10 Times Horror Directors Admitted They Went Too Far

6. The Terminator

The Terminator
20the Century Fox

Although The Terminator is violent, it's not on the same level as other films of the decade. And to be fair, some of the gory moments aren't particularly convincing.

Still, that hasn't stopped James Cameron from having misgivings about his tech-noir masterpiece. Despite the fact that Cameron is one of the pioneers in depicting badass gun violence, the Oscar-winning director believes he should've toned it down in The Terminator. 

In an interview with Esquire, he said.

"I look back on some films that I’ve made, and I don’t know if I would want to make that film now. I don’t know if I would want to fetishise the gun, like I did on a couple of Terminator movies 30+ years ago, in our current world. What’s happening with guns in our society turns my stomach."

James Cameron has taken this self-directed criticism so seriously that he deliberately removed ten minutes of gun violence from Avatar: The Way of Water.

Although The Terminator doesn't live in infamy like other entries on this list, you'd think it did based on the way the creator looks back on it with remorse.

Contributor

James Egan has been with Whatculture for five years and prominently works on Horror, Film, and Video Games. He's written over 80 books including 1000 Facts about Horror Movies Vol. 1-3 1000 Facts about The Greatest Films Ever Made Vol. 1-3 1000 Facts about Video Games Vol. 1-3 1000 Facts About James Bond 1000 Facts About TV Shows