Hardware (1990)

Director:

Richard Stanley

Writers:

Steve MacManus (story) and
Kevin O'Neill (story) ...

Release Date:

14 September 1990 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

It activates it exhilarates... it exterminates

Plot:

A wandering soldier finds a robot head in the post-apocalyptic desert. He brings it back to his girlfriend for use in one of her sculptures...

Plot Keywords:

Sculpture | Scavenger | Future | Cyberpunk | Fridge

Awards:

3 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Dylan McDermott	...	Moses Baxter
Stacey Travis	...	Jill
John Lynch	...	Shades
William Hootkins	...	Lincoln Wineberg Jr.
Iggy Pop	...	Angry Bob
Carl McCoy	...	Nomad
Mark Northover	...	Alvy
Paul McKenzie	...	Vernon
Lemmy	...	Taxi Driver
Mac McDonald	...	Newscaster
Chris McHallem	...	Premier Boelgaxof
Barbara Yu Ling	...	Chinese Mother
Oscar James	...	Chief
Arnold Lee	...	Chinese Family
Susie Savage	...	Chinese Family (as Susie Ng)

Also Known As:

M.A.R.K. 13

MPAA:

Rated R for strong violence, sexuality and language. (also edited version)

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:16 | New Zealand:R16 (MGM channel rating) | New Zealand:R18 (original rating) | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Australia:R | France:-12 | Germany:18 | Norway:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:R (also edited version) | Canada:18+ (Quebec) | Canada:R (Ontario)

Filming Locations:

London, England, UK

Company:

Palace Pictures

Trivia:

Richard Stanley originally wanted Bill Paxton as Mo and Jeffrey Combs as Shades. Paxton was enthusiastic about the script, but Miramax and Palace Pictures did not know anything about him, so they didn't contact his agent, and Paxton signed on for Navy Seals (1990) instead. Combs couldn't be cast because British union rules allowed them to hire only two Americans.

Goofs:

Factual errors: When Jill realizes that the robot is using infrared to detect her, she hides in the refrigerator. As a warm-blooded animal, her temperature would not drop by any significant amount, making her by far the warmest thing in the refrigerator and even more visible on an infrared scope.

Quotes:

Alvy: Smells like apple pie...

Movie Connections:

Features First Transmission (1982) (V)

Soundtrack:

Bad Life

It's a good movie to analyze, but not always great to watch

First off, let's get my bias out the way, I'm a die-hard fan of this movie, and this review is definitely intended to get the reader to give it a chance.

The film is riddled with industrial (music) culture references and cameos, and if you're into that scene, there's a certain sick thrill about seeing Carl McCoy as the zone trooper, and seeing footage of proto-industrial performance artist Monte Cazazza in this. The general tone and ambiance of the whole piece of wonderfully clichéd cyberpunk.

And that's really the interesting thing about this film. While there are a plethora of terrible sci-fi slasher flicks out there desperately claiming the 'cyberpunk' moniker, here is a film that claims to be nothing more than a sci-fi slasher flick, and manages to be somewhat of a pulp-cyberpunk classic instead.

The whole movie is a mood piece, designed more for its ambiance and the feel of its world, than particularly flashy action sequences or on-screen 'wow' factor. It's meant to be a genre movie, but it manages to feel like a 'serious' film under the influence of some heavy drugs. Not a bad thing really, but your tastes may disagree. Personally I've always liked that sunset-filtered-through pollution look that Bladerunner was infamous for, and hardware utilizes the same rather well.

Genre movie it may be, but it shows far less cheese coating and terrible acting than any of the current glut of genre movies being produced for the Sci-Fi channel. In fact the whole movie feels more like a good pulpy cyberpunk novella than a genre movie by far. Calling the movie 'mood music for rivetheads' isn't really an insult to it.