Death Machine

source: Death Machine

Jack is a creative guy with a good job. He makes weapons to defeat dictators and tyrants. He'd like to attract a girlfriend, so he's fashion conscious, with a rock and roll/ goth/ hippie/ Rastafari vibe to his look. He's really attracted to Hayden. He's an enthusiastic owner an adult publication she appeared in in her younger days. He's quirky, but he does his best to win her heart with a great sense of humor, trys to earn her trust.- Then Scott trys to arrange to get Hayden killed, so Jack takes the creep out with his death machine. Hayden doesn't know that Scott got what he deserved and that Jack saved her life, she thinks he's crazy. Before Jack can explain fully, the Eco Terrorists, who may just be after "$350 billion in master soft wear bonds! - AROO AROO AROO-HA!" bust in and point machine guns...Jack understandably sicks the death machine on them, preserving Hayden just by surveillance and lifting his finger off the dead-man's switch on his remote. The director TRICKS us! He trys to make us despise Jack, by tricks in the story, and casting bizzaro Brad Dourif as Jack. Mr. Dourif was born in 1950, but they try to make him look like 25(using a wig) in 1995. This makes him creepier than he already is. Plus he's a hacker. I think there are more than a few of us online who hate the word. This film was almost pre-internet, so new viewers will hate Jack more than 1995 viewers. The first death machine murder is foisted on Jack, but there's no proof of his involvement and no real exploration of the circumstances of the crime. The Hardmen project doesn't kill it's participants, or erase their minds permanently, in fact, they may be paid black-opps recruits in my opinion. In the last scene, we think Jack is killed by his own death machine, but he couldn't have been.. since he knows it only attacks those who fear it! -So, what we have is an absolutely brilliant script that fools the heck out of us, plus, it is a very poingent love story, as well intentioned Jack, ends up like Romeo ended up.(but not really!) A lot of the camera work in the film is original and outstanding. I think this film owes more to Bladerunnner than any other film, in look and soundtrack. If they cut or re shot the "cop", cut a line or two here and there, or voiced over them, we'd have a popular masterpiece. -- Rachael Weisz has 10 seconds in this film. A close up of her face with 4 lines in her British accent, and black hair. Very pretty. I love you Rachael...you love me too, right???

I really didn't know what I was thinking when I picked up this undercover gem from ye olde rental shoppe, but I sure as hell didn't regret picking it up! Death Machine; even though the name sounds trashy, the movie itself is not. It's about a company, named Chaank Armaments, which does all sorts of experiments, including testing 'techniques' on babies. Hayden Cale (Ely Pouget), the woman in charge of covering up for the companies tracks, is being left in the dark about the real things happening in Chaank Armaments, namely the afore mentioned experiments. Not only that, she's being targeted by the prodigy child of the company, who invents all of the flashy equipment they produce, only not really targeted for death, more targeted for 'mating' since she has a dark past of her own. Jack Dante (Brad Dourif), the prodigal child, then proceeds to take whatever steps necessary to get his 'prize'. And all of this, happens on the night some eco-terrorists (well, some low cookoff of them anyhow) decide to expose Chaank for what it really is. Add a mechanical monster, some comical scenes, and voila, you have Death Machine, a brilliant little.. well. SciFi Splatter movie. I have to admit, I only rented the movie because it starred Brad Dourif, which I think is a brilliant actor. He played in various movies (Alien : Resurrection, The Prophecy III), series (Star Trek : Voyager) and even a game (Myst III : Exile), all in which he put down a fantastic performance, even when the movie or series wasn't upto much good. (Voyager, Alien 4 and The Prophecy 3 for example) If I had ten thumbs, I'd put them all up!

Everyone is trying to say this is suppose to be a comedy. I have a collection of around 300 movies and alot of them are funny as hell but not classified as comedy. Lethal Weapon 4 for example had more humor in it than Death Machine. This is a great movie with a strong resemblance to Aliens, not Alien despite public opinion. The costume design on the Hardman suit was very good for a low budget film. The camera work was really good especially in certain scenes where several emotions are caught in them. The movie features a good plot and believable tech for the year it takes place in. It does feature some cheesy lines in a couple of parts but other than that its dialogue is strong. Our tree hugging heros are very likable too. In my own humble opinion which of course is the only one that matters, if this were re-released as a theatrical motion picture, it'd be the action flick of the summer next year! This one gets a 9!

