Editorials
[It Came From the ‘80s] The Evolution of the ‘Predator,’ One of Horror’s Most Iconic Monsters
With horror industry heavy hitters already in place from the 1970s, the 1980s built upon that with the rise of brilliant minds in makeup and effects artists, as well as advances in technology. Artists like Rick Baker, Rob Bottin, Alec Gillis, Tom Woodruff Jr., Tom Savini, Stan Winston, and countless other artists that delivered groundbreaking, mind-blowing practical effects that ushered in the pre-CGI Golden Age of Cinema. Which meant a glorious glut of creatures in horror. More than just a technical marvel, the creatures on display in ‘80s horror meant tangible texture that still holds up decades later. Grotesque slimy skin to brutal transformation sequences, there wasn’t anything the artists couldn’t create. It Came From the ‘80s is a series that will pay homage to the monstrous, deadly, and often slimy creatures that made the ‘80s such a fantastic decade in horror.
Throughout most of 1987’s Predator, the title creature hunts the elite military rescue team in stealth, using its tech and the jungle as camouflage. It isn’t until his final battle against Dutch (Arnold Schwarzenegger) that the alien’s true face is revealed, and it’s glorious. That design became iconic, and Predator spawned three sequels and two crossover films. But when development and production began on Predator, the bloodthirsty hunter had a very different look.
Originally, visual effects company Boss Films Studios was tapped to create the creature effects. In an early meeting between the team and the film’s executives, Boss Films was presented with designs that had already been handled by a production designer, with the instruction by director John McTiernan that this was the alien he wanted the effects team to create. Reptilian with backward bending legs, tall, and gaunt, but with a much, much different head that was almost canine in its shape. The design of the head was awful, but it was the backward legs that the effects team was concerned about considering this was to be filmed in the actual jungle.
By now, the story is well told about the first actor to fill the Predator’s shoes; Jean-Claude Van Damme, eager to show off his martial arts prowess. The only problem is that he had no idea what he’d actually signed up for. His first day on set had him gearing up in the creature’s suit, a matte red version to offset the greenery of the jungle so the effects team could render the invisibility effect later. Van Damme didn’t know this aspect about the creature and believed the red suit was the actual design. He also didn’t know that his face would never be revealed. Needless to say, he wasn’t a fan in the slightest.
More importantly, it quickly became apparent that this iteration of the character simply wasn’t working. Logistical issues aside, the smaller, leaner creature going up against a team of heavyweight bodybuilders just wasn’t very scary. Schwarzenegger recommended his friend Stan Winston to design and create a new Predator. Winston had a good feeling about the longevity of the character and didn’t want to let his friend down, so he accepted. But it was by no means an easy road for his team; production was stalled and waiting on the new iteration of the creature and time was extremely short.
Winston found inspiration from a painting in producer Joel Silver’s office of a Rastafarian warrior. While working on a sketch of the creature on a flight to Japan for Aliens, director James Cameron suggested adding mandibles. It was this great concept and design that allowed for the rest of the creature to have a humanoid appearance. The last piece of the puzzle? Seven-foot-four-inch actor Kevin Peter Hall to portray this version of the Predator. Now Dutch and team had a serious reason to fear for their lives. A great design, a fully animatronic face, and a giant of an actor all came together within a span of 6 weeks with Stan Winston Studio crews working around the clock, seven days a week, to deliver one of horror and sci-fi’s most iconic characters of all time.
It’s been 75 years since The Thing From Another World first warned us to “watch the skies”, and filmgoers have done just that by showing up to multiple instances of extraterrestrial contact on the big screen. This makes sense, as a recent CBS news poll estimated that 63% of Americans believe in intelligent life on other planets, and the ongoing disclosure movement aims to raise that number with each passing day.
With Steven Spielberg’s Disclosure Day leaving many genre fans hungry for more alien footage (preferably of the spooky variety), today I’d like to share a list recommending six underrated alien invasion thrillers for your viewing pleasure. After all, regardless of whether or not you believe that we’re alone in the universe, it can be fun to dream about the worst-case scenario if our cosmic neighbors ever decide to visit.
