Legends , Such an influence , did you realize the first time ?

[uscmhicks]

I know myself and alot of other people on here adore the alien franchise.
But in general the 80s ( the best 10 years of movie history to date imo ) movies still survive today and many still have sequels coming out , terminator , alien and predator etc.
When you first watched these movies and whatever others you consider a classic ( more than ten years old and still fighting ) did you realize straight away they would have such a big influence on you.

I actually don't think I did for many of them. I seen most my first time in my early childhood . Talking like , 6 ,7 ,8 upwards , I know. Sick parents. .
The first movie I remember having a massive influence on me was terminator 2.
I simply adored it and still never forget the moment when John is running through the halls of the arcade and I didn't know whether arnie was gonna shoot him or the t-1000 but then of course he muttered the famous words...

" GET DOWN ! "

Yeah , then it moved on from there to watching all of arnies cheezy yet brilliant flicks which obviously then brought me on to " The Predator ".
After first watching this movie I knew it was something special but it didn't have the impact then it has on me now. Certainly not. In fact I didn't even make a massive fuss off it. For a few years I carried on watching my fave types of flicks , moving on to horror and still watching arnie and van damme ( who I finally got a sculpt of thanks to my man " kuato " , thank you sir ) kick ass in all their movies.
Then of course predator 2 hit , and this movie although some people think its nothing compared to part 1 , I loved just as much and it gave me a much bigger love for the series. After seeing the infamous alien skull shot at the end I really wanted to get into the alien movie world. I'm gonna be honest and say as a kid I did find them boring and with quite a short attention span and not much kung fu kicking or guns blazing in the majority of them I just couldn't get into them. As I grew older I learned to love movies more for their scripts and acting rather than just the action and off course " awesome sex scenes ".
But obviously a movie still needs that. Unless its super super awesome which isn't usually possible without them anyway.

Yep and from there on out its just history!. I started to collect all types of movie memorabilia starting with 7 inch mcfarlane stuff then thinking it looked too toyish and wasn't giving the movies or my room justice. This made me move on to sideshow stuff and still loving it.
Now I'm mainly still collecting alien , predator , terminator and all 80s crap along with whatever special stuff rarely comes out of the modern day cinema compared to these.
It's fascinating how just 2 hours ( or less ) of a movie ( or movies ) can take over the rest of our spare time life.

I would love to hear how any of you guys got into this and how movies had an effect on you. I think this could turn into a brilliant discussion.

 

[uscmhicks]

btw , I posted this is in this section since the majority of movies ( or at least the ones I have seen anyway ) from the 80s had something to do with aliens , robots , or some crazy crap like that !!

 

[nicky]

I first saw Predator (1987) on VHS aged 12 in 1987. I'd already seen Arnold's other classics so knew who he was. I thought the Pred might scare me under the mask but it wasn't scary at all. The film blew me away and I rushed home after school to watch it a 2nd time before returning it to the video store.

The Terminator (1984) I think I saw a bit before Predator. I loved it but not as much as Predator.

Robocop (1987). I read the novelization and Marvel comics adaptation then saw it on VHS not long after I saw Predator in 1987 age 12. It rocked but not as much as I thought it might. There were no decent model kit nor comics for years. The sequel I kinda liked when I saw it on VHS in 1990 and watched only often only cos it was Robocop.

The Aliens (1986) trailer always scared me but I eventually had the courage to rent it in 1988 aged 12 and it too blew me away. I went and bought the Halcyon APC model kit soon after. Then in 1989 Aliens arrived to buy in the UK on VHS, my local Woolworths was sold out and I was PISSED - I bashed my APC kit against my window in a rage! I got it though a week later. Alien (1979) came out too on VHS and I borrowed it from a friend (hesitantly) expecting it to be too scary for me. I liked it but not as much as the sequel.

I continued to buy the Halcyon model kits and DH comics for all of Aliens , Predator and Terminatortoo - them plus Robocop were the big 4 for me. Star Wars to me had been dead since about 1984.

