In the climactic minutes of the film, amidst the desolation caused by the shape-shifting creature and the flames consuming the research station, Childs (played by Keith David) and MacReady (played by Kurt Russell) find themselves face to face.
Sharing a bottle of whiskey and laughing nervously, the two survivors sink into a complicit silence, letting the look between them reveal endless uncertainties and unanswered questions. The psychosis that enveloped the entire footage persists relentlessly, and the two protagonists continue to distrust each other. The possibility that one of them is still the carrier of the Thing is very real, but the uncertainty about who is responsible remains.
It is this disturbing question that concludes the film, and John Carpenter, the director of Halloween, chooses to allow his viewers to leave the theater with that charge of suspense.
Over the years, since most viewers cannot bear to remain in such uncertainty, numerous theories have begun to flourish on the web. According to one of the most famous, Childs is the Thing. In fact, unlike MacReady, he does not exhale smoke in the last sequence, although he is outside in the middle of Antarctica, which could suggest that he is now extraterrestrial in nature.
However, according to the film's director of photography, Dean Cundey, things may not be so simple. In fact, the latter had stated that throughout the film we could see a special glow in the pupils of the characters who were hosting the Thing and that it was therefore MacReady who was suspicious in the last scene. This intervention did not please Carpenter very much : "[Dean Cundey] doesn't know. He has no idea. Turn on the lights," the director replied to ComicBook.com. "Yes, I know. I know who the Thing is and who isn't at the end. And no, I can't tell you. Sorry." In short, there is indeed an answer to the fans' question, but the filmmaker categorically refuses to give it to them.
