John Carpenter's THE THING - Who sabotaged the blood bank?
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- čas přidán 4. 05. 2017
- The riddle of the missing blood bank keys solved.
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“This is the lock picking lawyer and what I have for you today is a cooler lock from the early eighties.”
i hate anime bruh its 2020 move on no one cares about bronies or pictures of pony cartoons anymore
@i hate anime i literally havent watched an anime in 5 years and i just couldnt be bothered to recustomize my youtube account lol
@i hate anime and i aint defending him i just wish you would react to the comment rather than some random's profile picture cuz i was hoping someone else enjoyed lockpickinglawyer
@i hate anime low quality bait. up your game
@i hate anime calm down loser, you talk like a idiot and sound like one too. People can watch whatever they like. I know bronies are weird and have issues and are usually pedos but anime isn't a bane on peoples existence it's a cartoon. I don't know what hurt you, maybe some nasty hentai lolol. Just go relax somewhere and re-read what you post on all the videos i'm sure you posted on and see how much of a dumbass you sound like.
Not a deep insight by any means, but I'm impressed by the sheer brilliance of MacReady saying "We'll do you last, Gary" immediately before testing Palmer's blood. Such a great misdirect. It moves Gary to the forefront of our suspicions, making it all the more shocking when it turns out that Palmer is the real culprit.
Mac misdirects the crew throughout the movie.
He tells on himself.
The assisting misdirect is when Palmer said, "You gotta be fucking kidding me," in reaction to Norris' spider-head-Thing. I think that the assumption would be that he must be human.
@@philhelm1318 Just one of several great reactions in the film, because, that's exactly what anyone would say in that moment, right?
@callmecatalyst what year was this blu ray released, I keep finding some that say 2016 and some that say 2017
John Carpenter is a fuckin genius director hes such a master at building suspense, tension, mystery and mood in his movies and keeps you on edge right up to the very last moment when the scares and horror come into play.
Carpenter is kicking back, laughing. "Still being scrutinized after all these years. I got em' good with this one."
JC sabotaged the blood bank. The actual title for the film is John Carpenter's The Thing...
Nice trans am man
@@KanonHara That's a bloody wonderful insight!
@NobodiesAltButMine What's cringe? This is the best fan theory ever
@@KanonHara Right there in the title all this time. John Carpenter IS The Thing. Brilliant.😄
They don't write em like this anymore.
Uh uh uh, uh uh uh uh uuuuuuh
Or make the same special effects, a true masterpiece
Everything is SJW propaganda now and CGI crap with no plot..
I would say conservative tears are a good addition to any meal, but it's too salty
@@disappointingperson9162 yes i too enjoy lazy and poorly written movies with my soy meal
"The Thing" is a true masterpiece. Just the fact that fans are analyzing it 35 years later shows how strong the narrative is. The question of who destroyed the blood samples was one that always nagged at me and this video cleared it up for me in a way that makes sense.
Jimmy De'Souza That movie is analyzed for very different reasons though.
Stephen Otten could just be lazy writing
It's a 'mystery box' J.J.Abrams would be enthralled.
And to think critics and audiences panned it on initial release. Just goes to show popular opinion isn't always "right".
Thanatos, you failed to name a single one of the "too many" loopholes. The movie is consistent with itself. Your argument that it's all just one big accident is retarded, like if I suggested that your post was random and that you just typed arbitrary letters that happened to form coherent sentences by coincidence. It does in fact take more evidence to believe that it was an accident.
And where are you getting that this is a hype train? It was panned on release. Where's the source of the hype exactly?
The reality is that showing this movie alongside another movie doesn't cause you to forget the thing. In fact, the thing is one of the few good horror movies that has staying power. You'll forget every popular horror movie you've seen, and you'll still remember the thing ten years from now. Maybe by then your tastes will mature.
This movie really is the ultimate in alien horror btw
This and alien are my fave films ever
Thanatos Ragnarok just because it didnt have enough action for you doesnt make the movie bad
"The ultimate in alien terror."
My 5 all-time favorite movies are: The Thing, Alien, Jaws, Rocky (the original in each case), and The Good, the Bad & The Ugly. Which one is top or what order they are in changes each time you ask me, but those have been my top 5 for as long as I can remember (Falling Down, is an honorary 6th place).
@@fishcious Carpenters The Thing was actually a remake of a film from the 50s, not sure if you know that. Good list though.
Windows and Mac. What great names
Mindblown!!!
Curious fact: Windows (The OS) was created on November of 1985, while MAC OS came out on 2001. This movie came out on August 1982, before either of them.
@@sancer1781 That can't be a coincidence lol
John Carpenter is an *elite* . You can be rest assured, he knew what was up *ahead* of time....
@@sancer1781 Confirmed they ripped off the movie. Carpenter should sue.
I never realised how many references to the keys are packed throughout the movie, even the foley sounds of the keys ruffling around when Gary is thrown to the floor in the altercation, I'm actually amazed by the attention to detail on how to create an atmosphere of pure confusion and paranoia.
This movie truly is a psychological horror masterpiece.
