Mercury

Continuity mistake: When they are all outside and MacReady has separated the three most likely suspects and orders that they be tied down and tested, he comments at that time that they are to be hit by a storm in six hours. Cut to the scene where Mac is dictating into his recorder and he comments that the storm has been hitting them hard for 48 hours. However it is the same night and at best, maybe only an hour has passed.

Mercury

Continuity mistake: When the dog, aka the The Thing, is led into the dog pen for the first time we see the floor is covered in a thick layer of straw for the dogs to sleep on. This is seen every time except when Childs uses the flame thrower. We get a wide shot of the pen as it's lit up in flame and the floor is now completely bare of any straw. There are also none of the recently deceased dogs that were lining the floor, being converted into Things. (00:31:05)

Mercury

Continuity mistake: At the boardroom scene, in the group wide shot, the man on Van Damme's left is just sitting there and there is a blue folder right next to his briefcase. In every close up, the same man is now holding a writing pad and the blue folder has completely disappeared. Cut to the last group wide shot, the blue folder suddenly reappears and the man is back to just sitting there and the writing pad has now disappeared.

Mercury

Continuity mistake: When the mother superior enters the kitchen to retrieve a knife to protect herself, there is a coffee mug on the bench in front of a white vase. When she turns around to exit the kitchen, the vase is visible, but there is now no coffee mug. Even at a different angle the mug should still be visible as well.

Mercury

Continuity mistake: When Ricky and the mother superior are at the top of the stairs, in closeup Ricky raises the axe right up over his head ready to strike and he has one hand at the bottom of the handle and the other hand further up the handle. Cut to the next scene where the mother superior is ready to leap from her wheelchair, and Ricky is now suddenly backed into the corner. With no room for the axe to be behind him, his arms are no longer raised and his hands are now together, both at the bottom of the axe handle.

Mercury

Continuity mistake: While Ricky is on his shooting spree, he manages to shoot at an oncoming car, causing it to to crash and roll over. As the car rights itself, the driver and the car seats are visible. The right rear passenger window is also fully intact. Just before the car explodes, the driver has disappeared, along with the car seats and the same rear side window is now completely missing.

Mercury

Continuity mistake: At the start of the movie when the gun store is being robbed, one of them fires a portable rocket launcher at the police car, causing it to roll over and spin. As it comes to a stop just outside the store, it's visible that the driver's side window has been blown out, and the vehicle interior is visible, however when the same guy prepares to fire the bazooka to finish it off, the window has returned and is completely intact.

Mercury

Continuity mistake: There is a scene at the school, where Quentin and Nancy are talking by the lockers. Quentin is wearing a Joy Division shirt. The jacket he is wearing over the shirt keeps changing depending on whether it's a closeup of Quentin or a shot of both him and Nancy. You can easily tell, as the band's name is partially obscured during closeup and fully revealed when it's further away. This changes back and forth several times during that scene. Quentin doesn't move enough to warrant the jacket changing so noticeably. (00:18:15)

Mercury

Continuity mistake: Near the beginning of the film, Alfred freaks out when he sees Cropsy come up to the cabin window. On the DVD, Cropsy's face is seen as just dark and disfigured. However at the end of the film at the abandoned mine, you see that Cropsy's face has dramatically changed from being just disfigured to having more of a melted appearance.

Mercury