Screamers Movie Download

4 / 10

Some good bits, but overly derivative and focused on dull characters
A sub-par science fiction tale dealing with intelligent robot life, this has been done too many times to be constantly entertaining, although there are a few choice moments. Frankly I’m pretty sick of the gloomy, grungy, depressing tone of a lot of modern thrillers like SEVEN and HARDWARE, and obviously that kind of atmosphere has rubbed off on the makers of this film who do their best to make their world look as dull and horrible as possible.

The story itself – based on Philip K. Dick’s novel – is not too bad, dealing with A.I. and an interesting race of self-replicating robots. Unfortunately the film should have concentrated on these robots as they are the most interesting thing about the film, but instead human relationships are the main focal point, and they’re really not that interesting.

On another note, if you’re expected good special effects, then look elsewhere. The original flying spheres (like something out of PHANTASM) are shown only briefly a couple of times, and then gone for the rest of the film. The only time we see them is when they’re underground like the worms in TREMORS. The use of children as merciless killers is a clever idea – see the original VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED for another menacing example – and this film has one excellent moment, where Weller and his friends desperately fight a never-ending stream of robotic killers issuing from an army base. It’s this kind of visual theme which makes SCREAMERS stand out a bit from the rest.

The cast itself is okay, yet nothing special. Peter Weller is rather good as the charismatic, ageing hero, and proves himself well in the action sequences. It’s good to see him in another film. However, everybody else is merely middling. The action scenes are well staged, especially the ending, but are frequently at the expense of the plot. Still, for a science fiction film you could do a lot worse; just try watching TERMINAL FORCE.Read More