The Thing

The Thing (1982)









The Thing is a 1982 American science fiction horror film directed by John Carpenter from a screenplay by Bill Lancaster. It tells the story of a group of American researchers in Antarctica who encounter the eponymous "Thing", an extraterrestrial life-form that assimilates, then imitates, other organisms. The Thing was released in 1982 to negative reviews that described it as "instant junk" and "a wretched excess". Critics both praised the special effects achievements and criticized their visual repulsiveness. The film eventually found a receptive audience when released on home video and television. In the subsequent years, it has been reappraised as one of the best science fiction and horror films ever made and has gained a cult following. The film stars Kurt Russell as the team's helicopter pilot R.J. MacReady, with A. Wilford Brimley, T. K. Carter, David Clennon, Keith David, Richard Dysart, Charles Hallahan, Peter Maloney, Richard Masur, Donald Moffat, Joel Polis, and Thomas G. Waites in supporting roles.

Two versions of The Thing are included, a 30Hz FHD version and a 60Hz 4K version. Both have been denoised and sharpened using the Neat Video Pro V5 plugin for VirtualDub2. The hue, saturation, brightness, and contrast were adjusted using AviSynth. Further video enhancement was performed using the Topaz Video Enhance AI software. Video and audio encoding details can be found in the Media Info data provided above.

Lastly, a Massive Spoiler, much to the dismay of some, is included following the Media Info. You have been warned!

Storyline

A US research station, Antarctica, early-winter 1982. The base is suddenly buzzed by a helicopter from the nearby Norwegian research station. They are trying to kill a dog that has escaped from their base. After the destruction of the Norwegian chopper the members of the US team fly to the Norwegian base, only to discover them all dead or missing. They do find the remains of a strange creature the Norwegians burned. The Americans take it to their base and deduce that it is an alien life form. After a while it is apparent that the alien can take over and assimilate into other life forms, including humans, and can spread like a virus. This means that anyone at the base could be inhabited by The Thing, and tensions escalate.

Media Info 30Hz FHD Version

General

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File size : 12.9 GiB
Duration : 1 h 48 min
Overall bit rate : 17.0 Mb/s
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Video

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Duration : 1 h 48 min
Bit rate : 7 475 kb/s
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Height : 820 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 2.35:1
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Audio

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Duration : 1 h 48 min
Bit rate mode : Constant
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Delay relative to video : -83 ms
Stream size : 6.99 GiB (54%)
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Media Info 60Hz 4K Version

General

Format : Matroska
Format version : Version 4
File size : 19.5 GiB
Duration : 1 h 48 min
Overall bit rate : 25.7 Mb/s
Writing application : Lavf60.4.100
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Video

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Codec ID : V_MPEGH/ISO/HEVC
Duration : 1 h 48 min
Bit rate : 16.0 Mb/s
Width : 3 840 pixels
Height : 1 640 pixels
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Audio

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Codec ID : A_PCM/FLOAT/IEEE
Duration : 1 h 48 min
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 9 216 kb/s
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Sampling rate : 48.0 kHz
Bit depth : 32 bits
Delay relative to video : -83 ms
Stream size : 6.99 GiB (36%)
Writing library : Lavc60.6.100 hevc_nvenc
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Massive Spoiler

In Antarctica, a Norwegian helicopter pursues a sled dog to an American research station. The Americans witness the passenger accidentally blow up the helicopter and himself. The pilot fires a rifle and shouts at the Americans, but they cannot understand him and he is shot dead in self-defense by station commander, Garry. The American helicopter pilot, R.J. MacReady, and Dr. Copper leave to investigate the Norwegian base. Among the charred ruins and frozen corpses, they find the burnt corpse of a malformed humanoid, which they transfer to the American station. Their biologist, Blair, autopsies the remains and finds a normal set of human organs.

Clark kennels the sled dog, and it soon metamorphoses and absorbs several of the station dogs. This disturbance alerts the team, and Childs uses a flamethrower to incinerate the creature. Blair autopsies the Dog-Thing and surmises it is an organism that can perfectly imitate other life-forms. Data recovered from the Norwegian base leads the Americans to a large excavation site containing a partially buried alien spacecraft, which Norris estimates has been buried for over a hundred thousand years, and a smaller, human-sized dig site. Blair grows paranoid after running a computer simulation that indicates the creature could assimilate all life on Earth in a matter of years. The group implements controls to reduce the risk of assimilation.

The remains of the malformed humanoid assimilate an isolated Bennings, but Windows interrupts the process and MacReady burns the Bennings-Thing. The team also imprisons Blair in a tool shed after he sabotages all the vehicles, kills the remaining sled dogs, and destroys the radio to prevent escape. Copper suggests testing for infection by comparing the crew's blood against uncontaminated blood held in storage, but after learning the blood stores have been destroyed, the men lose faith in Garry's leadership, and MacReady takes command. He, Windows, and Nauls find Fuchs's burnt corpse and surmise he committed suicide to avoid assimilation. Windows returns to base while MacReady and Nauls investigate MacReady's shack. During their return, Nauls abandons MacReady in a snowstorm, believing he has been assimilated after finding his torn clothes in the shack.

The team debates whether to allow MacReady inside, but he breaks in and holds the group at bay with dynamite. During the encounter, Norris appears to suffer a heart attack. As Copper attempts to defibrillate Norris, his chest transforms into a large mouth and bites off Copper's arms, killing him. MacReady incinerates the Norris-Thing, but its head detaches and attempts to escape before also being burnt. MacReady hypothesizes that the Norris-Thing demonstrated that every part of the Thing is an individual life-form with its own survival instinct. He proposes testing blood samples from each survivor with a heated piece of wire and has each man restrained, but is forced to kill Clark after he lunges at MacReady with a scalpel. Everyone passes the test except Palmer, whose blood recoils from the heat. Exposed, the Palmer-Thing transforms, breaks free of its bonds, and infects Windows, forcing MacReady to incinerate them both.

Childs is left on guard while the others go to test Blair, but they find that he has escaped, and has been using vehicle components to assemble a small flying saucer, which they destroy. Upon their return, Childs is missing, and the power generator is destroyed, leaving the men without heat. MacReady speculates that, with no escape left, the Thing intends to return to hibernation until a rescue team arrives. MacReady, Garry, and Nauls agree that the Thing cannot be allowed to escape and set explosives to destroy the station, but the Blair-Thing kills Garry, and Nauls disappears. The Blair-Thing transforms into an enormous creature and breaks the detonator, but MacReady triggers the explosives with a stick of dynamite, destroying the station.

While MacReady sits by the burning remnants, Childs returns, claiming he got lost in the storm while pursuing Blair. Exhausted and slowly freezing to death, they acknowledge the futility of their distrust and share a bottle of Scotch whisky.