It has become a tradition in British Antarctic research stations to watch La cosa (1982) as part of their Midwinter feast and celebration held every 21st June.
(at around 8 mins) The words spoken by the pilot on entering the camp are actually understandable for Norwegians. Albeit broken Norwegian, the line goes: "Se til helvete og kom dere vekk. Det er ikke en bikkje, det er en slags ting! Det imiterer en bikkje, det er ikke virkelig! KOM DERE VEKK IDIOTER!!" This translates to: "Get the hell outta there. That's not a dog, it's some sort of thing! It's imitating a dog, it isn't real! GET AWAY YOU IDIOTS!!"
Unused music composed for this film was later used by Ennio Morricone in Quentin Tarantino's The Hateful Eight (2015). Ironically, Morricone's Thing score was nominated for a Razzie for worst score, while his score for Hateful Eight won him an Oscar.
The film is considered a benchmark in special make-up effects. The effects were created by Rob Bottin, who was only 22 when he started the project.