Screamers (1995)

Realistically probably only about an 8/10, but its 6.4 rating at the time of writing is completely silly.And relatively speaking - by comparison to most American SF films - it IS actually a 10/10.Yet again we are shown that if you take a Philip K Dick story, and then just tell it more-or-less straight, you end up with a wonderful, brain-massaging and exciting SF film.This film keeps you guessing all the way through, and right when you think you know what's going on it twists again. And the twists are often violent or action-oriented, keeping you visually entertained, or else they are downright macabre - and the bizarre is completely justified by the story, it's not just pulled out of thin-air to make spectacle (eg. as Spielberg probably would - how he got Minority Report right I'll never know, it still flabbergasts me).I think the DVD cover and poster-art does this film an injustice, and may be one reason so few have discovered it. It makes it look like some B-grade schlock SF film, and in fact that's why I first hired it. I brought it back to the share-house I was living in, along with the pizza, and out came the stimulants and we all assumed we'd be having a laugh and mainly talking over it.Instead we ended up dimming the lights, turning up the sound, and hanging on every word of dialogue.I had to laugh at one small part near the beginning. It's like a contractual-obligations scene that they had to put in, then they got past it and proceeded with a very good film. Peter Weller is delivering a speech with the rising strings underneath, and you almost feel that there should be ticker-tape along the bottom saying "OBLIGATORY FLAG-WAVING MOMENT. OUR APOLOGIES. WE WILL BE BACK TO THE HARD, MIND-BENDING SF IN JUST A MOMENT."Screamers is good enough to go on any hard-SF buff's library shelf, not just mine.

This movie is an awesome movie and is one that leaves you wondering what really was the truth. In the end you find out but what seems basic at the beginning of the movie, that is the nature of the screamer, in the end becomes a plot with many twists. This movie is about what you think you know is really what you do not know.Screamers is set a little way in the future (2078) and is on a planet, Sirius 6B, that has been totally ravaged by nuclear war. An energy corporation, the New Economic Block (NEB), has discovered Berynium, a new source of energy. The problem is that mining it is incredibly lethal and the miners want protection. The NEB won't give it to them so they form an alliance and declare war on the NEB. The war turns into a cold war on Earth between the NEB and the Alliance while NEB obliterates Sirius 6B with Nuclear bombing raids. The movie opens at the tail end of this where both sides are holed up in bunkers and want to negotiate peace.This war seems to the something similar to the union disputes occurring today. The workers are being forced to work in harsh conditions and the corporation doesn't want to fund the extra money to protect them. The protests today are of a different matter, namely removing union control, but what we see here is the same sort of thing happening, except the war between the unions and the corporations has resulted in a shooting war.There is also the idea of the arms race. Both sides have struck with destructive weapons. The NEBs used nuclear weapons while the Alliance developed the Autonomous Mobile Sword, or the Screamer. They are called Screamers because they scream when they attack. At first they are just little nasties that burrow under the ground and attack anything with a pulse, but we learn a little way into the movie that the are built in an underground bunker, operated completely by automation, and they upgrade themselves. At first the Alliance believe they know all about the screamers, but when a new guy arrives, ignorant of it, they slowly begin to realise that what they accepted for so long they really don't understand.Then there is the nature of the war. It seems at first that the war is coming to the end and negotiations are nearby so they prepare to travel to the NEB bunker to talk, but then a transport crashes and they learn that the war is nowhere near over, but just moving to another planet. With the nuclear wasteland and the screamers, Sirius 6B has become uninhabitable. It is also interesting to note that Hendricksson says a number of times, "We were all NEBs once." The whole nature of war is that we are the same and in the end the whole reason of the war becomes moot and we just fight because we can.

"Screamers" is based on short story "Second Variety" written by Philip K. Dick . There is also reference to the short story "The Days of Perky Pat" and the novel "The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch." both were written also by Dick. The original story was about Cold War in the 50's between UN and USRR. The screenplay has been slightly modified to fit for the 90's and is set in the distant future. It's possible that it is set in the same universe as "Blade runner".The movie is very much in the spirit of the Philip K. Dick story . It asks important questions about war , technology and humanity. Despite the low budget the movie makers did an excellent job of constructing the devastated planet . The mood is a depressing one , it really affects you . Sure , some of the special effects are little outdated now (and look more like from the 80's) , but overall this movie feels more arty than typical sci-fi Hollywood blockbuster. It's definitely not a slasher movie (like some reviewers said) , more like a thriller/drama.Peter Weller("Robocop") and Jennifer Rubin turned in great performances. Waller is stubborn cynic tired of world , while Rubin is nicely morally ambiguous. The chemistry between them was believable .The supporting cast was also quite good. The direction is solid with some nice suspense. The ending is good too.Blood is cheaper than raw materials. A sad message , but a true one . For me it's a more important message than anything that "Avatar" tries to sell to the audience.It's a well made , gritty movie . Not a masterpiece and not one of the best sci-fi movies ever , but a nice one and worth having in collection. It's more than a B-class movie , yet not quite a A-class movie. There is something about this story that makes m keeping back to it from time to time . It holds good on repeated viewings . I give it 6/10.

"Screamers" is what it is, and what it is, is a short story STRETCHED beyond belief. Most of the film is Peter Weller and a cast of bad actors wandering around the landscape. Occasionally a mechanical "Tremors' sand worm buzzes through the soil or attacks in mutated form. Almost everything about "Screamers' is redundant, boring, and ultimately, forgettable. Character development is non existent, so you really could care less if someone gets buzz sawed. I saw glimpses of at least a half dozen far better science fiction films, and rode the fast forward button through a pointless romance towards a "couldn't wait for it to end" conclusion. - MERK