I love Arnold. He is the king of action flicks. It's great to see him looking so young in this classic. Even after over three decades, Predator still holds up. The CGI from the Predator's point of view looks primitive and some of the video looks a bit grainy, but for the most part, it still looks great today.
This is probably one of the most paused scenes in home video history. I remember my friend had an expensive VCR that would actually pause the moment you pressed the button, but for most of us back in the day using cheaper VCRs, we had to time it just right to get this. I thought I would join the Army and get buff like this when I was ten years old. I'm sure many other boys had the same delusion.
Jesse Ventura was a Navy SEAL and Arnold Schwarzenegger was in the Army so they didn't have to act or pretend to be badass military men.
I was a boy the last time I saw this movie and just remembered the guns, great one-liners, and of course how brilliantly the hunters slowly became the hunted. I totally forgot how pretty Anna was.
The Predator had its fun killing each character in a different way each time. You knew your time was up when the three red dots found you.
I can't think of any other movie where Arnold is scared half the time. Seeing the best soldiers in the Army and the CIA terrified help make this into a horror film. It's like seeing your parents scared when you were a kid.
Not everyone runs from the Alien of Death. I love how Billy makes his final stand with just a knife. I'm sure the Predator enjoyed that.
You know the Predator is an alien from the beginning, but the way he is slowly revealed throughout the film is genius.
Rather than rely on face capture CGI, they spent many hours doing realistic makeup. This is why films were scarier back in the day. I'm sure this ugly face gave many kids nightmares. I had nightmares about the AT-ST Walkers from Star Wars when I was a kid. Maybe it was because they killed those cute Ewoks. My sister and I had the Ewok teddy bears which made me even sadder when the Empire killed them. What movie gave you nightmares?
Here's the final shot of the film showing the cast. Thanks for looking back at this great film with me today. Get to the chopper!
Resources:
I pushed pause and took screenshots from the film and made every picture link to Predator on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003GX5CWY/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=conversationg-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=B003GX5CWY&linkId=e25dc863ea75d301519eadf4f791ce47
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predatorhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predator_(film)