History NightmareFuel / TheThing1982

* The main theme itself: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsMH-sdznh8 dun dun.... dun dun... dun dun... dun dun...]]

* The main theme itself: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7Tn1Y-ERCE dun dun.... dun dun... dun dun... dun dun...]]

* The blood test is one of the greatest jump scares of all time. Especially great is how we're made to expect one of two characters is a Thing. [=MacReady=], easily the smartest and most competent of them, is still haranguing them about who ''he'' thinks the Thing is - Garry - and casually puts the hot wire to the blood of someone he expects to be human - Palmer. IT FUCKING EXPLODES. The blood ''screeches'', and it's [[HellIsthatNoise the most hideous sound]], then oozes off while its owner begins another horrifying transformation...

* Hell, even before the Dog-Thing outed itself, the dog it was disguised as was off-the-scale creepy. It's no spoiler to point out that something's Just Not Right about that dog from the first time you see it. [[UncannyValley It stands perfectly still, and stares, and never wags its tail.]] You can see it coolly calculating and planning, waiting for the right moment. And that music...

* Oh, one last thing; official production information explicitly makes it clear that ''[[FridgeHorror living beings replaced by the Thing don't always know it.]]''

** And one last thing; official production information confirmed that ''[[FridgeHorror humans beings replaced by the Thing don't always know it.]]''

* The part where after eating a man's arms with a mouth in its chest, one of the monsters pulls its own head away from its flaming body, after which it (the head) then sprouts legs and eye-stalks and tries to scuttle out the door. Not to mention how before that its organs jumped from its body, grew a head, neck and legs and clung to a vent to try an escape.

* Let's start with the Dog-Thing. The moment it is alone with the other dogs, it ''peels the face off the skull'' of the dog it was disguised as, discards the skull, grows a huge batch of CombatTentacles and a bunch of spider legs, and goes right to work on its kennel-mates. The absolutely ''horrifying'' noises that start coming from the kennel attract Clark's attention, and cause [=MacReady=] to hit the fire alarm to bring everyone running. What they find in there is a scene ''straight out of Creator/HPLovecraft'': ''Something'' is busily wrapping the other dogs in tentacles and ''digesting them alive''. The horror momentarily paralyzes the other men until [=MacReady=] takes charge and orders someone to fetch the flamethrower.

** It gets even ''worse'' when the Palmer-Thing is ''finally'' set on [[KillItWithFire fire]] . Normally fire quickly kills an outed Thing, but the Palmer-Thing is made of stronger stuff. It wails ''angrily'' and attempts to attack [=MacReady=], chomping its mouth at him as if it wasn't even fazed by the flames. That moment alone is one of most frightening images in the entire film; the image of a Thing coming ''right at you'', trying to bite your face off while on FIRE!

* The setting: a remote base in an uninhabited corner of the world. With the winter storm, they can't contact anyone in the outside world. If things go wrong, they can't call for help... because there's ''nobody who will hear the call.''

* The scene with Blair at the computer before shit well and truly starts hitting the fan is quite chilling in a simple way, calling to mind the "Crew expendable" scene from ''Film/{{Alien}}''. We see a pixelated animation of how the Thing assimilates and copies other living cells, which happens alarmingly quickly. Blair then tries predicting how likely it is that one of the team members has been infected. The answer: ''[[WhamLine 75% probability]]''. And to make it worse, it's then predicted that if the Thing made it into civilized areas, it could potentially take 27,000 days for the ''entire population'' to be assimilated unless it was stopped (that's 1125 days, or a little over three years). It's at this moment both Blair and the audience realise just how dire the situation is.

* And right after the blood test, Palmer's transformation begins, with two other guys flailing and screaming bloody murder ''because they've been tied together with him''
** It was Palmer; in detail, Palmer begins to convulse violently before he starts [[EyeScream bleeding from the eyes]] while the new Palmer-Thing lets out an ungodly scream. His head [[BodyHorror swells in gross, bleeding bumps which push the liquefied eyeballs out of the sockets]] (the pic at the top is merely the ''start'' of this), busts out of the rope, then splits down the middle to reveal a [[BodyHorror giant, tooth-filled maw]]. Once transformed, it wraps a long tongue around Windows' neck, pulls his head into the maw, and proceeds to give him an absolutely '''brutal''' mauling while [=MacReady=] is fumbling with the flamethrower...
** It gets even ''worse'' when the Palmer-Thing is set on [[KillItWithFire fire]] . Normally fire quickly kills an outed Thing, but with the Palmer-Thing, it wails ''angrily'' and attempts to attack [=MacReady=], chomping its mouth at him as if it wasn't even fazed by the flames. That moment alone is one of most frightening images in the entire film; the image of a Thing coming ''right at you'', trying to bite your face off while on FIRE!

** Some TV broadcasts of the film include an unnamed narrator who introduces the setting and the main characters. At the end he returns and speaks over an additional scene of a dog-Thing [[TheBadGuyWins very much alive]] and running away from the wreckage of Outpost 31. The narrator then speaks directly to the viewers telling them to '[[ParanoiaFuel watch the person next to you]], [[CallBack watch them very closely]].'

''The Thing'' is often described as one of the most {{Gorn}}-filled and downright ''terrifying'' films of all time, chock full of some of the highest-octane NightmareFuel there is. '''There is a very [[ParanoiaFuel good]] [[BodyHorror reason]] for this.'''

