Catching Up on the Classics

I’ve realized something after watching The Terminator, the first hour of Alien (don’t ask) and now The Exorcist, I’ve realized something. Regardless of how hard I try not to have movies spoiled for me, classics like these are always going to lose something when I watch them.

In each of these movies, I’ve seen clips or heard about the biggest / shocking / coolest elements, so watching these in the normal course of the movie loses something. Whether it’s the alien bursting out of the guy’s chest, Arnold saying, “I’ll be back” or Regan spewing green vomit all over priests, I’ve seen it all already, before ever watching the movie. It’s really one of the big downsides to this multimedia age, but is just something I need to accept.

Especially with regards to The Exorcist, it really takes away a lot of the movie’s shock factor. I mean, obviously, regardless of how well you describe the girl cursing doctors or viciously stabbing herself with a crucifix, it’s always going to be disturbing to see or hear. However, had I not know either of these things heading into the movie, it would have provided a much better experience. I think that The Exorcist was a good enough movie to overcome this fact, but I can’t imagine how good or cool it would have been had I know nothing going in.

The problem that I think The Terminator suffers from is the fact that special effects today have embarrassed older movies like this. Granted, most of the stories today don’t compare in any way, and many filmmakers use special effects as a way to mask a poor story, but it’s hard not to think today’s movies are at least “cooler” (not in any way better) than movies from the 80s or whenever.

The other problem that The Terminator suffers from (and lots of movies like it, I think) is that so many movies have copied the inherent story / plot points that it makes the movies that did it first seem less original. I’ve seen many time travel movies, so seeing that element in The Terminator didn’t do anything for me. I realize that at the time, it was probably revolutionary / completely awesome, but watching it 25 years later, it’s hard to fully appreciate it.

It varies in every movie, but I think I try to give each thing I watched a fair shot. I think it seems a bit daunting / overwhelming / prevalent now because I’ve been catching up on so many of these types of movies. That’s one thing I like about new movies – you only have to compare it to what has come before, not before and after. That’s a far easier challenge.