10 Ambiguous Movie Endings That Had Ridiculously Simple Solutions
6. The Thing
The Ambiguous Ending: Is The Thing dead?
The real terror of The Thing is the lack of knowing. Until you hear that unmistakable screech (or see someones blood fly sky high), theres no way of knowing if youre with a human or an alien of unknown origin. Ignoring the silly remake/prequels (premake?) introduction of a weakness (it cant replicate inorganic matter so with leave behind fillings and earrings), its a totally formidable foe. Which is what makes the ending of John Carpenters sci-fi-horror so terrifying. Kurt Russels MacReady has seemingly destroyed the monster, but Keith Davids Childs has somehow survived. As their share a bottle of whiskey, the audience is left wondering if either one of these men is the thing from outer space.
The Simple Solution: Just watch the film.
Theres been this mystery since The Thing first morphed onto our screens in 1982. Now its easy to take the material produced in the world of the film after its release as proof; in the comics The Thing survives and in a 2003 video game we discover in the final level so did MacReady. But while that works as a good, if unofficial explanation, you dont really need to look beyond the film for a definitive answer. Again ignoring the remake, if the thing is alone with only one human itll immediately assimilate it. MacReady knows the rest of the team is dead, as would Childs if he was the thing, so the fact he stays human means that he is. The films own internal logic solves this one easily.