John Carpenteris one of the masters of horrorwith a plethora of genre classics. You can take your pick on which is your favorite.Halloweenchanged this writer’s life, but for many people,The Thingis the Carpenter movie they love most. It’s hard to argue with that, as the 1982 reboot of 1951’sThe Thing from Another Worldimproved on the original in nearly every way, from the badass heroic lead ofKurt Russellas R.J. MacReady tothe jaw-dropping practical effects fromRob Bottin. Then there’s that ending.The Thinghas one of the most chilling (literally) and ambiguous final scenes in horror history, one that works so well that forty years later, we’re still trying to decipher it. Thankfully, Carpenter kept this vision intact, but there are four other endings toThe Thing, with some of them actually filmed. If chosen for the finale, these endings would have forgotten the themes of everything that came before them.
A team of researchers set out to study an alien spacecraft found in Antarctica, where they also discover an alien body on the site. The alien buried in ice is actually alive and has the ability to imitate human form. The group must find a way to distinguish who the real person is from The Thing and stay alive. John Carpenter’s 1982 film is a remake of 1951’s The Thing from Another World and stars Kurt Russel as the hero RJ MacReady.
‘The Thing’ Has One of Horror’s Most Well-Known Ending Scenes
The originalThe Thing from Another Worldmight have been one of hundreds of monster movies in the 1950s, but like many, it had a deeper message.The alien being wasn’t a shapeshifter this time around, but a humanoid made out of a vegetable-like structure, so much so that it’s called a “super carrot.” Yes, that’s true, but rather than being silly, it’s effective.The Thing from Another Worldwas coming out in a post-World War II era where atomic bombs were now reality. The themes touched on both the fears of science and communism, but Carpenter’s version somehow goes even deeper.
In the 1982 film, the alien is not one unchangeable being, buta creature that moves from one host to another and replicates them. It becomes a whodunit witha rich and gory message about paranoiaandthe fear of the unknown. That can be a political message, as the Cold War was still going on in the early 1980s, but it’s also a more personal feeling any individual can relate to. Humans under threat will see danger around any corner, no matter what it looks like, and the unknowable parts of life can drive us crazy. We have this need to know the answers to everything, which is what can make the end ofThe Thingso frustrating for some.
At the end of the film,with their Antarctic research station in flamesand burning to the ground, only MacReady and Childs (Keith David) are left alive. The two men sit together in the elements, icicles quickly forming on their faces. They are both doomed to freeze to death, but beyond that, there is a lack of trust, all the way to the end, that one of them could be the Thing.Carpenter decides to have them wait around and see what happens as the movie goes to black, refusing to answer the question. It might be excruciating to not have the answers, but it’s also brilliant how the last minute drives home the point of every minute that led up to this point.
You May Have Seen One Alternate Ending to ‘The Thing’
The Thinghas an unforgettable last minute, but it nearly ended in a way that would have given viewers the answers they craved. In fact,one of those endings you may have actually seen before if you grew up watchingThe Thingon TV. In this ending, it’s the next day, and the burning research station is seen from a helicopter. A voice-over then says, “Who knows what has come from the galaxy? Who knows what evil lurks in the skies? Be on guard. Watch those around you. For who knows what today, tonight, or tomorrow will bring.” As this is happening, a single husky is shown running through the snow away from the research station. It’s heavily implied that the alien is in the dog, and John Carpenter absolutely loathed it.
‘The Thing’ Prequel Was Originally Much More Terrifying
The often overlooked prequel to John Carpenter’s classic film almost looked very different.
Speaking withDeadline, Carpenter explained what happened. He placed the responsibility on Universal Pictures headSid Sheinberg, saying:
“I madeThe Thingat Universal, and it didn’t do great. It wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t a giant hit like they wanted. I think he was mad at me because I didn’t listen to his creative ideas, so he cut a television version ofThe Thingwithout even talking to me about it, which had narration on it. I actually saw that thing once. It’s jaw-dropping. Now, how can he do that? He can’t do that. But he did it. That’s bad, that’s real bad.”
There Are Three Other Alternate Endings to ‘The Thing’ That Miss the Point
According to Carpenter, the reason Sid Sheinberg went behind his back and changed the ending forThe Thingwhen it was broadcast on TV was because he didn’t like the bleak ending. The film might be a classic now, but in 1982 it was a critical and box office bust,making just $19 million in theaters. Many wanted to blame that on the downer open ending of the last scene.While talking to fellow directorRobert Rodriguezon the El Rey Network, Carpenter said that Sheinberg wanted to change the ending during production, with him envisioning an ending where the Thing is killed and a giant orchestra plays. Carpenter told Sheinberg, “It’s the end of the world. There’s no way out,” but he still agreed on a compromise to cut out the bleak final scene of MacReady and Childs.Whenthat didn’t test any better than the original ending, Carpenter let Sheinberg know that he was sticking with his own version.
In an interview withThe Guardian,Keith David said, “We played it various ways; as if I was the Thing, as if it was MacReady, and as if it was neither of us.“John Carpenter confirmed this with Erik Bauer, telling him that he filmed a happier ending:
“It was one shot of Kurt [Russell] having survived and what we would have had to do was a fade out or some type of title card or something, so stylistically it would have been cheesy. We did test another ending where MacReady blows up the Thing. He comes in and sits down by himself in the cold and then you go to black. You don’t have Childs coming in.”
Carpenter also revealed that screenwriterBill Lancasterfirst envisioned thatboth MacReady and Childs would become the Thing,only to be discovered the next spring.
The ThingproducerStuart Cohenwent into greater detail about two alternate endings that were actually filmed in his blog,The Original Fan. One happier ending showed thatMacReady had been rescuedand was waiting to get a a blood test at another station. Childs isn’t there, which leads the viewer to believe that he didn’t make it. Another filmed ending had Childs disappearing at the end,leaving MacReady all alone in the cold and snow to die.
Hadthe original endingbeen changed to one of the alternate versions, we would’ve gotten another run-of-the-mill monster movie of good versus evil where bad guys win, good guys lose, and the theater goers go home happy and satisfied. But that is not whatThe Thingis about. It’s over one hour and forty minutes long andis filled with paranoia and questions, with no characters trusting one another. To have thrown that out in the cold, so to speak, at the very end would have been the easy way out. It would have said that the entire meaning of the film didn’t matter, and all that reallydidmatter was giving the audience exactly what we wanted. Instead, John Carpenter didn’t give us what we wanted, and 42 years later,we’re still talking about it.
The Thingis available to rent on Prime Video in the U.S.
