The Guardian:

Audiences didn’t like the ending. They wanted to know who the Thing was – which was left up in the air. They hated that but I don’t care, that’s the way I wanted to end it. The film was about the end of the world. Its bleakness was the reason it wasn’t a success at the time, but I think also why it has endured. In fact the film was an enormous failure. I got fired because of it and was out of work for a while, but slowly its reputation changed. Not everybody’s convinced, though. There are still plenty of people who think it’s a piece of trash.

The Thing is one of my favorite movies ever, though I didn’t see it until well into the 2000’s. It’s so interesting to me how a piece of art can be reconsidered so heavily over the years.

Back in 1982, John Carpenter (who is quoted in the pull quote above) was put into Director Jail for this film. In 2024? He’s heralded as a master of the craft. (And he makes some awesome albums now, too.)