1990 Directed by Richard Stanley
Mark 13 is a government-built killing machine programmed with artificial intelligence, able to repair and recharge itself from any energy source. Through a series of coincidences, the cyborg's head ends up in the home of a sculptress as a bizarre Christmas present from her boyfriend. Once inside its new home, the cyborg promptly reconstructs the rest of its body using a variety of household utensils and proceeds to go on a murderous rampage.
Génétic warrior, Zbraň, Escombros mutantes, M.A.R.K. 13 - Hardware, Hardware: Programado para matar, חומרה, Mark 13, Hardware - Metallo letale, ハードウェア, 사이보그 하드웨어, Hardware - O Destruidor do Futuro, Железо, Залізяка, 霹雳战士龙
Monsters, aliens, sci-fi and the apocalypse Horror, the undead and monster classics Thought-provoking sci-fi action and future technology Imaginative space odysseys and alien encounters Sci-fi horror aliens and creatures Action-packed space and alien sagas Zombie carnage and survival horror Show All…
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occupies the exact intersection of The Terminator, Mad Max and Tetsuo: The Iron Man, stylishly morphing from western-inflected, cyberpunk dystopia to industrial rock splatter film to some sort of psychedelic, operatic exorcism of technological extensions of power. in other words very much my shit. totally psyched to see this dude's hp lovecraft adaptation with nic cage at TIFF this year lol.
11/31: decades - 1990’s
WOW. I really had no idea what this was going into it. I knew basically two things: one was that I had seen the VHS cover all the time growing up but since nothing about it looked specifically horror oriented, I didn’t have much interest in exploring it and the other was that a couple of people on LB told me it was amazing and I should check it out.
I’m still not entirely sure what this cyber punk rock Asian infusion neon heavy metal fever nightmare is supposed to be aside from Pure Aesthetic® but goddamn is it GLORIOUS and I looooooovveed it. I don’t really want to get into it too much because…
In a post-apocalyptic world Moses and his girlfriend Jill battle a cyborg head that magically comes to life. The cyborg is pissed and goes on a killing spree in this low-budget but interesting Sci-Fi thriller. Dirt diggin'. DJ Angry Iggy Bob Pop. Chubby tubby elf. Smokin' hot redhead. Lemmy the Cabbie. Steamy shower. Creeper peeper. Post-coitus cuddling. Shades's shades. Gwar? Latex gloves. Obscene phone call. Dancing reindeer? Never smoke in bed. Shades needs rehab. Mattress masher. Concerned neighbor. Strong ganja. Awful singing. KISS moment. The Blinds of Death. Checkmate motherfucker. Predator-esque killer vision. Fucked up phone. Homemade fire extinguisher. Mad Road Warrior homage. Powerline. Shattered glass. Lucky dog tag. Sliced wrist. A roach you don't want to smoke. Sliced Chief.…
Hardware. Looked so good that turned my floppy disk into a hard drive. Cameos and soundtrack overclocked my processor. Ending had me downloading my data all over the place. I’ll clean later, ma.
This is what you want.
This is what you get.
This is what you want.
This is what you get.
This is what you want.
This is what you get.
Stanley’s first film is a grimy, gory, RELENTLESS nightmare that 30 years later feels like one of the Cyberpunk & Industrial scene’s spiritual “THE GODFATHER”‘s...or at least a more punk-rock BLADE RUNNER. A seminal film for me from a true genre auteur who is serendipitously KILLING it like an act of revenge this very weekend with COLOR OUT OF SPACE.
HARDWARE, in its “X-Rated” version, is a beautifully brutal Post-apocalyptic beast that plays like a DREDDian fever dream you just can’t wake up from, especially with an audience on the big screen.
A promising start to 90’s horror hybrid cinema and a director willing to take chances with genre tropes, career be damned.
Screened as part of PanicFest 2020.
To be honest I didn’t jive with this like I have in the past... I dunno... maybe I just wasn’t in the mood? Regardless of that, there’s still plenty of ingenuity on display here from Stanley and such a precise world that should have been the setting to numerous movies that I would binge watch every other month—it will always remain a sin that we don’t have more of his bursting with creativity pictures.
4 stars.
What you want: Richard Stanley to have a long and industrious career in cinema filled with all-time classics like this
What you get: Richard Stanley makes one more feature until getting run out of Hollywood by John Frankenheimer and a deranged Marlon Brando, hasn't directed a feature-length work of fiction in the 20 years since
Given the sheer amount of ingenuity and creativity on display here and the (frankly depressing) state of Stanley's career, I think it's safe to say you CAN stop progress. It's absolutely criminal that we don't get Richard Stanley flicks every few years.
EDIT: ah jeez lol
The Weinstein Brothers were executive producers for this film. I don't even have to tell you how the women are treated. Some scenes make this film seem like a Dune-wannabe.
HooptoberX
1990s
I had a chip on my shoulder after Dust Devil. I don't remember it well enough to stand by that opinion, but for whatever reason Hardware made me nervous. I bought it anyway and it's been floating around my shit for like twelve years. Finally I was like uhhh ya know what, gonna shake things up a lil. Immediately aesthetic is clicking and I'm like hmmm Au Chante. Very nice, very nice. Cyberborgdeathmachine. Sogo Ishii radioactive Frankenstein art installation becoming violent murderbot. In the future the radios only play PIL and Ministry. Enjoy your murderbot.
All aesthetic, but what a look! Hardware plays like dystopian cyberpunk manga filtered through Gorezone magazine and Ministry music videos. I loved the low budget trash planet green monitor looming smog cityscape red sun twisted wire blood and metal set design. Beautiful, but intimate, like a nerdy goth's shoebox diorama or a junk sculpture molded out of baby doll heads and rusted VR visors. I loved the expressionist strobe-lit slowed down panic of the cat and mouse killer robot scenes. Tech noir hysteria. A little movie that tapped a pipeline straight to the visual pleasure center of my brain. I also like how Stanley directs the hell out of his first feature length movie as if it was his last.…
Richard Stanely's post-apocalyptic early nineties slasher is a strange little oddity. The film for all intents and purposes looks like it could've been derived from an early spec script of "The Terminator." The film centres around a scavenger, Mo (Dylan McDermott) who comes into possession of a broken robot head. He decides to give it to his artist girlfriend, Jill (Stacey Travis) to use as part of her current project. Unbeknown to either of them the robot head is actually a piece of a highly advanced self-replicating killing machine that can slowly rebuild itself with any mechanical item. Unfortunately for them its programming has only goal; kill!
After a sprawling opening ten minutes where we see the "Mad Max" style…
Taking place in a weird cyberpunk inflected dystopian future, Richard Stanley's debut feature Hardware may appear to be a rip off of Terminator on paper; but the director takes the basic idea of a robotic killing machine on the rampage and totally builds a world with it. The plot is pure and simple - but this film is all about the style. Everything about Hardware screams heavy metal. From the sets, to the soundtrack, a weird little cameo from Lemmy and of course the central monster itself, which is an interesting creation! Sort of insectoid, with an array of drills, saw and needles to wreak havoc with. There's some good gore scenes too - Hardware doesn't disappoint in that respect.…
