There’s a good change you’ve probably never heard of Screamers. It’s a sci-fi horror movie from 1995. I watched it back then and remember loving it. Unfortunately, it hasn’t held up well…
Let’s talk about the positives first. I absolutely love the premise of this movie. It’s set on a planet that has been destroyed by war. The once lush world is now a radioactive desert. The two factions are there in their bases but haven’t seen each other or had contact for around sixty years. There is security system in place. Bladed robots that move around under ground. Anyone who isn’t wearing an armband designating them as a friendly gets cut to pieces. They make a screaming sound when they move in for the kill, hence the title. The move has some good twists that you probably won’t see coming.
Now for the bad… Screamers hasn’t aged well. I believe its set in 2078. To be set in 2078 and for the war to be cold for sixty years that means it had to break out in 2018. From its release date in 1995 that means we would have to already have FTL travel developed in 1995 to get everything in place for this story to work. It may seem nitpicky to worry so much about the dates but the reason it stands out is that they use a lot of 1995 tech in the movie. At one point a solder pills out a Walkman to listen to some tunes… It gives the movie a campy feel that it didn’t have back in the day. The acting is a little meh. Overall the movie feels cheesy. While it’s a horror film its not scary. I think this is largely due to the graphics being outdated.
One more note, I had issues with the volume. Its one of those movies where you have to crank the volume up to have any chance of hearing the dialogue but then then the shooting and screaming starts its WAY too loud.
I would give Screamers a 3/5. It’s a solid premise and has some good parts but is just outdated. What I would love to see is a Screamers remake. There’s so much more that could be done with the story. With a rewrite and some modern graphics Screamers could be a real hit.
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