The Thing I can’t believe I just watched it for the first time a couple weeks ago and I’ve rewatched it three times since then that’s how good it is I keep re-watching it
The fact that we're still discussing details after almost 40 years is a testament to the greatness of this movie
Как ты объяснишь деталь, где Виндоус использует один скальпель на всех, когда разрезал пальцы для сдачи крови? Это ляп режиссера?
The fact this post makes it into every comment section.... is lame.
@@user-jq8zs8cd4mpossibly, but they also wipe it clean. They bleed after the cutting so at most there's a couple o cells wiped off. Still, might be a mistake like blaire touching the blood to his lips.
Palmer was such a good disguise to have. Literally nobody suspected him until the blood test, where he was outed as the Thing
Honestly I think he messed up because he remain disconnected when the rest of the group arguing with each other, should have tried to blend in better rather than disconnecting by wearing earphones.
@@frankfarmer7706remember that at this point the thing has only just recently encountered humans so perhaps didn't feel comfortable engaging in human style arguements yet. It's goal is to remain hidden and it probably thought to best way to do this is not engage in conflict?
Yeah, he was the wierdo of the team.
Plus, Palmer-Thing was smart enough to “sacrifice” Norris-Thing. It was Palmer that saw the Head and exclaimed, drawing MacReady’s attention and MacReady torched it. So I figured out of all of the Things, Palmer was the one that the Dog-Thing infected. Norris probably got infected from food since it looked as if the Norris-Thing originated in his stomach as he was having stomach/chest pains before he went into cardiac arrest during the commotion. It would also make sense why there’s two Norris Heads, one was the real head that got hijacked into the Head-Spider Thing while the Stomach-Thing was the imitation Norris waiting for an opportunity to fully take over when Norris is finally alone.
@@TheGary108 Look at the scene again: Palmer-Thing catches sight of the Norris-head out of the corner of his eye, and naturally enough turns to look at it.
But WINDOWS is between Palmer-Thing and the Norris-head, so WINDOWS then turns to see what it is that Palmer is already looking at.
Well, sorry, Pamler-Thing can see that Windows is turning in that same direction. Ooops. Best to cover his tracks by bringing everyone's attention to that spider-head.
After all, if he doesn't then Windows surely will.
6:46 I always thought that was a clever bit of foreshadowing. Look at where Palmer is staring. He's not focused on the fight at all. Instead, he's _staring right at Fuchs._ Palmer and Norris were already trying to get him isolated.
Damn, you're right, he's literally burning holes in the back of the guys head! How could Fuchs not feel that stare?
Norris hadn't turned yet. he ate something that made him a thing slowly. thats why he had a stomach ache
Arbiter Of Reason he had a heart attack, and I’m willing to bet he was the guy the dog got at the beginning
@@arbiterofreason2068 that was a heart attack. The Thing was mimicking his heart condition like a boss!
@@colinclayton8042 that's actually how he died irl a heart attack
The Thing and The Shining. Two great cinematic horror masterpieces that is still being talked about and analyzed to this day.
And don't forget the first Alien. These 3 films are the best horror genre has to offer, with Alien being my personal favourite
Don’t forget The Fly
The Shining is awful
did you notice Palmer smirk when the blood is mentioned
Yeah, because he was about to get triggered by the reaction anyway, so he be like: "Well... there goes my "human form" cover ;)"
Alexander Bilstien oh yeah, I noticed. The whole time Palmer just gave off a bad vibe.
Yves Heinrich Oh yeah. You can see it. The Thing was like: Well, I tried to stay hidden but time to "Thing Out".
"Well shit..." XD
I don't think he realizes he's assimilated. He thinks the blood test is silly but he's getting a fight or flight impulse he can't explain.
It's really amazing see how after so many years, people are still trying to figure out who's infected, when they got infected, how they got infected, how they behave, if there's another way to find out an infected one besides the blood test, etc.
I love that kind of ambiguity in film.
That's why this is my favorite John Carpenter film.
D.L.'s Studio this is only used in the one scene afaik with Palmer JUST before he’s revealed as infected, and that was more for subtle effect. The movie isn’t a puzzle made to crack, it’s left purposefully ambiguous.
2019 and still trying to figure out the unfigurable Things about Things and Things that are done in The Thing.
But as the decades pass ppl apply curent technological knowledge that didn't exist to their annalysis. He says "headphones" plural when its actually singular. An earpiece often came with transistor radios and they were only one sided because phone jacks weren't stereo but mono.
I know that in Aliens they say it's the perfect organism but in my opinion, that saying should belong to The Thing. The creature is so intelligent that it's terrifying how it can turn an entire crew against each other. Meanwhile it's blending in with them almost seemingly like the original person never disappeared. This is why I will always be fascinated by the The Thing (and horrified) and I firmly believe it's the TRUE perfect organism as you can't even tell or know if you definitely killed it.
i think the xeno is more perfect in the sense of it just being a stealthy killing machine, meanwhile the thing appears to be less powerful in terms of combat (for the most part) but its more intelligent and able to use logic
I think one of the freakiest parts of the thing is how it can imitate a person almost perfectly. From mannerisms to expressions. It’s hard to believe that it can do that and then be this horrifying creature at the same time.
