The Thing end scene. What are your theories?

[Law Talkin’ Guy]

That's the only problem I have with them both being human and it goes back to one of the issues I have with them both being things. I think it's made abundantly clear that they are fucked no matter what. The base is blown to shit, they have no power, no transportation, no radio, and soon no heat.

I like the idea that at the end they're so paranoid that they can't trust one another but it's not going to matter because their deaths are inevitable no matter what they do.

So it's kind of like, what's the point?

I think you're underestimating the power of friendship.

 

[Dizzy]

I always took it that neither could be sure and that it would be dangerous for anyone to be allowed to leave. I don't know where the idea that the thing could survive frozen came from but I thought that since it started in the dog that was chased by Norwegians that it needed a host.

Anyways, here is a kick ass music video based on The Thing by Zombie Zombie

When Sweden found the thing it was buried in ice.

 

[Kick Strickland]

When Sweden found the thing it was buried in ice.

"They're not Sweeds Mac they're Norweigians."





But yeah I don't think the thing freezes to death like people do. It probably just waits for another host to wander by.

 

[Prefect]

When Sweden found the thing it was buried in ice.

I don't think either is an alien at the end. The only way though that it makes sense to me that Childs is an alien is that he knows he is going to freeze and he only returned so that he would be among the bodies discovered later. If he stayed in the wild, who knows? He may have been buried under snow and ice for a millennia before someone discovers him. That still wouldn't explain why he didn't just kill McReady.

 

[Dizzy]

I don't think either is an alien at the end. The only way though that it makes sense to me that Childs is an alien is that he knows he is going to freeze and he only returned so that he would be among the bodies discovered later. If he stayed in the wild, who knows? He may have been buried under snow and ice for a millennia before someone discovers him. That still wouldn't explain why he didn't just kill McReady.

Macready accepted his fate and was going to freeze to death so why take a chance attacking him? Or at least wait until he's much more vulnerable. Mac had killed it how many times before that final scene? No need to just attack him as soon as he sees him.

A rescue team would come eventually, it could thaw out and do its thing.

 

[Pliny Pete]

I love this movie so much. But to answer your question, he was the Thing. He wore a wedding ring throughout the whole movie, and the only scene he's missing it in is the scene at the end.

Watched this movie this morning just because of this thread
Macready was wearing gloves in the final scene

 

[Slick_36]

Watched this movie this morning just because of this thread
Macready was wearing gloves in the final scene

Weird, I know I saw a video on it a while back, it was pretty definitive. If I wasn't at work when I made my original post or this one, I would find the video I saw in post it.

 

[Peteyandjia]

Two humans sat out there in the cold, and froze to death.

I don't consider that a 'theory' either, I just kinda see it as a fact of the movie, whenever I watch it.

Great ending to an incredible movie.

 

[94tegsi]

Looks pretty clear to me that they exaggerated the visibility that Mac is breathing in the cold and that there is no visibility that Child's is breathing.

 

[94tegsi]

Looks pretty clear to me that they exaggerated the visibility that Mac is breathing in the cold and that there is no visibility that Child's is breathing.

Well, that seemed to kill that discussion lol

 

[Kick Strickland]

There actually is some visibility of Childs breathing at the end. It's nowhere near as obvious as Macready's breath, but if you watch the scene again, it is there in a couple shots.

 

[El Chimpo]

Childs had an earring ...hes not a thing... neither is macready


the suspense that was built up over the movie leaves you with this inability to trust anything you see


great fucking movie

 

[Thai Domi]

I think they were both human.

 

[Gene Tunney]

There is a chance that Childs and Mac could have scavenged for salvageable materials around the base and lived in one of the shacks or tunnels that the Thing bore out until a rescue team arrived. Perhaps there was also a stocked emergency igloo shelter somewhere near the camp. To wit, Mac may have been testing Childs by implying that there was no hope of survival, but in reality there were potentially several options to sustain life. Nevertheless, the ending encapsulates the entire essence of the movie. Anyone of them could be one of those things.

 

[xenomorph4prez]

Childs is definitely a Thing at the end. When Mac, Nauls, and Garry go to administer the blood test to Blair they leave Child's alone at the entrance and tell him to torch Blair if he shows up without them. When Mac and crew get to the shed they find the latch on the outside of the door unlocked and the door ajar with no sign of Blair. Nauls sees Childs outside running away from the entrance he was guarding and moments later the generator goes out. Everyone is accounted for except Blair at the time the generator goes off so it's safe to say he hid in the main building and attacked/Thinged Childs when he was alone and sabotaged the generator. Childs being Thinged was a precaution the Thing took in case Blair Thing was killed.

Childs who is now a Thing flees to safety to leave Blair to fight Mac and crew and try to protect the spacecraft he was building. The spacecraft is destroyed and Blair is killed by Mac who knows he is fucked but thinks he at least killed the threat to humanity and is about to have a victory drink when Thing Childs shows up with a flamethrower. Mac knows he is pawnt and gives Thing Childs the drink just like he did the Chess game that outsmarted him at the beginning of the film.

 

[Dizzy]

Childs had an earring ...hes not a thing... neither is macready


the suspense that was built up over the movie leaves you with this inability to trust anything you see


great fucking movie

The earring thing could be chalked up as a gaffe.

 

[xenomorph4prez]

The earring thing could be chalked up as a gaffe.

The fact that the Thing can't reproduce inorganic materials didn't exist in Carpenter's The Thing but was a very clever idea that the 2011 prequel came up with. They found that the Thing couldn't duplicate dental fillings so if you had perfect teeth you were suspected of being Thinged. The earring is easily remedied though by just putting it on the same way it would a victims clothes.

 

[Dizzy]

The fact that the Thing can't reproduce inorganic materials didn't exist in Carpenter's The Thing but was a very clever idea that the 2011 prequel came up with. They found that the Thing couldn't duplicate dental fillings so if you had perfect teeth you were suspected of being Thinged. The earring is easily remedied though by just putting it on the same way it would a victims clothes.

Does it put on their clothes? For being such a violent act they all look perfectly normal after assimilation.

I know for the sake of the movie you couldn't have guys walking about looking like they'd just been in a car accident but I've never really understood that concept.

 

[minute bull]

Saw it on El Rey awhile back. It was good. Can't remember what he said about The Thing though

I might be conflating several sources, but I recall that Carpenter wanted a non-definitive ending. Rodriguez then made the point that, no matter what, the Thing can be reduced to a single cell and still viably predate; so whether it was one, the other, both, or none -- it wouldn't make a difference because even a tiny speck of it would simply hibernate and wait for the next opportunity.

 

[xenomorph4prez]

Does it put on their clothes? For being such a violent act they all look perfectly normal after assimilation.

I know for the sake of the movie you couldn't have guys walking about looking like they'd just been in a car accident but I've never really understood that concept.

The video I posted makes a good point about several pairs of torn undergarments/long johns being found as if they were discarded or being hidden and posits that The Thing would probably attack them when they were asleep so that it wouldn't destroy their clothes in the process.