Desert Island Movie Keeper !!!

Rating: 10/10 (30 November 2005)

This is perhaps one of the most under-rated, yet best sci-fi/horror movies ever made. It's hard to believe that this movie is almost 25 years old but it has aged well and looks as fresh as ever.
John Carpenter has made some good films here and there but made A lot of dogs. However, sometimes...and I mean once in a lifetime kind of "sometimes"...everything will click and you got yourself one damned fine film. This is Carpenter's "click".
Ingredients: A great premise story by the late John W. Campbell Jr., an absolutely spectacular ensemble cast who, even back then was somewhat unknowns but they all cut their teeth on the stage. I mean really, Richard Dysart, W. Brimley, Peter Maloney, D. Moffat, Richard Masur and Tom Waites, all damn fine stage actors. Sorry to name drop but the producers either were brilliant and/or extremely lucky to pull off this cast for an ensemble piece about paranoia. Great cast! And to really put the icing on the cake they have the edgy special effects guy, Rob Bottin, who was really just a kid at the time pulling off amazing special effects (yes, this is before CGI, kiddies) with a budget that I use to buy groceries with. He was years ahead of his time.
The litmus test for me was to show this to my 15 yr. old son and a few of his buddies one Friday night. They were glued to the TV; from the opening scene where the Norwegians were shooting the wolf from the helicopter to the end scene where Mac and Childs make veiled paranoid small talk amidst the carnage that was once their camp. They loved it and were blown away when I told them how old it was, but I think the scene with Mac and that lame chess computer sort of dates it. LOL.
If you watch this on DVD, make sure you see the Collector's Edition from Universal. 5.1 sound with bullets whizzing by your head. This would be one of the five movies that I would take to my deserted island bungalow. Heh.