I can't get enough of the thing
AgentFlea classic
I'll let Thomas (Windows) know that.
thats what she said
There's also a prequel (NOT A REMAKE) to John Carpenter's The Thing, and an Xbox video game of The Thing which takes place after the movie
Can't get enough of the music either.
5:24 I always think how bizarre it is here that Palmer and Norris have both been assimilated, so when they look at each other here it's The Thing looking at itself.
Bryce A. Is the thing looking at itself though? One of Macreadys theories is that each cell of the thing is alive hence the blood test. So I wonder if the thing might be more of a hive mind organism
Bryce A.
Norris wasn't Norris-thing yet.
@Mr. Graves Norris didn't die of a heart attack. Norris was infected via his food. That's why in several scenes he looks like he feels a little sick. The "heart attack" was Norris dying when the organism growing inside of him was large enough to become more aggressive. When Copper (the Doc) started using the defibrillator, the alien inside Norris interpreted that as an attack and fought back. He was infected early in the movie, but he wasn't a "full on thing" until he died.
@@PlasteredDragon See, what fucks me up here, who assimilated Blair, and why is he able to turn into a giant fucking Thing made up of every previous form? Was he the original or something? Do these things just have the ability to change mass at will, or does the assimilation absorb AND spit out copies?
@@Afr0Thund3r Timeline wise of infected:
- Doggo
- Palmer
- Norris
- Other dogs/Blair (while he did wore gloves during dissection, any cell of a Thing organism has a 70% chance of infection by direct contact. Considering he operated on two entire organisms, one badly damage and the other recently killed his chances were high)
- Bennings
Take note that when they do burn up the corpses the splitface organism isnt amongst them, therefore leaving the idea that it is very much lurking/stalking around. Most likely, when they started fires in the facility, Blair and spliface merged together along with the other crew's (unburnt) corpses to gain mass and genetic information.
I like to think Thing organisms pass down genetic codes like any other organisms to their "progenitures" (newly infected hosts).
So how was Blair ever able to produce a dog thing is because he is "descendant" to the dog thing in the kennel; the one he dissected on.
*STARTS HEATING UP WIRE* “Someone in this chat isn’t who they say they are...”
I'm as human as the day i was born. But what about you hmmmm
YOU'L NEVER GET ME ALIVE!
*jumps trough window*
I've seen Climate of Fear......
Those kind of tests don't always work.
And No one is Touching Me!.... not even for a Cookie!
I'm the creature. And the coronovirus is the cover for your government's attempts to prevent my unstoppable conquest of your planet.
Test me, Mac. I'm just a kindled undead, not a thing
Palmer couldn't hear The Thing, he had Airpods in!
lol
What????
It actually makes sense...he had his earphones in and didn't even know the Thing was behind him until he was being assimilated. The Thing assumed this is what he always looks like so kept them in until possibly realizing later that it's not normal.
I know, wtf. It's 1982 and I swear he's wearing Apple headphones. Guess the Thing can time travel too.
This makes sense. I actually believe Palmer was the first one turned and was an imitation since shortly after the dog appeared.
He was the one who was meant to be assimilated by the dog thing early in the film. The actor's silhouette looked too much like Palmer so the producers got a stand-in to throw the audience off the scent.
Aztecius is that right? That's really interesting. I always felt the silhouette looked like Norris. When he was unveiled as a Thing later on, I felt it made perfect sense since that scene, to me, looked like it had his shadow on the wall.
And the hair style looked very similar to Norris.
No, the silhouette was that of Norris. You can tell by the side profile of his face and hair.
Sorry to say, but yeah I though it was Norris to, but the producers said that i was mean to be Palmer
Another theory: There are multiple Thing organisms and they are all competing with each other as well.
Wasn't that in the prequel? That the Thing can split itself into other organisms
@@blindeyecreed Not familiar with the original yet, will watch it soon
@@jasonsoliva6678 whoa it's been 2 years since your Comment and you haven't seen the Prequel? ( Which is technically the Sequel )
@@blindeyecreed I meant I want to watch the 1951 original black and white film
But yeah haven't seen that one either
What I love is that when Garry is suspected during the blood test, you learn right after that Palmer is infected. The tension is still on Garry until the end of that entire scene. Even the first time I saw the movie I went "Well...is he a thing too?"
Plus it gives the opportunity for Garry to deliver the second-best line ever uttered in cinema history.
8:20-"This is non-sense. It doesn't prove a thing."
Is that a pun????
351cleavland it is absolutely hilarious if you want it to be
One of my favorite lines.
Somebody had to say it.
Palmer was assimilated near the beginning. We see the dog walk into the same room as Palmer, then it cuts to another scene.
Hmm... do you remember when first Clark came to check on the dogs and two of them escaped as he saw the Dog-Thing? First time he kicked the door to close it a Cephalopod-like arms bumped into the door and apparently had been cut - escaping. Then Clark successfully closed and locked the door.
Also, if Blair was fully assimilated when he flipped out. Why would he destroy the equipment? If he was the thing wouldn't he want a rescue team to show up?