I saw Predator 2 (1990) on bootleg VHS in Nov 1990 aged 15 - it rocked. I saw T2 (1991) on opening wkend alone and was so glad I was old enouigh to see it and that it wasn't rated "18"... it rocked. I saw Alien 3 (1992) opening wkend alone aged 16 having already read the novelization and Dark Horse comic - it didn't quite rock but was good and I liked it even better than Alien (1979) at the time.

I had been eagerly awaiting 14 yrs for AvP (2004) the movie to arrive since reading the comics and spotting the skull in P2. I thought it would never be made until the teaser hit.

I watched the films over and over as years went by and bought various Halcyon model kits and DH comics for a few years. Then after a long hiatus I moved onto McFarlane Toys and movie conventions. My first was the "Aliens Fan Club Convention" in Shepperton in 1999. I have been going to cons now regularly since 2003 and collecting sigs on all my posters (I will post pics of them tonight) and meeting the casts and crews. Hot Toys is my latest thing - I have 13 figures from the Aliens/Predator/Terminator/Robocop line.

 

[uscmhicks]

great to hear about another persons first experience with all this stuff.
Yeah I used to rent alot of movies too , always watched them more than once !.
God , I would hate to be still buying vhs tapes now , big bulky things they are !!!

 

[Vince]

Since I was about 8-years old, I've always been a fan of movies.
Growing older, 10-12 years, I went a lot to the videostore to rent movies, mainly movies from the '80s, because it were the '80s, early '90s back then.

My favourite section was the horror/sci-fi section. I wanted to see all those movies, like Nightmare on Elmstreet, Critters, Friday the 13th, Child's Play, Terminator, Aliens, ...

I still can see myself standing in that section, sometimes peeking over to the 'forbidden' adult section next to it

Ever since I've been a big fan of horror and sci-fi action movies.

I also remember T-2 coming into theaters, but I was not allowed to go, so I rented it later.

The first time I saw Aliens was on TV, I still remember the chest-bursting scene, that freaked me out !

 

[Dassy]

80`S

Not just the best movies but MUSIC!

 

[-Super Hans-]

Lol I only got into these movies because of my brother whos 5 years older than me. We would sneak down stairs during the night and watch aliens,terminator or predator 2. We used to go mad over the old kenner figures and almost had the whole set(needed the flying queen and the spaceship thing). lucky for me aliens and predator was pretty big in my old primary school, i remember acting out predator 1 with a couple of buddies for a group play. We were only in year 3 so about 7-8 are teacher didnt have a clue what we were doing. good times. These films have had a massive impact in my life and probably shaped the person i am thinking about it. But i am a law abiding citizen a not a murderer so they didnt do any harm.

 

[abake]

My first taste of Alien was while I was living in Brazil, it was '79 and I saw the trailer in the theaters (I was 11). Obviously, I couldn't go see it in the cinemas and Beta/VHS was still a long way from arriving in South America.
My brother saw though and he loved it. For some strange reason, the trailer made a huge impact on me, and my brother used to draw a lot, so he drew the alien for me. It was "love" at first sight. I kept bugging my brother to tell me about the movie (which he thankfully never did, not spoiling it). The I went to a big bookstore in Sao Paulo and they had the "Alien Book". My brother showed it to me and I was hooked! I asked my parent to buy it for me, but they declined...
Flash forward to '82 in Colombia and my parents got a state of the art Sony T.V. (Trinitron) and Betamax (both are still functional at my mom's home). The first movie we rented? Alien.
I was blown away. It scared the ^^^^ out of me (I'm a big wuzz) and I was forever fascinated by the move and the alien. Even back then I dreamed of an action figure of the alien. I don't know how many times I watched it...
I got to see Predator and Aliens on HBO whenever I was on holidays in Colombia (by then we had moved to Egypt), and I loved Predator. While I really enjoyed Aliens, my first love would always be Alien.
Back in Colombia I finally got to see an alien and a predator movie on the big screen: Alien 3 and P2. Not the best examples of either franchise, but still a great experience.
Then, when it seemed it was all done, A:R appeared. I saw it and enjoyed it, but it was a bittersweet experience.
By the time AvP came around, the internet was in full swing, I was active in many "alien" themed boards and it was a totally different experience from the wide eyed kid oggling his brother's drawings. Sure, it wasn't the best movie, but it was the first time I could follow a movie from it's original idea to the screen.

