Published via Ecency

(source: tmdb.org)

Time can be unkind to films that enjoy cult status, even when their themes become more relevant with years. This is what, to a certain degree, happened with Hardware, 1990 British science fiction horror film written and directed by Richard Stanley.

The film is set in relatively near future, when the technology continued to develop despite the endless war that occasionally turned nuclear and turned large swaths of land into irradiated desert. Most of the survivors found shelter in big cities which became overpopulated and plagued with drugs, violence and increasingly oppressive government. The plot begins when unnamed scavenger (played by Carl McCoy) discovers remains of a robot in the desert and later sells it to former soldier Moses “Mo” Baxter (played by Dylan McDermott). Mo sells most of its parts to junk dealer Alvy (played by Mark Northover) while keeping the head. His intention is to bring the head to his girlfriend Jill (played by Stacey Travis) as a Christmas gift. Jill, who works as an artist, accepts it and uses it as part of her sculpture. However, Mo is later warned by Alvy that the robot was actually M.A.R.K. 13, prototype combat drone with ability to self-repair and intended for population control. Mo and his friend Shades (played by John Lynch) rush back towards Jill’s apartment who is at first unaware that she would have to deal with machine programmed to kill.

Hardware was feature directorial debut of Richard Stanley, young South African film maker who had until that time worked mostly on music videos. The film represents the expansion of his 1985 short film Incident of the Expanding Universe, but it was mostly inspired by SHOK!, 1980 comic strip by Steve MacManus and Kevin O’Neill – which would later lead to long plagiarism suit and delay DVD distribution. The film was made with extremely low budget, partly produced by Weinstein brothers’ Miramax studio. Despite that, Stanley showed great deal of ingenuity and skill in creation of future dystopian world. He used locations in Morocco and London, as well matte paintings but the most valuable addition was character of Angry Bob, radio DJ voiced by Iggy Pop, and whose ironic commentaries create atmosphere which is both bleak and darkly humorous. Cinematography by Steven Chivers, with emphasis on red overtones, in many ways point to inspiration from classic Italian giallo films. Combination of post-apocalyptic, dystopian and cyberpunk motives, as well as great deal of care about film’s look and sense of style make Hardware stand out among many low budget science fiction films at the time.

However, although it looks original and impressive (and definitely looked that way during the premiere), Hardware is far from perfect. Problems become apparent in the second half when it turns out that the film has rather thin plot. Partly in order to deal with low budget, Stanley has entire action limited to Jill’s apartment; for that reason killer robot’s rampage is unnecessarily prolonged and Stanley has to pad material with repetitive scenes and images that make Hardware look too “artsy” and more like a pretentious music video than feature film. On a technical level, film still works – having to rely on the most primitive special effects for budgetary reasons, Stanley cleverly shoots most of the killer robot in dark, never allowing it to be seen in its entirety. He also tries to make mechanical monster more intimidating with graphic violence (which later had to problems with censorship). An interesting addition in this part of the film is character of Lincoln Weinberg, Jill’s perverted neighbour who spied on her while having sex with Mo; enthusiastically played by William Hootkins, he almost steals the show before predictably becoming one of robot’s victims.

The rest of the cast is also very good. Stacey Travis proves to be very effective Final Girl which in many ways defies convention of 1980s slasher films; character of Jill survives despite abusing drugs and engaging in sex. She is also portrayed as vulnerable but able to take care of herself when it matters. Travis, who was quite formidable in this film, sadly failed to expand her subsequent career (allegedly over her refusal of Harvey Weinstein’s sexual advances during the production that brought her on black lists as “difficult”). Dylan McDermott is also solid and has good chemistry with Travis, while Irish actor John Lynch, hardly recognisable under long black shades, serves as an effective comic relief. While the general impression is still very good , some of the details, like the primitive computer graphics and absence of cellphones, make Hardware a little bit dated. Yet, seeing how today’s world became closer to Stanley’s depressing vision, lack of punctuality in his predictions might look comforting.

RATING: 7/10 (+++)