Now, here’s the kicker: Some scenes were shot on location in real Antarctica. Not for the movie, though—for a documentary called “The Thing: Terror Takes Shape.” Carpenter sent a second unit crew to the frozen continent to capture authentic helicopter shots and wide, blizzardy panoramas. And boom, they got scared silly. The crew reported that the actual Antarctic wind sounded exactly like the alien’s shriek in the film—spontaneous, eerie coincidences that made them pack up early. I guess when reality starts imitating your horror movie, you call it a wrap.
And here’s the really wild part: the original 1982 film wasn’t the first “The Thing.” There was a 1951 version called “The Thing from Another World” where the alien was a vegetarian plant monster that froze to death in the Arctic. Yes, a vegetarian. It wanted to eat your cabbages, not your face. That film took place in the Arctic, not Antarctica, and was shot on a soundstage in… you guessed it, Los Angeles (specifically, the RKO Studios). The Arctic set was a fake snow wonderland made of salt and soap flakes, and the cast would sneeze mid-dialogue from the dust. Truly, the golden age of cinema.
John Carpenter's The Thing 1982
The Surprising Culprit: Where You Think It Happened
Here’s a fun party trick: ask your friends where “The Thing” takes place. Nine out of ten will say Antarctica. But the 1951 version is set in the Arctic, and the 2011 prequel (yes, there’s a 2011 prequel—don’t @ me) also hops around. The prequel was filmed in Toronto, Canada, standing in for Antarctica. So really, “The Thing” has taken place in: a Los Angeles soundstage, a Toronto warehouse, a documentary’s real Antarctica, and a bowl of soap flakes. That’s four locations for a shape-shifter that can only be one place at a time.
Oh, and here’s a jaw-dropper: the dog in the 1982 film (the first to be “thingified”) was played by a real dog named Jed. Jed was so well-behaved that they trained him to walk on his hind legs for the alien transformation—a scene that made several crew members cry because Jed looked so confused. Poor guy just wanted a treat. And where did Jed live? In a nice warm kennel in Hollywood. Meanwhile, the fake snow on set was made from snowcrete, a mixture of plaster and water that, when inhaled, gave actors “snow lung.” Yes, that’s a real condition. John Carpenter basically invented a new respiratory disease for his movie.
THE THING 2011 (Alien Biology, Assimilation + Ending) EXPLAINED - YouTube
