Ghost in the Machine (1993)

Director:

Rachel Talalay

Writers (WGA):

William Davies (written by) &
William Osborne (written by)

Release Date:

29 December 1993 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

Plug in to your worst nightmare

Plot:

Karl, a technician in a computer shop, is also the "Address Book Killer," who obtains the names of his victims from stolen address books...

Plot Keywords:

Address Book | Computer | Hospital | Airline Employee | Magnet

Cast

Karen Allen	...	Terry Munroe
Chris Mulkey	...	Bram Wlaker
Ted Marcoux	...	Karl Hopkins
Wil Horneff	...	Josh Munroe
Jessica Walter	...	Elaine Spencer
Brandon Quintin Adams	...	Frazer
Rick Ducommun	...	Phil Stewart
Nancy Fish	...	Karl's Landlord
Jack Laufer	...	Elliott Miller
Shevonne Durkin	...	Carol Maibaum
Richard McKenzie	...	Frank Mallory
Mimi Lieber	...	Marta
Mickey Gilbert	...	Mickey the Driver
Ken Thorley	...	Salesman
Carl Gabriel Yorke	...	Safety Technician

Also Known As:

Deadly Terror

Runtime:

104 min | USA:93 min (VHS version) | Argentina:93 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Argentina:16 | Iceland:16 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Sweden:15 | Australia:M | Norway:18 | UK:18 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Santa Monica, California, USA

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

Approximately 40 minutes into the movie, a computer is scrolling through a list of names in a phone book, in search of its next victim. The names listed are mostly Hollywood producers. Going through the list slowly reveals Caryn Mandabach (listed as "Caryn Mandab"), Wink Martindale, Lorne Michaels (of "Saturday Night Live" (1975)), Bill Melendez ("Charlie Brown" specials), Neal Marlens ("Growing Pains" (1985)), Thomas L. Miller ("Full House" (1987)) and a host of others. The name the computer is searching for is Terry Munroe, which (maybe by coincidence) happens to be the birth name of actor Stepin Fetchit.

Goofs:

Continuity: In one of the early scenes, we see Karen (mother) traveling along the street in her Volvo sedan from a distance, in which you can clearly see there is no-one visible in the passenger front seat. It is empty. In the next scene we see her son sitting in the seat.

Quotes:

Phil Stewart: You don't think a hacker did this do you?
Bram: Well, when you leave it out in the open no self-respecting hacker is going to pass it by.
Phil Stewart: [grits teeth and pulls hair out] Auugghhh! God Damnit!
[tears out of room]
Phil Stewart: Get the hell out of my way!
Bram: You know you don't handle stress very well, Phil.
Phil Stewart: Jesus Christ.

Movie Connections:

Features "In Living Color" (1990)

Soundtrack:

Stop 'cos You're Breaking My Heart

I didn't want to watch it in the 90's....

... and I should have never watched it now. A bad rip off of Nightmare on Elm Street mixed with Lawnmower Man, & a bit of Shocker.

Sure, you are not supposed to ask questions like "Gee, why is the Address Book Killer such a stupid name?" or "Why don't CAT scans have surge protectors?", but it's hard not to.

I found myself at odds with even more bewildering, illogical explanations. Such as how a serial killer suddenly has control of every single electrical appliance and mechanism. Look, I'm not the one to judge intelligence when it comes to sci-fi or any "good" movie that requires a stretch of the imagination. But had the movie moved out of the realm of a typical hospital CAT scan, and more into a mad scientist lab...

I cared so little for the characters, with the exception of Karen Allen's. Her son is a brat, so what if he dies? The bad guy is so... meh. Typical & boring. Special FX's are laughable, even by it's time of release. Compared to computer sfx extravaganza Jurassic Park, which released the same year, GITM showed it's low budget like strings holding a UFO. Like many 80's movies, it tried to reach out to a new "computer horror" genre, but this movie was from the 90's. Too late.