The blistering heat wave barreling through the American Northeast region has left many of us here at MTV News headquarters -- well, hot. With temperatures breaking through to the triple digits, your friendly neighborhood Movies Blog contributors could sure use a nice, cold lemonade right about now.
Those of you spending your day in similarly brutal weather conditions might find yourselves pining for colder weather, perhaps even a downright arctic climate. But on that last count, let's just take a step back and reflect upon what we've learned from the movies: as nice as cold weather sounds right about now, I think we can all agree that overwhelming heat is better than terrible death by vampires, Stormtroopers and menacing aliens.
After the jump, find five arctic cautionary tales to keep in mind as you fantasize about colder weather during this heat wave.
30 Days of Night
If you're thinking about booking yourself a trip to Alaska to seek cover from the heat wave, do yourself a favor and steer clear of Barrow, the town in "30 Days of Night." Director David Slade's pre-"Eclipse" vampire epic saw a pack of hungry bloodsuckers terrorizing the citizens of Barrow, a town where the sun disappears from view for 30 straight days and provides vampires with a veritable buffet table of blood. Heat wave or not, it's probably wise to steer clear of Barrow's monstrous population.
The Day After Tomorrow
We're all hoping that the heat wave ends quickly, but don't wish too hard for a drastic weather change – not unless you want the world to end up like the one seen in "The Day After Tomorrow," that is. Sledding the endless snowy hills of a post-snowstorm New York City sounds fun on paper, but the frigid and nearly fatal climate seen in Roland Emmerich's natural disaster flick proves the old adage: be careful what you wish for.
The Empire Strikes Back
There are two sides to every story. If you're a member of the Intergalactic Empire from the "Star Wars" universe, for example, hanging out on Planet Hoth isn't such a bad idea – after all, you're emerging from the icy battle with victory to your name. But if you're a member of the morally upstanding Rebel Alliance, Hoth is not only a freezing cold location, it's also one where you're bound to succumb to the crushing might of the Empire. Bitter cold and utter annihilation do not make for a happy combination on the battlefield.
Ice Age
Sure, the main "Ice Age" trio of Manny the mammoth, Sid the sloth and Diego the saber-toothed tiger seem nice enough on the surface – but if you actually met them in person, something tells me they would be a lot less gentle. Besides, without any human companions to keep you company, what chance of survival could you possibly have? After all, poor Scrat can't even catch one acorn – how are you going to survive an ice age?
The Thing
In Antarctica, there lurks a menacing alien organism that can imitate its murdered victims, thereby inducing extreme paranoia within any group of humans it encounters. Yeah, that's all kinds of terrifying. I'll stay here in heat-ridden New York, thank you very much!
Northeastern readers, how are you beating the heat wave? Give us some strategies in the comments section and on Twitter!
