The Andromeda StrainYear: 1970 Director: Robert Wise Written by: Nelson Gidding Threat: Alien Crystal Weapon of Choice: Air Based upon: novel - The Andromeda Strain - Michael Crichton |
![]() |
Other movies in this series:
None
The tyranist's thoughts
Not traditionally considered a horror film by most of its fans, I found The Andromeda Strain to be a creepy, near
future look at something that very well could wipe out mankind. Stephen King's The Stand, which would come a few
year's later, drew upon the same basic problems to set up the world in which the novel takes place. Unfortunately, I
haven't read Michael Crichton's novel to give you a comparison.
A deep space scoop has crash landed in New Mexico and all of the inhabitants but two of the little town it hit are dead.
The government has a contingency plan, though, and the Wildfire team is called in to analyze the lethal problem. Can
they figure out what is killing people before it spreads over the neighboring states?
Very creepy and atmospheric, the elaborate set really contributes to the heightened tension. On top of that the fundamental
idea that they are pursuing is as frightening to me as all of the apocalyptic asteroid stories. Very science fiction
but well worth any time you can spend to see it.
Total Skulls: 5
| Sequel | ||
| Sequel setup | ||
| Rips off earlier film | ||
| Horror film showing on TV/in theater in movie | ||
| Future celebrity appears | ||
| Former celebrity appears | ||
| Bad title | ||
| Bad premise | ||
| Bad acting | ||
| Bad dialogue | ||
| Bad execution | ||
| MTV Editing | ||
| OTS | ||
| Girl unnecessarily gets naked | ||
| Wanton sex | ||
| Death associated with sex | ||
| Unfulfilled promise of nudity | ||
| Characters forget about threat | ||
| Secluded location | ||
| Power is cut | ||
| Phone lines are cut | ||
| Someone investigates a strange noise | ||
| Someone runs up stairs instead of going out front door | ||
| Camera is the killer | ||
| Victims cower in front of a window/door | ||
| Victim locks self in with killer | ||
| Victim running from killer inexplicably falls | ||
| Toilet stall scene | ||
| Shower/bath scene | ||
| Car stalls or won't start | ||
| Cat jumps out | ||
| Fake scare | ||
| Laughable scare | ||
| Stupid discovery of corpse | ||
| Dream sequence | ||
| Hallucination/Vision | ||
| No one believes only witness | ||
| Crazy, drunk, old man knows the truth | ||
| Warning goes unheeded | ||
| Music detracts from scene | ||
| Death in first five minutes | ||
| x years before/later | ||
| Flashback sequence | ||
| Dark and stormy night | ||
| Killer doesn't stay dead | ||
| Killer wears a mask | ||
| Killer is in closet | ||
| Killer is in car with victim | ||
| Villain is more sympathetic than heroes | ||
| Unscary villain/monster | ||
| Beheading | ||
| Blood fountain | ||
| Blood hits camera | ||
| Poor death effect | ||
| Excessive gore | ||
| No one dies at all | ||
| Virgin survives | ||
| Geek/Nerd survives | ||
| Little kid lamely survives | ||
| Dog/Pet miraculously survives | ||
| Unresolved subplots | ||
| "It was all a dream" ending | ||
| Unbelievably happy ending | ||
| Unbelievably crappy ending | ||
| What the hell? |