The Thing (1982) flopped heavily in the box office back in 1982, but sometime in the late 1990’s it made a resurgence and instantly became a cult classic. The movie did so badly that John Carpenters career was basically halted for many years afterwards, but thankfully people came to their senses and saw the masterpiece that play before them. There are many great things about The Thing. The acting, the pacing, the absolute paranoia that comes minutes by minute with each line of dialogue and music cue, the inclusion of “Superstitious” by Stevie Wonder (Nauls, my beloved), among other things. 

So many iconic scenes come from The Thing; like when Bennings is revealed to be an alien, the blood test scene, Blair destroying the communication servers, THE DOGS… All of these scenes and so many more from this movie are so ingrained in horror dialogue as an example of how to establish tension, paranoia, and how high stakes are in a situation, and its one of those movies that I use as a benchmark for how I personally grade horror movies. 

But there is one scene in this movie that has been speculated over and over for decades at this point, and it is the final scene. When the research facility is destroyed and there’s no where else to go, and two characters are left to figure out what to do next. MacReady sits as Childs comes over to him and they wallow in the bleakness of it all, not knowing if one or the other is still human or not as a massive snow storm is about to come with spring months away. Death seems inevitable, right? 

That is where our mystery lies. A mystery in cinema that has been speculated for decades with many different theories that will never be revealed. John Carpenter in an interview from 2025 stated “The gods came down and swore me to secrecy,” in regards to who was or wasn’t assimilated at the end, even calling some of the theories “bogus”. That is what I will be discussing here: a theory I have about one of my favorite movies of all time, one that may or may not be controversial. I have asked many people, family, friends, coworkers, randoms on the street if they have seen The Thing and who they thought was the alien at the end. The consensus i got was that either the alien is Childs, or neither of them at all. My opinion differs from this, and my reasoning all comes from the details. It is said that in the movie Coraline every little small detail is placed in the exact spot for the exact reason, and I like to think that The Thing is that way too. The Thing is very detail heavy as it is, and I seem to have to break down every detail in hyper fixation, and this is what I have come up with. 

I think MacReady is assimilated, and Childs is still human. 

I have many reasons to believe this, but it really comes down to two key things: what MacReady says and how he says it, and the music cues. Throughout the entire movie thus far, MacReady has been at the forefront of the team’s survival. He’s made the plans, laid out all the details, and did what he had to do to survive. So why at the end would he say “I think we should just wait here for a while… See what happens…”

It’s clear what will happen. The fires will go out, the storm will come, and they will both freeze to death. But that is where I think the answer lies. It was previously established that the alien wants to freeze. It wants to freeze so that when spring comes and the new team arrives it can either take over them too and the rest of the world or take over them and take their resources so it can go home. This whole time MacReady was steadfast on surviving and killing the alien, until that very moment. Why would he just give up like that? I don’t think he would. 

The main reason I think it’s MacReady though is the music cues of the scene. The slow music that plays as Childs speaks to him, but it’s the small pang of music that plays as Childs drinks the whiskey that I think holds the answer. John Carpenter has already stated that the bottle itself isn’t the answer and that what is in the bottle is irrelevant, but its the smile on MacReady’s face as Childs drinks that makes me think that way as well. Earlier in the film it was stated that assimilation could happen via bodily fluids and by using food utensils and drinking after each other. The fact that the music pangs and MacReady laughs as Childs drinks. 

The Thing is one of the greatest movies ever made, and it never gets old. It’s aged incredibly well, the tension still hits, and it’s just a good time all around. I don’t think we will ever find out who is who at the end, and I don’t think we really should. The mystery is the beauty of it, and that’s what makes this movie what it is. It makes you think about what would and could happen if something like this ever did happen, and about what you would do in a situation like that. The Thing is a comfort movie through and through for me, and I hope you watch it if you haven’t seen it.