Sounds like a foolproof plan coming from the mouth of an extraterrestrial body snatcher that would outlive Childs and can infect anew once eventually rescued. Childs walks back into the frame, gone long enough for infection, and MacReady’s immediately suspicious - but I think it’s cunning, not humanitarianism, that makes MacReady suggest they both freeze to death to make sure nothing survives. Carpenter wants you to assume Childs has been infected while off-camera during the climactic finale, hence MacReady’s questioning as they sit amongst the warm flames that engulf what’s left of their outpost. You’ve read the other theories, now bask in truth: MacReady is infected and has been throughout the film. Paul Lê, Bloody Disgusting’s Buried in a Book, Horrors Elsewhere, Young Blood, and Series of Frights Columnist. And perhaps the only thing these two surviving characters are infected with is paranoia. As I grow older, though, I also think maybe there is no monster anymore. I want to believe the hero who slayed the monster cannot also be a monster. Perhaps he’s biding his time before he kills MacReady, knowing very well he can now.Įarrings, breath, Childs’ drink, and a supposed canon video game have all been cited as evidence of Childs’ infection, but the debate continues. Meanwhile, Childs comes across as strangely untroubled. Either from now knowing Childs is indeed infected, based on some undisclosed assumption he made in those final few seconds, or he realizes it doesn’t even matter anymore because this is the end. There’s a curious sense of satisfaction on MacReady’s face up until the end. One draft of Bill Lancaster’s screenplay has that line of Childs saying, in response to MacReady’s question about if he knows how to play chess, “I guess I’ll be learning.” The film, of course, omits this bit, but even without it, it seems as if Childs would be the monster if there had to be a choice. They are each so persuasive in their roles, but of the two, I always found Russell’s to be the most indicative of who here might be the monster. Keith David is eerily calm, whereas Russell is the constant questioner. This kicks off an ominous exchange punctuated by nuanced performances from the actors. That unrelenting fear only continues as Childs stumbles out of the dark and asks a badly injured MacReady, “You the only one who made it?” “Not the only one,” Kurt Russell’s character responds. The Thing does a wonderful job of demonstrating the power of paranoia. The lingering question is, if the monster is indeed still around, where is it? That first viewing of The Thing sealed my opinion for years: Childs had become infected when he was off-screen. I still think this because the monster always comes back. When I first watched The Thing as a kid, I believed the monster was still alive, even after MacReady so grandly destroyed it. Where do you land in this debate? Sound off below! Bloody Disgusting is joining the debate in celebration of the film’s 40th anniversary, with writers weighing in on the events, pleading their case for who is and isn’t infected. The ambiguous nature of the ending suits John Carpenter’s masterpiece well and allows for multiple interpretations. Or MacReady might’ve been assimilated Carpenter purposefully obscures when and how many of the outpost’s research team succumbed to assimilation. Childs could have been infected sometime during MacReady’s bid to take out the giant monster. MacReady shares his whisky with Childs, a gesture that indicates distrust is futile at this point, but the exchanged looks of skepticism between them say it all. But at least they finally destroyed all traces of the Thing. With their shelter, communication systems, and transportation effectively destroyed and sleep deprivation long set in, the pair now face freezing to death. Childs ( Keith David ) appears and sits beside him, admitting that he’d gotten lost pursuing the Blair-Thing during the film’s climax. That avoidance of presenting any clear, definitive answers to preserve the mystery and mistrust means an ending that still causes debate among fans even forty years later.Īt the conclusion, an exhausted MacReady ( Kurt Russell ) sits beside the burning remnants of Antarctic Outpost 31 and drinks his whisky. The horror master never wavers from his unrelenting paranoia that permeates The Thing and makes it so effective to the very end. John Carpenter‘s The Thing ends on a somber note after a hard-won battle.
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