The Thing's ending sees Kurt Russell's MacReady and Keith David's Childs as the only survivors, with the final scene not providing a definitive answer as to which one is the eponymous alien.
John Carpenter's The Thing — the film that could have starred Rick Dalton — has one of the great open endings. There are only two survivors of the shape-shifting alien beastie: Kurt Russell's MacReady and Keith David's Childs.
The eye light theory states that humans were marked with a light in their eyes by the film's director of photography, Dean Cundey. At the end of the film, Childs does not have the eye light, and MacReady does.
MacReady returns in the 2002 video game sequel to The Thing to assist the U.S. Rescue Team investigating Outpost 31 in destroying The Thing. MacReady's survival is never explained, though the game is set 3 months after the events at Outpost 31.
As predicted, the vast majority of the prequel's characters are dead by the time credits roll, though Winstead's Kate has managed to (at least temporarily) stop the monster from escaping Antarctica in its spaceship. The Thing 2011 ends on an ambiguous note for Kate, though the original script made his fate very clear.
THE THING (1982) Breakdown | Ending Explained, Why Childs Was A Thing, Theories & Hidden Details
Is The Thing dead at the end of The Thing?
The movie's ending is famously ambiguous, with Kurt Russell's MacReady and Keith David's Childs the only two men left alive. It's left up to viewers to decide whether the alien lives on in one of them.
What happens to Kate at the end of The Thing 2011?
Like the 1982 film, the fate of the protagonist of 2011's The Thing is left vague in the movie's ending. Kate Lloyd remains in a similar position to the original's MacReady and Childs. Even if she is able to drive the other snow vehicle out across the landscape, there is no guarantee that she will find any help.
Blair-Thing transforms into an enormous creature and breaks the detonator, but MacReady triggers the explosives with a stick of dynamite, destroying the station and the monster. In the final scene, Childs returns as MacReady sits by the burning remnants, saying he became lost in the storm while pursuing Blair.
Cundey suggested that throughout the film a specific light gleam can be seen in the eyes of whichever body is currently inhabiting the alien. A light gleam can be seen in Childs' eyes in the final scene, which would mean he's infected with the Thing under Cundey's theory.
The most common read on the ending of "The Thing" is that Childs is most likely a Thing, and there is some logic to that line of thinking. Childs disappears for the entirety of the finale until the very end when he comes back with a pretty bogus excuse of why he was gone.
MacReady then hands Childs the bottle of whiskey. He drinks from it and MacReady smiles to himself. Now the popular theory is that Macready had filled the bottle with gasoline. As Childs drinks from it and there is no reaction this is why the pilot is smiling.
Blair was eventually assimilated by the Thing and secretly constructs a small UFO underneath the shed where it plans to sleep through the winter until the rescue team arrives.
MacReady, Garry, and Nauls agree that the Thing cannot be allowed to escape and set explosives to destroy the station, but the Blair-Thing kills Garry, and Nauls disappears.
It's unclear when Palmer and Norris assimilated, but it's possible that one of them picked up the keys after Windows dropped them, destroyed the blood supply, and returned the keys somehow. With this in mind, most fans have pointed their fingers at Palmer, accusing him of the sabotage.
In venturing down into the basement of the camp to set TNT charges, Garry is killed by the infected Blair. Nauls disappears and is never seen again. MacReady comes face-to-face with the huge, tentacle Blair/Thing, which destroys his detonator.
Norwegian Passenger with Rifle : [in untranslated Norwegian] Get the hell away! That's not a dog, it's some sort of thing! It's imitating a dog, it isn't real! GET AWAY, YOU IDIOTS!
For example, in the blood test scene, the Palmer-Thing is tied up arm-to-arm alongside Garry. Yet the blood test proves Garry is still human and he is later assimilated for his troubles. Instead it's far more plausible that Norris was the one first assimilated during the dog encounter.
It is likely that Juliette was attacked and assimilated by Griggs in the bathroom and that the fillings and the blood in the shower belong to her. This is the first and so far only female Thing in both films.
Taking the form of a prequel, the 2011 revival — also titled The Thing, which isn't confusing at all — explains what occurred at the abandoned Norwegian camp explored by R.J. MacReady (Kurt Russell) and Doctor Copper (Richard Dysart) in the Carpenter film.
Rock-Like Physiology: As a result of being directly exposed to cosmic radiation, Ben has been transformed into an orange-colored, rock-like humanoid that gives him a high degree of invulnerability. One test performed on him showed his internal organs had also been affected, becoming rock-like as well.
Norris' torso and ribcage transform into a deep maw with sharp teeth. After killing Copper, further creatures were spawned from the biomass of Norris' body. Created when the Norris-Thing's head tore itself away from its burning body in a bid for self-preservation.
Lars, now revealed to have survived uninfected hiding in the building where Derek and Carter attacked him, demands at gunpoint that Matias show his teeth. Lars' dog, thought dead, emerges and runs away. Realizing that the dog is a Thing, Lars orders Matias to give chase in the helicopter.
With no other choice, Childs sacrifices himself to destroy the creature by blowing himself up while MacReady escaped the sub in a capsule. However, it would be later revealed that Childs was assimilated by the creature, who would later reveal itself to MacReady in Argentina.
As a revolutionary horror sci-fi film, John Carpenter's original The Thing is held in higher regard than the 2011 prequel for these five reasons. John Carpenter's The Thing released in 1982 to poor reception but has since been revered as a cult classic, ranking among some of the most well-known and best horror movies.
