#2. THE THING | Stream for $4 / Own for $13 @ Amazon.com
The original 1982 horror flick features what has always been considered one of the classic ambiguous endings. But is it? Kurt Russell’s MacReady and Keith David’s Childs sit in the burning ruin of their arctic outpost, unsure if one of them is the alien in disguise or not. There’s an “explanation” floating around (credited to director John Carpenter himself) that Childs is an alien because you don’t see his breath in the cold air (like you do MacReady’s).
This theory is easily rebuked, of course, if you WATCH THE GODDAMNED MOVIE (Child’s breath is visible). That said, Childs is an alien, but the evidence is more subtle. MacReady is hiding a flamethrower under his blanket, and plans to torch Childs – but not before giving him a drink of Scotch, just like he “gave” a drink of Scotch to the “cheating” chess computer at the start of the film. The parallel is there to establish MacReady as a strategist, and he’s calling checkmate.