The point is: This movie is a blatant *tribute* to Aliens, Die Hard, Evil Dead, Terminator, Predator, Rocky, and numerous other action/horror movies. The characters are even named after famous action/horror directors (see trivia). The plot is a brilliant rehash of nearly every great action/horror movie ever made! It's meant to be funny! People get so caught up in the details that they miss the big picture.

When people ask "What are some good straight to video horrors?", Death Machine is usually top of my list. Its a great blend of sci-fi/horror that borrows heavily from others but still emerges as a cool flick nonetheless. The simplified plot leaves some good guys (and gal) trying to stay alive in a sealed corporate skyscraper, while being hunted by a robot controlled by the fantastically OTT Brad Dourif. There are a few sub-plots to keep things interesting between the characters. The heroine of the piece is the very cute Ely Pouget, who gives a terrific performance. She is joined by a couple of would-be terrorists - Martin McDougall and John Sharian (who some may recognize from his role in The Machinist). The plot is good, if a little far-fetched (hey I did say this was sci-fi/horror), and director Stephen Norrington skillfully constructs an effective sense of fear with tongue-in-cheek humor, which belies this being his first time at the helm (he would later go on to direct Blade and the less-than-stellar The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen). The effects are very good for what must have been a small budget, and the robot (which is reminiscent of a alien/terminator hybrid) is well designed. There are "strong influences" from movies such as Universal Soldier, Alien and Hardware...and most of the death scenes are quite vicious, though its not really that gory. Also many of the characters are named after horror directors - John Carpenter, Sam Raimi, Scott Ridley etc - not so much as a wink to them but rather a 10 foot neon sign - but it kinda adds to the charm. Final word goes out to Mr Dourif, who steals every scene he is in. He's funny, creepy, pathetic and totally manic. I have a feeling Norrington just let Dourif go wild in the role. TTKK's Bottomline - If you like sci-fi/horror mixed with a bit of cheese and some laughs, you can't go wrong with Death Machine

I was bored at first, but stayed with it and the movie turned out to be better than I expected. However, no matter how hard it tried to be a great movie, it only succeeded in being ok. I gave it 7/10 b/c it has a real effort to it. So stay with it and you'll probably enjoy it. The production was reasonable. The effects were fair to very good. The direction and editting were very good. The writing was weak at first, but improved in the middle to the end. The acting, especially toward the end, was believable. The sound track was well done. So overall I think this movie is lacking something - it's look is "cheap." E.g. it's name "DeathMachine" is a poor attempt at being scary. (Maybe "War Beast" would have been better?) And so I think it's the cheapness of the cinematography - it didn't look professionally made - that weakened this otherwise good movie. Kudos to the writer/director: Stephen Norrington Zafoid

Set in the future, this film turns out a top performance from Brad Dourif, who plays a psycho-pathic weapons designer whose latest creation, the DEATH MACHINE is put into action when Brad resents a colleagues promotion, and engages maximum overdrive in the schizo department. The film maintains a good pace throughout. Although borrowing from the style used in ALIEN, (that of dark corridors and chase sequences.) it moves on from this with the introduction of a comical element provided by three of the worlds most badly prepared eco-type warriors, who pick the wrong time to expose the corporation for what it is. Needless to say, all are ruthlessly hunted to extinction by a first class front-line moral destroyer. The storyline, the tense combination of will they survive? and the fluid motion of the robot especially, is what makes the film appealing, with a very strong performance from Brad Dourif thrown in for good measure. This is definately a guys movie, even though the heroine comes no-where near to romping around a commercial cargo vessel in panties and a tight T-shirt!

Is there any videos I did grow up seeing this movie in certain scenes of it and I saw it again and again and again all this time that I saw it again and of course that the family I did see the big movies so many years and who almost 15 years and then we can of course and that's all we can say about this movie

It's been a while since I've seen this film but I found it pretty entertaining. Sure it's a B-movie but even with the low budget the special effects were ok. The actors performed pretty well most of them made me believe they were scared. The scenario wasn't anything special: a killer robot made by a psycho wacko professor(Brad Dourif) who's ordered to chase a bunch of eco-terrorists along with the woman who the mad professor has an eye for. Who why when where I will let you discover for yourself. The movie really does remind of Alien but it's done very well compared to other being chased by monster(s) movies. It wasn't as thrilling as seeing alien back in the day but I think I would enjoy it more then alien if I saw it again now. I personally rate this movie 7,8 out of 10.