THE THING (1982) Is The Most Visually Disturbing Movie I've Seen (Movie Reaction and Commentary) 

"The dog is evil." You're the first reactor I've seen who actually got it from the beginning!

Fun fact: the Norwegian pilot was shouting (in Norwegian) a spoiler for the entire film: "Get the hell outta there. That's not a dog, it's some sort of thing! It's imitating a dog, it isn't real! Get away, you idiots!" I just love that little detail; he shouts a clear, concise warning that makes total sense--if only you know the language.

The dog, Jed, was amazing in this movie. The corridor scene, he walks into shot, stops, walks a little, stops... walks, stops and looks into one of the rooms... then walks again, stops, looks into the second room, stops breathing for a second, thinks, then goes into the room. All the while, the crew of 5 or 6 people with cameras and lights, and the director, are all in front of him, moving backwards as he walks... and not once did Jed falter or even look at he camera or the crew. Then the kennel scene as well... walks half way in, stops, waits... looks carefully... walks another step... stops... walks, stops, then carefully and almost robotically drops to an overly-uniformed laying position, keeping his head perfectly straight. Not bad for a dog that was only 4 years old, and this was his first acting job.

19:55 John Carpenter said that roar is the screams of every creature that thing has consumed in the universe. Btw you're perceptive about the little details in the practical effects and the movie itself, this quality unfortunately most react people lack.

"Are we sure this Thing didn't come from Hell?" LOL! THAT has got to be the greatest comment I've heard from any reaction I've ever seen! Instant subscription.

This has got to be the best reaction video to this film I’ve ever seen, the small detail that you noticed at the start of the film is incredible because most reacters think that the Norwegians are evil for trying to kill the dog but in reality they are being heroic.

I have seen more than a few reactions to this movie and they all are mad at the dog being shot at, no one says the dog is evil that soon. You really picked up on that very early. Your reactions are always very entertaining. The Exorcist is another great horror movie from that time. If you want a fun horror action movie watch Big Trouble in Little China (another great performance by Kurt Russell).

The effects were done by master creature designer Rob Bottim and as you can see 40 years later still hold up incredibly well. No awards were received for this movie. Rob got so sick on working on the effects he had to be flown outof Alaska to a Hospital. It was found out that he had severe dehydration and blood problems.

So happy you reacted to this! When my dad showed it to me and my brother, as teenagers no less, he told me to remember the name John Carpenter.

this is a very chill reaction to a movie a lot of people find disturbing 😄 glad you are still making videos

Amanda: This is soooo disturbing. 😱 The Thing: I'm just a space spider with eye-mouth-tentacles, standing in front of a girl, asking her to be digested. 😢

This is my favorite movie of all time. I recently started watching all the reaction videos, and this is my favorite of those so far. I was amazed how you asked very logical questions, at points, only to have the actors ask the same question a few seconds later. It made me appreciate how well written this script was. I have always appreciated the score by Ennio Morricone, the practical effects by Rob Bottin, and the direction of John Carpenter, but now I have a greater appreciation for the script, and the flow. This is one of the few movies I've ever watched that I can find zero wrong with. Thanks so much for this reaction video. I wish I could go back, and see it again for the first time!

"I love practical effects." Subbed.

The ending is perfect because ur mind goes crazy thinking of all the possibility :)

Great review of possibly the best practical effects horror ever oh and 33:04 "what if he wasnt fully transformed yet" I thought I was the only one who thought that because you can still hear his muffled screaming *shudder* also others commented but yeah you calling out the dog at the beginning makes you legit one of if not only that has, great job!

Congratulations little lady...you just watched the best horror/suspense movie ever made.. and you got a new subscriber when you said you loved practical effects...I'm looking forward to seeing your reactions to other classics...thanks!..was fun✌️☺️

9:42 "He's gonna eat all of them" I laughed so hard! Lol

Super cool you!! Randomly caught your review of my favorite movie ever. Instant sub. Haha

This is one of the most perfect cosmic horror films. From the suggestion of an ancient "evil", to the paranoia, to the hint of the indifference of the universe, to the ambiguous ending, it has all of the markers of horror that gets under your skin. I first saw this film three and a half decades ago, and it's still one of my favorites, making me think about the implications of this terror long after I've watched it.

