CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: CHRISTIAN DUGUAY / SCREENPLAY: DAN O’BANNON, MIGUEL TIJADA-FLORES / STARRING: PETER WELLER, ROY DUPUIS, JENNIFER RUBIN / RELEASE DATE: MAY 25TH
Before this century is out, mankind has ventured out into space to try to solve the fossil fuel problem but discovery comes with hindrances. Two warring factions, the Alliance and the N.E.B., are at each other’s throats, causing the Alliance to create lethal machines that hide below the surface of the ground, called Screamers – so called because of the noise they make as they zone in on their prey.
Colonel Joseph Hendrickson (Weller) receives a communication from the N.E.B. offering an olive branch, and so he ventures out with an army grunt across the eradicated wasteland of the planet that once held so much hope. What they find, however, is that the Screamers have evolved, even being able to impersonate humans, and that there are now only three people left at the N.E.B. base. Now Hendrickson has to work out who he can trust and how to survive in a situation that is spiralling out of control.
Screamers is a perfect example of a mid-‘90s film that had ideas well above its budgetary station. The special effects veer wildly from impressive to poorly executed throughout. There are some good plot points, unsurprising considering O’Bannon’s involvement, that are sadly wasted and the film would probably have been better if it focused more on the human perspective. There is a real lack of tension throughout which, considering the Screamers should be the ever present shark that can strike at any time, is a major flaw.
Instead, as you watch, you can play movie bingo as you spot all the better films that this riffs upon – The Thing, The Terminator, Aliens, Jaws, and Tremors. The twist ending is as obvious as it is nonsensical, as if the filmmakers had painted themselves into a corner. Jennifer Rubin is totally wasted and characters are cast aside as quickly as they are introduced. If you go in expecting an action-packed space romp as the trailer suggests, you will be disappointed as there are long sequences of travelling that are briefly punctuated by the odd action scene. There are some decent extras included with this rerelease and it would be interesting to see what would be possible if this was remade with a decent budget now, otherwise, if you need to scratch the itch as you haven’t seen it before, watch one of the other films it rips off instead.
