Hardware

Based on the SHOK! story from the 2000AD comic books and Richard Stanley's short film Incidents in an Expanding Universe, Hardware is set in a post-nuclear future where the daytime temperature regularly hits 110̊F in the shade and America s nothing but high-rise buildings jutting out of horrible smog and the sandstorms coming from the desert.  With scarce resources, the government wants to pass a population reduction bill which will sterilise couples and penalise those who have too many children.
 
People live in apartment buildings where they are protected by intelligent computer-run security systems and can only escape the nightmare of day-to-day living by smoking 'Major Good Vibes' government issued marijuana cigarettes.  Offering an alternative, or perhaps adding to the nightmare scenario, is Angry Bob, a DJ who talks (or rather yells) sarcastically about the day and broadcasts heavy metal music.  TV offers only pornography, violence and heavy metal music videos.
 

When soldier-of-fortune Moses Baxter and his best friend Shades come across a bag full of robot parts that a mysterious stranger has found in the desert that he sells to Alvy, a scrap metal dealer, but Moses then buys them back at a loss.  Wanting to impress his girlfriend Jill, an artist who specialises in metal, he gives the pieces to her and she incorporates them into the massive installation in their apartment.
 
Unbeknownst to them, the robot was not some sort of service droid, but one of the first M.A.R.K-13 prototypes, named after the chapter in the Bible that includes the phrase 'leave no flesh behind'.  M.A.R.K-13 robots are able to self-repair and self-recharge so the head that Jill has decorated with the stars and stripes communicates to the other various parts of its body and reassembles itself one night.
 
Trapped in the apartment with a killer robot and with a creepy neighbour that spies on her and spends a lot of time doing 'one-handed photography', it is up to Jill to try and survive long enough before Moses returns and can help out with his fire power.
 

Coming after Demon Seed (1977) and The Terminator (1984) the film wears its cinematic references on its sleeve despite being influenced by a comic strip - this is the first 2000AD film, with Judge Dredd as the second - so the metal skull with the glowing red eyes is obviously from James Cameron's film and the premise of a woman trapped in her home by a malevolent machine is from Donald Cammell's sci-fi classic.  An independent film, this became the most successful British independent movie ever released in the US and has gained cult status over the years, only now being released on DVD and BD.
 
Amongst other film genres, I like post-apocalyptic movies, whether it's Escape From New York, Mad Max or 28 Days Later.  With a sci-fi twist, you can almost do what you want as it's an indiscriminate point in the future and, who knows, you might be right!  This isn't the most accomplished of films but is massively enjoyable.  The subject matter lurches from surreal humour to horrific situations and it all works.  There's something great about having such ambition and running with it - there's a moment early on in a boat where 'Ace of Spades' starts playing on the radio and someone says 'have you heard these guys?  You should check them out' and the boat driver is revealed to be Lemmy!
 

Having not read the source material, nor having read or heard anything about Hardware before, I went into this blind and with absolutely no preconceptions and thought it was great.  It's that same kind of 'rough and ready' film that made The Terminator such a great indie film and both Dylan McDermott and Stacey Travis give pretty good performances.  The film is littered with memorable characters that are all played very well and it's just a fantastic independent sci-fi movie.

The Disc

 
Extra Features
 
You also get some deleted and extended scenes plus a behind-the-scenes featurette which are good to look at, particularly it shows how big a part music plays and how much less scary some scenes are when there is no score.  Sea of Perdition is a short film by Stanley from 2006 about a lost cosmonaut who ends up on Mars and is an interesting and enjoyable watch. 
 
In addition, there are some of Richard Stanley's Super-8 movies (Rights of Passage and Incidents in an Expanding Universe) which are a fascinating watch, if not only because the last one was the inspiration for the film.  The Voice of the Moon is a short film (32:24) that Stanley made for UNICEF and is a poetic mediation on war set against footage of the mujahedeen fighters in Afghanistan acting as 'normal' Afghans and then as fighters. 
 
Rounding the features off is Hardware's original promo.
 
The set apparently comes with 'Set of original concept art cards, booklet containing liner notes written by Kim Newman and Shok! Reprinted with permission of 2000AD' but this didn't come with the review copy, so I can't comment.  It should be a great addition to the set.
 

 
The Picture
For a film made on a small budget nearly 20 years ago, Hardware looks remarkably good on Blu-ray.  Some of the long shots are affected by grain but, as they look through the smog and sandstorms, this isn't too much of an issue.  The close shots and scenes in the apartment and other rooms are very clear with little in the way of detritus; colour and contrast levels are good and the picture is generally very impressive.  It's funny how people imagined computers would be in the future, in the film they're fairly primitive and nothing like we have now - I imagine in the future everything will be voice activated, just as in Demon Seed and 2001: A Space Odyssey where you communicate to your own computer.
 
The robot effects are equally effective, but nothing of the quality of those in Terminator 2 that came out a year later.  The robot in this is a bit more trashed than anything in Cameron's picture so is more rough around the edges whilst still remaining realistically dangerous.
 
*The pictures contained in this review are for illustrative purposes only and do not reflect the image quality of the disc.*
 
The Sound
The disc has been provided with a DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack which is very clear and uses the surrounds to good effect.  As there are no subtitles, the dialogue needed to be sharp and it is so there are no problems making out what people say.
 
There is a good selection of sourced music and the film is well scored, cranking up the tension when need be.
 

Final Thoughts
I didn't know what to expect from Hardware but it was immediately evident that it had drawn from two films that I like a lot and used its influences well.  Richard Stanley is obviously a very skilled director and the result is a hugely enjoyable film.  I don't know if the original SHOK! comic strips are still available, but I intend to find out and, if possible, get my hands on them.
 
If you like post-apocalyptic sci-fi movies then this is definitely one to add to your collection and, if you've been hanging on to that well-worn VHS for years, now is the time to rejoice!