10 Alternate Endings That Almost Ruined Classic Horror Movies
3. The Thing
The Proper Ending: After
seeing the majority of the Antarctica-based research crew assimilated and
maimed by the titular Thing, director John Carpenter ends his cult classic on
an open-ended note with protagonist MacReady and his surviving colleague Childs
– both suspecting the other is hosting the Thing-creature – sitting outside the
ruins of their blown-up research base.
As they accept they’re likely to freeze to death and their distrust of each other is useless, MacReady and Childs share one last bottle of Scotch. It’s brilliantly ambiguous, nihilistic and one of the best horror movie endings of the last few decades.
The Awful Alternate Ending: In a far cheerier and far inferior finale, MacReady is rescued and takes a blood test that proves he hasn’t been assimilated by the Thing and is still human. How happy, how conclusive, how Hollywood.
A less ambiguous ending and a definite survivor would’ve left The Thing wide open to who knows how many terrible sequels that you just know would’ve destroyed the sanctity of the original film.