up things I've missed or add another perspective. Plus, I love your voice! I was thrilled to start watching your Shining videos, made me love that movie so much more! I appreciate your hard and thorough work!
Adaptations are always interesting. "Who Goes There?" was the "original" story (there is another version available on UA-cam, check it out), and the FIRST B&W movie, while one of my favorite childhood movies, doesn't come close to the creepiness of the Carpenter masterpiece. It's not a remake. The 1984 entry is a total reimagining, while the prequel has nothing original to contribute (almost a textbook example of non-creativity).
Perfect in depth analysis of this iconic masterpiece of an alien body horror movie
I remember bumping into this channel with the excellent video of the road warrior some months ago
And now I find it again after having watched the thing for the first time a few days ago what??
Synchronicity? It happens to me a lot.
Mr.Ager
I can hardly express
My mixed emotions at my thoughtlessness
After all, I'm forever in your debt
Timeless cinematic masterpiece
Interesting and entertaining analysis.
This is unrelated, but it'd be great to see your take on "Twin Peaks". 😊
IMO The Criterion Collection should put this film out with Rob’s extensive work on many discs as the ultimate version! Keep up the amazing work!
A new The Thing video by Rob Ager in the lead up to Halloween? You’ve just made my day
The Thing from another world is worth a watch too
When I think about 'The Thing' (1982) I think that you have the pieces in place for a masterpiece akin to 'The Shining'(1980). Something about a snow-ridden outpost that is invaded by a supernatural presence that just excites & terrifies me. McCready is perhaps the perfect man to survive this dreadful scenario b/c he is just a 'working Joe' but tough & aware inside with the yearning to stay alive no matter the odds. McCready wants to know what they're dealing with & to warn mankind of it's arrival.
First off I want to say that your videos have been instrumental in expanding my understanding of this film. On that note I would like to point out that because the Thing exists on a cellular level it could actually be incapacitated during the dissection scene and not feeling any pain at all, only to later regain consciousness after continuing it's cellular processes.
Loved every second, thanks! 👌🏻
The Thing needs to be in every top 25 films.
Are none of the organs removed during the autopsy attached to anything, as are organs in the human body?
Yeah, I'm buying the full version of this ASAP.
I haven’t even watched the video yet, but I wanted to thank you, Mr. Ager, for providing so much content for free on UA-cam. I’d love to download your entire collection, but sadly, my financial duties preclude it.
What terrifies me more than the possibilities is the unknown. Not knowing what happens to an assimilated person’s consciousness never ceases to make me uneasy. It’s a lack of closure. We desire closure, even if the knowledge is bad.
I always thought of the assimilation phase, like the Blob absorbing its victims, because the Thing absorbs its victims. (from 1988 Blob, "inside he tried to scream"). For a good phase of the assimilation cycle, the original cell structure has to be alive, at least until the nervous system, and the brain has been replicated. To me as a kid when I first saw this movie, the split face shows that phase, and just made the whole idea even more terrifying. But also the deal with the Thing feeling the autopsy or having a nervous system, being a shape shifter, it would make sense that it has the ability not to feel, or doesn't at all. If you view the Thing from the assimilation phase and you see the multitude of different alien species, this, in Blairs words "not sure it is any cell structure,"(from a deleted scene) thing is just a pile of replicated cells. Like the human body, anything and everything around us as well is uniform pile of cells and atoms already. The Thing cell is just a chaotic cell that wants to be a uniform structure but it gets uglier the more it survives on replicating. In a way, the Thing cell seems almost engineered. But if this all just replicated cells, it might just all be show and it can't have that ability. Screaming while on fire might just be a survival instinct that the replicated cells know its in danger by its one weakness. Or could possibly be a survival technique, screaming indicating dying, and the possibility of something trying to stop the fire in an early burning stage with cells still alive inside the structure. Of course this is all speculation and for entertainment purposes only. 😂
I choose to believe this is the thing going ape-sht after being burned and eventually freezing. I HATE the prequel that shows it as two guys melding together. This is one face that is morphing/melting into two halves.
