Subject: Retrospective: Screamers (1995)

From: Dragan Antulov <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 09 Apr 2003 19:16:00 -0000

SCREAMERS (1995)

A Film Review 
Copyright Dragan Antulov 2003

Great literature seldom gets adapted into great movies. In the world 
of science fiction Philip K. Dick was exception to that rule. Two 
pieces of his work were adapted into two extraordinary films - 
BLADE RUNNER and TOTAL RECALL. For a long time many 
believed that Philip K. Dick's fiction guaranteed quality films. All that 
changed with SCREAMERS, 1995 Canadian science fiction drama 
directed by Christian Duguay.

The plot of SCREAMERS takes place in 2087 AD. Sirius 67B is a 
distant planet rich in resources that could solve all of Earth's energy 
needs. Control over that planet was the issue that led to vicious war 
between Alliance and New Economic Block. In order to prevent 
enemy from overwhelming their positions, Alliance has equipped its 
garrison with screamers - killer-robots able to replicate themselves. 
After many years and war that turned the planet into completely 
desolate place, Colonel Hendrickson (played by Peter Weller), 
commander of small Alliance unit, receives armistice offer from 
decimated New Economic Block troops. Hendrickson agrees and 
leads small expedition towards enemy base. However, first he must 
cross no man's land infested with screamers. Lately those machines 
stopped making distinctions between friend and foe, but 
Hendrickson soon finds even more disturbing development. 
Screamers have evolved and started taking human form in order to 
get as close as possible to their targets.

The script for SCREAMERS (based on Dick's 1952 short story 
SECOND VARIETY) was written by Dan O'Bannon, screenwriter  
well-respected for his previous work on such films like DARK STAR 
or ALIEN. The beginning of film leaves impression of SCREAMERS 
being a film in the same league with those genre classics. Christian 
Duguay manages to overcome budget constraints and uses 
wastelands of Quebec locations in order to paint very convincing 
picture of desolate world and world-weary protagonists unable to 
cope with technology that turned against their makers. 
Unfortunately, as soon as plot starts to accelerate, cliches become 
more and more numerous and the film starts looking like a cheap 
knock-off of late 1970s and early 1980s classics (ALIEN, THE THING) 
rather than original piece of work. All that escalates in finale that 
sacrifices last traces of plausibility and common sense for the sake of 
"surprise" twist that any experienced viewer could have predicted 
ages ago. SCREAMERS can't be recommended for viewing, because 
those who like science fiction and works of Philip K. Dick should be 
spared from one big disappointment.

RATING: 2/10 (-)

Review written on April 9th 2003

Dragan Antulov a.k.a. Drax
http://film.purger.com - Filmske recenzije na hrvatskom/Movie Reviews in
Croatian
http://www.purger.com/users/drax/reviews.htm - Movie Reviews in English
http://www.ofcs.org - Online Film Critics Society

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X-RT-RatingText: 2/10