Movie Info
Movie Name: Screamers
Studio: Triumph Films
Genre(s): Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Horror
Release Date(s): September 8, 1995 (Toronto International Film Festival)/January 26, 1996 (US)
MPAA Rating: R
Damn screamers….
On the planet Sirius 6B, humanity is waging a war between the Alliance and the corporate mining company called the New Economic Block. The Alliance in their efforts to fight the NEB created machines called Autonomous Mobile Swords…unfortunately the AMS have now grown and evolved into their own species nicknamed Screamers. When it appears a truce might be possible, Colonel Joseph A. Hendricksson (Peter Weller) and a private named Ace Jefferson (Andrew Lauer) set out to investigate if the truce is a cover-up. A trip on Sirius 6B uncovers a truth about the war and the Screamers…and escaping Sirius 6B might be the only hope for survival.
Can I come with you?
Directed by Christian Duguay, Screamers took its basic story from the Philip K. Dick story “Second Variety” which was first published in the May 1953 Space Science Fiction magazine. The film was met with criticism at the time of its release but has since gained cult status.
Screamers was one of those movies you saw being released that just felt generic. With movies about killer robots like The Terminator and T2, the story just seemed like a throwback and low-budget. I have to say Screamers was interesting but it also had a lot of faults.
Flame on!!!
The story for Screamers really shows some similarities to the relaunched Battlestar Galactica of 2003. The Screamers begin to develop into human that can mimic blood and even pain. This raises a lot of questions about what makes humanity and if a robot can learn to care and feel…of course most of the Screamers are portrayed as evil killers so the evolution isn’t quite complete.
The cast is also a rather generic “sci-fi” cast. It is helmed by Robocop himself Peter Weller who holds his ground as the military leader fighting for survival (but also has a bit of an “everyman for himself” attitude). Weller always seemed like a low rent Ed Harris to me, but he generally can hold a film together. He doesn’t have much support because both Jennifer Rubin and Andrew Lauer really don’t do much in the film.
Need better SPF…
The movie just screams (pun intended) ’90s sci-fi. It is at the fringe of being high tech but fortunately isn’t loaded with tons of bad computer generated graphics. The stop motion Screamers are kind of fun, but the humanoid Screamers do lend to some fun stuff like the burning and gunning down of Screamer children. The fact that the Screamers look human helps with the production cost and adds that paranoia that exists with Battlestar Galactica and Blade Runner.
Screamers is by no means a great film but it is an interesting film. The movie was much better than I thought it would be and despite having a middle part that drags a bit, the movie moves rather quickly. Screamers did have a follow-up straight-to-DVD film called Screamers: The Hunting in 2009.
