John Carpenter's The Thing - Deusdaecon Reviews 

John carpenter's response to that critic "your move: kick me when I'm down. My move; go down in history as one of the greatest horror directors of the century, while no one will remember who you are...check mate. Check mate"

And that's why I consider the creature effects in this film to be top-notch: Mid-20s-aged Rob Bottin almost killed himself putting so much effort into these effects. The guy deserves a f*cking medal for that.

Bonus points for the Mac or Windows joke...

Just one thing about the dog kennel scene. I always saw the recoiling of pain (when being slammed in the door) as something the real dog was doing. Think about it, the process of assimilation was interrupted so at that moment it's two organisms. While The Thing may not feel pain dogs definitely do. Which is even more terrifying when you think about it. Like a rabbit being slowly digested by a snake the dog is conscious of what is happening but can do nothing about it. Well, except for cry out a bit in it's new body using whatever is left of it's vocal cords.

That Mac or Windows joke almost physically hurt me, I was laughing so much XD

John Carpenter's The Thing is more of a faithful adaptation of Who Goes There? by John W. Campbell than a remake of The Thing from Another World.

I always imagined both child's and MacReady were Human, and froze to death.

Best line in the movie, delivered so perfectly. "You've gotta be fucking kidding." Love it, and a lovely review of one of my all time favourite horror movies. The scene in the generator room where the planks fly up? That haunted me for years as a kid after I briefly caught the end of the movie on late night TV.

Ah the unparalleled masterpiece! This is one of the best if not THE best horror movie ever created, its timeless really!

It can also be argued that MacReady shot Clarke out of self-defense since Clarke was about to attack him.

DEUSDAECON I can't wait til you blow up you put out better content than like 90 percent of you tubers you actually put time and effort into your vids especially since you research and take time to see things in multiple perspectives your work is greatly appreciated

I would love to see you do the "Prince of Darkness" John Carpenters. Loved that low budget horror flick.

I was in Iceland around the wintertime last year. I played this soundtrack whilst the mossy Icelandic landscape turned into darkness. Magnificent.

“Windows blast him!” *Windows is not responding*

6:30 That reminds me of how in "Zodiac" David Fincher had the Zodiac played by a different actor in every scene he appears in, even though he's always masked or in the shadows anyways. It both adresses the fact that the descriptions given by witnesses differed and also makes the Zodiac a more mysterious character, never giving the audience a clear idea of what he might look like

I thought the game was good, I think it has found some appreciation throughout the years, not unlike Carpenter's movie. Don't get me wrong, it's not a masterpiece, it's just not as bad as what you'd think. There were some pretty clever ideas used to convey the horror in video game form. Maybe someday we can get a "Thing" video game with the same attention to detail as Alien: Isolation.

20:14 When Blaire says "It ain't Fuches..." I always thought that meant "He's not the monster...", like he's trying to calm them down about him, though Blaire may indeed be a monster during that scene. If he was he would probably know who else is infected. Also, Mac probably called it when he said "Maybe he burned himself before it could get to him...", meaning either it did actually attack him and he torched himself in the process or he straight up committed suicide cause he thought the one guy he trusted the most was infected and working against him the whole time, along with who-knows how many others. This just broke him and he panicked. NEVER panic in horror movies!!!

Just wanted to say that you are very insightful in your reviews and I've learned a lot from them over the years. I've noticed you haven't uploaded in over a year and wanted you to know that I find your reviews to be of a very high quality and I'm hoping there will be more in the future.

One of my favourite movies, never made the heartbeat connection, good call! Would you ever review the prequel? It wasn't that bad (except perhaps, the CGI)...

The Thing is a movie I never get tired of. It’s my favorite movie to watch during the winter months

Personally I find the "self-sacrifice" option interesting, but i feel it would detract from the heightening paranoia.

YES! Love seeing you upload new videos. I've been watching your videos since I was 12, (19 now).