Loved watching you watch one of the greatest films ever made. Somehow I missed this one back in the day, saw it later on VHS, and was blown away. So many great movies were made back then.

Jed the Dog is one of the great animal actors ever! He's half-wolf which explains why he was often so still in his movements

22:18 If it’s a perfect imitation, the problem is that you’re probably just going to end up asking questions it already knows. When the Thing assimilates a new life-form, it takes over, and copies every aspect of the host, including the brain. This means it can absorb the memories and personalities of its victims. This is seen throughout the film as The Thing imitates not only the physical appearance, but also the habits and mannerisms of its host, allowing it to blend in, and choose when to attack. Interestingly enough, The Thing acquires the strengths and weaknesses of its host. Like Norris, and his weak heart for example. Ultimately the Thing is a highly intelligent and deceptive Alien parasite, which makes it all the more terrifying.

Such a great movie wish they could still make them like this today

"They should leave before it gets dark" In Antarctica you have 6 months of daylight followed by 6 months of darkness. Mac even mentioned "First week of winter".

Thank you Amanda for reacting to The Thing (1982) it is one of my favourite horror movies. Have you ever seen The Exorcist (1973) it is arguably the best horror movie and I would love to see your reaction to it

This is one of the best reaction videos to The Thing I've seen. You're quick on picking up clues. May I recommend The Fly from 1986, and Downfall from a couple years ago?

6:03 "most visually disturbing movie i've seen" she says as she moves closer to the screen to see the horror 😂 one of my all time favorite movies, so well done! this is my first viewing of your channel, i look forward to seeing some more! 👍

Thank you for being the first reactor I have seen to acknowledge how great of an actor the dog is. And the hat. 🙂

It's hard to believe this classic film is 40 years old

The ambiguous ending upset a lot of people. It's left to the imagination.

Morricone's score is one of the best in his career, I think. One of the very few times Carpenter did not do the score. I can imagine Carpenter being in awe of him accepting to do the score.

I love your reaction!!! I think at the end they were both infected and didn’t even know it. Since earlier McCreedy says the thing wants to freeze and they can’t let it happen. But by the end he is suggesting they allow themselves to freeze

Everytime I watch this movie, just like you mentionned, I am super impressed as how good of an actor the dog was. Very good reaction, stay awesome

Blair was building a ship because it wasn't Blair. The Thing (Alien) just wanted to get out to consume other beings. The Thing has obviously been to many other planets before Earth as evident by the tentacles, crab like legs and almost dinosaur like head at the end.

This was a good reaction, at points you where transfixed. When you saw the spiderhead you had the WTF face followed by blurting out "WHAT THE F." Fun to see a 40yr old film still shocking the viewer with those practical effects.

You handled that well! I didn't read to the comments so I don't know if anybody told you there are sequels in comic book form or if you would graphic novels. There's the prequel movie in 2011. As well as a lot of RU-vid information mostly people just questioning what actually happened and who did what to whom. I'm surprised you didn't jump more, maybe you were jumping on the inside but outwardly you were pretty cool about it! This is one of my favorite movies, next to Alien aliens and predator and Terminator and of course the Star Wars movies. Will be watching to see what else you watch, hope you enjoy the ride!

Love that you always go closer to screen to get an even better view on disgusting scenes.

Great reaction, l love that you picked up on details most don’t see til after a few viewings. I always figured that Macready blowing it up at the end would only allow hundreds of pieces of the creature to be scattered around to freeze until the rescue team arrived and there would be no chance then to isolate it. If the blood reacted by itself each piece would then be a threat to the world. Their best chance would’ve been to let everything freeze including themselves with written notations on each person’s body detailing what had happened, at least giving some warning not to remove or defrost anything.

I thought for sure you speak Norwegian because it really seemed you understood what the pilot was saying. Kudos for catching on. Usually the scene in the kennel catches everyone off guard. You seemed to be straddling a line between I'm loving this and I'm gonna pass out. Great reaction.

This is my all-time favourite movie. And, as big as the universe is, we can't be alone. It's inevitable. Thank you for this reaction.

It's absolutely incredible to see the reaction of someone who *knows* Norwegian watching this movie.