Terminator was another great Betamax experience for me. I loved it! But the characters never really made such an impact on me. And I do love monsters. When T2 came out I was back in Colombia and I think I went on opening day. Again, I loved it, but it was just another action flick for me, not part of my life as Alien has always been.

Robocop made a huge impression on me. The gore, the great subtext, the overall sadness of the story gave me pause to think. I never cared for the sequels.

So that's my story.

 

[Shai]

Robocop made a huge impression on me. The gore, the great subtext, the overall sadness of the story gave me pause to think. I never cared for the sequels.

Ditto.........

 

[Batty]

Robocop made a huge impression on me. The gore, the great subtext, the overall sadness of the story gave me pause to think. I never cared for the sequels.

Paul Verhoeven made an incredible movie. So much more than just an action/sci-fi flick. The same with Starship Troopers. And yet he also directed Showgirls.

 

[abake]

Showgirls was much more than a movie for me as well...

 

[Batty]

Showgirls was much more than a movie for me as well...

I don't think I want to know why!

 

[Elder_Predator2]

I don't think I want to know why!

I second that.

 

[abake]

I don't think I want to know why!

 

[abake]

Of course, there is another movie, a stand-alone movie, that had a profound effect on me. Not to the extent that Alien had (after all, I do love monsters), but certainly very close. More influential than Predator or Terminator in any case.

I'm speaking, of course, about Blade Runner.

I was living in Colombia at the time and, as kids do, I just knew about this cool movie that was coming out. I knew that it was Harrison Ford and I knew it was Ridley Scott and I knew it was Sci-Fi.

I also knew I had to see it.

Unfortunately, its theater run was one week. Seriously. Back then Bogotá had 10 cinemas (no multiplexes) at most. And you could basically go to four, the others were just too run down or too far.

So I missed it inthe theaters, but then trusty HBO came to the rescue (I don't think I explained this, but back then people would tape movies in betamax off HBO in the U.S. and bring them back here for rent) and we rented it. I was awestruck. The visuals, the story, the design of the whole thing was just amazing. The music. It was glorious. It was such a profoundly beautiful experience that I sat mesmerized every single time I saw it.
The characters were fantastic, the acting beautiful.

Now I own the 5 disc collector's edition, and the respect I feel for this movie is undiminished. Nay, it has grown with time.

A work of art.

 

[nicky]

I have been going to cons now regularly since 2003 and collecting sigs on all my posters (I will post pics of them tonight) and meeting the casts and crews.

And here's just two of them - I have one for Predator 2 but it only has two sigs on and Predator mini-poster only has one.

 

[Vince]

Robocop made a huge impression on me. The gore, the great subtext, the overall sadness of the story gave me pause to think. I never cared for the sequels.

The sequels suck, they don't have Verhoevens vision on it.
I always loved Verhoevens vision on the future as in many of his movies !

 

[icruise]

Those are awesome posters, Nicky!

I think these movies (Terminator, Alien, Blade Runner in particular, and of course Star Wars and Indiana Jones) had a big effect on a lot of people in our generation. I wonder how my son will feel about them when he gets old enough to see them. This is not to diminish the genius of these films, but I do think that sometimes we find ourselves with an attachment to a particular film or show because of when we saw it. I know that compared to stuff I saw as a kid, the films I see today don't usually have such a big effect on me. While that might partially be because they aren't as good, I think it's also because I'm older and more jaded. I wonder what the "Star Wars" of my son's generation will be.

 

[Entropy]

These things go in cycles. Seems to be 20 year cycles. Terrence McKenna sums this up well that the true religion of the the 20th and now 21st century is nostalgia for the archaic. Whatever people see as kids has a huge influence on them and by the time they have a job and earn some coin, 20 yrs or so, they return to that blissful time and tend to collect things from that era, whether it's collecting childhood items they once owned and have lost or sold or new collectibles based on those things they grew up watching. We'll be coming up on 90s nostalgia pretty soon.

 

[abake]

Whatever the cycles and ages may be, Matrix kicked my butt in a major way!
It's the first movie that as soon as it was over I wanted to see it again.

That probably means I'm still as immature as I was in the 80's!