Can't believe this was made four years ago. I feel like there is a year long gap in my memory

12:00 blare couldn’t be infected at that time because he was drinking from a bottle of vodka late on and Mac also drinks from that bottle so blare could be infected until he’s was locked in the storage room. Also blare got fuchs as the sound made when fuchs is attached is the same as when Gary go attacked by blare

Love this movie. IMO Palmer was the first one to be infected, when you watch his character he constantly casts suspicion on other characters, and is noticeably more jumpy than the others when he is supposed to be a stoner type character

I read about the Childs Theory and rewatched it and it made perfect sense. Mac hands Childs a Molotov cocktail and Childs drinks gasoline as if it was liquor, proving to Mac that his latest test is a valid way to determine if Childs is Childs. Mac chuckles, knowing that it is checkmate again as the screen goes dark and the creature returns to slumber... Great review of a timeless masterpiece in cinema.

Perfect way to start my day

It's funny that the original story said the ship's hull was Magnesium, which is flammable and would have burst into flame upon entering the Earth's atmosphere as it combusts at around 473c. (900f). Could have been a really short story.

Nice review, raised a few points I hadn't considered and I am a huge fan of this movie. I think The Things greatest strength along side its stellar creature effects is how deep and clever the plot is, only giving enough info as needed to let the audience really start thinking about what's happening but also be slightly ambiguous. Its a fine balancing act that really makes the whole thing very intriguing and re-watchable. There always something new to consider on the next watch through.

The first infected was Norris, he was the only one I could find to fit the silhouette.

That fucking wire scene gets me every time. I know it's coming, I'm ready for it, and I jump every fucking time

windows dropped the keys earlier when the orange haired guy is getting infected, he tells him to go get the keys, then when windows walks in you can hear him drop the keys

well I just saw your cameo on a decker shado review I WAS SHOCKED AS HELL REVOUND IT LIKE 5 TIMES AND I HOPE U2 GET TO REVIEW BUG TOGETHER

I finished watching your review, it is excellent. One of the best on RU-vid I would say. Now, I watched this first when I was around 10 - 12. I had nightmares for several days. Now I can watch this while eating. There are worse things out there I guess. Also, I remember John Carpenter, Who was that other guy you mentioned who criticized his film? I remember you mentioned him several minutes ago. :-)

It was revealed later it was an accident that Blair/Wilford touched the eraser on the chin. Also a resistance against a Thing outbreak may survive if people constantly check each other for infection. Great review dude👌

This holds up today as well as it did the day it was released. I saw it in the theater and it’s been my favorite horror flick since the moment I walked out.

It's nice to see this classic given the respect it deserves by a credible reviewer

I think it's more likely that Macready turned back the tape and recorded over his confession of fatigue to hopefully make sure people who listen to it don't think they were all just going mental from isolation and stress.

Another brilliant review, looking at a truly amazing film that really does stand the test of time 😃

I'm learning so much more about one of my favorite movies. Nice job, man! :D

Norway guy: DOG SUS! Crews: Norway guy definitely sus. Let's vote him out.

I saw The Thing in a drive in theater because E.T. was sold out. I was 11. I loved the nightmares.

My favourite film of all time. Seen it way too young and simply fell in love with the effects.

Didn't Windows drop a set of keys? That may explain his "oh shit" face during the who last had the key argument.

When copper uses the defib on the thing, anyone else ever thought that the thing was trying to pass off as a dead man, for whatever plan it had in mind but after the first electrical strike it takes the defib as a weapon and decides to attack back before it gets a second jolt?

Ahhh always enjoy when you upload, and you reviewed one of my all time favorite movies!

Shout out to the dog trainers. Cuz that dog was the best actor of the animal kingdom I've ever seen

That is a cool practical effect. Didn't know that about the burning trash bag.

That Windows vs Mac joke properly made me chuckle.

I love how MacReady was all pissed off and berates Nauls for locking him out in the cold. The fact is Childs was right, MacReady would’ve done the same thing. Not only that, if it was him who found Naul’s shredded clothes, he probably would’ve burned him on the spot. Then MacReady pissed that the group didn’t stop to think that someone might’ve framed him. Now yes it turned out to be true. But the fact is, they’re in a very tough spot and Nauls found evidence that MacReady was possibly The Thing. Given the circumstances I doubt right thinking person would take a risk like that and let MacReady back in where he could possibly infect the others.

I've read or watched 85 percent of the media on the wall behind you so I appreciate your taste in comics,books,and movies

I have both the thing and it’s 2011 prequel it’s my favorite horror movie of all time!