New sub here. I really enjoyed your reaction to this. This movie is one of my favorite movies from the 80s that showcases practical effects. I would also highly recommend An American Werewolf in London (1981), and The Fly (1986) if you haven't seen them already. I should also mention Alien (1979) & Aliens (1986), as they are not only classic masterpieces in movie cinema history, but they also use great practical effects. Enjoy!

He didn't bury the grenade, it slipped out of his hand due to the thick arctic gloves - they make it hard to get a good grip.

You have a really good sense of comedic editing, haha. Your reaction and use of text onscreen are super well timed

I love that when others would be recoiling and covering their eyes, you are leaning in with eyes glued to the screen.

This is just a theory by fans, but it's one of the most well known once, and I feel like the ending makes so much more sense through it, even if it is I believe confirmed to not be intended. The theory says that MacReady at the end had replaced the liquor in the bottle with fuel, since the creature only imitates and does not know what things taste like. That's why he doesn't take a drink himself before he gives the bottle to Childs, who then drinks the fuel without noticing anything odd about it. Idk, I knew this theory before I ever watched the movie, so it's hard for me to watch that scene at the end without thinking about it.

Hi again. I made a snarky comment before about not watching horror movies in broad daylight, but that was before I watched your video all the way through. I still think you should brave a darker room, but I did want to compliment you on the video. Your reactions seemed very genuine, and I appreciated that you were appreciating the craft of the film making along with the movie itself. I saw in your bio that you enjoy making short films so I would suggest that you try and get your hands on a copy of The Thing with the director's commentary track which also features the star of the film - Kurt Russel. It's one of the most entertaining ones I've ever heard, and also quite informative. Oh, and I am now subscribed to your channel.

Amazing reaction. If you like splatter/gore movies I suggest you the The Evil Dead Trilogy.

What a great reaction. Most people dismiss this movie because of the gore. But you handled it very well and appreciated the practical effects. BTW according to the story this was based on, Blair destroys the communications equipment because he realizes the thing is so sophisticated that it can even become a radio wave. Crazy!

I am impressed ! I`ve watched dozens of reactions to this film , and you are the first one who realized there was something wrong with the dog !

This might be my favorite reaction to this movie. On one hand, I like seeing people's surprise from certain parts, but I enjoyed how many things you caught onto before they happened.

Great reaction Amanda! Great editing and unlike TOO MANY reactors, you're not babbling all the time, very refreshing, one of the greatest horror movie of all time, thanks and keep up the good work!

Love the reaction btw. It's such a good movie and holds up incredibly well.....I would say timeless. The practical effects.....like you said are always 100% better than cgi. (I believe the artist name is Ralph Baker???.... Though I am probably wrong but he us the practical effects wizard.....like Frank Welker is to voices (though the torch passed to Dee Bradley Baker)) I also love thata before this Kurt Russel was a Disney Star. Starring in tons of movies and a lot of them are super fun. He's such a good actor. I would reccomend "Sphere" after this. While no where near this level of effects I feel the tone and feel is similar to this movie.....definetly got some inspiration from this Classic that..(in my opinion) if you love movies is required viewing alongside "Alien" along the same genre. Sorry was long....oh and yes......it's kind of impossible for aliens NOT to exist. The universe is simply too massive lol.

A fun detail in the original story this is based on, titled Who Goes There?, is that they deliberately sabotage the vehicles to keep it from escaping to the outside world. But they keep the radio functional and report in normally to prevent any rescue attempts. It's a surprisingly tense read and captures the paranoia of the situation wonderfully.

Other great sci-fi/horror movies from the same era, with amazing special effects are: Alien, Aliens and The Fly

The destroyed Norwegian base is ACTUALLY the recycled blown up base from the ending. By reusing the set, they saved $250.000 in costs for filming!!

Love seeing reactions to my favorite movie, and you're a fun reactor! Great job picking up on the dog. Also I must say I find your accent very pleasing to listen to. If you're looking for more content and are okay with gore in a different context I think reacting to Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers are classics and always good for both the entertainer and audience, as long as you're up for sad war films. They're great though so hope you go for something like that!

I saw this movie at the theater with my mom when I was about 9 years old. I was literally under the seat. It's now my favorite movie and the best horror movie of all time. You are the first reactor that I've seen that guest correctly that there was something wrong with the dog. Everyone else thinks the guys in the helicopter are crazy.

If you want to read something super interesting, read the short story The Things by sci-fi author Peter Watts. He tells this story from the point of view of the alien...and it's much different than what you assume when watching this movie.

