and yet some other movies i just remembered

[kolchak]

A movie I watched in the early 90's called Hardware should definitely be on this site.  It was set in a desolate future with this killing machine.  it was real garbage.

also a movie from the 80's called Virus with Chuck Connors as an Australian Submarine captain.  This movie had so many plot holes well you just have to see it.

another 80's classic:  DefCon 4, a post apocolyptic nightmare of a movie.

[ulthar]

Isn't that the one with Dylan McDermott?  I liked that flick - lotsa fun.

[Mr_Vindictive]

I'm with Ulthar - Hardware is a blast.  

I love that the story is so simple and takes place mainly in one place.  A guy brings home a robot to help his wife around the house if I'm not mistaken.  I do recall that it goes insane and tries to kill the husband and wife.

Haven't seen this one in a few years but I loved it when I caught in on cable.  Looks like it's not on DVD yet.

[kolchak]

Yeah, but what's up with the sex pervert guy?  How does he advance the plot of the movie in any way?  

and what exactly is the plot?  I realize the robot was being used by the government for population control but i think it could have been done much much better.  Like in a Soylent Green sort of way, now that was a cool movie.  

Hardware just semed to be too overtly obscene for no reason; it doesn't advance the plot in any way.  Just had too much sexual perversion for my taste.  Sort of like the makers of the film almost wanted to make a porno but then decided to "clean" it up for mainstream theaters.

I guess, to each his own..

[Andrew]

All good choices.  I do have these three in my collection.  Been meaning to get the bargain DVD release of "Virus" to upgrade my VHS copy.

If I remember "Hardware" correctly, he brings home the pieces of the killer robot so that the girlfriend can use them in a piece of modern art.  I think that the voyeur guy was just there to make some comment on city living and be generally creepy.

[Mr_Vindictive]

Andrew,

You hit the nail on the head.  I had forgotten the girlfriend/wife was an artist.  

Anyone know if there has ever been a release of Hardware on DVD?  I might have to search that one out....

[ulthar]

Netflix has it listed as 'release date unknown.'

[Gerry]

There's a German "Uncut" release that I picked up on DVD a while back.  Great movie!  Lots of good twists and turns.  Keeps you guessing until the end.

[LilCerberus]

kolchak Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Yeah, but what's up with the sex pervert guy?  How
> does he advance the plot of the movie in any way?
>

Artistic subtext usually goes right over my head, but I would assume that Lincoln's introduction is somehow intended to emphasize the point that Moe & Jill are being watched & scrutinized, both by Lincoln as well as the MARK 13. Later on, we find that the MARK 13 has locked out the panel on the fron door, preventing Jill's escape. Lincoln then shows up & shows her how to overide the security codes, which she later uses when help arrives.

Now this one's a long shot, but when the MARK 13 sings Lincoln's "wibberly-wobberly" song towards the end of the move, I got the impression that the robot somehow uses it's "venom" to record the final thoughts of it's victems, in essence absorbing their souls, thus setting the stage for Moe's ghost to channel through the computer & tell Jill how to kill it.

>
> and what exactly is the plot?  I realize the robot
> was being used by the government for population
> control but i think it could have been done much
> much better.  Like in a Soylent Green sort of way,
> now that was a cool movie.  
>

I think the premise is that they already have Soylent Green, but their's nothing left to make it out of, and current population control policies aren't working. The sales pitch for the MARK 13 is that it's a new weapon to help defeat the enemy, when in fact, it was programmed by a misanthropic cult that believes mankind needs to be exterminated altogether.

> Hardware just semed to be too overtly obscene for
> no reason; it doesn't advance the plot in any way.
>  Just had too much sexual perversion for my taste.
>  Sort of like the makers of the film almost wanted
> to make a porno but then decided to "clean" it up
> for mainstream theaters.
>
> I guess, to each his own..

Interestingly enough, prior to the film's release, Stacy Travis (Jill) appeared on several news programs protesting the MPAA's demand that the sex scene, as well as Lincoln's demise needed to be toned down in order to recieve an R rating, and Hardware was used as an example by many proponents of the need for what would become the NC-17 rating.