Apparently he gained the knowledge that the thing would try to use a rescue team to escape as he was being assimilated, so he destroyed the comms in order to prevent it's plans to be carried out. At the cost of the others lives
coryluke12 no it's Norris you can tell by the hair
oZone HypeZ no you can't that shadow is not from one of the cast members it is from one of the crew members..John carpenter wanted to use a shadow of somebody that was not in the film to confuse people even more
Is it plausible that White Chicks is a sequel to The Thing?
Yolo Swaggins legendary theory
White Chicks Faker Than You Thought: An Academic Analysis by Yolo Swaggins
it's like I just woke up from the matrix
Yes it is.
LMFAOOOOOOO
Palmer's blood popping up was the greatest "WTF" scene in cinema's history.
One theory suggests that Blair, while he was destroying everything in the camp, like the dogs, chopper, and radio room, decided to cut the blood when he found the keys, cause he didn’t want any traces of humans left for the thing to assimilate.
Pretty late to this comment, but if it was Blaire he wouldn't have bothered to re-lock it. He was trying to cut off escape routes the thing could have potentially used.
Good observation.
@@something4641 Not necessarily. Blair infected himself at 34 minutes, and was probably in the process of being assimilated when he went insane. He was perfectly sane when he was doing the autopsy and unemotional when explaining it to the crew. So why the radical change in personality? He probably realized he was assimilated himself. It's likely that as chief scientist, he would have access to a spare key if it existed, either that or he found the keys on the floor while everyone else was out there with Bennings. Blair as the thing wouldn't have wanted anyone to escape. Why else would he destroy the radio room? It was the only way they could warn the others about the thing.
@@johnscoone9310 And it was the only way that a perfect copy of someone at the station could call for an evacuation... Blair didn't go crazy because of The Thing's assimilation, he went crazy because of the computer simulation he did that showed how dangerous The Thing was to humanity.
@@askmeificare5557 That's my take as well. I think he intended for all of them to die & burn the camp to the ground but wasn't able to pull it off.
raising a "key" point 😎😎
Nice pun.
Ok then, “roblox fans and more”
Hah funny i think?
Ouch, u r so punny.😻
Everyone rushes in urgently and angrily to have a look at the blood meanwhile palmer just glides in with his headphones on feigning ignorance. He's also got an incredibly awkward posture which makes him look like he thinks he's been caught.
Also I think the thing's one weakness is fear/shock. As I bet hitting the thing with a baseball bat on the arm or back would cause it to instinctively fight back, since that's something every animal does. That's why every time it's about to be electrocuted or discovered it changes form into the monster, as its scared and won't be able to control itself.
I like how when Mac gets to Palmer during the blood test he's like "well shit"
I know! The Thing pulls a “fuck” expression 😂
Seconds before the "Hot needle test" you see an expression on Palmer's face like a "oh well" when they shoot the close up that is. I find it an interesting clue.
I noticed that too.
Also look at his eyes, no gleaming at all, another hint about he wasn't Palmer anymore.
@@m598lmr the eye gleam theory is false, because you can see in multiple other thing scenes that the creatures have eye gleams, even palmer in certain past shots.
the eye gleam was only a hint during the blood test scene
Yeah exactly! I caught that too. Pretty chilling to know where that quickly leads to.
RIP Donald Moffat (Garry) Died December 20 2018 - thanks for the memories.
EDIT (Aug 2020)
Here is the complete cast of the 12 members of the US research station team:
- Kurt Russell (age 69) "MacReady/Mac"
- T. K. Carter (age 63) "Nauls"
- David Clennon (age 77) "Palmer"
- Keith David (age 64) "Childs"
- Peter Maloney (age 75) "Bennings"
- Richard Masur (age 71) "Clarke"
- Joel Polis (age 68) "Fuchs"
- Thomas G. Waites (age 65) "Windows"
... sadly the four that are no longer with us:
- Wilford Brimley (died August 1st 2020; aged 85) "Dr. Blair"
- Richard Dysart (died April 5 2015; aged 86) "Dr. Copper"
- Charles Hallahan (died November 25 1997; aged 54) "Norris"
- Donald Moffat (died December 20 2018; aged 87) "Garry"
Respect ✌🏻
:(
RIP Wilford "I'll Kill Youuuuu!" Brimley
Hallahan died way too young but at least the other three lived long full lives.
@Doctor X That *thing* wanted to be *usssss* .... 🤣
I remember a scene where one of the guys said "this thing could of travel around to millions of planets and assimilate millions of species and now wants to assimlate us"
It makes me wonder if the thing's goal was so assimilate every single life form or just go around different planets trying to gather biological data from all species
There is another idea the ship the thing was in is a containment vessel or prison not actual ship because it the Thing broke out when it crashed. Could its planet have captured it and sent it away knowing how deadly it is.
@@jonathanhensley6141 That's an interesting thought.
When I think that this masterpiece received terrible reviews from critics when it was released 🤦♂️
That's why I never trust Rotten Tomatoes, critics have always been a bunch of assholes!
you should consider that watch to that movie is not for anyone,those chikens ran away from the theatre in the kennel scene. that´s wahy they hate it : scared them as hell
@@orangetreeflower6670 lol. That's the point of the movie and they manage to hate it just because they're scared
True, I mean they gave "Cuties" an 80-something percent..