Perhaps the artistic difference between practical effects and CGI could be compared to sculpting vs painting? "The Thing" is truly one of the greats within the horror genre. In psychological horror, you generally don't see all that much of the antagonist - much is intentionally left to your imagination. While I'd definitely place "The Thing" in the psychological horror genre with its sense of dread, isolation and paranoia, it's also very visual in a way I find unusual when that genre's concerned. First time visitor here and I enjoyed your reaction a great deal! You've got another subscriber!

1/2 Great reaction, Amanda! Thanks! What follows is my reaction to yours, as it occurred to me. I apologize for the extremely-excessive length. Hopefully some might find some value in it, but if not, so be it. I generally write to clarify my own thinking, in any case. Wheatus was not a reference I was expecting to encounter today. Kudos! IIRC, the opening "reveal of title" effect was created by filling a fishtank with smoke, shining a light through it and a stencil of the title, and then hanging a garbage bag in front of the whole contraption. Setting fire to garbage bag from the bottom and letting the flame climb haphazardly upwards created the "reveal" effect. Practical effects are full of wonderful little MacGyver moments like that (do people still know who MacGyver is?). If I can give my two cents on your question about "talking too much", talk (or whatever!) when you feel the urge to do so. We're here to see your reaction. If it bothers some, I'm sure they can find something more to their tastes elsewhere. Can't please everybody, so may as well stay true to your intentions, as much as is practicable. 3:00 I don't think he was trying to bury the grenade. He was trying to find it to throw it further away from the helicopter's fuel tanks. We don't know it at the time, but the Norwegians have already destroyed their camp, so if the American station becomes exposed, the Norwegians would need the helicopter to have any hope of reaching somewhere that would protect them from both the Thing and the weather. Plus, the guy was likely too close to escape the kill radius of the combined grenade and helicopter explosion anyway, especially in snow, so trying to find the explosive was really his only chance at survival. 3:15 Off-topic, but the "breaking the window to shoot" thing is so common in movies that some people assume it has tactical value. It very much doesn't - in fact, it gives away your position to anyone watching or listening - but it does obscure the fact that movie guns use blanks, not actual bullets, and therefore have no projectile to break the window if you left it intact. 6:29 I'm pretty sure you're giving exactly the reaction Carpenter was going for. The warning about the dog's death scene was very considerate. Good catch on the eyes (human eyes, no less). Don't know if you saw it, but the "flower" that emerges after the eye-lump splits open is made of dog tongues and teeth. Great examples of how the Thing uses the anatomy and biology it's absorbed to create new adaptive forms. Worth noting that basically every time there's a cut, a whole new effects rig is introduced. The sheer number of separate devices they had to build is mind-boggling. 16:38 "Chariots of the Gods" was a popular book (and series) in the '70s promoting a conspiracy theory about aliens being regular visitors in Earth's history and enabling the construction of various huge structures by ancient civilizations. Basically the precursor to that "It's All Aliens!!" guy on the History Channel. Kinda insulting to our ancestors, as well; they did that shit. They were just as smart as we are, if not smarter, though we like to think otherwise (an example of "historical bias"). Smart enough, anyway, to use primitive tech and immense amounts of labour to do things so amazing we think them impossible. Ancient peoples could do almost anything we can today (with notable exceptions, of course). It just took a lot more time and back-breaking drudgery without machines and energy that wasn't generated by muscles. 18:34 This is a great example of Hitchcock's differentiation between "shock" and "suspense" (paraphrase); "Shock is a bomb going off. Suspense is two characters sitting at a table having a discussion, when the audience knows there's a bomb at their feet, and they don't". 19:25 Probably not strictly "alone" - it didn't mind assimilating one of the dogs while the others in the kennel looked on - but it's an infiltrator by nature, like some of the "slaver" ant species. And infiltration requires that the target remain unaware of, or at least unable to locate and destroy, the infiltrator. 