What happens to MacReady at the end of the movie?
BEST EXPLANATION: It’s a dandy final scene. Helicopter pilot R.J. MacReady (Kurt Russell) and Childs (Keith David) are the sole survivors of a horrific event at an Antarctic research station. An alien parasite—one that can take the form of its host body—has killed everyone else at the base: not knowing if the other is infected, the two cautiously regard one another as the station burns away in the freezing polar night…
According his commentary track on the film’s DVD, Thing director John Carpenter briefly considered having MacReady become infected, but ultimately chose to go with a deliberately ambiguous ending (one that we like to imagine has the non-infected characters eventually succumbing to the sub-zero temperatures).
Fans of the film should absolutely check out a pair of YouTube clips—watch part 1 here, part 2 here—created by a fellow named Rob Ager. His analysis of the scene is absolutely impressive (and frightening) for its level of obsessive detail.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GA4Ozqt7338]