Your Pal, Kiba oh dear not that movie
How you like a film is totally subjective and dependent on the mood of the person when they watch it. Trusting a critics opinion is just silly. Buncha losers and wannabe artists.
This movie is easily my favorite horror movie. The practical effects, the atmosphere, having no music in it at all, the acting, it’s just so damn good and creepy as hell. I really wished there was a sequel or a GOOD prequel after this one, but it was a failure when it released sadly.
There actually is music
I really liked the prequel actually
I could watch this movie in the middle of summer 5x in a row and never get tired of it. This movie is a timeless classic. They Live is my 2nd favorite Carpenter flick.
Look at the aloof expression on Palmer's face during Norris' transformation. He's definitely not a human at this point.
everyone's got the same expression, look at the other faces
I love Keith David. He's gold in this and They Live.
Vath121 he was also great in Platoon and Men at Work.
And Rick and Morty
Keith David has been gold in everything I've seen him in lol including Marked for death with Steven Seagal
@@brandonbates9259 also spawn in the cartoon and mk 11.
Doing a great job in Modern Warfare Two and Halo
I love Palmer's eye roll right before they test his blood.
I love these Thing analyses. There's just so many small details that really makes you enjoy the film more. Everytime I watch the movie again with knowledge like this in mind, I feel like I understand the events more. That's what really makes The Thing so rewatchable, with all of it's details, how, where, and when events happened. Great work!
The little object in the blood is just a label from one of the bags in the room, nothing special it just happened to fall down during filming.
Yep, agreed. Thanks.
Sure it wasn't a cigarette butt?
Only one bag was cut.
The rest were drained to ruin them.
This movie is pure genius. Im blown away every time I re-witness the unraveling story telling style with all the artistry that goes into "the thing" creatures. I love it to no end. huge fan.
So many years later on and this movie is still being talking/reviewed over. They don’t make em like this anymore.
Hollywood lost the ability to produce quality movies since the turn of the century. That is about when the "reboot/remake" craze started...
Rob's a legend. I've been coming to this channel for years now, always something interesting to watch.
Me too Bro, I have been watching his stuff for years now as well.
He's an idiot! Your an idiot too!!
yeah me too... i enjoy his analysis and even re-watched some of them
Those little details like the sound of the keys droping to the floor... Just a masterpiece, this whole movie is like a puzzle still waiting to be solved. More than 30 years later and still isnt clear how exactly all the events happened
This is what makes the film as fantastic as it is. It never lays all its cards on the table, not at any point is all revealed. Mysteries and questions are left unanswered all the way through to the credits and audience members are left to scrounge up small details and clues to practically unanswerable questions.
The whole bit with the keys could also be a distraction by filmmakers to get people thinking about that instead of something else. And given the properties of the Thing I find the idea of it sticking a finger to the lock and then growing its flesh into the hole in order to unlock it pretty believable. Unlock it that way, sabotage the blood, then use where the keys have been and who's had access as a way to build distrust among the remaining humans.
My only issue is why no one realized that Windows was the last person who had the keys. But you make a good point, they were too distracted with purging the station of the Thing's remains to consider the blood being sabotaged, which they didn't realize could be a solution prove who isn't human until later. So for that, I tip my hat to you.
No, In the Bennings assimilation scene Windows drops the keys. But outside while discussing the blood test Gary gives the keys to Doc so he could have access to the blood bank. How does Gary get the keys back???
I always had my suspicions about Norse and Palmer because like 40 minutes into the film they start acting really strangely but I don’t think it was Blair because he was in between sabotaging everything and being locked up. I originally thought Childs was the Thing but he’s proven to be human in the blood test scene and he’s got the glimmer in his eyes
@@Anunnamedtankexcept specifically during the blood test scene the thing has no glimmer. That's what he's referencing.
@@Anunnamedtank Well thanks genius. Affect*
As for the blood flowing out continuity gaff, the doctor had already unlocked it and opened it before calling the others. He likely then shut it again in surprise.
That could explain why it just started spilling out.
Why would he though as he's not a Thing?
@@nuhuh4564 Why would he what? He opens it because they needed to and he shouts for the others because sabotaged blood is not a good sign.. I don't get your question...
Yea. The fridge should be sealed tight.
Why is it leaking all over?
You could ask why is the blood crawling out towards the docs feet and why the close up of him stepping in it.
@@robertjoseph2535because he opened it for a second (and some blood started pouring out) then probably closed the door quickly while he waits for everyone else to come look.
Or maybe the blood is leaking out because when the bags were drained the door was open so some leaked out...
Dude, you got amazing eyes! I've seen the Thing a million times and never noticed Palmer or his headphones. Amazing.
It's most likely Palmer. He smirks after the blood is mentioned first off, secondly he was indeed missing a good chunk of the movie when the keys are important. Notice during the blood test itself though, he keeps his head down. He's quiet and inconspicuous. It's most likely him. It was Palmer Thing
Having watched the Thing easily twenty times over and being so familiar with it, every point you make clicks into place. Bravo!
I cannot express my love for this movie enough. I feel like I learn or have something new pointed out about it at least every year since I first saw it.
