MovieChat Forums > Total Recall (1990) Discussion > Who saw this in cinemas back in 90?

Who saw this in cinemas back in 90?

posted 10 years ago by bozo_500
34 replies | jump to latest

Who saw this back in the day? What are your memories - the anticipation of seeing it in the weeks/days before, the actually seeing it and how much a big deal was it where you were back then, the crowds, audience etc and after coming out of the cinema what were your thoughts and in the days/weeks that followed...
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I was too young to see it but remember seeing the blue face Arnold posters everywhere, (they always seemed to be on the back of the DC Star Trek comics I bought at the time along with ads for Robocop 2, Die Hard 2, Predator 2 etc.), flicking through the official Starlog magazine and DC comic adaptation in the comic stores (both of which I bought on eBay years later), and coming across various articles in the movie magazines of the time starlog, starburst etc (where it was always described as the most expensive movie ever made).

I was more into Star Trek at the time (gearing up for VI and the 25th Ann the following year) but was starting to notice and be intrigued by all the hard R rated SF stuff that I had never seen at that point (Aliens, Predator, Blade Runner, Robocop, The Thing, Mad Max etc. Id sort of seen Terminator on VHS but wasn't allowed to see all of it as it was an 18 rated horror film) anyway TR was obviously one of those and damn it looked amazing - mind blowing frightening Fangoria type images like the eye popping death, the BTTF2 looking future, realistic Mars landscapes, possibility of aliens, Arnold looking huge, beautiful SStone who id never seen before, etc it just looked and sounded like the greatest film ever made, but at the same time extremely violent, scary, foreboding, hard R/18. I really wanted to see it but it being an 18 (in uk) there was just no chance for me (same with all the 18 rated films of that time - although I was able to see T2 rated 15 the following year..and then caught up with and really got into all the R rated SF. I think I saw Total Recall for first time in around 1991 or 92 on VHS. And it was just as id imagined)

[–] prettyface 10 years ago

I saw it with a few friends at the cinema. Those days we watch anything with Arnold in it. I wasn't expecting anything as I have no idea what the story line was all about. One thing that caught my attention was actually lori. She was so damn hot. The minute quaid shot lori, I have lost interest in the film. I kept hoping lori would somehow show up on screen since it's a memory type movie. After the movie, we usually chat about it with friends and that hot girl thing will surface. To make sure we know who we're talking about we refer her to the bad girl. There was no internet those days, therefore we do not know the name sharon stone. A few years has passed and I still remember that girl in total recall. One day I saw a movies poster with a big face of her. She's sharon stone, the girl in total recall, a lead actress in basic instinct! I was just so happy to see that.

[–] fiore2 10 years ago

How about this - I WORKED in the movie theater when this movie came out!

It was a BIG deal. I'm still convinced this movie started the sci fi draw in the mainstream. After this movie you saw more sci fi in the mainstream.

It drew good crowds and was popular. Everyone loved this movie. It was, and still is, an Arnie classic :)

[–] MarkinTempe 9 years ago

I just don't know about that. There were plenty of sci-fi/action blockbusters prior to this i.e. RoboCop, The Abyss etc so I think it was the other way around;that the sucesses of those hits inspired this film to finally be greenlighted after years of being in development hell.

I saw this back when it came out and truth be told, I just recently appreciated Total Recall now after seeing it again after almost 25 years later as the only thing I recall (no pun intended)about it was that it was an extremely over-the-top action sci-fi romp with a lot of people getting mutilated by bullets.

[–] mikebourkefan 10 years ago

i watched it with my dad i was 10. remember really liking Melina,s fight scenes and anything with the alien cab driver. Arnold had some great jokes "HEY BENNY SCREW YOU" as Quaid was killing him with a drill

Rob Zombie is one of the greatest directors today

[–] nick667 10 years ago

I saw it in cinema. I was about 6 years old.

[–] oscarinca 10 years ago

Mars on screen with that pyramid mountain filled with clouds with oxygen was as spectacular as Moses opening the Red Sea. No tv screen can possibly match watching those scenes projected on huge canvas. That scene and the woman's head opening to reveal Arnold's animatronic head beneath was and still is unparalleled.

[–] newt_man2003 9 years ago

Totally agree. The effects in this movie were ahead of its time. Not a lot of CGI used in this movie, and it still pulls off a visual spectacle.

[–] CharmingAss_hole 9 years ago

My dad took me to it opening weekend in June, 1990. I was five. At the time, it scared the hell outta me. Two Christmases later I got it on VHS as a gift from my uncle and shunned it considering my first experience. And then one day my cousin came over who was four years my senior and demanded that we watched it (we were home alone). From that day forward, it has been my favorite Schwarzy movie. T2 is a very close second. If only they hadn't lost the x rated footage.

Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe f_uck yourself.

[–] bozo_500 9 years ago

bumping in light of just having seen The Martian

[–] prettyface 9 years ago

I go to the cinema because of arnold but I end up be becoming a die hard fan of Sharon stone.

[–] schlockhorror 10 years ago

I did. It was stupendous. Everyone in the cinema started chanting "Ar-nie....Ar-nie...Ar-nie" before it began. A middle aged gay / foppy-looking arty type in the row in front of me shuddered and said to his mate "Bring on Arnie...I want to be engulfed."

The Carolco logo came up and the tune then segued into the thud of the soundtrack....seriously awesome. I was massively entertained and went back about three times.

Sharon Stone was a huge bonus. She was just impossibly beautiful and, for an American, even quite sexy.

[–] theauxphou 9 years ago

A middle aged gay / foppy-looking arty type in the row in front of me shuddered and said to his mate "Bring on Arnie...I want to be engulfed."



[–] jaynobody 10 years ago

I was 16 and Canada would not let me see this R rated movie, or Robocop either. Of course video stores didn't care, now with the internet trying to stop teenagers from seeing movies seems even more silly. There is nothing in this a kid shouldn't see either.

[–] Halo572 10 years ago

A group of people were going from work to see the late showing in Leicester Square in London.

I lived in the suburbs then and the trains stopped at 8pm, so if I had gone I couldn't have got home.

I didn't see it for quite a few years after and regret not having seen it in the cinema on release, which isn't something I could say about 99.9999999% of films.

Robocop and Aliens would have been good to see, and I went and saw the rerelease of the Star Wars trilogy in 1997 having only seen Empire as a child.

It is without a doubt one of the best films ever made, it is a continual roller coaster from start to finish and I never tire of watching it.

[–] team_gas 9 years ago

I watched it in the theatre, and it blew my 13 year old mind away. My friend's dad took us, and it was the first R rated movie I had seen in the theatre. Nothing could have prepared me for how awesome it was.

I remember seeing some ads on TV beforehand, and I certainly knew who Arnold was, but besides that, I knew nothing about the film. I miss those experiences of not knowing anything about what you're about to watch. It seems a lot more difficult in this day and age.

Total Recall was one of those seminal films in my life, much like Return of the Living Dead, Aliens and The Lost Boys. These were films I obsessed over as a kid, and watched repeatedly.