The Death Scene That Was Too Expensive for John Carpenter's The Thing
The Thing is known for its exceptional special effects, but it turns out that one character's death was too expensive to film. George Bennings has one of the earlier deaths in the film, and it isn't too exciting. However, the Bennings original death in The Thing was intended to be far grander, involving a setpiece so big that it was impossible to afford.
The Thing follows a crew of twelve scientists at a secluded station in Antarctica as they begin to be picked off by an unknown threat. It turns out their attacker is a monster known as the Thing, a shapeshifting alien who can perfectly imitate any lifeform it comes in contact with. Eventually, the crew realizes that the Thing can even imitate human life, prompting distrust between the team. Directed by horror icon John Carpenter, 1982's The Thing has become a staple of the horror genre, lauded for its special effects, performances, and tension.
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In the film's final cut, George Bennings is not especially important. In essence, Bennings acts as more of a tutorial for the audience, explaining the rules of the Thing and how it assimilates a human – ensnared by its tentacles as he collects some gear. While this example is an important thing to have, the sequence always felt kind of cheap to many fans compared to the spectacle that is the rest of the movie. As it turns out, The Thing had reshoots and rewrites done constantly, and one scene that was scrapped early on was a much grander death for George Bennings. In early drafts of The Thing, writer Bill Lancaster had Bennings die as part of an extended action sequence. After the dog kennel scene, MacReady, Childs, and Bennings were to chase the surviving dogs outside.
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