The Thing (1982 Film) - Plot

Plot

A Norwegian helicopter hunting an Alaskan Malamute lands at an American Antarctic research station. As the Americans run out, a thermite charge destroys the helicopter and kills the pilot. The rifleman keeps firing at the dog and grazes Bennings, until he is killed by Lt. Garry, the station commander. Helicopter pilot R.J. MacReady and Dr. Copper fly to the Norwegian's camp for answers, but find only a burned ruin, with the body of a man who committed suicide and a large block of ice with a hollowed cavity. Outside they discover the burned remains of a humanoid corpse with two faces. They bring the corpse back to the station for an autopsy, but Blair can only tell them the creature's body contains a normal set of internal organs.

Clark kennels the Malamute with the rest of the station's sled dogs, where it metamorphoses and attacks them. MacReady hears the fight and hits the fire alarm, calling for a flamethrower, and Childs incinerates the creature. When Blair's autopsy reveals that the creature can perfectly imitate other beings, he suspects that anyone could be replaced and begins withdrawing from the others. The Norwegians' records lead the team to a massive crater containing a flying saucer and a hole left by the block of ice they suspect the creature came from. Blair calculates that the alien can assimilate Earth within three years if it reaches civilization, and Fuchs tells MacReady that the creature's "dead" remains are still active on a cellular level, according to Blair's journal.

Bennings is attacked by the creature's remains, but as he metamorphoses he is caught outside by the team and MacReady burns him before he can escape. MacReady notices Blair was conspicuously absent, then sees him run inside and discovers he has wrecked the helicopter. Blair has also wrecked the other transports and killed the sled dogs, and is destroying the radio when the team corners him and lock him in the tool shed. Determined to find out who is infected, they discover the blood stores have been sabotaged before they can perform the blood-serum test Copper recommends, and the men begin to turn on each other. MacReady takes charge and orders Fuchs to continue Blair's work, but he disappears when the power goes out. As a storm closes in, MacReady, Windows, and Nauls search outside and find Fuchs' burned body; MacReady theorizes that Fuchs burned himself before he could be assimilated. On the way back, Nauls cuts MacReady loose from the tow line, assuming he has been assimilated when he finds a torn shirt with MacReady's name on it. As the team debates MacReady's fate, he breaks in and threatens to dynamite the station if they attack him, and Norris suffers a heart attack.

When Copper attempts to revive Norris by defibrillation, his chest gapes open and closes like a giant mouth, biting off Copper's arms, who quickly dies from the injuries. MacReady incinerates the creature and orders Windows to tie up everyone for a new test, killing Clark when he tries to resist. MacReady explains his theory that every piece of the alien is an individual organism with its own survival instinct, that will react defensively when threatened. One by one he tests everyone's blood with a heated piece of copper wire. They are all still human except Palmer, who begins to metamorphose and attacks Windows, forcing MacReady to burn them both.

Leaving Childs on guard, the others head out to test Blair, only to find that he has tunneled under the tool shed. They realize that Blair is an alien who has scavenged the equipment he appeared to destroy in order to build a small escape craft. MacReady speculates that the alien intends to freeze itself until a rescue team arrives in the spring. They decide to dynamite the complex hoping to destroy the alien but Garry and Nauls are killed by Blair before they finish setting the explosives underground. Blair transforms into a larger monster and attacks, but MacReady dynamites the monster and the base explodes as he escapes. Stumbling through the burning ruins with a bottle of scotch, MacReady finds Childs, who claims he got lost in the storm while pursuing Blair. Exhausted and with virtually no hope of survival, they acknowledge the futility of their distrust, sharing the bottle as the camp burns.