19:53 A bit of a sad possibility is that the Thing was attempting to communicate with the humans at this point. Hard to blame it for trying to secure its safety before attempting dialogue with other creatures, if it even understood that humans were capable of that level of communication prior to around that moment. To a hive-mind/super-organism like an ant colony, killing a few individuals would be like us losing a few cells when we stub our toe, so it might not even grasp that it was snuffing-out unique genetic lines via its actions. Lots of potential for violent misunderstanding generating further violence. There's been some work on solving these types of potential problems in NASA projects considering what we should do if and when we encounter alien life. 21:01 That axe Blair was wielding was not supposed to go through that table quite as well as it did. You can see how close it comes to splitting Kurt's skull. Blair's attempting to destroy any ability of the camp to escape or call for rescue, as well as (possibly?) attempting to destroy all data on the creature entirely. He's already decided the camp and all in it are lost. He's trying to protect the rest of the world, and possibly trying to keep the alien and the ship from being re-discovered at all, at least as much as he can. 22:03 Blair probably would have gone after Clark, if he had any way to be sure that Clark was the only instance of the Thing in camp at that time. 22:18 This has been a big question for philosophers for a long time. Goes to the nature of identity and individuality. Your solution is a good one, but what if, since memory is a physical phenomenon (and much less reliable than we think; we basically re-create our memories every time we "recall" them, and not necessarily faithfully. Very disturbing implications if you accept that our definition of self is built on memory), the perfect imitation inherently has your memories, as well? This is similar to the famous thought experiment referenced in "WandaVision", called "The Ship of Theseus". For those who may not know, say you have a historical ship (Theseus's, in this case), and you keep it for display in a museum. Over time, the boards making up the ship begin to rot, so you replace them as needed. Eventually, the entire ship has been replaced. Is it still the Ship of Theseus? Why/why not? What if you removed and replaced the original boards one-by-one, and used the original materials to make a whole "new" identical ship. Which of the two is now the "real" Ship of Theseus? Both? Neither? Why? It's a fun thing to consider when you're feeling a little too secure in your existence. An extension of that type of thought experiment is, "If the world around you were removed and replaced with an identical copy while you slept, how would/could you know?". For some, this is more than an idle thought; there's a psychological condition where people feel, for whatever reason, that exactly that scenario has occurred, and nothing can free them of the fundamental conviction that the "world" is no longer "their" world. What this means for the nature of memory and perception is still being unraveled. 25:03 Fair point on people not being able to get out of the base, but there's nowhere to go. It's a winter storm in Antarctica; conditions in those have been known to get colder than the surface of Mars, with windchills up to around -80 C. Nobody without a heated and insulated space-suit would last long in that. And the visibility can get so bad that they really do string-up hand-lines to go 20 feet between buildings, because you can easily get disoriented and freeze within that distance. The polar regions do not screw around. An interesting point here is that, while the movie is more about individual paranoia and suspicion, the original story had a heavy layer of commentary on the possibility of and tremendous (possibly irrational) fear around the concept of Communist infiltration. The Thing's semi-non-individualized nature is something of a reference to how Communist society was viewed at the time of the original writing by many of those most fearful of it. 27:25 Carpenter's attention to detail is on great display here. For that 2-second shot of the doctor without his arms, he located and hired an actor who was actually missing both of his upper limbs. 28:36 Don't know if it was known at the time, but it's been observed that evolution on Earth seems to have a special affinity for crab-like animals. Such species seem to have evolved independently many times throughout the history of life on this planet. Probably a coincidence here, but neat. 30:26 That's a very good question. Do instances of the Things necessarily know what they are? Either way, what does that mean for their replicating ability and its relationship to identity? 31:24 More great detail from Carpenter here. Before the jump-scare, he had the same fake hand prop in the same position, filmed from the same angle, in a previous shot. This has the effect of giving the audience the unconscious expectation that the hand is "safe", as nothing happened the first time we saw it, so why would that change? Really makes the shock feel earned and genuine, rather than cheap, as jump-scares sometimes feel in less-skilled hands. 32:33 Gotta take a moment to appreciate the stuntperson doing that incredibly-intense fire walk. They're just engulfed. I don't know how they didn't come out of that with serious burns. 36:32 Those are real explosives Russell is throwing there. A couple of them went off a lot closer than was planned. It was lucky no-one was injured. 1/2

Every time I watch your videos I am constantly distracted by your sweet childlikeness and your beauty. Thanks for being here.

Rob Bottin, who did the special effects work on this film, was in his early 20s when he worked on this movie. Apparently he passed out from working too hard during production, so they brought in Stan Winston's company to help out, who I think only did the kennel creature.