Agreed
Are you suggesting this is some sort of internal, primitive defense mechanism like the T-1000 short circuiting so to speak into past copies of others when it was being boiled?
@@seventhseventhnineteen2215 that never entered my mind but it is an interesting analogy.
To me it was burned mid transformation.
Shouldnt have had breakfast while watching this, great quality video as always Mr. Ager.
Thank you for continuing to make videos on The Thing, it is my favorite horror film of all time! And I've seen your videos on a script of a possible thing sequel you would want to contribute to making, I really hope you get this chance some day, I think your sequel ideas would make an amazing Thing sequel, please don't give up on this idea of yours you have my vote 100% and I will be first in line to get a movie ticket!
Funny enough, the only reason the actors are covering their noses and mouths in that scene is because what they sprayed the prop with was noxious and toxic. Their hacking cough reactions were legit.
Also, almost none of the gore is in Bill Lancastor's script (which I read last weekend). Most of it was conceived and added by Botin during production. The dog assimilation scene is entirely in the dark and almost all off screen.
Amazing movie
Absolutely Love this Movie!!
I always like your interesting and thought-provoking insights. Personally, I was always appalled when Blair seemed to touch the dog Thing with the eraser of his pencil and then stuck it to his lips while in thought.
It wouldn't feel pain when being sliced open as it's just trillions of independent thing cells connected - it only feels pain when those individual cells are destroyed with fire or heat
Yeah it's also possible that it was still in some kind of alien hibernation state, perhaps semi conscious enough to have some awareness but not enough to react to any type of stimuli. But like many people I like the fire explanation too, that scene with the blood and the hot wire was some tense stuff.
Rob Bottin is a genius
In the 2011 film, they completely redesigned this creature. They make it a lot bigger and more insect-like. Plus, it’s made up of two people and not one. I think it’s a cool design, but it doesn’t seem consistent between the two films.
I thought it was a lot less creepy in the new film
@@collativelearning I think it would have been better had they stuck with the practical effects as originally planned. I saw some of the practical effects from the studio (Amalgamated something) and it looked amazing, like it was gonna be paying homage to the original , but the suits thought otherwise.
I liked the insect-like form of the 2011 autopsy creature.
No one gives The Prequel any credit but that performance and mix of practical and some ok cgi for how this thing forms is terrific. Idc what anyone says, that was a great scene and the followup tension is great as well. The absorption scene is god damn scary.
The Thing is an ambush predator that uses shapeshifting as camouflage, it also knows that in its burnt/frozen form while thawed out is still extremely vulnerable (it could also simply be too cold for it to move in its current state) also if you watch the prequel, the origin of the 2 face thing was the identical twins from the Norwegian station.
THING FILM LORE STATES AS FOLLOWS:
At the very end of the film, Childs shows himself to be the Thing.
This is because the 'drink' McReady passes to Childs is a molotov cocktail (many molotovs were just thrown to set the research station on fire) and after drinking the gasoline, Childs has NO REACTION and makes NO COMMENT.
A human would either not drink from the bottle because of the smell, or would spit the gasoline out immediately, but the Thing has no reference to the smell or taste of ANY fluid and as a result 'outs' itself to McReady.
Thing and human then sit down together in the freezing cold to 'see what happens next'...
I like that. 👍
@@Ron4885 - Cheers Brother- There is also a second Childs is the Thing theory as well if your keen on finding it on YT. When McReady and two others towards the end of the film go out to the shack to give the Doc the blood test, they leave Childs guarding the door of the station. If you look as they exit, there are 3 coats hanging on pegs behind Childs. A little later, it is shown 1 coat is missing. The Thing rips your clothes when it takes over a person, hence Child’s took 1 coat for himself to replace his own ripped coat. It’s on YT somewhere and this is explained in more detail…
Starting the video with you swallowing in an interesting, and powerful choice.
Great analysis Rob!
the critical reception of the thing on release still drives me crazy and i wasn't even alive when it happened