"You still don't get it, do you? He'll find her. That's what he does! That's all he does! You can't stop him! He'll wade through you, reach down her throat, and pull her fucking heart out!"--- Kyle Reese

Watching "The Terminator" again today felt like re-visiting an old dear badass friend. This movie meant so much to me while growing up as specific lines, scenes and even visual beats have been engraved in my mind for a very long time. There’s just a charm about this picture. How many of you out there went nuts for that silver laser sighted gun the Terminator had? How many of you wore dark sunglasses and a collar up leather jacket after seeing this rottweiler for the first time? I KNOW YOU’RE OUT THERE! Well, I did and yes…I was THAT a-hole.

"The Terminator" is an intelligent, edgy and techno somber sci-fi horror thriller that always reminds me what great genre filmmaking is really all about. While watching this baby today, having seen the sequel (and anticipating the third installment), I couldn’t help but feel that the “less is more” rule applied like a champ. The tackling of its sci-fi elements and action sequences were done on a smaller scale (due to budget) therefore giving the film a gritty, down-to-earth and more serious tone. For me, it gave the whole so much more impact than its big budget sequel.

In my opinion, this is by far Cameron’s more together effort. We get fleshed-out and loveable characters that are given enough screen time to express their pain, anguish and feelings (even the two token side cops were given memorable personalities via solid acting and slick lines). We get awesome dialogue all around (loved the exchange between the shrink and Reese), powerful future flashbacks some of which were action-packed while others were gut-wrenching in their sadness and a wooing love story that never fails to put my heart in a vice.

The cherry on top of this classic (and I stress the word "classic") was the enthralling action/mayhem sequences. The small budget was maximized to its fullest here to give us taunt chase sequences, Mack Truck damage, gripping gun play, motorcycle fun, explosions left and right and a scene that is now beyond-classic in the history of genre cinema: the police station slaughter-party where the now famous line “I’ll be back” was first uttered. Nobody cleaned house like The Terminator!

Shite, what else can I say about this flick that hasn’t already been said a thousand times; I guess I’ll go personal here. The film also sports, what I believe to be, one of the most tightly directed scenes in any film today. Yes, I’m speaking of the ASTOUNDINGLY staged sequence at the “Tech Noir” club. Check this out: the scene starts with the line “that guy didn’t pay” while the slick 80’s tune “Burning in the Third Degree” is booming in the background. It then rides on a delicious slow-motion frenzy up until a gunshot snaps the sequence out of its haze to send it off into full Uzi carnage mode. The club bit adequately ends with a well put line: “Come with me if you want to live”. COME ON! I GOT A CINEMATIC BONER OVER HERE!  Now that’s a freaking slick scene! Easily my favorite one in the whole flick. PURE GENIUS!

Lance Henriksen was initially cast as the Terminator himself, while Schwarzenegger was going to play Reese. Schwarzenegger read the script, and asked to play the Terminator instead.

A scene where somebody picked up the Terminator's CPU after it was crushed was filmed, but never slapped into the movie.

The line "I'll be back" was originally scripted as "I'll come back".