The scene where Windows freaks out and gets a shotgun I always figured it's because he was afraid somebody would start pointing the finger at him, because he did have the keys when he found benning's being assimilated, you even hear them drop in that scene

I was always pretty sure Blair wasn't infected till they lock him in the shed. Since before that, he's the first one who flips, mistrusting everyone and shutting down all their communications, so they can't escape. It doesn't really make sense for him to be infected before that, since he hasn't fully worked out how the creature works. Also, on the question of 'resistance', you have to consider that yes, while both bases did eventually recognise and fight against the creature, in 100% of both examples of this, the survival ratio was between like 1% and 0% with self-sacrifice, and it's either clear or implied the creature escaped both times lol

I think I can explain the part where Wilfred bit the pencil. I believe it was absolutely intentional. Think about it. The people who see him bit it will either think it’s a mistake or on purpose. Those who think it’s a mistake won’t take the story as seriously if the film made an obvious mistake like that, making the other subtle moments more powerful when they realized they let their guard down. Those who think it’s on purpose will expect him to be infected now. The creature seems to take its advantage when it can, seemingly when no one is around or if it’s an emergency. After the audience knows this, and see Wilfred in solitary still there and still very much himself, they will think, “oh, well the creature would have taken that moment by now. It’s been alone for hours and did nothing so I’m not sure he’s infected yet.” This makes when you find out he was infected that whole time more terrifying because it can reveal how clever the creature really is or how much it loves a good hunt. It COULD have changed and escaped to hunt the easily right after they left it alone. But it waited. It waited and kept pretending to keep the others alert and afraid and avoid suspicion on him so they would attack each other. Some of it makes me think of a novel called ‘The Most Dangerous Game’ (if I remember correctly). The main character was trapped on an island with someone he thought was harmless, only to find out that person hunted people because they’re more fun to hunt. I get a bit of the same feel from the creature with a move like that. I believe it’s 100% intentional for the uncertainty that builds up from previous certainty, and the anticipation of “Wait, so, is he really a monster or did they just make a mistake?” The mind games are real, man

This movie came out the year I was born and I am SO HAPPY it did! I LOVE this movie!!! The Cast, the Effects, The Plot... ALL of it is fantastic!

First of all just found your channel while looking explicitly for the thing reviews. And your review blew me away. It was so well done and had lots of information in it. Some of which I had never noticed (tape recorder scene, and the actual chess move that was made making “cheating bitch” so much more poetic) The Thing is so well done and subtle in ways that just aren’t done in movies anymore. It just gets better with time. Plus no creature creator since Rob Bottin has been able to even come close to the practical effects that this movie has. But I disagree with the end being ambiguous. I think it is obvious Child’s is the thing in the end. Not upon first viewing of course. Again the subtleties aren’t easy to pick up on. And that of course is the brilliance. But upon multiple viewings. The clues are there and there are a lot of them. 1. Child’s is alone (always a no no in horror movies) 2. It has the following shot of the basement door leading up the stairs to behind Child’s position. Indicating Blair or someone/thing else had the drop on Child’s. And there might even be the sounds of footsteps if I’m not mistaken? 3. The view of the empty room where Child’s just was and the coats and boots have been moved around. 4. Childs runs to the generator room and then the power goes off. Abandoning his post. 5.Childs has no to almost no breath showing in the freezing cold. While Macready is billowing cold air out his mouth. 6.Childs drinks the whiskey/Molotov cocktail. Two ways of looking at this one. Macready hands him a Molotov cocktail and Childs drinks it with no reaction and then Macready laughs. A kind of final “well fuck me” or maybe another “Fuck you too” if he indeed does have that flamethrower under that blanket. Or Childs isn’t scared of what Macready is handing him, even though he doesn’t know if Macready is the thing or not, and drinks the whiskey and doesn’t care. Because he has already turned into the thing. But besides that nitpick. I really want to say again. That was an amazing and in depth review. And I’ve watched a lot of the thing reviews. As it is one of my top 5 favorite movies of all time. Subscribed and looking forward to your content.

