The Thing story

movie: The Thing (1982) · 1982-06-25

The film tells the story of a group of American researchers in Antarctica who encounter the eponymous "Thing", a parasitic extraterrestrial life-form that assimilates, then imitates other organisms.

8 total · 5 major · 3 minor

ThemeLevelMotivation
bio-mimicking life form major The Thing was a parasitic alien that consumed and imitated other organisms.
extraterrestrial being major The Thing came to Antarctica from outer space.
invasive life form from outer space major Blair speculated that the Thing planned to imitate a human to get off Antarctica and take over everyone in the wold. The rest of the story involved stopping The Thing from getting out, at any cost.
mistrust major Everyone suspected everyone else of being the Thing.
trust in a potential foe major time and again people struggles with whether to trust another person or not - they just might be The Thing
aliens meddling in ancient history minor It was mentioned, perhaps jokingly, that aliens gave technology to ancient South American peoples.
flying saucer minor The Thing crashed its flying saucer in Antarctica thousands of years ago.
sacrifice for one's people minor the remaining characters at the end agreed that they kill the thing even if they'd die themselves, to save mankind