The Terminator franchise is fast approaching its 40th anniversary, but the most recent entries in the series are almost unrecognizable in tone from the 1984 original. 1991's T2: Judgement Day has been the trendsetter for the franchise, but the complex web of time travel chaos has left some fans crying out for a return to old-fashioned straightforward horror.

First of all, despite some contention, 1984's The Terminator is a horror film. It is a remarkably simple story, a seemingly random woman is targeted for assassination by an unstoppable mechanical monster and protected by a time-traveling hero who informs her of her important destiny. Every sequel, with the exception of the underrated Terminator: Salvation, have followed that essential formula, but with a radically different tone from the original, and subsequently, very different results.

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The difference can be difficult to put into words, after all, the T-1000 of T2: Judgement Day is still horrific as he slaughters his way through the secondary cast. The secret is in the framing, how the lead characters and the world around them respond to the villain. In the first film, Arnold Schwarzenegger's T-800 is a force of nature. He is unyielding, nothing seems to slow him down, and all the protagonists can hope to do is escape before he gets to them. Comparisons to slasher movie mainstays like Jason Voorhees and Michael Myers are right on the mark.

t-800 from terminator anime

Compare that to the brawls between the T-1000 and the new T-800 in the sequel, where the focus lies more on the exchanges of gunfire and explosions. T2 was intense, but aside from the young John Connor, the primary leads do a lot more fight and a lot less flight than the heroes of the first film. This has been the tenor of the following films as well, with recent entries like Genisys featuring multiple terminator units which the protagonists fight through successively.

Terminator: Dark Fate, the most recent film, is likely the best-received entry in the franchise since T2. Its opening few minutes establishes a new narrative timeline branching off after the conclusion of T2, which explains the reoccurrence and consistent appearance of the Arnold Schwarzenegger terminators. The first act of the film establishes its place in the traditional narrative structure, by introducing Dani, the Rev-9, and Grace. Respectively a new innocent targeted by a new robot assassin and protected by a new hero from the future. This trio represents a fresh twist on the old formula, at least until Sarah Connor and a T-800 take the wheel and maintain the status quo.

Franchise media takes a lot of criticism these days for its use of repetition and its inability to move on to anything new. It can be difficult to capture the spirit of a work without simply going back to the specific characters, plotlines, and even performers that made the early entries great. Look no further than the current Star Wars franchise still spending loads of screen-time on Luke, Han, and Leia when they could be developing their new heroes.

The Terminator franchise is even more stubborn, six films released over nearly 40 years and not one of them has gone without Arnold Schwarzenegger. The most recent film even brought Linda Hamilton back and computer generated a facsimile of Edward Furlong to connect more closely to the original films. Most everyone loves Arnie and the T-800, but is adhering to performances and aesthetics really honoring the spirit of the franchise or just refusing to evolve?

The film landscape is radically different today then it was in 1984 or in 1991. Modern fans seem to prefer their blockbusters as massive sprawling multiverses and their horror as either Ari Aster style cerebral melodrama or The Purge-esque violent thrillers. There has not been an entry in the Friday the 13th or Nightmare on Elm Street series in over a decade. The slasher movie genre, in which 1984's The Terminator is often included, is at a low point in worldwide popularity. One exception would be the Halloween franchise, which is still going strong with new entries. Fans seemed to love the intense return to form of 2018's Halloween, which delivered a modern aimless killing machine in the form of the new Michael Myers. Simplicity may be the silver bullet that unraveled the Halloween franchise, and it could be the answer for Terminator as well.

The Terminator T800

There have, at this point, been several terminator models introduced in the films, but one of the few things they have in common is that they are designed to blend in with human society. The idea of a killer living amongst us, that any stranger we see on the street could be a monster in disguise is still the basis for a great deal of horror media. The formula of most Terminator films is not set in stone, but the filmmakers could keep it largely intact while still reconfiguring the tone.

For example, what if the next entry had the soldier from the future arrive before the robot assassin? A random innocent goes about their day-to-day life but is suddenly accosted and followed by a disheveled stranger insisting that they're in danger. The protagonist could spend much of the first act evading and fleeing the Kyle Reese archetype until they're suddenly confronted by the new Terminator.

Perhaps the new Terminator is in the form of a secondary character, having developed trust with the protagonist while subtly making attempts on their life. Maybe even a mystery along the lines of The Thing, in which a Terminator has infiltrated a situation and the characters slowly go mad trying to determine who is the secret assassin. Concepts like these could shake up the formula, make the Terminators intimidating again and perhaps most importantly, keep the scale small.

Scale is the biggest difference between the first Terminator and its modern incarnation. Dark Fate featured stolen military cargo planes and world-shaking explosions, Genisys got so tied up in timelines and shootouts that fans seemed to get lost. Returning to basics, stripping away most of the complex time jargon and massive action set pieces could bring fans back to what they loved about James Cameron's original vision. Making the leap back to old fashioned horror, with the lessons filmmakers have learned in the ensuing decades might just breathe new life into this tired franchise.

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