A full-on cult classic.
If you’re a bit breathless from the incredible Olympics Ireland are having and are looking for a bit of a break, it’s a perfect time to crack out the movies on TV.
Luckily, there are a number of great choices this evening, including our pick of the bunch – The Thing.
One of the most iconic films of the 80s and regarded as one of the best sci-fi horror films ever made, John Carpenter’s 1982 flick centres on a group of American researchers in Antarctica who encounter an extraterrestrial life-form that assimilates, then imitates, other organisms.
Starring 80s action hero Kurt Russell, The Thing was surprisingly slated upon its release in cinemas for its overuse of gore.
However, retrospective reviews have called it one of the most important films in history, praising its use of suspense, paranoia and practical effects.
Directors like Quentin Tarantino, Guillermo del Toro and J. J. Abrams have all been on record about how The Thing influenced their work and it remains a feat of special effects to this day.
If you haven’t watched The Thing yet, or are just in the mood for an overdue rewatch, The Thing is on Film Four at 11.25pm.
Here are the other movies on TV tonight
Stardust – Film Four – 6.25pm
2007 fantasy adventure based on Neil Gaiman’s 1999 novel and featuring an ensemble cast led by Claire Danes, Charlie Cox, Sienna Miller, Ricky Gervais, Jason Flemyng, Rupert Everett, Peter O’Toole, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Robert De Niro, with narration by Ian McKellen.
Men in Black – E4 – 7.05pm
Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones team up as government agents who monitor and police extraterrestrials.
The Day After Tomorrow – Film Four – 9pm
Disaster flick starring Dennis Quaid and Jake Gyllenhaal about multiple climate crisis events that lead to a new ice age.
Jack Reacher – Channel 4 – 9pm
Tom Cruise stars as the titular US army investigator, who is called upon to aid in a homicide investigation involving a trained military sniper believed to be responsible for a mass shooting.
Taken – RTÉ One – 9.25pm
“I will find you and I will kill you.”
Tremors – ITV4 – 9.30pm
90s creature feature fun as Kevin Bacon faces off against some giant worms in his sleepy desert town.
Moonstruck – TG4 – 9.30pm
80s rom-com starring Cher as a widow who falls in love with her fiancé’s hot-tempered, estranged younger brother, played by Nicolas Cage.
The Invisible Man – RTÉ2 – 10.30pm
2020 sci-fi horror based on the H.G. Wells book and starring Elisabeth Moss, part of Universal Pictures’ doomed cinematic Dark Universe.
First Blood – ITV4 – 11.35pm
Another day, another Rambo film among the movies on TV.
Point Break – BBC One – 11.40pm
Crime, but make it cool. Cult classic surfer-crime flick starring Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze.
Heathers – RTÉ2 – 12.40am
1988 teen comedy about four teenage girls in a clique at an Ohio high school, one of whose lives is disrupted by the arrival of a misanthrope intent on murdering the popular students and staging their deaths as suicides.
Read more:
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- A hugely underrated, very fun sci-fi movie is airing on TV tonight
- Ireland’s movie entry for next year’s Oscars has been chosen
- This brilliant, misunderstood sci-fi movie epic deserves a second look on streaming
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