Screamers (1995)

[MarcDickenson 5]

 

The year is 2078. The man is rebel Alliance Commander Col. Joseph Hendrickson (Peter Weller), assigned to protect the Sirius 6B outpost from ravage and plunder at the hands of the New Economic Bloc.

His state-of-the-art weaponry are known as Screamers; manmade killing devices programmed to eliminate all enemy life forms. Screamers travel underground; their intent to kill announced by piercing shrieks. They dissect their victims with sushi precision, then eradicate all traces of the carnage. They are lethal. Effective. Tidy.

 

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[RyanSz 3140]

I fucking unironically love this movie. While it is cheesy, for being a smaller budget limited release movie, they did a good job of creating a believable threat using practical effects and not relying on CGI which was just becoming a big thing in movies, especially sci-fi. Peter Weller kills it in this movie as well despite the backstory not being displayed to the audience as well as it could have been. The only reason that they should do this movie is so that they can do the horrible sequel which has worse graphics than this one and has a subplot of Screamers getting people pregnant with Screamer babies, seriously.

[MarcDickenson 5]

I fucking unironically love this movie. While it is cheesy, for being a smaller budget limited release movie, they did a good job of creating a believable threat using practical effects and not relying on CGI which was just becoming a big thing in movies, especially sci-fi. Peter Weller kills it in this movie as well despite the backstory not being displayed to the audience as well as it could have been. The only reason that they should do this movie is so that they can do the horrible sequel which has worse graphics than this one and has a subplot of Screamers getting people pregnant with Screamer babies, seriously.

 

They did actually use CGI mixed with puppets, well it's interesting considering there a handful of films based on Philip K. Dick's work that bombed horribly. Oddly enough, the original short story didn't involve these off-world colonies, it was set on Earth with Soviets and Americans nuking each other, then one side building the robots. I think the story itself and the acting is generic enough for them to tackle it, and worth them exploring it, plus they spoil the entire film and the twist in this trailer.

[RyanSz 3140]

I meant relying on CGI in that everything was done with it, rather than a few scenes where you see a couple Screamers or the cyborg's faces stretching. Yeah the movies based on Dick's are actually a lot better received than most other authors, either critically or financially. Blade Runner was a critical success after years of review, Total Recall and Minortiy Report were also a critical success and did well in the box office, while A Scanner Darkly did well with critics also. Unfortunately these are balance out against Imposter, Paycheck, Next, and the Total Recall remake, each of which could have an episode dedicated to them.

[MarcDickenson 5]

I meant relying on CGI in that everything was done with it, rather than a few scenes where you see a couple Screamers or the cyborg's faces stretching. Yeah the movies based on Dick's are actually a lot better received than most other authors, either critically or financially. Blade Runner was a critical success after years of review, Total Recall and Minortiy Report were also a critical success and did well in the box office, while A Scanner Darkly did well with critics also. Unfortunately these are balance out against Imposter, Paycheck, Next, and the Total Recall remake, each of which could have an episode dedicated to them.

 

actually, Blade Runner both bombed and got awful reviews during it's initial release in1982. Remember, this was the terrible theatrical cut with Ford's cringe-worthy voice over and sketchy editing, the Final Cut is the superior version of course.

[RyanSz 3140]

Yeah I knew it didn't get much love upon release, especially since no one really knew what it was about prior to its release, but I was talking about after years passed and now even the original cut is seen as one of the best sci-fi films.

[PlanBFromOuterSpace 3138]

I saw this film once, which was 20 years ago in the theater. I think I remember feeling pretty cheated, because while the first part had the cool robots and stuff, it wasn't long before they settled into the tried and true "The new model looks just like people!" method of keeping the cost of the movie down.

[RyanSz 3140]

I saw it as a kid when it came out on VHS and remember being confused by the final scenes where Weller fights his best friend for access to the escape pod, originally thinking he somehow abandoned the base and was trying to save himself like a coward. It wasn't only until a couple years later when I rewatched it that he was the "fake an injury" cyborg who had just skinned the friend and was trying to get off the planet to further spread the Screamers to Earth. Also, regarding to the "they look like people" aspect, I read that the company that helped create The Terminator franchise has the first right to refuse any Philip K. Dick movie adaptation since he has used that theme in a few of his novels (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep and Second Variety, in particular).