This is one of those films that, once you've seen it, you should always be able to remember the first time you saw it.
The first time I saw it, was a few years ago when it was on TV. I *think* this was back before adverts were so loved by Britain's "Big Four...er i mean Four And A Half (you can't count Channel 5 as a complete channel)". I may be wrong, but I seem to remember it was an uninterrupted horror fest, a rare thing these days (unless you buy the DVD). And it actually was quite scary, or as close as any film can get. The tension just builds until it all blows up, the final violent (and rather gory) 20 minutes or so being possibly the only aim of the rest of the film. You get a string of startling revelations all within a pretty short space of time, including the out-of-the-blue genius of the reluctant hero, Macready (mack-reedy as opposed to muck-reedy, if you see what I mean), a helicopter pilot who succeeds where a couple of doctors had failed.
The basic premise of the movie is a US research base in...er...Antarctica? somewhere snowy up north, anyway, by chance takes in a rather nasty alien. The problem is, the alien is an uber-chameleon-type virus-like thingybob, that is capable of hiding itself as any other species, and uses this to...wipe out any other species. You don't know this to begin with, but it doesn't take too long for the film to introduce this little nasty, and anyway the chances are, even if you've not seen it yet, you've heard a bit about it.
I should point out right now, this film has some very gory moments. It's not for the weak-stomached, and the first scene that shows the alien in its shape-shifting glory should be avoided by animal lovers, as two or three huskies get slaughtered.
Article comments
1 - Matt Paprocki
Well, the original I think is better, but this one is more true to the original story. Sure it's gory, but why woudn't you want it that way? Great effect too. This one gets a special edition DVD this week as well, though the original disc was pretty spectacular. Good review.
2 - jadester
thanks. I do sometimes forget this version isn't the original.
Also, i only meant to point out that it's gory for those who haven't even heard about it. I'd hate to think that someone with a weak stomach might inadvertently watch it just because it's a classic horror film. Although it's not the worst i've seen (and i don't think i've seen the worst either)
3 - JCF
This is one of the earliest John Carpenter films I saw and have loved it ever since. It's a shame that E.T came out the same year and did damage to John Carpenter's credibility and the film itself not doing as well as it deserves.