In “The Thing” (1982), How Did They Film the Infamous Chest-Chomping Scene?
Whether you love it or hate it, you’ve got to admit, The Thing (1982) has some pretty impressive special effects. From the kennel-monster to Palmer’s gory meltdown, this ‘80s classic pulls no punches when it comes to the goretastic visuals.
The mastermind behind the monster was Rob Bottin, a twenty-two-year-old protégé of SFX extraordinaire Rick Baker. Bottin got his start working with Baker on Star Wars, helping create the aliens for the famous cantina sequence. In 1981, while Baker was working his magic on An American Werewolf in London (1981), Bottin was making a name for himself with—coincidentally—The Howling (1981), another werewolf movie with its own intense transformation scene.
Bottin was also friends with director John Carpenter, having played a ghost in the director’s horror flick The Fog (1980). Impressed with his skill as a makeup artist, Carpenter asked Rob to work on The Thing and Bottin delivered. Using a mad scientist’s mix of strawberry jam, creamed corn, radio controls, and marionettes, Bottin was responsible for some of the most iconic images in 1980s horror.
But how did he create the iconic defibrillator scene? Probably the most disturbing part of the whole movie, the infamous chest-chomper sequence involved everything from fiberglass dummies to melted bubblegum to a double amputee. And fire. Lots of fire. If you want to learn about the nitty-gritty details involved in The Thing’s defibrillator scene, check out the Cinefix video below for a behind-the-scenes look at Rob Bottin’s finest (and nastiest) hour.
Be warned, the video below contains spoilers for The Thing and Game of Thrones (2011—Current).