10 More Disturbing Things Found In The Background Of Horror Movies
9. Blair's Noose - The Thing (1982)
John Carpenter's sci-fi horror masterpiece The Thing has a bevy of background details both awesome and mortifying, and here's one that's often ignored.
After biologist Blair (Wilford Brimley) grows dangerously paranoid and attempts to destroy any means of escape from the Antarctic research base, the rest of the group locks him inside the tool shed.
Later, MacReady (Kurt Russell) goes to check on Blair, who asks to be released from the shed, insisting that he's calmed down and back to normal now.
MacReady ultimately refuses in case Blair is infected, and there's a dead giveaway in the back of the frame, right next to Blair, that this is absolutely the right decision.
Note the noose that's hanging right by Blair, which suggests that, at some point, Blair prepared to hang himself to give the Thing one less person to inhabit.
However, the creature ultimately assimilated him before he could go through with it, leaving the noose hanging there for all to see. It's incredibly easy to take the noose for granted, and yet it's a fantastic sliver of grim visual storytelling.