Excellent breakdown!
One thing I want to note is that Fuches probably suspected Mac when he found his clothes. But when he realized Mac didn't try and assimilate him when they were alone (the scene where he suggests they eat from their own cans), he realized Mac WASN'T the thing. He probably then left to Mac's tower, hid the clothes inside the furnace there (in hopes that if anyone would have found it, it would be Mac because it's HIS tower) to try and protect the only person he KNEW at the time wasn't the Thing. Then, knowing he couldn't trust anyone else, he self terminated outside his shack. He forgot to shut off the light when hiding the clothes, hence why it was left on. I don't think Palmer left to plant the evidence. Why would he replant it, if Fuches found it already? Especially hide it in the furnace where (again) the only person to likley to find it would be Mac.
There’s so much room for coincidence here in all the chaos at the outpost. That seems to me like a feasible theory.
Damn,never thought of that,i always thought It was blare getting some pieces in the base for its spaceship after he turned on the lights on Macs shack and left some broken clothes and fuches saw him then he terminated fuches and goed back to the hes places and acted like nothig,since at that point he was alredy infected,see how he tells mcready he wants to go back to the base,when he would never want that because the original blare didnt want to get infected,althought when he hung that rope he got an infected meal form thing palmer and got asimilated him self.
Me personally, I think that Fuches found the clothes, and for similar reasons, refused to believe it. However, as he perhaps tried to destroy the clothes with the flare (no offense but this makes more sense to me than him planting it in MacReady's shack) or otherwise made it clear he would not fall for it, he was confronted by a Thing, who attempted to assimilate him. Knowing that would add another Thing to the group and definitely put MacReady at risk as the new Fuches Thing presented the fake evidence, he instead self-immolated to prevent assimilation.
Either that, or perhaps he found the clothing, DID believe it, and truly believed that the last person he felt he could trust was compromised, and therefore took his own life. Causing the watching Blair-Thing to then have to re-plant the clothes in MacReady's shack and turn the light on.
its brilliant that decades later were still asking questions about this film :)
Great analysis. I believe Norris ate a piece of the thing in his food, ignoring recommendations to eat from cans, as he gripped his stomach a couple of times. He also instinctively realizes hes "not up to the job". I believe Blair was also human otherwise he would not go to such efforts to openly sabotage, he would have remained incognito. I think Palmer was the only infected ones until Bennett gets it, and I think thats purely because of the things meticulous nature. It knows it has all the time in the world. Most definitely the thing grabbed the keys from the floor, but you're also missing something. He doesnt have to cut the blood right there and then, all he has to do is open or remove the lock...in all this chaos, no one will notice, and Palmer can destroy the blood at an opportune moment.
What if there was another Thing among them which didn't want to kill anyone, instead opting to continue pretending to be human to try to fit in?
Yeah, I believe Blair was human up to the point where he gives McReady a warning - Keep a close eye on... (Dunno if spoilers are relevant since everyone prolly seen this 300 times by now) Some thoughts that haunts are is there coordination by the assimilations or are they pherhaps not aware of eachother sort of individuals as a measure of self preservation asf. I really like the finale with the dialogue indicating were having a discussion with "The Thing" and that makes it even more horrifying than anything up to this point...
I've seen it more than ten times probably about fifteen but in the last two months I have learned more about the brilliance of the plot and the perfection of the continuity thanks to diligent observant viewers such as yourself, great bit of detective work and analysis, thanks, and thanks to John Carpenter for being a LEGEND 😊
the flowing blood isn't a continuity error, the cabinet was just reopened for the first time after the blood was sabotaged, it took time for the blood to pool at the bottom and when reopened could finally flow free
great analysis. I've been consciously aware of how important the keys are leading up to the blood incident, but I never before noticed all of the non-verbal references, and how often they are heard jingling. Carpenter was masterful with incorporating their presence subliminally.
Strangely enough, this movie really doesn't put enough emphasis on the greatest danger The Thing poses: infection. Obviously, it focuses on not being alone with the larger organisms, but they still have no problem being near infected blood, infected fluids, or infected corpses. Mac just handles the petri dish with his bare hands and makes no effort to burn the escaping blood. They also have no problem standing in close contact with other crew members, sleeping, and eating. If they had any sense, they'd know that from the moment they understood what the creature could do, they were already screwed. Plenty of its molecules had been spewed all over the camp at that point.
I respectfully disagree; I don't think simple proximity, or even (simulated) saliva (ie., when the dog-thing licks Clark, yet Clark is later proven, posthumously, to be human) necessarily infects. It almost has to be a conscious act of infection, like when the revealed dog-thing starts shooting the others with some sort of ranged bio-attack, and then the tentacles seem to "incubate" the soon-to-be-simulated creatures (like when the Norwegian-thing takes Bennings), it probably had a chance to infect Blair because he was coming into constant contact with the (still-living) organism before he realized it was still alive, and that's why he smashes the camp while he still can; he knows that he himself has a 75% chance (if not closer to 100%, given his knowledge of biology), and he's doing what he can to prevent further infection. He's leaving his journal (later found by Fuchs and revealed to MacReady) for posterity and as a warning, but then is converted in his isolation...
