The Thing Has A Major Spoiler In Its First 9 Minutes (But It Doesn’t Ruin The Movie)

John Carpenter’s The Thing is now a sci-fi and horror classic, and even though it has a major spoiler in its first minutes, it doesn’t ruin the movie. John Carpenter is one of the most influential filmmakers in the horror genre, and he continued his reign in the 1980s, mostly with sci-fi movies with touches of horror. One of his most notable works from the decade was The Thing, a sci-fi horror movie based on the 1938 novella Who Goes There? by John W. Campbell Jr., and despite not getting good reviews during its initial release nor being a box-office hit, it has gained a cult following.

The Thing follows a group of American researchers in Antarctica who come across a mysterious, extraterrestrial life form that assimilates and imitates other organisms. Because of this, the creature, referred to as “Thing”, can take the place of any person or animal, causing paranoia among the group as they no longer know who is still human and who is the Thing. The Thing is all about suspense and uncertainty as the Thing begins to take over, but the movie spoiled the Thing’s abilities in its first nine minutes, yet it didn’t ruin the rest of it.

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Why John Carpenter’s The Thing Originally Received Such Bad Reviews

John Carpenter’s The Thing is now one of the best horror movies ever, but when it was released in 1982, it received really bad reviews. Here’s why.

The Thing’s Norwegian Scientist Warned Everyone About The Creature

The Norwegians Had Already Dealt With The Thing

The Thing begins with a Norwegian helicopter going after a sled dog in Antarctica. The dog runs into the American research station, while the Norwegians land and one of them accidentally blows up the helicopter and his companion. The survivor approaches the American team as the dog is now with them, and points at the dog with his rifle. The Norwegian scientist yells a couple of things to the Americans, who don’t understand what he’s saying and thus don’t get why he wants to kill a dog that looked pretty innocent and sweet at that moment.

The Norwegian man tells the Americans to “get the hell away” from the dog as “that’s not a dog, it’s some sort of thing! It’s imitating a dog, it isn’t real! Get away you idiots!” before he shoots but accidentally harms one of the Americans instead of the dog. Unfortunately, the language barrier, the man accidentally shooting one of the Americans, and how they chase the dog with the intent of killing him raise immediate red flags on the American team, who kill the man and keep the dog, but had they known a bit of Norwegian, they probably wouldn’t have kept the dog.

Why The Norwegians’ Spoiler Doesn’t Ruin John Carpenter’s The Thing

The Norwegian Scientist Doesn’t Give Everything Away

Although the Norwegians tell the Americans that the dog isn’t a dog and is instead a “thing” imitating a dog, that doesn’t give all the twists and turns in The Thing away. The American team would still have had no idea of how dangerous the Thing really was and how fast it could take over by assimilating and imitating any living being – and they couldn’t have anticipated the chaos that the Thing’s presence would go on to cause.

In addition to that, The Thing’s Norwegian scientists have been pointed out by viewers to not be talking Norwegian clearly. Norwegian-speaking viewers have shared that the character wasn’t speaking Norwegian fluently and, instead, sounded more like an English person trying to speak Norwegian, with some finding that it had some hints of Danish. The Thing got away with having a big spoiler in its first nine minutes, as it didn’t give much away and allowed the audience to enjoy the rest of the movie.

The Thing (1982)

A team of researchers set out to study an alien spacecraft found in Antarctica, where they also discover an alien body on the site. The alien buried in ice is actually alive and has the ability to imitate human form. The group must find a way to distinguish who the real person is from The Thing and stay alive. John Carpenter’s 1982 film is a remake of 1951’s The Thing from Another World and stars Kurt Russel as the hero RJ MacReady.

Release Date

June 25, 1982

Cast

T.K. Carter , David Clennon , Keith David , Kurt Russell , wilford brimley

Runtime

109 minutes