Social Fears and Alien Invasions: The Cultural Impact of 80s Sci-Fi Horror

The 1980s were a pretty peculiar decade in modern history. It was a time now considered synonymous with energy, vibrancy, and of course, imminent danger. Over the course of those 10 years, the world witnessed the horror of HIV epidemics, the true expansion of the war on drugs, and the beginning of the fall of the Soviet Union. Times changed, and so did the cinema. Technological developments led to loads of improvements in special effects and filming techniques, bringing us splendid visuals and inspiring production design. The decade’s sci-fi horror films brought the likes of David Cronenberg, John Carpenter, and James Cameron to a much brighter spotlight as well. You can almost say today that 80s sci-fi horror, which would cast a large shadow over the genre for decades to come, stood at the back of those brilliant filmmakers.

Let’s take The Thing (1982) as an example; one of the key lines in the film came about a few moments after a gruesome transformation – or metamorphosis if you like – and it was a rather profane version of “You’ve got to be kidding me” as an acknowledgement of shock and awe combined with a playful slapstick. The best thing of all was that the audience simply forgot to laugh, because they had been sick to their stomach by then.

While it could be Carpenter’s idea of delivering nervous tension, back then it was dismissed as nothing more than sadistic body horror. Also, the possibility of The Thing functioning as a satire of a new wave of horrific STDs was almost never considered. But now we know, from the DVD commentary by Carpenter himself, that some scenes in the film (including when MacReady was testing the blood of the remaining team members) were inspired by the public fear of AIDS. Paranoia and mistrust among a small community was taken at its worst and transformed into physical terror, in the sense that your closest friends could be your doom. It was a social fear too close for comfort, and The Thing delivered exactly that with all its antiques.

Initially dismissed almost to oblivion by critics, The Thing gradually found a wider audience that could appreciate the film for what it is: a satire of AIDS and a commentary on mutually assured destruction during the Cold War era. Now we can all agree that it’s an enduring classic, with a massive impact on popular culture. You see it being referenced in other popular works like Monsters Vs. Aliens (2009), Futurama: Murder on the Planet Express, The Mist (2007), The X- Files: Ice, and even the Resident Evil 4 game. In 2011, a prequel to the same name came along. While the movie tells the story of days before the timeline of the original film, the prequel ends up being more or less a direct remake with a somewhat fetishist fashion to mimic the source material.

Enough about The Thing for now, and let’s move to another great example of 80s sci-fi horror film: The Terminator (1984), directed by James Cameron. It was only Cameron’s third film after his not-so-good works, including a short film titled “Xenogenesis” and the overwhelmingly terrible Piranha II. And about two years later, he came up with Aliens, a sequel to what is possibly the quintessential 80s sci-fi horror. No catchphrase from any film is as memorable as Schwarzenegger’s “I’ll be back” line, and the film itself made its way into a lot of “greatest” lists. Here are just a few:

In 2005, it was named by Total Film as the 72nd Best Film Ever Made.

In 2008, Empire Magazine listed it as one of 500 Greatest Movies of All Time (ranked 308th)
Also in 2008, the Library of Congress deemed it culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.
In 2010, the Independent Film & Television Alliance selected The Terminator as one of 30 Most Significant Independent Films of the Last 30 Years.
In 2015, it was among the movies listed in the “1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die”

As for Aliens, the overall reception and cultural influence might not be as massive as the original, but it doesn’t mean the sequel is less consequential. A lot of the elements of the film, such as a capable team of armed soldiers being taken out by a single powerful villain, have been copied and repeated too many times in many other movies over the decades to where it is now a cliché. But then again, it’s a cliché, because it’s good. Even the film’s original score has also been imitated far too often in movies released in the years and decades that followed.

We think the primary driving force behind sci-fi horror has always been creating a scary imagination of the future. Of course, not every single 80s sci-fi horror film made the cut as one of the best – some turned out to be among the worst of all time, such as Piranha II. But many of them did, and until today still deliver long-lasting cultural impacts on the film industry. In the 21st century, a lot of sci-fi horror movies revolve around the idea of artificial intelligence and scientific experiments gone wrong. The truth of the matter is that many of them are also basically different versions of 80s films like Terminator, The Fly, Videodrome, Scanners, etc.

What do you think is the better film, The Terminator or Predator? Of all the films in the Alien franchise, which one is your favorite? We’d love to hear from you.

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