In the 1980s, the worlds of sci-fi and horror really found their feet, with several franchises being born that are still producing new movies and have influences dozens more. Standing tall among the likes of Aliens, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and Predator, is James Cameron’s The Terminator, which 41 years later still holds a 100% critics score and is widely regarded as one of the best sci-fi thrillers of all time. Now, it is returning to free streaming on Tubi from December 1.
Released in 1984, the movie was made on a $6.4 million budget – a fraction of the cost of all of its sequels – and made just under $80 million worldwide. Making the most of its robotic lead star, Arnold Schwarzenegger, The Terminator was a relentless chase movie, with the futuristic assassin hunting down Linda Hamilton’s Sarah Connor to prevent her giving birth to the leader of the resistance against the machines in a war for humanity. The full synopsis of this classic thriller reads:
“Disguised as a human, a cyborg assassin known as a Terminator (Schwarzenegger) travels from 2029 to 1984 to kill Sarah Connor (Hamilton). Sent to protect Sarah is Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn), who divulges the coming of Skynet, an artificial intelligence system that will spark a nuclear holocaust. Sarah is targeted because Skynet knows that her unborn son will lead the fight against them. With the virtually unstoppable Terminator in hot pursuit, she and Kyle attempt to escape.”
The film is hailed as a “masterclass in suspense” that really “stands the test of time” by critics on Rotten Tomatoes, and holds that rarest of scores with a 100% score from 74 reviews. Many have pointed to the movie as being the film that defined James Cameron as a filmmaker that did not need “flashy visual effects” to tell a story, something he would prove with his flawless practical effects in Aliens two years later. As some audience reviews have pointed out, “They don’t make them like they used to.”
James Cameron is Struggling with a New ‘Terminator’ Movie
Back in August, Cameron was a guest on The Amanpour Hour, Christiane Amanpour’s show on CNN. During the show, Cameron observed that sci-fi feels increasingly grounded in reality, noting he’s finding it hard to write a new Terminator movie, mainly because he feels our lives are under the control of technology and its exponential advancement. He says that, at some point, reality and science fiction will basically overlap:
“I’m at a point right now where I have a hard time writing science fiction. I’m tasked with writing a new Terminator story. I’ve been unable to get started on that very far because I don’t know what to say that won’t be overtaken by real events. We are living in a science fiction age right now, and the only way out is through, by using our intelligence, by using our curiosity, by using our command of technology.”
While Cameron has made it clear that a new Terminator movie would not be looking to play out the same story and characters as previous films, whether we get to see it is another matter. For now, though, there is nothing wrong with going back to where it all started and revisiting The Terminator on free streaming.
- Release Date
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October 26, 1984
- Runtime
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108 minutes
- Producers
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Gale Anne Hurd, John Daly