Parents Guide for
The Thing (1982) More at IMDbPro »

Note: The number at the beginning of each section refers to how much explicit content of that kind there is in the film on a scale of 1-10. The fraction at the end of the last section is the total sum of the sections over the highest sum possible (50) and is therefore an approximation of about how explicit the film is a whole.

Sex and Nudity: 1

There is no sexual content or nudity in this film.

Violence and Gore: 10

This is a very bloody and gory film and not for the faint hearted or children.

Humans are turned inside out, and mutilated in various ways showing lots of blood and guts.

In the films most infamous scene, a man's arms are bitten off (extremely graphic and bloody) by an alien, and he falls over, dead. The alien turns its human host inside out, and is then torched. The host's head escapes the flame by tearing itself off of the body slowly (goriest part of the film), and you see lots of blood and neck tissue.

After a man's head rips off its body, it grows insect legs and tries to escape, but is torched by a flamethrower.

A man is shot (slightly graphic).

A pack of huskies are mutilated and torn to shreds by the creature. Two have their skins peeled of, one is melted with acid, and they are burned with a flamethrower. All of it is extremely graphic and bloody.

Several men have their thumbs cut and the blood put into dishes for testing. This happens twice.

A man turns into an alien and his head tears open with lots of blood and brain matter. The alien attacks another man and rips open his head with lots of gore.

Three men and a group of dogs are torched with a flamethrower throughout the film. All quite graphic.

A man is shown with his throat and wrists slit.

A graphic autopsy is performed on an alien.

An alien is blown up on screen with a grenade. Bloody pieces fly everywhere.

Profanity: 7

5 uses of "fuck"

Frequent uses of "shit"

At least one use of "bitch"

Alcohol/Drugs/Smoking: 6

Alcohol ingestion: twice by McReady and once by Blair.

Marijuana smoking is done by some characters.

Frightening/Intense Scenes: 10

Boston.com listed this movie as the scariest of all time.

This movie is extremely intense and terrifying. It plays on claustrophobia and trust. It is very tense because anyone could be an alien.

There are also scenes that are intense and full of frightening action.

The scene with the dogs is frightening and sad to those distraught about animals, people who feel that way should honestly not watch that part of the film.

The scene where the man performs defibrillation and the other mans chest bites his arms off. It is a jump scare.

The blood test scene is scary, gory, intense, and has a jump scene.

The scene where Blair attacks a man sticks his fingers into his head and drags him by his face. is a little disturbing.

An idea of how accurate the TECE (below) is: 5-10 is a little-kid suitable, G-Rated type of film (i.e. Care Bears, Sleeping Beauty); 10-15 is going to be a little harsher, but not by much (i.e. The Incredibles); 15-20 could be pretty high up there (i.e. Indiana Jones, Deep Throat. See the discussion page), 20-25 is going to pretty darn adult (i.e. The Dark Knight); 25-30 is going to be a film most likely not suitable for anyone under 17 (i.e. Braveheart); 30-40 is going to be an absolutely, positively adults-only film (i.e. This or Saving Private Ryan) and if a movie has ever hit or gone past 40, then its an extremely high R/NC17.

Total Explicit Content Estimation: 34/50