The Thing Trivia
0Loading crowd target
0Loading crowd target
7correct to beat the crowd
50 free The Thing trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Aug 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 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Who directed the 1982 film The Thing?
John Carpenter
He was reluctant to take the job, thinking Howard Hawks's 1951 version would be hard to surpass.
Q 02The Thing is based on which 1938 novella?
'Who Goes There?'
John W. Campbell Jr. wrote it under the pen name Don A. Stuart; a longer version titled Frozen Hell surfaced in 2018.
Q 03Who wrote the screenplay for the 1982 film?
Bill Lancaster
The son of actor Burt Lancaster, he had also written The Bad News Bears.
Q 04Kurt Russell's R. J. MacReady has what job at the station?
Helicopter pilot
The only female presence in the film is the voice of his chess computer.
Q 05Wilford Brimley plays Blair, who holds what role at the outpost?
Senior biologist
His computer simulation of the alien's spread drives him to sabotage the whole camp.
Q 06Keith David plays Childs, the station's what?
Chief mechanic
He and MacReady are the last two men standing at the end.
Q 07Which character is the station's cook, played by T. K. Carter?
Nauls
He roller-skates around the base and vanishes in the finale.
Q 08Which character is the radio operator, played by Thomas Waites?
Windows
The odd nickname is never explained in the film.
Q 09Donald Moffat's Garry holds which position?
Station commander
He hands over his gun and his authority to MacReady when suspicion falls on him.
Q 10Richard Masur's Clark has what job, which makes him an early suspect?
Dog handler
He spent time alone with the infected sled dog before it revealed itself.
Q 11How does the film open?
A Norwegian helicopter chasing a sled dog to the American station
The Norwegians are trying to kill the dog, which the Americans mistake for madness.
Q 12What do MacReady and Copper find among the ruins of the Norwegian camp?
The burnt corpse of a malformed humanoid
They also bring back videotapes showing the Norwegians digging something out of the ice.
Q 13Where does the sled dog first reveal its true nature?
In the kennel with the other dogs
Q 21During filming, the 21-year-old effects chief was hospitalized for what?
Exhaustion, pneumonia and a bleeding ulcer
He had been working seven days a week for over a year.
Q 22Which effects artist stepped in to build the Dog-Thing and refused any credit?
Stan Winston
He insisted the young effects chief deserved sole credit.
Q 23The sled dog was played by an uncredited animal named what?
Jed
The wolf-dog's eerie stillness came from a trainer standing just off camera.
It metamorphoses and absorbs several of the station's dogs before being torched.
Q 14What does Blair do after calculating how fast the alien could infect the world?
Wrecks the vehicles, dogs and radio
The others lock him in the tool shed, which turns out to be a mistake.
Q 15What happens when the doctor tries to defibrillate a crew member who seems dead of a heart attack?
The patient's chest becomes a mouth and bites off his arms
The scene is the film's most notorious effect and was built by Rob Bottin's team.
Q 16In the blood test scene, whose blood recoils from the heated wire?
Palmer's
The exposed Palmer-Thing transforms and Windows dies in the chaos.
Q 17What has Blair been secretly building under the tool shed?
A small flying saucer
He assembled it from vehicle components, and the survivors blow it up.
Q 18How does the 1982 film end?
MacReady and Childs sit freezing, unsure if either is human
Bill Lancaster's original ending had both men turn into the Thing; Carpenter chose the ambiguous freeze instead.
Q 19Who composed the score for the 1982 film?
Ennio Morricone
Carpenter wanted a European approach, though the result sounds a lot like his own synth work.
Q 20Who created the film's creature effects?
Rob Bottin
$1.5 million of the $15 million budget went on his work.
Q 24Besides refrigerated Los Angeles sets, the film shot in Juneau, Alaska, and which Canadian town?
Stewart, British Columbia
Principal photography began on 24 August 1981 in Juneau and lasted about twelve weeks.
Q 25What was the 1982 film's budget?
$15 million
It grossed only $19.6 million in theatres, the 42nd biggest film of the year.
Q 26Roughly how much did The Thing gross in its 1982 theatrical run?
$19.6 million
It ranked only 42nd for the year, opening two weeks after E.T. and the same day as Blade Runner.
Q 27The Thing was released in the US on 25 June 1982 by which studio?
Universal Pictures
The studio changed the advertising and taglines when audiences recoiled.
Q 28Which optimistic alien film, released two weeks earlier, is often blamed for The Thing's poor reception?
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
Audiences wanted friendly visitors, not a shape-shifting parasite.
Q 29Which title did Carpenter try to switch to at the last minute?
Who Goes There?
The novella's title would have distanced it from the 1951 film.
Q 30How was the film received on release?
Poor reviews, then a cult following on video
It has since been reappraised as one of the best horror films ever made and joined the National Film Registry in 2025.