Great fun watching you react to this. You really enjoyed it. The suspense, acting and effects make this a classic.

There's a short story called "The Things" written from the creature's perspective that has some interesting speculations regarding why the creature acts the way it does: for example, that Norris actually did die of a heart attack because a shapeshifter simply had no concept of a defective organ, and that the reason people continue to act normally is that the creature, being a perfectly distributed cellular intelligence, doesn't understand the function of the brain and finds it horrific when it realises how creatures on this planet work. Also there's an implication in the ending that Childs is a Thing because you can see MacReady's breath but not his.

The visual effects department aka Rob Bottin at age 23!, well their was obviously help for him from other people but he was basically the one creating all these crazy ass effects. Cool video btw, The Thing 82 is a classic.

'Loved your reaction !!! Really. You didn't talk over the script, your comments were minimalistic enough to not detract from the film, good awareness of what goes into good filmmaking - perfect. Your comment that this is "the most visually disturbing movie you've seen" tells me that youve never seen THE FLY (1986). But you're bright enough that i'd really like to see your reaction to UNDER THE SKIN (2013) and EX MACHINA (2014) You've just won my subscription -

You are smart. You began your suspicions about the dog from the very beginning. Most of yt reactors fall in love with dog (because is cute) and they tend to believe that norwegian guy is an "evil man" without wondering why he is trying to kill that animal in the first place.

Good react. Nice to see younger folk appreciate practical effects. Try 'In the Mouth of Madness' sometime!

How did I not know you reacted to this, I’m so excited to see your reaction😁

Haha, great react! One of my favorite horror movies. The the ending is left open ended, and adds to the anxiety. I couldn't imagine the Horrors of " The Thing" actually making it to a populated area of the world . 😳

"Im in the mood for something scary" watches in the middle of the day..... lmao

I love that at the most disturbing, disgusting parts you leaned in to get a closer look.

There are no security questions. The thing really takes it all, memories, personality. It could be your best friend or lover and you would never know. Probably why this film is so great

Your reactions are fun to watch! I hope your channel takes off; I'd love to see more!

Love your reactions and cute facial expressions throughout this amazing movie. Great stuff! 😉

This movie is considered part 1 of John Carpenters "Apocalypse" trilogy, 3 narratively unconnected movies he made depicting the 1st days of the End of the World. This should help clarify the ending a bit for some, the other 2 movies are "Prince of Darkness" & "In the Mouth of Madness"

You've got good instincts. Like the other person said most don't pick up on the dog being evil at the beginning so quickly. Oh, also, beautiful hair 😍

My favorite part is when MacReady tells them we need to warm things up a little around here. We're not getting out of here alive... But neither is that Thing. It's acceptance but not simply of your own death, but your own death will be best case scenario. This film is still one of the most terrifying concepts. It's Antarctica, you've nowhere to go, 0 life exists there beyond penguins and whales, that's it. The winters get down to -200°F with winds at 70mph. You have nowhere to go. You're in a chess battle of wits between you and The Thing. Such a good film.

the suspicion that grows at first with the unknown and then with the who is real is so intense. This movie keeps you guessing til the fade out. The effects are the kind that haunt your nightmares. Leaving it hanging at the end like that can make for a great movie. You immediately react like you did,, "no, that cant be the end". But that just leaves you to wonder, is it going to die there with them, was one of them actually infected. Were they both, and now they just sleep in the ice until someone finds them and starts it all over again.

This is a lesson in suspense. It’s a masterpiece.

27:47 I don’t know why I just found your physical reaction here adorable…

3:49 Well, gotta say, I've watched a lot of reactions to this movie. Congrats on guessing the true nature of the dog so quickly. Most don't catch on till the dog transforms.

