Screamers – The Hunting (2008/Sony DVD)
Picture:
C Sound: C+ Extras: C- Feature: C-
Philip K.
Dick’s important Science Fiction literature has not usually made for good live action
adaptation, so it was with some amusement that the 1995 Canadian Peter Weller
film Screamers was a moderate hit of
note. It is then rather bizarre that the
Dick estate finally agreed a dozen years later to let anyone do a sequel. Screamers
– The Hunting (2008) is that work with Lance Henriksen slowly becoming the John
Saxon of his time; that actor in endless B genre films.
The
mechanical spinners that kill, dismember and annihilate anything in their way
with an A.I. survival component are back and they are doing the same thing they
were doing before. In a predictable Alien/Aliens ploy, a distress signal brings new would be rescuers to the
planet where the robo-creatures killed all humans all those years ago and the
killers are interested in repeating their achievement. As formulaic, tired and predictable as it is,
the actors try to do this was a fresh take, but it is a B-movie and only for
serious (and seriously obsessed fans) of the first film, which itself is
overrated.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image looks a softer than expected with limited
detail and color more often than not and though some of the graphics look good,
it is disappointing. The Dolby Digital
5.1 mix is also limited with surrounds more about ambience than outright
activity. Add sonic limits and it is odd
for the genre. The only extra is a behind
the scenes featurette.
- Nicholas Sheffo
