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Online Store - Hardware
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List Price: 0
Our Price: 0
Your Save: $ ( % )
Availability:
Manufacturer: Hbo Home Video
Starring: Dylan McDermott, Stacey Travis, John Lynch, William Hootkins, Iggy Pop
Directed By: Richard Stanley
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9786302000818
Format: Closed-captioned
ISBN: 6302000815
Label: Hbo Home Video
Manufacturer: Hbo Home Video
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Hbo Home Video
Release Date: 1993-01-13
Running Time: 93
Studio: Hbo Home Video
Theatrical Release Date: 1990-01-11
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Editorial Reviews:
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It's Christmas in the tech noir slum of the post-apocalyptic future, and scrap-metal sculptor Stacey Travis gets a present she'll never forget. Scavenger boyfriend Dylan McDermott returns from the wastelands with the insectoid robot head of a killing machine. In no time it whirs to life and builds itself a gizmo-laden body out of handy appliances to continue its single-minded destruction of the human race, one warm body at a time. Director Richard Stanley, something of a scavenger himself, plunders everything from The Terminator, Blade Runner, and The Road Warriorto Short Circuit (the spidery construct resembles a demonic Number 5) for his violent flesh-vs.-metal survival thriller. Shot in sun-blasted orange and sweltering red, it's a triumph of style, set design, and grunge aesthetics over story, driven by a pounding techno score by Simon Boswell and punctuated by splattering gore. --Sean Axmaker
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Beware "Uncut Red Edition" DVD
Comment: This is a GREAT film, borrowing from BLADE RUNNER, THE TERMINATOR, MAD MAX, and slasher films -- but with its own unique story and style. Beautiful cinematography, wonderful soundtrack (with both classical opera and industrial/punk rock scores).
I won't relate the story, as other reviewers have done so. BUT if you're buying the "Uncut Red Edition," there are some issues you should be aware of.
* This "Eurocult" DVD claims it's uncut, "unlike American DVD and VHS editions." Not true. Yes, this Uncut Red Edition may be uncut, but it contained no scenes that I hadn't seen in my American tape edition. Maybe some tapes were cut, but not all.
* More importantly, this DVD is FULL SCREEN. I'd hoped to see HARDWARE's beautiful cinematography in its wide screen glory, but it was not to be.
Why go to the trouble of releasing an "uncut" edition -- then sell if full screen? Maybe because ...
* This DVD looks to be STRUCK FROM A TAPE. Some colors are faded, as from an old tape. But the real giveaway is that there are occasional black glitches, like video dropouts.
Yes, that's right. This Eurocult "Uncut Red Edition" looks to be struck from an old, full screen videotape.
I'm still glad I got the DVD (though pricey at $20). I wish someone would release an "uncut" digitally remastered wide screen edition of this great film.
This is a five-star film, but I'm deducting one star for the crappy DVD.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Robot mayhem
Comment: Hardware is a British/American low budget SF horror film that has some good production values considering the shoestring it was made on but has too many rough edges to make it cut art house appeal but may have some cult grains. When Hardware arrived it received good reviews noting that this was a young film maker on the rise. Probably the main reason to watch this is because of the career of Richard Stanley who made the very interesting Dust Devil after this one. There is also the notoriety this film generated when it landed the director in a lawsuit with 2000 AD comic producers because of the story.
Hardware is a post-apocalyptic SF horror about a robot which assembles itself in a woman's apartment and tries to kill her and the occupants. The build up is very slow and most of the film takes place either in the desert or in the apartment. Some of the special effects are pretty gruesome. There isn't much of a story here and it is often boring in parts but these are the types of films that independent film makers need and should get their hands on. It is far from a bad first effort.
Customer Rating:
Summary: hardware the movie ??
Comment: horrible video, loved the movie on vhs was hoping the DVD would be better,looked like bootleg theatre copy
Customer Rating:
Summary: EVEN A KINE VERSION OF THIS CULT MOVIE IS WELCOME.
Comment: I'm grateful to get it, but this's a kine from German TV and not a very good one. I have a HARDWARE tape I took from DirecTv and it's vastly better. But when such kines (or whatever this's called) come out, the real re-release often isn't far behind. (Like Pacino's CRUISING, which has been making the boot rounds, and now the bona-fide release is upon us. For perfectionists, perhaps waiting might be best. ( Or pay about seven times the price of this issue and MAYBE get the real deal from a re-seller.)
But fuzziness aside, this print is viewable. And it has
'deleted scenes', some of which are pretty edgy...
Customer Rating:
Summary: Oh the humanity!
Comment: You know the previews for this movie looked really cool. Than again they are supposed to look cool so you will go and see the movie. I have to admit I was suckered in. Even the first 15 minutes of the movie suckered me into thinking this is going to be a really cool post apocalypse/cyberpunk style flick. But alas I was fooled.
The movie opens up with a scavenger looking guy wandering the wastelands where he picks up the head of the killer robot. Everything from the cinematography to just plain coolness factor was there. The movie goes way downhill from there. I think the biggest problem is the movie just didn't know what it wanted to be. So much attention was diverted into what were ultimately details that had nothing to do with the plot. They are so blatant I have to point them out:
One instance is a huge scene was devoted to what sums up to being soft porn with voyeurism. You figure since they spend so much time on the guy watching the love fest that he would be a pivotal character. Right? WRONG! You could have cut that entire scene out and it wouldn?t have made a difference to the plot development at all.
Another example is you get to hear two security guards talk over a chess about how computers don't understand certain tactical elements like strategic losses. Sounds like a nice little hint on what to do against the killer robot right? WRONG! That little tidbit of information never needed to ever used because it DIDN'T MATTER.
And lets not forget about the death scene of one of the prominent characters that took several minutes of dying even though we're told the method of death is supposed to be very quick. I won't even go into the lame way they actually take out the killer robot. All I can say is that it was a major disappointment and essentially came out of nowhere.
I will say that the production elements of the movie were great. Cinematography was excellent and the visual effects were really cool. The atmosphere of the movie stayed consistent also, plus the soundtrack is cool with songs from Simon Boswel, Ministry and Public Image Limited. Too bad the movie never went anywhere story wise.
I can only recommend about the first 10 minutes and the last five minutes of the movie as good. The rest of it stinks. If you want to go and watch the entire film for the sake of debating it's blatant inconsistencies I can dig that too. (...). Let this movie be a lesson to all of you science fiction movie makers out there: Think about what you?re doing and make the stuff you put in makes sense in the end.
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