Eve of Destruction (1991)

A terrorist hunter is hired by a scientist to deactivate her android double, a walking, talking, murderous nuclear bomb which has gone amok in the big city and is about to explode.

Director:

Duncan Gibbins

Writers:

Duncan Gibbins, Yale Udoff

Stars:

Gregory Hines, Renée Soutendijk, Michael Greene

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Gregory Hines	...	Colonel Jim McQuade
Renée Soutendijk	...	Dr. Eve Simmons / Eve VIII
Michael Greene	...	General Curtis
Kurt Fuller	...	Bill Schneider
John M. Jackson	...	Peter Arnold
Loren Haynes	...	Steve the Robot
Nelson Mashita	...	Scientist / Waiter
Alan Haufrect	...	Dr. Heller
Maryedith Burrell	...	Dawn Perlin
Norman Merrill	...	First Scientist
Craig Hensley	...	Young Man on Train (as Craig Oldfather)
Greg Collins	...	Skaaren
Eddie Matthews	...	Bank Robber #1
Tom Morga	...	Bank Robber #2
Tim Russ	...	Carter

Storyline

Eve is a robot, modelled on "her" creator. Eve's armoury includes a nuclear bomb, which for unexplained reasons is on-board during Eve's testing. When things go wrong during the tests, Eve is lost in the big city. Enter the rescue team, which includes the real (human) Eve. They must find and disarm her before she goes "bang". Eve is programmed to protect herself at all costs, so when she runs into a problem, she resorts to her super strength; hence the destruction.

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Plot Keywords:

killing spree | robot as menace | nuclear threat | nuclear bomb | time bomb | 

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Taglines:

They gave her looks. Brains. Nuclear capabilities. Everything but an "off" switch.

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Genres:

Action | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong violence and language

Did You Know?

Trivia

Intended for theatrical release, the primarily negative reviews after its U.S. release resulted in the film going straight to the video rental market in the majority of countries.

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Goofs

Near the beginning of the film, we see the exterior of a gun shop. On the concrete wall outside, the shop advertises "Guns whollsale" (sic), not "wholesale".

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Quotes

Colonel Jim McQuade: And each would have an epitaph. He died for his country because he didn't fucking listen!

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Connections

Referenced in Best of the Worst: Our VHS Collection (2019)

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Soundtracks

ACAPULCO
Written by David Snell
Published by Bruton Music / APM Music (ASCAP)

User Reviews

You Freud, Me Jane.

The Dutch actress Renée Soutendijk (who made her name ten years earlier as 'The Girl with the Red Hair') is magnificent in her only American film as Dr. Eve Simmons and her robot double Eve VIII in this fascinating cross between 'The Colossus of New York' and 'Marnie'. It sounded like fun when it briefly hit cinemas 25 years ago; and after waiting a quarter of a century for it to turn up on TV or on the DVD rack, YouTube once again has finally come to the rescue...

An exercise in which robot Eve is allowed out in San Francisco dressed (like Dr.Simmons herself) like Hillary Clinton inevitably goes wrong; and after being accidentally reprogrammed in Battlefield Mode she's transformed into a seriously hot Ms Hyde who rather than heading for an army surplus store and purchasing a set of combat fatigues instead opts for the hooker look: spending the rest of the film in blood red lipstick, a black mini skirt, high heels and red leather bomber jacket that she accessorizes with a red Mustang (which she later swaps for a red jeep). Thus equipped, she starts making life hard for sleazeballs on the pull, a yuppie roadhog and her abusive father (played in a brief cameo by an unbilled Kevin McCarthy). Then her maternal instinct kicks in...

Obviously the people who designed Eve VIII never go to the movies, otherwise they would never have been careless enough to make their latest secret weapon a foxy blonde who can already kill a man with her bare hands even when not carrying an Uzi. She also happens to be a tactical nuclear weapon with a 24 hour trigger (I'm sure we've all met women like that; and the mind boggles at what the Taliban would have made of her had she ever been deployed against them). But scariest of all she's also carrying a lot of emotional baggage inherited from Dr. Simmons, whose memories and fantasies have been programmed into her; and reacts to the word 'bitch' the way Marnie Edgar used to react to thunderstorms and the colour red. The film's writers plainly felt this made the movie 'deeper'; but personally I would have been happier with her just sticking to being an unstoppable killing machine...

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

18 January 1991 (USA)

Also Known As:

Eve of Destruction

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$13,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$2,163,024, 21 January 1991

Gross USA:

$5,451,119

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$5,451,119

Company Credits

Production Co:

Nelson Entertainment, Interscope Communications

Technical Specs

Runtime:

99 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1