20 Things You Didn't Know About The Thing

9. Stop-Motion Monster Scenes Were Filmed But Rejected

The Thing
Universal

Though the bulk of the film's Thing effects are ingenious works of vile puppetry, there was an original plan to use stop-motion animation for MacReady's final confrontation with the Blair-Thing monster.

Stop-motion legend Randall William Cook, who later won three Oscars for his visual effects work on The Lord of the Rings trilogy, created a miniature model of the film's set and created wide shots of the Blair-Thing flailing around.

However Carpenter was unhappy with the end result, and so only ended up using a few seconds of Cook's work in the final film. Thankfully, though, a more extensive glimpse of the raw animation was made available on The Thing's home video release:

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Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.