Adam Bilodeau I always felt that Blair was not infected at the time he was isolated in the tool shed. However with Norris and Palmer both infected, either (or both) would have had easy access to assimilate him at any stage after that. He was completely alone, an easy target. And someone did open the door from the outside too.
its a movie, its meaning is mostly allegorical and not to be taken as a representation of reality... its a film that focuses on Human paranoia, not biology... stop trying to nitpick everything, we have 1 simple rule to follow in this movie and it gets us every time and it doesn't even try to go into the silly pseudo scientific details(maybe Neil De Grasse does his bullshit thing someday for all the bozos missing the point)
True enough, equally plausible...
Joseph Wagner YES! watching in 2018 I just couldn't get passed how there was no explanation of the transmission of infection. Great movie!
This detail was distracting to me.
Palmer, the first human Thing, infects Childs when they share the blunt, and Blair infects himself when he puts that damn pencil in his mouth that he was poking the remains with
Truly a brilliant film. The fact that it's still discussed to this extent decades later proves it.
It was Palmer, dammit!
I love that you keep making these videos.
Eric Tomlinson He should never stop.
I don't think we as the audience are ever supposed to figure out who sabotaged the blood and who got infected and when. This creates paranoia and confusion not only among the characters but also the audience. That's the beauty of this film as no one knows what's going on.
This is a great video. On the blood leaking out of the fridge, I like to believe that the blood was slashed a bit ago and was only leaking out now because it had built up inside of the fridge to the point that it was suddenly leaking out of it. Although, an artistic license works just as well.
Man I missed when windows dropped the keys, man a HUGE detail that I needed to watch the movie again ha ha ha...Palmer not being there when Blair went nuts yup... All these details I missed..oh well gotta watch it again..
These series of videos you've been doing on "The Thing" theories, have been excellent. As someone who loves the film and the ambiguity left in the film to keep you guessing it's a pleasure to listen to other people's ideas as to what happened.
6:38 look at the way Palmer is looking at Fuchs.
One crazy theory could be is that who ever picked up the keys was pressed for time and only unlocked the door to the blood before returning them to the store room before they were missed. Everyone was probably preoccupied with cleaning up to notice the blood unsecure and were then distracted by Blair, allowing Palmer to easily access the blood. This would probably show there was some coordination between the three base personnel who were imitations.
35 god damn years later, this movie *STILL* has secrets that rewards repeat viewings and encourages debate. It's a shame that films today are more or less disposable by comparison. What is there to gain from watching something like The Avengers in 10 years? Absolutely nothing. It's profoundly sad to me.
I think it's rather unfair to compare The Thing to The Avengers. They're entirely different genres. At least pick a modern mystery film, not a superhero film.
Yeah, superhero films aren't usually meant to be deep. Some films are simply meant to be enjoyed, that doesn't give the entertainment industry to keep shitting out terrible movies with shitty dialogue and/or a bad/nonsensical plot. Horror and mystery films should make you consistently question every scene, much like what The Thing did and it did it very well.
CreditR01 The Prestige
racewiththefalcons1 mother!
While I agree that The Thing has a charm that many movies today do not have, comparing a superhero movie to a Horror Sci-Fi is kinda stupid to be honest...
I have another question.
When the Thing was still masquerading as a dog, there is a scene where it enters a room. We see someone's shadow in the room, sitting on a bed. When the dog enters, the shadow turns around and the scene fades to black.
Who was in that room?
The dude who had a heart attack.
Th person whose shadow it was was just some extra, not an actual actor. It's gotta be Palmer or Norris. Personally I lean toward it being Palmer.
that was palmer, they just used a different shadow to throw us off
I assert that it is Norris. I am currently working on a write up of the infection timeline for the crew, backed up with research. I will post the reddit link here when I finish this sometime next week.
Speaking of "The Shadow on the Wall":
theoriginalfan.blogspot.com/2011/09/shadow-on-wall.html
".. was intended to be Palmer. At the time of filming David Clennon's silhouette was considered too distinct, a dead giveaway. Cinematographer Dean Cundey tried to soften the edges to diffuse the image, but in the end John used stunt coordinator Dick Warlock to throw everyone off the scent..."
8:13 "well that plan was for nothing" said his expression.
I had a next-door neighbor that was kind of off to me. After I seen this movie, I never talked to him again.
I always thought it was Palmer, as we see him get infected by the dog first, so he was a Thing for the longest.
Norris was in that room. The shadows collar give it away...
@@winstonwolfwhiteshoes but the room is of palmer
God, this movie was so f×cking good.
And, it's from a book titled "Who Goes There" from like 1938 or 39.
Or the Thing being a Shapeshifter it just slid some tendrils through the tiny gap in the door and sabotaged the blood without needing to open the door.
Or one of the bags was thing blood, and escaped.
How could it be thing blood?
When Blair did the autopsy on the dog alien, he touched the interior of the thing/dog/corpse with the pencil he was holding. Then he touched his own lip, infecting himself and he was now doomed to his own gradual assimilation. Watch the clip, it’s what happened.
