History NightmareFuel / TheTerminator

** Kyle and Reese end up having to resort to home-made pipe bombs to damage the Terminator in any signifigant way; small arms fire does nothing except annoy it, they'd need a small army armed with shotguns or automatic weapons to take it down, have no hope in hell of getting their hands on military explosives like RPG's or grenades, and the "plasma" weapons the Terminator mentions at the gun shop, implied to be at least somewhat common by the time the Apocalypse hit in 1997... well, they don't exist yet.

* [[WhatCouldHaveBeen In the first script draft for the film]], Kyle wasn't the only human solider sent back in time, as another one named Sumner was sent in as well. Unfortunately for Sumner, he ends up materializing in a fire escape room ''[[BodyHorror fused]]'' [[TeleFrag with a fire hydrant]], suffering a horrible and agonizing death in the process.

** If you ever get the chance to read the script, it's written like it's a horror film. The death of Sarah's roommate is a footnote in the film and a moment of sheer gut-wrenching terror in the script.

** The bouncer who tries to stop what he thinks is just some trouble-maker barging in without paying gets one of his hands audibly crushed by the T-800's mechanical grip. Judging by how much stronger these robots are than any human, T-800 likely crushed the bones in his hand many times over, leaving him utterly stunned from the pain. The cashier can only flee in disbelief to go find help.

* This was the movie that helped make Creator/JamesCameron's career, so it's likely that there was never a plan for the sequel, even if Cameron had ideas about how he'd like to continue the story which is why there is such a difference between this movie and the subsequent ones. The biggest difference is that the flesh shell of the T-800 was heavily implied to be temporary and something that could be applied to any T-800. Unlike later versions which had even more ArtisticLicenseBiology by having the flesh shell capable of regeneration even if only gradually, this version of the T-800 is more realistic in that the flesh covering degrades, dies, and decays over time as there isn't a system of organs, circulatory system, or fuel intake (i.e., eating food) that would allow the organic parts to survive long-term or heal and rebuild. As the T-800 gains more injuries over the course of the film, it goes from being indistinguishable from human to resembling an undead RevenantZombie. While the T-800 can slow this degeneration by applying some first aid, it's implied that, eventually, the whole flesh covering will die and rot off. Some notable scenes conveying this effect:

** After taking much more damage, the next day in the motel room it's using as a hideout, the T-800 has a very pale complexion, and there isn't any evidence of blood in its exposed eye, implying that, due to the shootout and damage to the flesh covering, the organic parts bled out and now the whole thing is quickly dying, which is confirmed by the flies gathering on its face and the janitor of the building even commenting on the foul smell like a dead animal. It's horrifying to think about the fact that this machine is now walking around covered in rotting dead flesh. Not to mention the T-800 is essentially on an accelerated deadline to kill Sarah, otherwise its skin disguise will rot off its endoskeleton, and the T-800 will stand out like a sore thumb anywhere it goes.

* The police station rampage. It really drives home how unstoppable the T-800 is, especially when the police break out the big guns and ''still'' get mowed down like grass.
** Arguably the most chilling element of this is how strongly the destroyed police station resembles the massacred human bunker in the future, almost as if the T-800 was remaking the past in the image of its present in a sort of inverse of HistoryRepeats.

** Later on comes Kyle's flashback of a Terminator attack on a Resistance base. The door guards let a group of refugees into the shelter when, suddenly, the dogs start barking, and one of the "refugees" throws back his garments to reveal a massive gun. Before anyone can react, the cyborg opens fire on the soldiers, as well as on women, children, and guard dogs. Kyle attempts to fight back, but an explosion knocks him to the ground, sending his photograph of Sarah into the inferno. As he watches it burn, he gazes up to see the silhouette of the Terminator, [[RedEyesTakeWarning eyes burning fiendishly red]] as it continues methodically gunning people down.

** Later on comes Kyle's flashback of a Terminator attack on a Resistance base. The door guards let a group of refugees into the shelter when, suddenly, one of them throws up his garments to reveal a massive gun. Before anyone can react, the cyborg opens fire on the soldiers, as well as on women, children, and guard dogs. Kyle attempts to fight back, but an explosion knocks him to the ground, sending his photograph of Sarah into the inferno. As he watches it burn, he gazes up to see the silhouette of the Terminator as shown in the page image, [[RedEyesTakeWarning eyes burning fiendishly red]] as it continues methodically gunning people down.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/000_t800.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:"I'll be back."]]