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John Carpenter ’s 1982 sci - fi / horror classicThe Thingis a mostly faithful adjustment of its book informant material , but here ’s what did get changed . Carpenter’sThe Thingis often call a remake of manager Christian Nyby ’s 1951 filmThe Thing from Another World , and while that makes for an acceptable shorthand , it ’s really not entirely lawful . Their stories are certainly very similar , but Carpenter clearly went back to author John W. Campbell ’s novellaWho Goes There?for inspiration , as his pic is much close-fitting to the ledger than the 1951 variant .
For instance , The Thing from Another World ’s monster is much different than that find out in Campbell ’s book or Carpenter ’s picture . While the beast is still thawed out from a block of ice - this clock time in Alaska , not Antarctica - what emerges is a mostly humanoid , plant - ground stranger that feed on blood to survive . This choice was partially due to limited effects at the meter not really making Campbell ’s demon potential to clear decent , and while it work fine for audiences at the time , Carpenter was able to realise Campbell ’s intent onscreen .
interrelate : Halloween 1978 cite The Thing ( Before John Carpenter ’s Movie Existed )
With that said , it would be much more precise to refer to Carpenter’sThe Thingas a re - adaptation of the book , and not a remaking of the 1951 movie . As faithful as it is though , some aspects of the plot and fibre did get altered , and here ’s what was changed .
The Thing: What John Carpenter’s Movie Changes From The Book
The first major modification John Carpenter’sThe Thingmakes to the novellaWho Goes There?is that the setting is update from its publication yr of 1938 to the then - present tense of 1982 . That makes sense , as it conduct a tidy sum of effort and money to make a credible context so far in the past . Another big variety is the addition of theNorwegian campand its gang , who were almost all bolt down and assimilate by The Thing before the American gang ’s story begins . In the rule book , the Americans discover The Thing ’s ship , accidentally destroy it in the process .
The Thingmovie also greatly bring down down on the American gang , reducing them from nigh 40 to only 12 . That was a great choice , as having that many characters float around onscreen would get unwieldy and hard to adopt , plus it grant the base to be little and more claustrophobic . Most of the characters in the film come along in the book , serving the same roles , outside ofChilds , who was devise for the flick . In one of the grownup plot changes , the principal method of killing a affair in the book is electrocution , as play off to the " pop it with fire " resolution onscreen .
In a alteration with interesting entailment , the book imply that an assimilated human may not be aware they ’re a Thing until the fauna direct control . The movie make it pretty clear that Things know full well they are n’t human , and scheme to ensure their own survival . The Thingmovie ’s famous ancestry mental test scene is actually very near to how it ’s written , with MacReady talk some dialogue verbatim . However , the test in the book leads to a different , happier ending , in which Blair is revealed to be the final matter , he ’s disposed of , and humanity wins .
More : Every Adaptation of The Thing Ranked , Worst to Best
