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Hardware (1990)

Dir: Richard Stanley

"Hardware" is set in a post apocalyptic world where an obscure war goes on endlessly and the remaining population (at least in the non-descript area the film covers) live in a wind blown hell of ruined buildings, monolithic tower blocks and shanty towns, all surrounded by polluted water and harsh deserts.
When a nomadic scrounger (Carl McCoy) finds the remains of a droid in a restricted war zone he takes it to a local salvage dealer, Alvey (Mark Northover), to sell it.
There he meets a soldier named Moses Baxter (Dylan McDermott, “Hamburger Hill”) and his friend Shades (John Lynch, “Isolation”).
Moses decides to buy the remains, before Alvey sees them, as a present for his sculptress girlfriend Jill (Stacey Travis. “Phantasm II”).

Jill lives in a bleak tower block tenement stronghold and has an unwelcome, dangerously obsessed, stalker (William Hootkins) who spies on her from the opposite block.
But when Moses brings her his surprise gift he brings into Jill’s apartment something far more dangerous then a peeping tom, as it turns out the droid is a experimental, faulty, battle robot that can repair itself….

 

This delightfully strange, off beat, surreal and pretty damn unique take on the killer robot plot and the post apocalypse flick (from the UK, with a smattering of American input) divides viewers into true love or hate it camps.
As such this courageously artistic vision had weak distribution even in the UK and was flopped out in America (it was an early project for Bob and Harvey Weinstein, among many other producers) in a censored version with little or no fanfare.

The film’s director Richard Stanley, seems to be equally cursed.  
He had a minor cult hit with "Hardware" in the end  before having lots of studio interference and even worse distribution on his next, very average,  film "Dust Devil". He was then infamously booted off what would have been the biggest film of his career, "The Island of Dr Moreau" with man mountain Marlon Brando. A film that still failed to be anything but a forgotten bomb even without him.
A few appearances at UK film festivals aside he was pretty much invisible for years later until making an appearance for the (very late in coming) "Hardware" DVD release recently.

It’s a strange career that mirrors the strange world he crafted for “Hardware”.

Stanley’s screenplay (based very loosely on a story by Steve MacManus and Kevin O'Neill in the famous UK Sci-Fi comic ‘2000 AD’) is full of dark humour, surreal ideas, crumbling state control satire, unexpected subplots all woven together with a Horror fan’s sensibilities.
On a low budget Stanley and his design crew (Joseph Bennett, Addi Cohen-Ziv) have worked wonders in creating this ruined world, and if the Cinematography has an overuse of red filters Steven Chivers still manages to deliver some truly post apocalyptic visuals.

These visuals truly come into their own though during a lethally drug fuelled hallucinatory sequence that mixes wonderfully over the top images, bizarre soundscapes and classical music.
It’s completely unexpected in such a ‘killer robot’ set-up (indeed it is this style that causes so many mixed views on the movie) but works brilliantly and delivers a pretty astonishing denouement for one of our characters.
It is the apex of the experimental visual and aural tricks on display and if it is vaguely reminiscent of the hyper-kinetic ideas and sequences seen in Shinya Tsukamoto’s classic body horror/mechanical nightmare work (of the year before) “Tetsuo”, Stanley still manages to pull off something ultimately exclusive and surprising.

The robot FX (utilising a large team of artists) are hit and miss sadly, and as a battle droid this thing is rather wobbly to say the least, as it goes from a mechanised ‘Muppet’ style puppet to a guy in a suit. But at least it has some meaty weaponry, including a very nasty drill and chainsaw and even poisonous needles.

The gore FX (again by a large team) are sparse but very well done. And Stanley adds a violent energy to the scenes of up close carnage.
The red filter on many of the sequences does obscure the blood somewhat (perhaps on purpose to avoid the censorship problems it sadly had anyway), but it sprays all over the place very nicely anyway.
An eye gouging, a chainsaw dismemberment, general slicing and dicing and the infamous cut in half torso (a great bit of FX reminiscent of the lift scene from “Damian: Omen 2”, only with far more spraying blood) deliver the meaty violence and should please any gorehound.

The excellent score is also a major plus. With a marvellous and largely experimental original score by Simon Boswell (“Demons 2”) mixed with off the wall songs from the likes of ‘Ministry’, ‘Public Image Limited’ and Iggy Pop.
The soundtrack becomes a nightmarish ferryman, carrying the often surreal imagery and messy brutality along with it. Many memorable set-pieces are powered by this eclectic mix of music just as much as they are powered by the expert and complex editing (Derek Trigg) and direction.

Acting is variable but generally effective with Stacey Travis (who doesn’t hesitate to bare all) giving a strong performance as she creates a vulnerable and yet strongly independent and tough as nails character.
McDermott is also fine in a very unusual role. Moses is a conflicted soul and is a very atypical hero. He purchases the droid (and thus brings the danger into Jill’s life) by double dealing, is often selfish and confrontational and yet is ultimately there when the crap hits the fan.

The most memorable performance and character (and indeed the most surreal and generally weird aspect of the movie away from the visuals) is William Hootkins’ (who would work again with Stanley on his other 2 ill-fated projects) creepy as hell stalker Lincoln Wineberg Jr.
A techno slob who drools down his telescope as Jill and Moses make love, he whispers to himself obscene sexual threats before making menacing phone calls.
His later appearance at Jill’s door (one hell of a door by the way) is an unforgettably weird nightmare of a sequence as the increasingly unhinged Wineberg Jr. sings widely to himself and rolls his eyeliner enhanced eyes with an almost masturbatory lust.
The entire sequence is topped off by a deranged outcome that delivers on all fronts.Enjoyable (though very wooden) support comes from ‘Motorhead’ front man Lemmy as a moaning water taxi driver (who amusingly plugs his own band’s most famous track ‘Ace of Spades’) and an extended audio only cameo by the aforementioned Iggy Pop as doom-laden radio DJ Angry Bob, who is given some choice and amusing dialogue.

The excellent soundtrack CD and cassette is sadly rare (and indeed damn expensive when you do find it) but I urge you all to pick it up, just as I urge you all to pick up the recent DVD.
Because although “Hardware” is sometimes a difficult watch that does not play by the conventional rules you may expect from a futuristic killer robot flick and that moves at it’s own eccentric pace it’s also a film full of memorable visuals, off the wall set-pieces, unusual characters, chaotic action, pleasant nudity, dark satire, great music and good old fashioned gore and violence.
For those looking for something different, and willing to embrace the weirdness, from their Sci-Fi you can’t go wrong with “Hardware”.