''The Thing'' is often described as one of the scariest, most {{Gorn}} filled and downright ''terrifying'' films of all time, chock full of some of the highest-octane NightmareFuel there is. '''There is a very [[ParanoiaFuel good]] [[BodyHorror reason]] for this.'''

** According to the commentary track featuring Creator/JohnCarpenter, the animal actor (his name was [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jed_(wolfdog) Jed]]) didn't need special training to perform the creepy deliberateness and intensity because he was half-wolf. Because Jed was a highly trained but half-wild animal, he doesn't act like other dogs do. The stillness and staring all comes from the wolf in him. On set, the actors were genuinely spooked by him, despite his good behavior.

** According to the commentary track featuring Creator/JohnCarpenter, the animal actor (his name was [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jed_(wolfdog) Jed]]) didn't need special training to perform the creepy deliberateness and intensity because he was half-wolf. Because Jed was a highly trained but half-wild animal, he doesn't act like other dogs do. The stillness and staring all comes from the wolf in him. On set, the actors were genuinely spooked by him, despite his long career as an animal actor.

** According to the commentary track featuring Creator/JohnCarpenter, the dog was not prompted for any of the behavior that's so damn creepy (pausing as if to listen for anyone who might discover it, the slow and deliberate walk, and as mentioned above, the intent look on its face). They only trained it to hit its marks on set -- the creepiness is all-natural. That's because the dog is actually half-wolf. That standing still and staring is it getting spooked by something; while it was well-trained, the actors were genuinely scared of it.

* The same sound is heard when the Blair-Thing shows up to kill Garry]] by MORPHING HIS HAND INTO HIS MOUTH, the scene afterwards we're shown his body being dragged by the hand melded mouth.

* The scene where a guy begins to go into convulsions as he transforms into a Thing, with two other guys flailing and screaming bloody murder ''because they've been tied together with him''

* The way that the Bennings-Thing looks up when they catch up to it. It looks up at them with a completely inhuman gaze with [[BlackEyesOfEvil jet black irises]], reveals the bloody masses of half-grown tentacles at the ends of the arms, and starts giving off an [[HellIsThatNoise unearthly wailing.]] After they burn it, the momentary relief is followed by the [[ParanoiaFuel realisation by the team:]] ''Blair is not with them and nobody knows where he is.''
* The blood test is one of the greatest jump scares of all time. Especially great is how we're made to expect one of two characters is a Thing. [=MacReady=], easily the smartest and most competent of them, is still haranguing them about who ''he'' thinks the Thing is - Garry - and casually puts the hot wire to the blood of someone he expects to be human. IT FUCKING EXPLODES. The blood ''screeches'', and it's the most hideous sound, then oozes off while its owner begins another horrifying transformation...

* The way that the Bennings-Thing looks up when they catch up to it. It looks up at them with a completely inhuman gaze, the irises a [[BlackEyesOfEvil jet black]], reveals the bloody masses of half-grown tentacles at the ends of the arms, and starts giving off an [[HellIsThatNoise unearthly wailing.]] After they burn it, the momentary relief is followed by the [[ParanoiaFuel realisation by the team:]] ''Blair is not with them and nobody knows where he is.''

* The way that the Bennings-Thing looks up when they catch up to it. It looks up at them with a completely inhuman gaze, reveals the bloody masses of half-grown tentacles at the ends of the arms, and starts giving off an [[HellIsThatNoise unearthly wailing.]] After they burn it, the momentary relief is followed by the [[ParanoiaFuel realisation by the team:]] ''Blair is not with them and nobody knows where he is.''

* The Bennings scene. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0Z44BIDPPc Absolutely everything about this scene is horrific in every sense]]. The first slow pan from a chair, covered in blood, with a shredded uniform in it. Then you - and Windows - hear the noise. He slowly turns his head to the source of the noise - Bennings being consumed by the '''''VERY MUCH ALIVE''''' Split-Face-Thing, tentacles pouring out of every orifice. It ends with him just softly whispering [[PrecisionFStrike "holy shit"]], dropping the key - and running for his life.

** And it gets worse: They starts pumping shotgun shells into it, which of course just ''pisses it off''. It grows a pair of very large limbs - that look like ''nothing'' of this Earth -- and skitters itself up to the ceiling, making [[HellIsthatNoise high pitched squeaking noises]]. ''Human eyes'' start appearing in the main mass (the first clue that it isn't just dogs that got assimilated). When Childs finally shows up with the flamethrower, the Dog-Thing grows another tentacle - with a ''mouth made of radially arranged dog tongues'' - and attempts to attack him with it. He snaps out of it just in time and hastily immolates the Dog-Thing. Unfortunately, that didn't necessarily mean that it was dead...

** And it gets worse: They starts pumping shotgun shells into it, which of course just ''pisses it off''. It grows a pair of very large limbs - that look like ''nothing'' of this Earth -- and hauls itself up to the ceiling, making [[HellIsthatNoise high pitched noises]]. ''Human eyes'' start appearing in the main mass (the first clue that it isn't just dogs that got assimilated). When Childs finally shows up with the flamethrower, the Dog-Thing grows another tentacle - with a ''mouth made of radially arranged dog tongues'' - and attempts to attack him with it. He snaps out of it just in time and hastily immolates the Dog-Thing. Unfortunately, that didn't necessarily mean that it was dead...