What really happens at the end of ‘The Thing’?
Though written off by critics at the time, John Carpenter’s The Thing quickly became an object of fascination for horror-loving teens on the hunt for some genuinely grisly special effects. The 1982 film was made on a $15 million budget, $1.5 million of which was spent on perfecting Rob Bottin’s creature. It failed to make much of that money back, earning just $19 million at the box office. The critics loathed it, but that didn’t matter; the thing became a home video phenomenon, earning a special place in countless young viewers’ hearts, many of whom have long been debating its ambiguous ending. So, what does it all mean? Let’s take a closer look.
We begin with that unforgettable introduction: a helicopter pursues a sledge dog outside an Antarctic research facility. Inside, the researchers watch as the passenger manages to blow himself (and the helicopter) up. The pilot then proceeds to shoot the dog and shout something in Norwegian at the Americans before being shot by station commander Garry. All of this troubles helicopter pilot R.J. MacReady and researcher Dr Copper, who travel to the Norwegian base to investigate what might have happened. What they find doesn’t make them feel much better. Inside the burnt building, they find the scorched remains of disfigured bodies, which they foolishly bring back to the lab and show to their biologist, Blair, who performs an autopsy.
Meanwhile, Clarke places the escapee dog in a kennel, where, left to itself, it transforms and swallows up the rest of the station dogs. When Childs returns, he incinerates the creature with a flamethrower. Blair then performs another autopsy on the dog, at which point he discovers that the creature can remould itself to imitate other organisms. Worse still, research on the Norwegian base has led to the discovery of an alien spacecraft buried for thousands of years. Using a computer simulation, Blair establishes that the creature would be able to assimilate all earthly life in just a few years. Not good. The station is ordered to implement controls to reduce the risk of assimilation, but it’s too late. Left alone, Bennings is assimilated and becomes a horrifically malformed humanoid creature. MacReady successfully incinerates him, and Blair is imprisoned in a tool shed after sabotaging the vehicles, killing the dogs and trying to destroy the radio.
After taking part in a group blood test, the crew learn that the station’s blood stores have also been destroyed. By this time, the crew’s morale is decimated, and they soon lose faith in Garry’s leadership. Shortly after MacReady takes control, the crew find Fuch’s smouldering corpse – a potential suicide. Windows, Nauls and MacReady go off to investigate MacReady’s shack, during which MacReady – who believes he has been assimilated – is abandoned in a snowstorm. The team are forced to decide whether to let MacReady back inside or let him freeze to death. However, before they can decide, he makes a forced entry and – armed with dynamite – holds the crew hostage. At this point, Norris suffers what appears to be a heart attack. As Cooper tries to revive him, Norris’ chest opens up into a large mouth and swallows his arm. No more Cooper.
MacReady tries to incinerate The Thing, but its head separates from the body and tries to escape. Realising that every part of The Thing has agency, the crew take part in another blood test. MacReady is forced to kill Clark after he makes a lunge for him with a scalpel. The only person who fails to pass the blood test is Palmer, whose blood resists the flame. With that, Palmer mutates and infects Windows. MacReady kills them both with his flamethrower. After the generator is destroyed, the survivors are left without heat. MacReady, Garry and Nauls all agree that The Thing cannot be allowed to escape, so they decide to blow up the station. Before they can detonate the explosives, The Thing kills Garry and breaks the detonator. Thankfully, MacReady manages to trigger the explosives with a stick of dynamite, destroying the station and killing the creature.
In the final scene, Childs returns to find MacReady sitting amongst the wreckage. He says he became lost in a storm while pursuing Blair. With no heat, they accept their fate of slowly freezing to death. Putting aside their differences, they share a bottle of Scotch and wait for the end to come. Clearly, one of them is the creature, but nobody knows which. At this point, there are three possibilities. It could be that Childs is The Thing, and MacReady has simply decided that resistance is futile. The second possibility is that MacReady is the monster and that Childs has decided to share one more drink before he, too, is assimilated.
The third possibility is that neither Childs of MacReady are infected. Instead, they have managed to save the planet but are too exhausted to save themselves. It’s certainly possible that Childs has been infected. After all, he was off-screen for the film’s climax when MacReady destroys the station. It’s very telling that Childs returns only after the creature has supposedly been killed. Indeed, if he had been assimilated, perhaps he wouldn’t feel the need to kill MacReady immediately. His fate is already sealed. In this reading, we leave the research base believing that MacReady will eventually become The Thing, leaving the world vulnerable to mass assimilation.