Hey, Amanda! This John Carpenter classic is a masterful exercise in paranoia and practical effects! To address your comment about leaving, Antarctica is not a place you can come and go as you please; departures and arrivals are seasonal from the inland research stations. I discovered "The Thing" during my junior high school years on VHS when going through a Carpenter phase. Originally a 1938 pulp novella written by John W. Campbell called "Who Goes There?", the story was first adapted to film as a 1951 Howard Hawks production called "The Thing From Another World". A '50's-era sci-fi classic in its own right, the original was taken to a whole new level by John Carpenter abetted by the incredible practical effects wizardry of Rob Bottin. A prequel was made in 2011 chronicling what happened at the Norwegian base but wasn't nearly as good. Led by a world-weary Kurt Russell, Carpenter assembled a cast of terrific veteran character actors including Keith David, Richard Dysart, Wilford Brimley, David Clennon, Charles Hallahan, Donald Moffat and Richard Masur who believably inhabit their roles and ratchet up the tension by degrees. Carpenter would direct Russell in five films including "Elvis", "The Thing", "Big Trouble in Little China", "Escape From New York" and "Escape From LA". He would direct Keith David again in "They Live!" John Carpenter is a one-man band who writes, directs, edits and scores all his films. In a rare exception, the score for "The Thing" was provided by composing great Ennio Morricone. Carpenter's body of work includes a number of pulpy classics and B-movie greats like "Assault on Precinct 13", "Halloween", "Someone's Watching Me!", "The Fog", "Escape From New York", "The Thing", "Christine", "Starman", "Big Trouble in Little China", "Prince of Darkness", "They Live!", "Memoirs of an Invisible Man", "In the Mouth of Madness", "Vampires" and "The Ward". His first film, "Dark Star", was a sci-fi horror-comedy that partially inspired "Alien"! He also wrote the screenplays for "The Eyes of Laura Mars", an American giallo, and "Black Moon Rising", a techno-thriller. His scores are instantly recognizable with their throbbing notes and he expertly uses silence and stillness to generate unbearable tension. Wilford Brimley's Blair sabotaged the vehicles after making the discovery that there was a high probability of someone being infected and seeing the grim projection that three years would be all it would take for the Thing to spread over the Earth! He was determined to trap them there which is the same realization Macready comes to at the end. He's taken to the shack a human but, the second time they check on him, he's probably a Thing because his demeanor is so calm. The funny noises he says he was hearing must've gotten to him before he could avail himself of the noose he fashioned as an escape from its clutches! As a Thing, he was building a craft under the shed to travel to the mainland. The Thing has absorbed countless beings including space-faring species. The knowledge to construct a craft that can take him to the mainland was absorbed from a host so it's not far-fetched that he can do this with so much metal and electronic equipment around. He also probably dug out the cavern in a non-human form. Additionally, alien engineering and propulsion principles could function in a vastly simpler way than what 20th-century humans are aware of. My favorite non-horror moment in "The Thing" is Donald Moffat's slow-burning explosive outburst while tied to the sofa. "I know you gentlemen have been through a lot but, when you find the time, I'd rather not spend the rest of this winter TIED TO THIS F**KING COUCH!" It gets me every time. The ambiguous ending leaves you with four possible outcomes and they're all bleak. Lol. The best case scenario is that both Childs and Mac are human, the Thing was destroyed and the survivors DIE of hypothermia. The other three options are that one or the other or both survivors are Things who will copy the remaining human and the rescue party as well eventually dominating the Earth. There is a popular fan theory that Things lack eye gleam and Childs doesn't have it in that last scene. It could also be a trick of light. There is another popular fan theory that claims Mac tests Childs by giving him a flask of kerosene instead of liquor which Childs consumes! Mac chuckles with fatalistic resignation realizing he has failed and humanity is doomed. That is, unless, he has a spare stick of dynamite he can use to blow himself up along with a now very flammable Childs! Lol. The only sequels exist as a series of Dark Horse comics and a video game featuring John Carpenter himself as a Dr. Faraday!

I feel bad, I didn't make a recommendation, have you seen "American Werewolf In London"? Great effects and a touch of dark humor! Please people, she will love it! My first time here, I have no power!

Great choice of movie. I enjoyed your reaction. To answer your question, yes, I believe in the existence of aliens, but not necessarily that they're hanging around the Earth. Do more movies. Speaking only for myself, I like movie reactions better than most of what you've been doing. See you for the next one.

So cool to see someone enjoying a film I was introduced to in 1989, and is still one of my all time favs. It always made me laugh though that there were Norwegians who didn't speak English. In the real world Norwegians speak better English than I do.

I'm sitting here thinking how hilarious it would be if a mouse or a rat or maybe... a spider looking thingy that is really a head with extra long spindly legs coming out of it and two long eye-stalks would come out from under your bed and just scurry away. BWAHAHHAAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!!!!!

