Current Events > Who was infected at the end of The Thing? *spoilers*

(+) Yeah! (+)

Macready, Childs, or both?

Neither

---

kuwab0 posted...

Neither

The director confirmed at least one was infected

It's Childs. He's been 'wandering' in the snow that long, ignoring the screams and the clear lights from the various fires and explosions?

If you look at discourse about it, the actor agrees, and the cinamatographer gave the living people visible breath and a gleam in their eyes; these are absent in all scenes with the Thing outside.

And the music starts JUST when Macready takes his first sip, because Childs just infected him.

---

ShyOx posted...

It's Childs. He's been 'wandering' in the snow that long, ignoring the screams and the clear lights from the various fires and explosions?

If you look at discourse about it, the actor agrees, and the cinamatographer gave the living people visible breath and a gleam in their eyes; these are absent in all scenes with the Thing outside.

And the music starts JUST when Macready takes his first sip, because Childs just infected him.

The breath and eyes thing have mostly been debunked, but most everything else points to Childs. At the same time, I've seen multiple convincing theories about the silhouette turned by the dog (aka the first one infected) and unfortunately they are not in agreement (one is Norris and the other is Palmer, based on the silhouette having to be Palmer based on clithes but in the other theory, clearing Palmer because he shared a joint with Nawles without infecting him). Back to Childs/Mac, there is also a theory about the whiskey bottle but even that has convincjng arguments against it. Logically, Childs makes more sense but it isn't entirely confirmed from what I have seen.

(Spoilers for 2011 The Thing below)

Basically Childs disappearing for a while when shit was going down was paralleled in the prequel by Lars, and by the end, he was still human, as he was trying to kill the dog-thing and was one of the helicopter guys at the beginning of the original, so Childs' absence doesn't necessarily mean he was infected.

In any case, I personally don't care and I'm content not knowing for sure either way. I really enjoy the movie and it doesn't lose anything from the ambiguity of the ending. I even thought the prequel was worth watching (CG was shit and should have had practical effects only... plus more character development, but other than that it wasn't bad).
---

If the video game is canon then its Childs.

---

fan357 posted...

If the video game is canon then its Childs.

If the video game is canon, then it's neither of them.

---

fan357 posted...

If the video game is canon then its Childs.

Except he just freezes to death and was never assimilated

---

I always assumed that it was neither of them.

---

Irony posted...

Except he just freezes to death and was never assimilated

Do you find his body? I dont remember that.

---

GregShmedley posted...

I'd like to see a sequel where it somehow reaches the mainland. Maybe it can hit some remote village or something and then eventually reaches a major city.

Apparently, The Thing, Prince of Darkness and In the Mouth of Madness are a canon trilogy.
---

fan357 posted...

Do you find his body? I dont remember that.

Yep



---

I thought they were both confirmed to be human then died of cold

If the prequel and game are canon, does that mean all 3 are just one long anthology of the story? They all share the same name and tell 1 connected story

---

sLaCkEr408___RJ posted...

I thought they were both confirmed to be human then died of cold

---

Middle hope posted...

If the prequel and game are canon, does that mean all 3 are just one long anthology of the story? They all share the same name and tell 1 connected story

The prequel and first movie probably since the ending of the prequel basically transitions into the dog chase scene in the first movie. The game feels more standalone

---

Machete posted...

Apparently, The Thing, Prince of Darkness and In the Mouth of Madness are a canon trilogy.

No, theyre a thematic trilogy. Not linked at all, but all movies about a possible end of the world scenario.

The Thing, Prince of Darkness and In the Mouth of Madness are all awesome.

Also The Void.

Also Halloween AND Halloween 2 (1 and 2 are both awesome but carpenter didn't direct 2).

Also They Live.

GregShmedley posted...

I'd like to see a sequel where it somehow reaches the mainland. Maybe it can hit some remote village or something and then eventually reaches a major city.

I would suggest the comics where that happened but they suck so I won't.

---

BlakPeppa posted...

No, theyre a thematic trilogy. Not linked at all, but all movies about a possible end of the world scenario.

Wait does Mouth of Madness parallel the Lovecraft story?

Ruvan22 posted...

Wait does Mouth of Madness parallel the Lovecraft story?

It takes influence but theres a lot of director license going on too iirc. Easily one of my favorite horror films ever.

---