Watch it again. He doesn't touch it. He only hovers over it. Its pretty obvious and I'm not sure why everyone thinks he touched it. Considering the mucus layered on that corpse you'd expect to see some of it grip on to the eraser and lift off, unless it was super thin perhaps.
I thought the same exact thing, but John Carpenter actually talked about that specific theory in that scene. Apparently it was simply an oversight, and he never intended for that to be the (possible) cause of his assimilation.
I would really like to believe that they planned that all out. But let's consider for a second that it takes more than just a couple of cells to completely infect someone. I mean, at that point: Why not just sneeze at them or cover the door in their saliva or completely turn into a spitting monster like it did to the dogs.
I think that if Palmer could sneak out of the compound to frame Macready, he could have sneaked up on Blair's shack and infected him.
@@julianmarco4185 I have to agree. The Thing had days in order to sneak out and get Blair, and Blair-Thing would of needed that time to create his spaceship. Carpenter doesn't show or tell us everything, he lets us decide exactly how we think it could of happened.
@you laugh you phill It isn't a theory, it's a fact about the creature that the characters that has been stated and shown in the movie: Just a single cell of the creature can assimilate and infect an entire living organism. The victim wouldn't even know they were infected until it was too late
Also, the freaking NAME is a clue: "Palmer" as in someone who can "palm" things (hide, relocate, or change them).
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palming
Darth KEK and Windows returns with MacReady to discover a broken... window! Thats no accident 🤔
@@literallyunderrated i mean this was before windows and mac were a thing but sure dude
@@TalisLoki huh? He's talking about an actual window, that thing that you look through to see the outside world from your house.
@@steveweast475 yo momma
I picked up on something interesting. Fuchs says, "Someone opened it, closed it and then locked it". But when Doc enters right before he alerts everyone he just opens it without opening a lock, just opening it quickly without a key. It could be a goof but I don't know it's interesting.
What makes this movie so great is half the actors in this movie had no idea what was about to happen next, and didn’t know who ‘The Thing’ was until the cameras start rolling. Carpenter kept all the actors on edge to fit into the paranoia that any of them could be ‘The Thing’ truly a masterpiece
For real ? SO how did they know how to act and what to do in the film ? LOL I mean carp is my favorite film maker ever btw just saying that is not possible !
I can watch this movie in the summer 5 times in a row and never get bored with it. It's a timeless classic.
Collative Learning / Rob Ager is *THE BEST*.
Keep making awesome content!
Wow, Im just now noticing the insane amount of detail in this film. It really is an underrated masterpiece.
SOB! i've seen this more times than I can count, and never noticed Windows dropped the keys.
I thought they were keys to something else
I had it as Palmer since about 1982.😎
Ive seen this movie multiple times and yet Ive over looked Windows dropping those keys every time. Very cool video man, thanks for posting.
0:31 I like how Gary unclips his holster ready to draw when the tension escalates around the blood. nice touch by the actor
Why does an amorphous being need keys? Why is blood leaking through the magnetic seal in the medical fridge? Carpenter tends to be a stickler for details... that seal was ripped away on purpose. The thing didn't need keys to get to the blood or to get to Blair.
TRUE.
But, was the thing in the fridge all along, and escaping, or, breaking in and sabotaging the blood?
Great look as solving the blood bank scene from The Thing by John Carpenter. I believe Palmer was the first human to become the thing. The shadow on the wall of the human that turns to see the dog most closely resembles him. The thing would have wanted to create another copy as soon as possible - not just gain someone's trust as a dog. And, therefore that it was him that sabotaged the blood bank. But, despite its efforts to keep from discovery (since it is still outnumbered greatly) we see its "Oh well, could not avoid it" expression when its blood is about to be torched. Ultimately, the thing could seriously inflict damage on most of the people in that room, but since a flamethrower and superior human numbers are involved the thing prefers to hide and multiply in the shadows. I think it was an error that the keys were on the belt of the other man, or that the time frame of the film's events was not clear to us in terms of time frame.
I live the film. I read the book many years ago. This whole discussion was amazing. In the book the question of what to do with the frozen entity fills up 20 pages or. You are a part of the scene in the book and the film. Fantastic work👌
After all these years people are still debating the lore and the details of this amazing horror film, just goes to show how timeless and brilliant it is. Another one is whether Childs is infected at the end haha.
I agree about Palmer but I didn't notice the lack of involvement, especially when Garry's aiming the gun at WIndows after the blood is sabotaged. I often thought that it was Norris who sabotaged the blood because I thought he was the one that was in the room when the dog goes in and you just see the shadow. Brilliant video.
Norris WAS in that room. Not Palmer. The shadows collar doesn't match Palmers.
god this movie is so clever
Great video. The Thing is such a great movie with so much to analyze. What I love is that it can easily withstand any analysis! Awesome!
I always get wrapped up in these theory videos for some reason, I just love to hear them.
This is an impressive level of detail on their part, and props to you and everyone else who picked up on all of these small visual ques!
That’s the mystery I couldn’t get. I didn’t realize the dude had dropped the keys. Still it needed to simulate another person. There was an actual being roaming free in the compound, if you remember the dog scene. Something climbs up into the rafters.