John Carpenter's The Thing

Cafe Society
1

Nauls says, “Which one of you disrespectful men been tossin’ his dirty drawers in the kitchen trash can, huh?” and then tosses said dirty drawers onto what looks like a pinball machine.

And John Carpenter gives us a close-up of them.

Later on, MacReady is twice shown examining them.

I’ve seen the movie five or six times now and I still don’t understand the point of these scenes. They feel like a plot point of some kind, but I can’t figure it out. Am I missing something that everybody else is understanding?

2

The Thing tears through clothes when it takes over a body. (McCready specifically announces his theory on this point later.) The torn-up drawers show that one of them has already been taken over by the Thing.