The Thing Trivia
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49 free The Thing trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
42 free The Thing trivia questions with answers. The Thing bombed in the summer of E.T. and is now regarded as one of the greatest horror films ever made. This quiz covers the whole saga: John W. Campbell's 1938 novella Who Goes There?, Howard Hawks's 1951 The Thing from Another World with James Arness as a walking vegetable, John Carpenter's 1982 masterpiece and the 2011 prequel set at the Norwegian camp. Expect questions on MacReady and the crew of the American station, the dog, the Norwegian helicopter, the kennel scene, Norris's chest, the blood test, Blair's flying saucer and the ambiguous ending. Then the making of it: Bill Lancaster's script, Rob Bottin's effects and the hospital stay they cost him, Stan Winston's uncredited dog-thing, Ennio Morricone's score, the Alaska and British Columbia locations, the $15 million budget and the disastrous opening weekend. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's articles on the films and the novella, and each question carries the sentence that supports it.
30 of 49 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which weapon do the men of The Thing rely on to destroy the creature?
Flamethrowers
Flamethrowers are the men's answer to a creature whose every part can survive alone, and cinematographer Dean Cundey used their glow, with magenta flares, to help light the film.
Q 02Which tagline did Universal drop from The Thing's posters before its release?
Man is the warmest place to hide
Man is the warmest place to hide was the original tagline, but after uneasy preview screenings the studio swapped it for 'The ultimate in alien terror'.
Q 03Which writer of The Bad News Bears scripted The Thing (1982)?
Bill Lancaster
Bill Lancaster, son of the actor Burt Lancaster, devised the film's blood-test scene and wrote four drafts of the script.
Q 04Kurt Russell's R. J. MacReady has what job at the station in The Thing?
Helicopter pilot
Helicopter pilot was the film's invention: in the novella MacReady is a meteorologist, and the script recast him as a loner who 'likes chess' and 'hates the cold'.
Q 05Wilford Brimley plays Blair in The Thing, who holds what role at the outpost?
Senior biologist
Senior biologist Blair was meant to be infected early but offscreen, so the film never shows the moment he stops being himself.
Q 06Keith David plays Childs in The Thing, who holds which job at the station?
Chief mechanic
Chief mechanic Childs was Keith David's first significant film role; he and Richard Masur agreed in rehearsal that their two characters would not like each other.
Q 07Which character in The Thing is the station's cook, played by T. K. Carter?
Nauls
Nauls also drew the comedian Franklyn Ajaye in to read, but he instead gave a long speech calling the character a stereotype, which ended the meeting.
Q 08Which character in The Thing is the radio operator, played by Thomas Waites?
Windows
Windows was called Sanchez and then Sanders in early drafts; the name changed when Waites tried on a large pair of dark glasses at a costume fitting.
Q 09Donald Moffat's Garry holds which position at the outpost in The Thing?
Station commander
Station commander Garry loses the men's trust once the stored blood is found destroyed, and MacReady takes charge; Lee Van Cleef and Jerry Orbach were both considered for the part.
Q 10Richard Masur plays Clark in The Thing, who has what job at the station?
Dog handler
Dog handler was Masur's own pick: he also read for Garry, but asked to play Clark because he liked the character's dialogue and was a fan of dogs.
Q 11After its title card, The Thing opens on which chase across the Antarctic ice?
A helicopter hunting a sled dog
A helicopter hunting a sled dog: the Norwegians aboard are trying to kill the animal, but the Americans cannot understand their shouted warning and shoot the pilot dead.
Q 12What do MacReady and Copper bring back from the Norwegian camp in The Thing?
A burnt, malformed corpse
A burnt, malformed corpse, part human in shape, comes back with them, along with tapes showing the Norwegians cutting something out of the ice.
Q 13Where does the sled dog first reveal its true nature in The Thing?
In the kennel
Q 21Making The Thing put its young effects chief in hospital with what?
Exhaustion, pneumonia and a bleeding ulcer
Exhaustion, pneumonia and a bleeding ulcer were the price of taking on too much: he said he would 'hoard the work' rather than hand any of it to someone else.