What an AWESOME critique! Loved it! The Thing is my second favorite move (Alien my first) and I probably know more about this movie than any other. I was amazed when you mentioned that the shadow of the person on the wall (when the dog is going to take him over) is NOT one of the cast. That was cool. Only bit you got wrong was about Russel flying the helicopter. You had the wrong scene and direction. Russel TAKES OFF, not lands and it is the scene when he and Copper fly off to the Norwegian camp. Think about it... it's easy to take off with no experience, but nearly impossible to land without it. :) Other than that small mistake it was an awesome job! Thanks!

Awesome review man.

I don't know why, but I've always loved Kurt saying "cheatin' bitch." It's one of my favorite one liners of all time. Never thought about what you noticed/described with the screen and things, very cool. This of course, like a lot of others has always been one of my favorite movies.

I actually like this version and the 1950's just about equally, for extremely different reasons obviously. Both the 1951 "The Thing from Another World." and John Carpenter's "The Thing" are sceience fiction-horror masterpiece's, and are amongst my favorite films of the genre.

But... hold on a moment. The actor playing the shadow was not part of the main cast? I was sure, from the get-go, that it was the guy suffering from heart problems (actually an infected one). I thought that because you can clearly tell that, whoever that is, he has a head full of hair. Likely curly (which also makes me add the stoner pilot to the list... another infected one). All I knew for sure was that no bald guy could've been in that room.

Pain sensory information - when the dog goes in with the huskies, the dogs are wary and then the creature's tentacles come out and attack the dogs When that door is slammed and the remaining dogs are attacked right there During assimilation, it would seem that The Thing has to start copying everything BEFORE it starts shutting down sections as in needed. The dogs that have freshly as within the minute start screaming in pain. The Thing can and does shut down pain sensory information down. When copying the dogs...was it starting from dna or just the body - body of a fur bearing quadruped. All loss of any pretense at hiding shuts down need to shut pain sensory.... ...

Honestly I don't know how we could put up a successful resistance to the Thing. It can imitate any living creature and take on their attributes so that means it could fly by taking birds, swim with fishes, and even burrow with insects and moles and the like not to mention we would have to go on a completely vegetarian diet to be safe which in that situation might be hard since the fields can be attacked, or fail. We would resist so the computer's estimation very well may be off but we would fall eventually.

It never made sense to me that these remains were allowed to stay the way they were. Blair knew that the cells of these things were still active. Why did he not share that?? Also, perhaps he was also aware by now that more than one of their company, maybe even him. If this thing came out of a block of ice, why not put them back into deep freeze, or destroy them outright? But, I guess we'd have no story had they done the right things at the start.

It's Bennings!

one thing i dont understand is, since the thing is so intelligent and is obviously capable of language, why didnt it try to explain itself? i know the prequel stablishes its a prisoner, so he is a "bad guy" by default. however, it trying to stablish some sort of communication would not only show its capability for deception, but also make the humans question their own motives (and so they would be played like fiddle by the thing, as they dont know the thing is a space criminal)

I don't know how I never noticed that Blair was sticking the pencil into his mouth after touching the Thing with it. I also thought Blair was gotten when the lights on the base went out and Fuchs was killed. I also like to think that Fuchs killed himself because the Thing was about to get him, in the same fashion as the Norwegian guy with the cut throat. I also seemed to think that Norris was the shadow that we saw in the scene with the dog entering the room. I fucking love this movie, I will need to watch it a few more times to pick up anything that I missed! Thanks for doing this review and opening my eyes to some of the details. Also, I agree, Childs was not a Thing, he was human! I don't know where the fuck he went, they probably just needed him to vanish for a while to set up the 'mysterious' ending, but they could have found a better way to do it.

Glad yo see you tackling this, it's especially appropriate because I'm going to my favorite Horror film convention, Monster Mania in Cherry Hill, where they are having a Thing reunion. No Keith David or Kurt Russell, but still cool.

Wilford Brimley was so ahead of his time that he made an entire spaceship from spare parts, just because it was the right thing to do.

In the movie, the "Thing" was more than one creature, individual monsters. The mistake the "Thing" or "Things" made was not waiting until it got to civilization.

I love your in depth reviews!!

Childs was wearing an earring at the end of the film- ruling him out as the thing. When the Thing transforms or absorbs another, it cannot duplicate inorganic material, like fillings, earrings, metal screws, etc. (based on the prequel, which I didn't care for, but I like the logic of the inorganic material) Gary and Nauls are not accounted for. One or both could be the thing.

