THE THING Director John Carpenter Knows Who's Not Human at the End of the Movie
John Carpenter’s classic sci-fi horror thriller The Thing is loved by, pretty much, every movie fan. It tells a well-crafted and thrilling story and the SFX work that was done for the movie is amazing. One of the other aspects I love about the movie is the ending. With only two characters left alive, we’re never really sure which one is human and which one was taken over by the alien creature.
The Thing cinematographer Dean Cundey offered some commentary on the scene in the Blu-ray release for the film, and he shares what he believes is a clue to who is human and who has been taken over:
“So we were looking for some kind of a subtle way, to say which one of these [men] might be human. You’ll notice there’s always an eye light, we call it, a little gleam in the eye of the actor. It gives life. ‘That eye light’ is supposedly a tell, as survivors MacReady (Kurt Russell) and Childs (Keith David) wait it out to see what’s what before the credits roll.”
However, while promoting his new series, John Carpenter’s Suburban Screams, the director responded to that claim, saying:
“He has no clue. He has no clue. Yes, I know. I know who’s the Thing and who’s not in the very end. He has no idea. He puts the lights up. He puts the lights up, and we were in the snow. He has no clue.”
When asked by the outlet if he would want Cundey to know what he really thinks, Carpenter mischievously added, “You tell him that. Tell him he’s full of shit.”
This is a big secret detail that Carpenter is keeping to himself. I’m not sure if he’ll ever reveal it, and you know what, I’d be fine if he never does reveal it. I personally just like the mystery of it. I’d like to think that it’s Russell’s MacReady, that the main character of the story didn’t really make it. What do you think?
Source: CB