The now iconic blood take a look at scene in “The Thing” takes place after the Outpost crew has already witnessed the titular Thing successfully imitate a few of their very own. Realizing that the imitative blood will not “obey” the identical approach a human being’s blood does and that it’ll attempt to survive by any means essential, chief R.J. MacReady (Kurt Russell) decides to take samples of everybody’s blood and put a scorching needle to the disc containing it, thereby figuring out which members of the group are already contaminated.
The total scene is stuffed with dread, as Carpenter makes use of silence and close-ups to maintain the viewers entranced by the inevitability. We know that somebody within the group goes to be revealed as contaminated, it is solely a matter of who and when. As every individual is examined and sighs with aid as they’re proven to nonetheless be human, the anticipation solely grows an increasing number of intense. There’s no approach we’re not going to see an alien burst from inside certainly one of our beloved characters, and Carpenter retains the viewers in agonizing wait earlier than revealing who it’s. Carpenter additionally manipulates the viewers’s expectations and weaponizes them in opposition to us, consistently lulling us all right into a false sense of safety earlier than delivering a proverbial kick to the again of the knees and bowling us over with terror.
MacReady is satisfied that Garry is the one contaminated, and due to this fact, so too does the viewers, which makes the swerve that it is Palmer that’s really a Thing in disguise all of the simpler. The squealing soar scare of his blood capturing out of the disc appears like an adrenaline injection on to the center; an execution of one of many biggest scares in horror historical past.