Seriously think you and Decker Shado should do a collab review soon. :)

One of my favorite movies, glad some one else heard the heartbeat as well. Funny enough, I read the original book as a small child, likely well before I should have at that age. Thank you for reviewing this.

Damn that intro is awesome. I need to know that song

Except in the book the thing tries to escape by making anti gravity jump boots. Not a spaceship.

The scene that shows the dog going into Palmer's room may escape you until the moment of the blood test where all hell breaks loose.

awesome review man hope you'll be able to do more in a shorter time gap

I think the pencil business was deliberate, it shows that its very hard to avoid getting thing cells on you, plus it's such a small thing it's only later that we realise it for the mistake it was.

Excellent review and analysis, as usual!

Dude this was so freakin cool, thanks for the break down.

I dig your reviews, man. Thank you.

Something that always annoyed me about the film is that Windows uses the same Scalpel to get blood from everyone. Before he uses it on himself he just rubs it against his pants to "clean" it. This is quite a flaw as pretty much everyone tested after PALMER should be infected.

Dude great review youve picked up on so many tid bits that I have never noticed nor seen mentioned on other thing analysis' videos

I don’t recall Carpenter ever speaking about the breath. He did say that one of the two survivors is a thing but he didn’t say who.

Very thorough review

One of the cool things of the movie is that, if you watch the Norwegian’s film in this film, and compare it to the 1957 “Thing from Another World”, you’ll see the famous found saucer scene from the original film.

We have more detail in the script, and two books It wouldn’t be a thing that killed a Fuchs and my money is that Clark is responsible; he was there just before Fuchs was burned. Clark is also the person who is willing to attack and kill Mac; if Fuchs is anything relatable what would he be found with? Torn clothes, outside in the cold, tore clothes belonging to someone else and Blair’s just said ‘Fuchs isn’t Fuchs’ may not be the first person he said that to

Arguably John Carpenter has a lot of masterpieces, but I'd personally say this is John Carpenters most masterpiece masterpiece. As an aside, I always thought the shadow of the crewmember the dog is seen by was supposed to be Norris. It probably resembles him the most, and if you watch the film carefully its really the only time he could have been assimilated. Also, it highlights how subversive the creature is, because he is almost one of the only ones the rest of the crew never even suspects.

I always wondered why the thing didn't just scratch or subtly infect everyone, or why multiple infected people/animals didn't work together.

35 years, not 39. The movie came out in 82

With a creature so able to duplicate people identically, I'm not sure resistance would be very effective once a few thousand people were infected/duplicated.

The font for the title of the channel is the star trek discovery font

There is a theory that Childs is a thing because the substance he drinks in the end is actually a molotov cocktail, and he has no reaction to it. What is your opinion on this theory?

Young man....I FUCKING SALUTE YOU! Best analysis of my all time favourite movie!

Also Mac passing the guy the drink and him just drinking even though the 'thing' could be in it? That would make me think twice

In the copy of the script we were given back in the day, the 2 survivors are shown boarding a rescue helicopter...followed, in the very end, by Blair. (This was before the film was made, meaning in pre-production.) Carpenter was probably messing with fans in his comment about the "frosted breath" idea. We may ask him again, but... no guarantee he won't be "a messin'" with anyone who asks about this again. Yes, smart comment re the lighting. That sort of thing (no pun) HAS to be taken into account. Sometimes one has to go out of their way in photographing "mist" to get it to show up at all, and people can wind up conjecturing endlessly about such things that often are purely accidental.

Wow good spot on wilfred sucking on the pencil, maybe thats HOW he got infected as opposed to the film stating he is already infected, and the fact that it's just a small particle, that may be why Wilfred continues working as a human versus the thing, and then eventually by the time he is restricted alone in the shed is when it eventually consumes him

I think Mac asks Blair if he saw Fauks because Fauks is Blair's assistant, and he tried to convince Mac earlier that he needed Blair's help as Blair knows the most about the creature. Later, he says he needs doc's help when Mac says to tie up the doc and drug him. This makes Fauks seem uncertain in his abilities, and it wouldn't be improbable that Fauks might have gone out to talk to Blair for ideas and advice.