The Terminator (1984)
I was around five when I first watched The Terminator (1984). I'll never forget the trauma I got from this movie.
It had this bleak quality that made everything feel...out of place. Not to mention most scenes occurred at nighttime. The part where Sarah Connor was in the nightclub and the terminator found her had this vibe to it I can't quite describe. The club lights were dark red. A lot of people were in there but it felt like she was alone. Not to mention the streets for the most part looking dark and empty.
The eye scene scarred me. Watching him pull out his own eye was horrifying as is, but what made it worse was the mechanical movement the terminator made while looking toward the mirror, the exposed robotic eye glowing red and twitching.
Then there was the rotting flesh scene. Files buzzing around it. And the terminator was just sitting there. No reaction whatsoever. It feels nothing. It has no emotion. Expressionless
Near the end of the movie there was a scene where Sarah and Kyle were in the factory and the terminator was chasing after them. It had a jerky and unnatural movement. I read somewhere that that scene was a stop motion. That honestly made it much scarier. It had a human skeleton's proportions, a face, a jaw, teeth, eyes. But there was no soul inside it. They shot at it, hit it, hell even ripped it in half but it still went after Sarah. Had that hydraulic press not been there there would've been no way of stopping it.
What stuck with me was that it had one goal. To find and kill you. And It won't stop till it does. It's what It was made for. It will actively look for you. No matter where you go. It won't tire easily like you would. It won't stop after you shoot at it. It will come for you. And that's not a good thought to have as a kid lol. I think that's why the first Terminator still has such a lasting effect on me. Have any of you guys ever watched it?