9 Horror Movies That Reward You For Paying Attention
7. The Opening Of The Thing Told Us What Was To Come
If you pay attention to the opening few minutes of John Carpenter's The Thing, you'll know all you need to know about the shape-shifting alien parasite that's at the centre of the film and about to cause all kinds of paranoid havoc.
Admittedly, the slight caveat here is that you would need to be able to understand Norwegian to be gifted this pivotal information, but still, Carpenter wasn't shy about revealing the truth about the torment that was lying ahead in this picture.
Setting the tone for Carpenter's iconic Antarctica-set 1982 offering, the film opens with a Norwegian helicopter in desperate pursuit of a sled dog that's heading to the US research station that serves as the central location of the movie.
That helicopter ends up exploding, but it's pilot screams at the US crew while attempting to shoot this problematic pooch. That poor pilot would end up being shot and killed for his troubles, but those who can speak Norwegian were all too aware that he was merely trying to warn his American peers.
To be precise, the Norwegian pilot pleads:
"Get the hell out of there! That's not a dog, it's some sort of thing! It's imitating a dog, it isn't real! Get away, you idiots!"
Another moment to pay attention to upon your next watch of The Thing, is the closing conversation between MacReady and Childs.
For those looking for the answer to the age-old question of whether it was MacReady or Childs who was the Thing at that point in time, the answer is there for all to see - as MacReady is the only one exhaling breath when he speaks.