Q 22Which effects artist stepped in to build The Thing's Dog-Thing and refused any credit?
Stan Winston
Stan Winston, short of time for a full mechanical creature, built it as a hand puppet, then took only a 'thank you' in the credits so that the young effects chief kept sole billing.
Q 23The sled dog in The Thing was played by an uncredited animal named what?
Jed
In the kennel, shut in with the station's own dogs, it splits apart and begins absorbing them; the effect was a puppet worked from beneath a raised set.
Q 14What does Blair do in The Thing once his simulation shows the creature's spread?
Wrecks the vehicles, dogs and radio
Wrecks the vehicles, dogs and radio, so that nothing can carry the creature to the outside world; the others then lock him away on his own in the tool shed.
Q 15What happens to Dr. Copper when he tries to defibrillate Norris in The Thing?
His arms are bitten off
His arms are bitten off when Norris's chest opens into a huge mouth; the shot used a double amputee wearing false arms of wax bones, rubber veins and Jell-O.
Q 16In The Thing's blood test scene, whose blood recoils from the heated wire?
Palmer's
Palmer's blood leaps from the dish because, as MacReady has worked out, every part of the creature is a separate life that will act to save itself.
Q 17In The Thing, what has Blair been secretly building beneath the tool shed?
A small flying saucer
A small flying saucer, pieced together from scavenged vehicle parts, is his way off the ice; MacReady, Garry and Nauls find it and destroy it.
Q 18How does The Thing (1982) end?
MacReady and Childs wait to freeze
MacReady and Childs wait to freeze, sharing a bottle of Scotch and unsure of each other; in the first draft both had become the Thing and were rescued in spring.
Q 19Which composer did John Carpenter hire for The Thing instead of scoring it himself?
Ennio Morricone
Ennio Morricone was hired for a European sound, yet his main theme echoes Carpenter's own synthesiser style, and the score was nominated for a Razzie.
Q 20Who created the creature effects for The Thing (1982)?
Rob Bottin
Rob Bottin built the creatures from rubber and foodstuffs such as mayonnaise, creamed corn and microwaved bubble gum, and talked Carpenter into showing far more of the monster than the script did.
Jed, a wolfdog, rehearsed daily with the cast so that on camera he would stand beside an actor without looking for his handler; he later played the title role in White Fang (1991).
Q 24The Thing was shot on refrigerated Los Angeles sets, in Juneau, Alaska, and near which Canadian town?
Stewart, British Columbia
Stewart, British Columbia, gave Carpenter real snow: unhappy that his first cut had too many scenes of men standing around talking, he rewrote some to be shot outdoors there.
Q 25The Thing cost $15 million; which earlier Carpenter hit cost about $300,000?
Halloween
Halloween cost about $300,000 and took some $70 million worldwide; The Thing cost nearly fifty times as much, $1.5 million of it on creature effects, and only just earned its budget back in cinemas.
Q 26Which science-fiction film opened in US cinemas the same day as The Thing?
Blade Runner
Blade Runner opened at number two that weekend with $6.1 million, about double The Thing's $3.1 million; Carpenter's film was out of the top ten by its fourth weekend.
Q 27Which veteran British actor did Carpenter want as Blair in The Thing, before judging him too recognisable?
Donald Pleasence
Donald Pleasence was Carpenter's choice, but the part needed a face audiences would not miss when Blair drops out of sight, so it went to the then little-known Wilford Brimley.
Q 28Which 1982 release reached US cinemas two weeks before The Thing?
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial was still number one when The Thing opened; audiences wanted E.T., Carpenter said later, and his film was the opposite.
Q 29Which title did Carpenter try to switch The Thing to at the last minute?
Who Goes There?
Who Goes There? is the title of John W. Campbell's 1938 novella, the story the film adapts; Carpenter asked for the change while the studio was reworking its posters after uneasy previews, to no avail.
Q 30How was The Thing received on its release in 1982?
Poor reviews, then a cult following on video
Poor reviews, then a cult following on video and television: Carpenter recalled being called 'a pornographer of violence', and did not talk openly about the failure until 1985.