10 Horror Movie Secrets We All Missed
2. An STD Poster Confirms The Film's Central Conflict - The Thing
The center-piece of John Carpenter's The Thing is the iconic blood test sequence, in which MacReady (Kurt Russell) tests blood samples of the remaining team members by contacting them with a heated copper wire, in turn hoping to deduce who has been assimilated by the alien creature.
Academics have often cited the movie and this scene in particular as an allegory for the AIDS/HIV epidemic which dominated the 1980s, focused on a group of men paranoid about who may or may not be infected with a deadly disease.
There's an Easter egg hidden within the scene which actually nods to this reading, as behind MacReady's head a poster is visible which reads, "They aren't labelled, chum."
Given that the poster is clearly about STDs - the woman is holding a note which says, "I have VD!" - it not only offers a cute reminder that The Thing can't simply be detected by looks alone, but confirms the thematic link between the alien and the AIDS panic of the era.