The horror drought of the 1990s had some interesting side-effects, one of which was the ascension of the Canadian made Philip K. Dick adaptation SCREAMERS (1995) to the top of the Hollywood pyramid during its January 1996 release. Columbia gave the film an aggressive marketing push that included a FANGORIA cover story and an imposing ad campaign that insisted on reminding us of previous Dick adaptations like BLADE RUNNER (1982) and TOTAL RECALL (1990). SCREAMERS, in truth, had more in common with the quirky 90s-era films, such as NAKED LUNCH (1991) and THE NEW AGE (1994), made by its star Peter Weller, being a modestly budgeted effort that couldn’t hope to justify such outsized attention. Unsurprisingly, it did a fast fade at the box office.
Another big name involved with SCREAMERS was screenwriter Dan O’Bannon. He initially conceived the project, an adaptation of Dick’s 1953 story “Second Variety,” in 1981 (together with TOTAL RECALL, adapted from Dick’s “We Can Remember It For You Wholesale”). It quickly became mired in development Hell, and underwent heavy rewrites at the hands of Miguel Tejada-Flores, director Christian Duguay and Mr. Weller himself.
The film begins with a textual crawl so lengthy and involved it makes the famous crawl that opened BLADE RUNNER seem cursory. Conveyed are the details of a war on the mining planet Sirius 6B, with the combatants being the NEB mining outfit and a group of renegades known as the Alliance, a struggle that left the surface of the planet a barren wasteland infested with deadly underground robots known as Autonomous Mobile Swords, or Screamers. These manmade objects, which make screaming noises and track their prey via heartbeats, have bred out of control and are deadly to humans.
Joe Hendricksson (Weller) is an Alliance officer who intercepts a message from a murdered NEB lackey requesting a truce. Hendricksson has no luck talking to his superior officers, who are apparently no longer concerned with Sirius 6B’s residents, and so decides to embark on a quest through dangerous terrain in order to negotiate the truce. Along the way Hendricksson and his partner, the youthful Private Jefferson (Andrew Lauer), happen upon a (seeming) young boy named David (Michael Caloz) who turns out to be a new type of Screamer.
The “David model” Screamer proves quite deadly, wiping out much of the NFB base. A return to the Alliance bunker shows that David models have likewise decimated it, while Hendricksson’s partner Jefferson falls prey to an even more advanced Screamer model. This leaves just Hendricksson and Jessica (Jennifer Rubin), an attractive criminal who would appear to offer a chance for the hardened Hendricksson to show his soft side. But is she truly human?
It doesn’t take much imagination to figure out the answer to that question, as storytelling prowess isn’t among this highly unfocused and episodic film’s attributes. It never quite coalesces into anything original, playing just like the uninspired ALIEN/THE THING rehash it was—albeit one with more varied and inventive kid kills than any film I’ve seen since WHO CAN KILL A CHILD? (Quien puede matar a un nino?; 1976).
Where SCREAMERS excels is in the atmospheric scenery and, surprisingly, its performances. A brooding otherworldly aura is well evoked by director Christian Duguay (far more vividly so than in the similarly themed 2000 releases PITCH BLACK and RED PLANET), while Peter Weller makes a strong impression in the lead role. The early scenes would appear to be setting up a rehash of Weller’s BUCKAROO BANZAI shtick, but I found myself warming to, and actually caring for, his character as the film advanced. Also noteworthy is the underrated Jennifer Rubin as Jessica, who more than holds her own against Weller, and in doing so leaves a sizeable imprint.
Vital Statistics
SCREAMERS
Triumph Films/Columbia Pictures
Director: Christian Duguay
Producers: Franco Battista, Tom Berry
Screenplay: Dan O’Bannon, Miguel Tejada-Flores
Cinematography: Rodney Gibbons
Editing: Yves Langlois
Cast: Peter Weller, Roy Dupuis, Jennifer Rubin, Andrew Lauer, Ron White, Charles Powell, Roy Dupuis, Michael Caloz, Liliana Komorowska, Jason Cavalier, Leni Parker, Bruce Boa, Tom Berry, Henry Ramer