The Terminator

Strip away the legacy that followed. Forget the pop culture baggage. Ignore the subpar sequels. Examine The Terminator on its own terms. 

That can be difficult. So much has come and gone in the more than 40 years since the movie's initial release, some good, some bad, and some all but impossible to believe.

But try to set all that aside. Just watch the movie and experience it on its own terms. The Terminator a lean, mean thrill machine, packed with nightmarish imagery, an intriguing apocalyptic story, an iconic performance by Arnold Schwarzenegger, and enough humanity to offer hope for the future.

Aliens

In the final 20 minutes or so of Aliens, series protagonist Ripley (an Oscar-nominated Sigourney Weaver) prepares to enter the creatures' hive to rescue Newt (Carrie Henn), a little girl captured by the nasty creatures.  Ripley loads up with a massive pulse rifle, a flamethrower, and grenades. 

As the elevator descends to what could be her death, we see how strung out and exhausted Ripley is, covered in sweat and grime. With her weapons ready, she closes her eyes, mentally preparing herself for the horrors she's about to confront.

That little moment demonstrates why Aliens is a worthy follow-up to the original Alien. It expands both the characters and the narrative instead of repeating the same plot and because writer-director James Cameron gives Ripley something sci fi and horror characters don't always receive: choice. 

Many science fiction horror tales drop their protagonists in a pressure cooker and watch them react, and the best ones, like Alien, show us what those characters are made of. In Aliens, we get that, but some of the best moments occur not when the monsters unexpectedly attack but when Ripley chooses to confront them. Instead of seeing her as a fool, we the viewer understand, sympathize, and root for her for doing so.

The Abyss

An early image in The Abyss captures the mystery and danger of the hidden world lurking in the ocean depths. Oil rig workers, recruited by the Navy for a rescue mission, search the flooded innards of a sunken nuclear submarine and are greeted by the pale corpses of doomed sailors as they navigate in clunky scuba gear and breathing apparatus. One rig worker sees spider-like crabs nestled on a dead man's face, and in a gruesome moment, a crab scuttles out of the mouth. 

Even without aliens or creatures of unknown origin, the ocean contains its share of the strange, the uncanny, and the dangerous. Never mind the sea creatures that will eat you without a moment's thought; the human body is not capable of surviving in the ocean without extreme measures and hard-developed technology. With the cold, the water pressure, and lack of air, humans are outmatched and out of their element.

I'm Dangerous Tonight

It's accurate to say Tobe Hooper peaked early in his career when he directed The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, one of the most influential horror films of all time. It's also misleading because to reduce Hooper's output to one movie or to say he never made another one as good is to overlook a filmography filled with offbeat projects and hidden gems.

One such project is I'm Dangerous Tonight, a TV movie made for the USA Network and inspired by a novella (unread by me) by Cornell Woolrich, the noted crime writer who also wrote the story that inspired Hitchcock's Rear Window. 

Nothing but Trouble

Nothing but Trouble is a movie I love telling friends about if they've never heard of it. I always preface my description by asking them to consider what kind of movie they would expect with that title and a cast headlined by Chevy Chase, Dan Aykoyd, Demi Moore, and John Candy.

Invariably, when I tell them what the actual movie is like and how it unfolds, my friends go wide-eyed, their mouths hang open, and they look at me like me like I'm completely crazy.

New York financial advisor Chris Thorne (Chase), to impress his new neighbor Diane (Moore), agrees to drive her to Atlantic City, along with a pair of obnoxious clients. Taking the "scenic" route through the village of Valkenvania, Chris unknowingly runs a stop sign, and the village constable Dennis (Candy) takes the foursome to the local courthouse, presided over by the 106-year-old Justice of the Peace, Alvin Valkenheiser (Aykroyd, who also wrote and directed). The Judge and his family have a habit murdering passing travelers who violated even the most minor of traffic laws, and they have no plans of letting Chris, Diane, and the others go free.

Season of the Witch (1972)

Among other things it's capable of, art can do two things: it can be a statement by the artist about the world, and it can be a revealing look about the artist themselves. Season of the Witch, written and directed by George A. Romero, does both.

Season of the Witch is about Joan Mitchell (Jan White), a housewife approaching middle age. Her 19-year-old daughter is on the verge of moving out, and her husband Jack all but ignores her. When she learns a new neighbor is a practicing witch, Joan is intrigued and seeks to learn more about witchcraft and magic. She casts a spell to seduce her daughter's boyfriend, but as the line between fantasy and reality blurs, she becomes plagued by nightmares of a dark figure attacking her in her home.

Hardware

The future in the world of Hardware is metal and not just because the film features cameos by Iggy Pop as a radio D.J. named Angry Bob and Lemmy as a taximan who plays Motorhead for his passengers. 

Cities have been reduced to rusting wastelands of decaying buildings and infrastructure, mechanicals limbs are common enough to go unmentioned, and government-built robots with a mission to sterilize the human race will soon be deployed en masse. 

Meanwhile, the desert now called Earth shows few signs of life. Humans struggle to survive this harsh, unforgiving planet, everything looks dirty and crowded, and fragile flesh is prone to disease, disfigurement, and genetic malformities. In the looming battle between man and machines, the machines hold all the advantage.