James Cameron: Ranking His Films From Worst To Best

6. The Terminator

Battle Angel Alita
Orion Pictures

Alright folks, we've eaten our veggies, now on to dessert.

The idea behind this film came to Cameron in a nightmare, featuring a robot that walked like a man stepping through fire towards him. Essentially being a slasher movie with a frightening explanation for the superhuman ability of its slasher villain, this film centers around a seemingly random teenage girl, Sarah Connor, on the run from an unstoppable robot disguised as a man, sent to kill her because she's destined to mother the man who would grow up to be the destruction of the robot's A.I. masters, Skynet.

A high concept horror/Sci-Fi film that showcases the talents of both Cameron and leading man Arnold Schwarzenegger, at a time before he was the biggest name in '80s Hollywood, The Terminator was a fun, legit frightening experience that inspired a whole generation of science fiction writers, a trait that Cameron's best films tend to have in common.

Contributor
Contributor

John Tibbetts is a novelist in theory, a Whatculture contributor in practice, and a nerd all around who loves talking about movies, TV, anime, and video games more than he loves breathing. Which might be a problem in the long term, but eh, who can think that far ahead?