Predator: 30th Anniversary RAD Screening

Tom Grieve, Cinema Editor

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Predator: 30th Anniversary RAD Screening

Gorilla, Manchester
29 January 2017

Always double check opening hours with the venue before making a special visit.

Image courtesy of RAD Screenings
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“Get to tha choppaaa!”

Major Alan ‘Dutch’ Schaefer, Predator

A year before the release of his masterpiece Die Hard, action specialist John McTiernan came up with this jungle thriller. The film sees a crack team of commandos – led by Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Major Alan ‘Dutch’ Schaefer – on a mission to kill guerilla fighters and rescue a group of hostages in South America. The mission is a success but the tables are quickly turned when the titular (extraterrestrial) predator decides to make the commandos its prey.

The creature, of course, has long cemented its place as one of the most distinctive in cinema history, with its chameleon-like ability to blend into its surroundings, alongside those space-dreadlocks and that mandible face. Of course it wasn’t just the special effects team who laboured to produce eye-catching physical characteristics. Legend has it that in order to maintain the illusion that his vast physique came naturally to him, actor Carl Weathers used to get up at 3AM in order to work out without any of the other actors seeing him.

McTiernan, who has been reassessed and reclaimed in certain cinephile circles in recent years, delivers the goods with style and verve. Here, he directs a story about a group of bodybuilders – all rippling, impractical muscles and one-liners – who, armed to the teeth and used to winning, find themselves outgunned.

If nothing else, Predator is fascinating as a depiction of a type of masculinity defined entirely by physical prowess, and the emasculation that occurs when somebody else inevitably comes along with a bigger, ahem, gun. That’s not to say that it’s not also a rollicking beer-and-pizza blockbuster, filled with moments of sweaty camaraderie and explosive action. Whichever way you choose to take it, Predator is more than worth the price of admission.

Where to go near Predator: 30th Anniversary RAD Screening

Dog Bowl bowling alley and restaurant Manchester.
Manchester
Bar or Pub
Dog Bowl

A bar and 10-pin bowling alley combined, Dog Bowl is a neon-lit venue that serves up cocktails and Tex-Mex food to go with your time on the lanes.

City Centre
Bar or Pub
The Temple

Originally called The Temple of Convenience owing to its former life as a public toilet block, this is a tiny bar with some of the finest bathroom graffiti in town.

Manchester
Bar or Pub
The Thirsty Scholar

Friendly pub under a railway arch serving vegetarian and vegan pub food, as well as hosting regular live music.

Palace Theatre Manchester
Manchester
Theatre
Palace Theatre

A Manchester landmark for almost 130 years, The Palace Theatre is reopening in early August 2021 with a few small but vital changes to ensure a safe and pleasant experience for all.

The glass atrium inside The Refuge
City Centre
Restaurant
The Refuge

The Refuge is a restaurant and bar based at Kimpton Clocktower Hotel, specialising in bright, exciting small plates.

Manchester
Bar or Pub
Bundobust Brewery

Launched in 2021, the Bundobust Brewery makes modern beer with their vegetarian and vegan food menu in mind.

City Centre
Bar or Pub
Peveril Of The Peak

Iconic Manchester pub adorned with the sorts of bottle green, yellow and brown Victorian tiles that are a reclamation yard’s dream – this gem of a boozer is named after Sir Walter Scott’s novel of the same name and was a favourite hang-out of Eric Cantona.

Manchester
Café or Coffee Shop
Burgess Cafe Bar
at IABF

Small but perfectly-formed café – which also serves as the in-house bookstore, stocking all manner of Burgess-related works, along with recordings of his music. It’s a welcoming space, with huge glass windows making for a bright, welcoming atmosphere.

Rain Bar pub in Manchester
City Centre
Bar or Pub
Rain Bar

This huge three-floor pub, formerly a Victorian warehouse, then an umbrella factory (hence the name), has one of the city centre’s largest beer gardens. The two-tier terrace overlooks the Rochdale canal and what used to be the back of the Hacienda, providing an unusual, historic view of the city.

City Centre
Restaurant
Nudo Sushi Box

Nudo Sushi Box on Manchester’s Oxford Road specialises in freshly-prepared boxes of – you guessed it – sushi.

Manchester
Theatre
The Dancehouse

From its charming Art Deco interiors to a quirky, highly original creative arts output, our theatre is firmly established within the city’s famously vibrant cultural scene.

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