Screamers (1995)

User Rating:

6.0/10   

Director:

Christian Duguay

Writers (WGA):

Philip K. Dick (short story "Second Variety")
Dan O'Bannon (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

26 January 1996 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Drama | Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

The silence of space is about to be shattered.

Plot:

(SIRIUS 6B, Year 2078) On a distant mining planet ravaged by a decade of war, scientists have created the perfect weapon: a blade-wielding...

Plot Keywords:

Soldier | Nudity | Syndicate | Future War | Roman Coin

Awards:

3 nominations

Cast

Peter Weller	...	Joe Hendricksson
Roy Dupuis	...	Becker
Jennifer Rubin	...	Jessica Hanson
Andrew Lauer	...	Ace Jefferson (as Andy Lauer)
Charles Edwin Powell	...	Ross (as Charles Powell)
Ron White	...	Chuck Elbarak
Michael Caloz	...	David
Liliana Komorowska	...	Landowska
Jason Cavalier	...	Leone
Leni Parker	...	Cpl. McDonald
Sylvain Massé	...	N.E.B. Soldier
Bruce Boa	...	Secretary Green
Tom Berry	...	Technician
Henry Ramer	...	Screamers Crawl Narration (voice)

Also Known As:

Claw (USA) (working title)
Screamers - L'armée souterraine (Canada: French title)
Sukurîmâzu (Japan)

MPAA:

Rated R for sci-fi violence and terror, some language and a brief moment of nudity.

Runtime:

108 min

Country:

Canada | USA | Japan

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | SDDS (8 channels)

Certification:

Australia:M (re-rating on appeal) | New Zealand:M | Australia:MA (original rating) | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Iceland:16 | Finland:K-16 (video premiere) | Germany:16 | Portugal:M/12 | Spain:13 | UK:18 | USA:R | Canada:18A

Filming Locations:

Joliette, Québec, Canada

Company:

Allegro Films

Trivia:

Dan O'Bannon had been working on the screenplay for Screamers (1995) as early as 1981. The October 10, 1984 draft credits Michael Campus as co-writer. It is unknown whether Campus also intended to direct.

Goofs:

Continuity: On the way out of NEB HQ, when Jefferson jokingly repeats the line "Can I come with you?" we see Hendricksson from behind as he points his rifle upward and away from Jefferson. When we cut to a front view, he is still pointing the rifle forward. Then we cut to a rear view again and the rifle is still pointed upward.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Screamers Crawl Narration: [voice over narration] For the last fifty years, the new economic block, the 'N.E.B.' Corporation, has controlled mining operations throughout the known solar systems.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005)

Soundtrack:

Hard Luck Solution

If you're going to be a rock, be a rock; don't be a bug

Another highly entertaining sci-fi film based on a Philip K. Dick short story which I have subsequently read; and I agree with other reviewers that the movie is true to the story for the most part.

Have yet to view a movie based on a Dick story that wasn't enjoyable, e.g., Blade Runner, Minority Report. If you liked either of those movies,you will enjoy this movie for its intelligent entertainment.

Weller's character Hendricksson is fairly straight forward as a disenchanted commander believing that his command has been abandoned and that their battles on this outpost planet have been made irrelevant by the higher authorities. Consequently, Hendricksson sets out to bring a truce proposal to the enemy forces.

But technology gone awry rears its ugly head in the form of self-manufacturing killing devices known as the screamers named for their high pitched sound just before they slice and dice humans.