Watch Screamers For Free

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

A sub-par science fiction tale dealing with intelligent robot life, this has been done too many times to be constantly entertaining, although there are a few choice moments. Frankly I'm pretty sick of the gloomy, grungy, depressing tone of a lot of modern thrillers like SEVEN and HARDWARE, and obviously that kind of atmosphere has rubbed off on the makers of this film who do their best to make their world look as dull and horrible as possible.The story itself - based on Philip K. Dick's novel - is not too bad, dealing with A.I. and an interesting race of self-replicating robots. Unfortunately the film should have concentrated on these robots as they are the most interesting thing about the film, but instead human relationships are the main focal point, and they're really not that interesting.On another note, if you're expected good special effects, then look elsewhere. The original flying spheres (like something out of PHANTASM) are shown only briefly a couple of times, and then gone for the rest of the film. The only time we see them is when they're underground like the worms in TREMORS. The use of children as merciless killers is a clever idea - see the original VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED for another menacing example - and this film has one excellent moment, where Weller and his friends desperately fight a never-ending stream of robotic killers issuing from an army base. It's this kind of visual theme which makes SCREAMERS stand out a bit from the rest.The cast itself is okay, yet nothing special. Peter Weller is rather good as the charismatic, ageing hero, and proves himself well in the action sequences. It's good to see him in another film. However, everybody else is merely middling. The action scenes are well staged, especially the ending, but are frequently at the expense of the plot. Still, for a science fiction film you could do a lot worse; just try watching TERMINAL FORCE.

Screamers is a well placed B-movie but it could have been more than what made it onto the screen,The movie itself is based on a short story by prolific sci-fi writer Philip K. Dick, who has been responsible for some inspired sci-fi movie adaptations including "Blade Runner" and "Total Recall",As a sci-fi film "Screamers" is flawed in many ways specially in the end of the film, but it doesn't mean is all bad Peter Weller dose great in this film and honestly is is a very underrated actor.A lot of the flaws in this movie could sum up to the Budget, other Philip K. Dick stories that were adapted to film ad an enormous Budget compare to this, there are no big spectacular action sequences, in my opinion "Screamers" could have been a lot better than it is.If you are curious check it out, it wont disappoint on being entertaining

It's hard for filmmakers to adapt stories to the screen, especially when they resemble stories that have been previously told. Turns out though director Christian Duguay evens out the story and though it still recalls other movies before its time, it still has elements in it that make it have a quality worth watching.The story of Screamers is loosely based off of Second Variety, a short story written by Philip K. Dick, the novelist of Blade Runner (1982) and Total Recall (1990). Dick is a very prestigious science fiction writer. His work has multiple twists and it always was a pleasant read. I also read Second Variety and much of it was fairly close to this movie. I actually enjoyed the film adaptation more than the story itself.Peter Weller is Joseph A. Hendricksson, an eccentric commander of an alliance bunker located on a planet known as Sirius 6B. Years before on Earth, there was nuclear fallout between two major groups; the N.E.B. (New Economic Block) and alliance workers over a special mineral that could change energy usage for transportation. So the fighting was moved to Sirius 6B where there has been a "Cold War" ever since. For the alliance to defend themselves, they created the Autonomous Mobile Sword or better known as, the screamer. The screamer is a mechanical life form that was equipped with a razor sharp blade so it could kill its enemy. But like all man made robots, they become self-aware and are now deciding for themselves who they should kill. Strangely enough, they are always updating their software, even making screamers that look like humans. So from there, audiences might make the connection of these traits between Skynet from The Terminator (1984), and characters not knowing who's real and who isn't from the novel Who Goes There, by John W. Campbell Jr.But for those few relations, Screamers can hold it's own as an entertaining sci-fi horror movie. It does not contain a lot of blood but it can be very suspenseful. Weller's performances are always a welcome to the screen. His ability to make his character sarcastic as is serious is a great touch. Andrew Lauer plays a innocent rookie named Ace Jefferson who tags along Hendricksson to meet with the N.E.B. command. The N.E.B. group these two visit is lead by the lovely Jennifer Ruben as Jessica Hanson. And with her is Roy Dupuis, who looks like Matthew McConaughey's distant cousin, who likes bugging another soldier who has some serious patience issues. The special effects are definitely dated. And it's really obvious when the camera is focused on the screamer itself but hey, the creature looks cool enough to look at. I think the most baffling part is how the machine keep upgrading their models. It makes you wonder, "What's going on down there". The set design is also something to see. A lot of does have the same color like from the movie Soldier (1998) but it at least looks real. The backgrounds actually resemble Chernobyl; which is eerie. Normand Corbeil composed the soundtrack and it also another strong point. When Hedricksson runs into a homeless child, the music makes the scene so heartbreaking. It's emotional and soft on the ears.The film variation of Second Variety does borough ideas from previous movies, but it's put together in such a way that it won't matter to the audience. The music is good and so is Weller's performance as a tired out war veteran.

I watched Screamers again this week as it was a cheap double pack DVD (which also contained 2009 Screamers 2 - the hunting.) I remembered watching this flick in the late 90's, but could not remember much about it. I was pleasantely reminded this week. Screamers is well written with plenty of mystery, suspense and character development. The story is developed without excessive need for any of the characters to explain what is going on; which is always a plus (take note Star Wars prequels!) I found that I was interested in the story and kept wanting to know what was going to happen next. I was able to identify with the characters and thought that Peter Weller was at his best.Worth a watch! But do not touch Screamers 2 it is complete drivel.