The 1982 horror movie The Thing has strong direction from John Carpenter and an unforgettable storyline, making it one of the most enduring classic films. It continues to be listed as a fan favorite and still wins high marks from audiences and critics alike. When compared to other movies that came after it, there’s no denying that The Thing was an incredibly smart and groundbreaking film that proved what could be done with special effects.
The 2006 release The Last Winter is not one of the best Ron Perlman movies, but it also has a lot in common with The Thing. Horror fans should definitely revisit both of these movies, which are equally entertaining.
What Is The Last Winter About?
The Last Winter follows researchers at the Artic Northern Wildlife Refuge including Abby Sellers (Connie Britton), James Hoffman (James LeGros) and Ed Pollack (Rob Perlman). Maxwell McKinder (Zach Gilford), who works with oil, begins having strange visions including seeing a Caribou herd. After a while, Hoffman realizes that the area is releasing sour gas, which is causing people to see things that aren’t really there. This scene makes The Last Winter so much more intelligent than many other horror movies that ask audiences to just accept scary scenes without offering up explanations.
The Last Winter is one of the best eco-horror movies because while it has scary moments that are well-paced, it has something smart to say about climate change and what humans have done to the environment. The Last Winter is also a great example of a horror movie with solid main characters. Since the story follows researchers and scientists, they are smart and doing their best to survive in what becomes an unimaginable situation.
How Is The Last Winter Like The Thing?
The Last Winter and The Thing are both horror movies about research teams who find themselves battling nature. In The Thing, the main characters find strange humanoids in Antarctica, extraterrestrial organisms which can change shape. They are some of the best sci-fi movie monsters and one reason why The Thing has left such a legacy.
The setting of The Last Winter and The Thing is also similar. The former takes place in the Arctic Northern Wildlife Refuge and the former in Antarctica. These are some of the best horror movie settings because the characters are totally alone in the dark, bleak, and unforgiving elements. If they want help, they have to rely on each other.
The creatures in both The Last Winter and The Thing are also equally terrifying. In The Last Winter, a character explains that the Earth has created creatures because humans are wrong to search for oil. The creatures are the result of humans taking fossil fuels from the ground and they are what the film refers to as “ghosts.” The movie’s title comes from a character saying that the Earth is creating “The Last Winter.”
What Happens At The End Of The Last Winter?
Spoiler Warning: This article contains spoilers about the ending of the 2006 horror movie The Last Winter.There are two types of horror movie conclusions. Many films have satisfying horror movie endings which see the main characters in a place of power and victory. Then there are devastating, bleak endings where everyone dies and the world has been completely changed.
The ending of The Last Winter is in the latter category. It’s clear that the creatures kill Pollack, which is sad since he and the other characters have been through so much. Then, Abby, who is the only person from the research team who is still alive, finds herself in a hospital with her memory gone. It becomes clear that environmental destruction is happening everywhere and that she doesn’t realize the extent of it just yet.
When Abby leaves her hospital room, she sees that a staff member has taken their own life, which is another chilling sign that something is very wrong. The ending scene of The Last Winter is more artistic than the rest of the movie. Instead of showing what Abby sees, the movie then focuses on some creepy sounds: the “ghost” creatures that she spent so much time with along with the wind and car alarms. This is a smart yet dark way to end the movie that proves how little the human characters understand about what’s going on around them. Nature is definitely in charge here, which is a chilling thought.
While critics didn’t love The Thing in 1982, it has become a huge classic since then. And while The Last Winter hasn’t gotten the same kind of attention, both The Last Winter and The Thing have memorable endings that make people think about the relationship between humans and the surrounding environment.