This movie used to disturb me so much. The practical effects is what makes it a classic. They don’t make them like these anymore. The sequel, which was shot in the 2000s was actually decent because they kept using practicals.

A detail I love: at 13:34 Wilford Brimley uses his pencil to poke at bits of the Thing, then at 13:44 he taps the pencil to his lips. Also, I love how he puts on gloves, and then shoves his entire dang arm inside the Thing. Why even bother with the gloves? I swear, the things you notice when you have pandemic-brain.

This was continued in comics, but from what I remember they ended up in a South American jungle with the thing, yet still destroyed it. Which is just fucking stupid! The jungle is full of life and it would've spread absolutely everywhere without an immediate nuclear carpet bombing of a huge area of rainforest! I'm sure they had some lame excuse for it all, I just can't remember it. Also, subscribed! Keep going with these classic movies!

One of my favourite horror movies - that great blend of "simple" horror premise, of a creature slowly killing off the crew from the shadows, mixed with intrigue and scifi goodness. I remember hearing that this a spiritual successor to a much older film, The Thing from Another World, though I've never seen that one so no idea if it holds up. There's also a more recent prequel based on the crew of the first base that they investigate. ​I'd highly, highly recommend Alien and Aliens after this if you enjoyed the combination of horror, scifi elements and practical effects. Maybe Predator too, another movie I love that has a sort of similar vibe with that "simple" horror premise. Your reaction to Garry's way of being killed/turned into the thing with the hand over the mouth - almost the opposite to me! I found that one of the freakier deaths. Still freaks me out I think the likely hood of our planet being the only one to have life in the entire universe is highly unlikely. Is any of the potential life out there intelligent? I sure hope so!

If it has not been mentioned before, the doctor actor Wilford Brimley was a seasoned and experienced hunter who prepared his own kills. From his personal experience with preparing bodies of animals, he gave the prop masters guidance as to how to make the Dog-Thing and Split-Face Thing carcasses during the autopsy scenes more realistic and gruesome. To this day those two pieces of meat on the slab are the stuff that birth nightmares.

Great reaction! Since you can appreciate the artistry and visceral feel of practical effects, you should check out the early horror movies of Guillermo Del Toro. Namely “Cronos” and “El Espinaza Del Diablo” ( one of my top 3 favorite movies of all time)

"Why don't they just go home?". My dad worked as a radio officer in the Canadian coast guard in 1983. He got out of school, jumped in a small propeller airplane, landed on a makeshift airstrip in the middle of the snow, in the middle of the Arctic. They were three officers. A guy arrives on a snowmobile and give each officer a 10 inches thick book. "Take the snowmobiles and follow the red posts along the trail until you reach the base (two mobile houses with 3 beds, a kitchenette, a dry toilet and a generator). Read the communication center manual until you know it by heart. A helicopter will drop the computers, comm consoles and antennas. You will build a radio station and will be fully operational in 4 months. Questions: everything's in your manual. We'll pick you up in 6 months. There's a .22 rifle strapped behind the snowmobile. Good luck." There is no "going home" when you're in the poles.

Great reaction Amanda, I would recommend the movie The Hateful Eight directed by Quentin Tarantino! The same guy (Ennio Morricone) who made the music for The Thing also did the music for The Hateful Eight, they even used some stuff that was meant to be in this movie for The Hateful Eight, plus Kurt Russel plays in both movies, plus they are both set in snowy locations and are both very suspenseful! ;) I hope you are interested in this one, I would love to see some reactions to Tarantino movies in general! Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill, Django Unchained, well almost every single one of his films to be honest! He is my favorite Director of all time! :)

Hey, loved your reaction! There is a short comic book series that continues the Thing storyline. I haven't read it but I have seen clips of it, They both get rescued and Chiles is the Thing while MacReady is still human.

If I see men in a helicopter shooting at the cutest dog ever, then frantically screaming something in a foreign language about the dog while shooting at it after they destroyed their helicopter in an attempt to shoot the dog, I’m going to assume there’s something terribly wrong with the dog. And this is the first reaction I’ve seen where someone else voices that same thought as me. Well done!

You are a GREAT reactor. I'm subscribing.

You have the best reaction to this movie. You sense that something is still wrong. You are right!