For the purposes of this list, we’ll be focusing on lesser-known invasion stories rather than the popular extraterrestrials of franchises like Alien and Close Encounters of the Third (or even Fourth) Kind. That being said, don’t forget to comment below with your own alien favorites if you think we missed a particularly thrilling movie.
While it won’t be featured in this article, I’d highly recommend checking out Dean Alioto’s UFO Abduction/The McPherson Tape if you’re up for some ufology-inspired found footage thrills.
With that out of the way, onto the list!
6. The Arrival (1996)
Not to be confused with Denis Villeneuve’s Academy Award-winning Amy Adams vehicle about learning to communicate peacefully with extraterrestrial life, David Twohy’s The Arrival is a much more straightforward (but no less entertaining) genre romp where Charlie Sheen faces a global conspiracy involving hostile alien invaders.
It’s not exactly up there with Close Encounters or even Independence Day, but Twohy’s conspiratorial thriller plays out like an exceptionally fun episode of The X-Files that I’d recommend to sci-fi/horror fans who don’t mind a little bit of wonky CGI and 90s excess alongside their alien thrills.
5. Extraterrestrial (2014)
The Vicious Brothers made a name for themselves with the success of 2011’s Grave Encounters, but that was far from the Canadian duo’s only collaboration. And while it’s not exactly a fan favorite, I always point out 2014’s Extraterrestrial as one of their most underrated projects simply because I agree with the filmmakers’ opinion that there aren’t enough ‘cool alien abduction movies’ out there.
Admittedly, the majority of the picture functions like a run-of-the-mill creature feature with paper-thin characters and familiar horror tropes, but I’d argue that the cosmically-terrifying final act elevates the experience to new and memorable heights. The movie also boasts great performances by both Michael Ironside and Emily Perkins – a combination that more than makes up for the occasionally janky CGI.
4. Alien Raiders (2008)
Director Ben Rock has gone on record lamenting how his John-Carpenter-inspired creature feature was forcefully renamed from Supermarket to the painfully obvious Alien Raiders (a change which likely resulted in many potential viewers skipping out on the experience), but the new title doesn’t change the fact that this single-location thriller is something of a hidden gem.
Taking place entirely within a supermarket, Alien Raiders tells the story of an ensemble of customers and employees who are taken hostage by a group of armed men looking for something far more dangerous than an easy payout. I won’t get into details in order to avoid spoiling the experience, but I’d highly recommend this criminally underseen flick to fans of John Carpenter and the Resident Evil games.
3. Phoenix Forgotten (2017)
You’d think that a Ridley-Scott-produced retelling of one of the most infamous real-life UFO sightings of all time would have a bigger following, but I rarely see Justin Barber’s Found Footage period piece brought up during discussions about extraterrestrial-focused horror movies.
This is a huge shame, as Phoenix Forgotten is just as spooky as it is convincing, with this well-researched dive into the Phoenix Lights incident benefiting from surprisingly believable special effects as well as an appropriately horrific finale.
2. Communion (1989)
I wouldn’t blame you for disregarding Whitley Strieber’s controversial book about his alleged close encounter as sensationalist slop, but I’d argue that Phillipe Mora’s 1989 adaptation of these events is much better than the source material. After all, the movie works as a standalone piece of speculative fiction while also benefiting from an incredible performance by the one and only Christopher Walken!
Mora’s take on Communion may not be particularly scary, but the film is still an unforgettable character study regardless of whether or not the abduction really happened. Not only that, but the flick also paved the way for plenty of future sci-fi stories where the extraterrestrial invaders aren’t as evil as they initially appear.
1. Altered (2006)
Originally envisioned as a Sam Raimi-style horror-comedy titled Probed, Eduardo Sánchez (of The Blair Witch Project fame) eventually realized that it would be much more interesting to turn the film into a serious exploration of the emotional aftermath of a traumatic abduction incident.
That’s how we got Altered, a clever inversion of the standard abduction narrative that follows a group of troubled friends as they capture and experiment on an alien in order to enact revenge for their own abduction years prior.
You must be logged in to post a comment.