Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Late 70s/Early 80s Science Fiction: The Genre's Dark Period

Recently I've been watching classic movies from this period and they strike me as uncannily dark. Of course there's Alien (1979) and Blade Runner (1982, duh), but I would add 4 others to this list: Brainstorm (1983), Altered States (1980), Close Encounters (1977), and the first Star Trek movie (1979). Yes, Star Trek! What do I find so dark about them? I don't know. I'm not enough of a film buff to know what kind of film they used, or the kinds of shots or other fancy cinematography stuff. If you run across this post and think you have some idea of what unites these, I'm curious - in particular, regarding the last 3 - by all means, let's hear it.
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2 comments:

  1. dbonfittoJune 17, 2009 at 6:05 AM

    Lathe of Heaven: rent the old one.

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  2. Michael CatonJune 18, 2009 at 8:04 PM

    I did. It's the only thing worse than the fight scene in Star Trek III: Back to the Future>>>> between Kirk and the Doc. "The Genesis Device - I want it!" Note that I didn't include that on my list.

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