Hardware

(M.A.R.K. 13)

DVD Release Company: Severin Films (http://www.severin-films.com)
Language: English
Length: 93 Minutes
Image: Color
Year: 1990
Rated: Not Rated
Release Date: October 13, 2009
Tagline: No flesh shall be spared.

“…and for the good news, there is no fucking good news!” — Angry Bob (Iggy Pop)

MOVIE REVIEW

A twisted post-apocalyptic world transcends into a life beyond frightening. Hardware comes alive as Richard Stanley’s most profound work of big brother controlling a desolate wasteland and turning it into a playground for the ultimate killing machine. Played out like a metal or grunge type music video, this psychedelic dream takes you into a surreal setting only to bend and twist your mind, warping it in order to prepare yourself for what the M.A.R.K. 13 has in store for your delicate flesh.

Earth ravaged by industrial radiation and America consolidated into a government controlled system, there isn’t much hope for the survivors in a dried up wasteland during a 110 degree Christmas season. Dylan McDermott’s character, Mo, is a scavenger who brings his sculptor girlfriend Jill, played by Stacy Travis, a Christmas present in the form of a metallic skull of a disassembled drone. However, the skull is part of an all out assault, but malfunctioning, drone called the M.A.R.K. 13 that can regenerate itself near a power source, has an arsenal deadlier than a small army’s cache and can seek out body heat with its infra red vision. Trapped within her apartment, Jill comes face to face with the maniac machine that is programmed to believe no flesh shall be spared!

What I really love about Hardware is that the 90% of movie takes place with in Jill’s apartment. Due to a limited budget, this was their main location and there was really some work put into it. What can be more terrifying than being mechanically locked inside your own place with a loose cannon of a drone with a motley of mortally fatal weapons? Its that age old story, made popular by James Cameron and Arnie Schwarzenegger back in 1984 with Terminator, that machine will one day turn against man. Of course, Hardware is on a much smaller scale but there is some definite influence being played out here. The look of the M.A.R.K. 13 and the grim, bland or almost socialized apartment of Jill really does transmit an uncomfortable and darkish gritty bleakness that has you looking for some kind of hope or salvation. I like to believe, and I’m pretty positive on this too, that director Richard Stanley wanted to convey this sort of tone.

You’re dead, pal!

Stanley’s vision comes off like a poor man’s cyber-punk, tripped out version of Terry Gilliam mixed with the odd heavy color induced images and strange human-less reactions of David Lynch. Its an interesting concoction but there are moments of Stanley seeping through the cracks that are in between. He reeks heavily on the usage of the western iconic and uses his background in music video making to his feature film advantage. I remember watching Dust Devil which was released a couple years after Hardware and thinking that movie really viewed itself like a horror western. There are moments like those in Hardware as well – the desert, the loner cowboy-ish characters, the slide guitar soundtrack – all can be made to a conclusion that there is a bit of homage to westerns. Also, with the use of fast-cutting images, some intentional and some unfortunately unintentional, and the use of vibrant colors of red, blue and yellow, Hardware could be considered an 93 minute music video for Gwar (who was briefly in the flick) or a similar group.

The cast is rather awkward. Dylan McDermott just didn’t seem to fit the persona of Richard Stanley nor fit the rest of the cast for that matter. We can all blame Miramax Pictures for that, or we can thank Miramax Pictures for the funding salvation, but as far as casting goes, all the blame goes toward the production company. Due to contract arrangements, a limited selection of Americans had to be cast and they ended up with Dylan McDermott who has to be the worst actor in the film. Maybe in The Practice television series he was phenomenal but, here, he is the awkward and unlikely hero who never conveys in getting stronger or growing to be the hero he should be and those advancements are well with in the script yet aren’t acted upon. I would say that it is unfair for the rest of the cast when his final scenes are at their climax peak because those scenes were probably some of the best of the movie and he just dumbs it down for a lack of a better term. John Lynch, who plays Shades, has to be my favorite and the most underrated character. His mysterious background of working for some sort of future space agency and his Hindu-getting-stoned-religious-out-of-body experience is played out perfectly as uncomfortable humor. William Hootkins plays Lincoln, a peeping tom with a mouth that is too fast and too perverse that could ape the sleaziest of porn producers. It was great fun watching him work his ad-libbed dirty dialogue. Lets not forget the cameos by Iggy Pop, Lemmy of Motörhead and Carl McCoy of Fields of the Nephilim; I think they, along with a western dark score from Simon Boswell, speak for themselves to the magnitude of the attitude the movie produced.

Carl McCoy as the Nomad…nothing has really changed in his appearance.

The effects are a bit outdated. I reminisce about the good ole days when effects of today would revert back to the outdated effects. They’re just more natural and practical looking. The M.A.R.K. 13 had its moments of cheap, barely-passable realism but there were also those moments of frightening believability. For the budget, there isn’t much complaining here because Hardware feels like a multi-million dollar action sci-fi horror film. Gore shots have to be noted here too; an excellent source of visual stimulate gruesomeness. The MPAA and, once again, Miramax Pictures, screwed the film over, of course. Miramax rejected some of the scenes from the script as they were expressed as inhumane to see a person struggle while dying. The MPAA gave the film an X-rating and this caused Richard Stanley to hit the cutting board, reducing lengthy gore scenes into rapid cuts of brief gore. Unfortunately, this release isn’t a director’s cut so we never really to get see those scenes worked into the film which this review believes hurts the film a little – just a little.

Cooler, yes?

There is one moment of concern that I had. Before the chaos begins, Jill paints the skill in the colors of an American flag. Yet, the paint is gone when the rampage reboots itself. There is no real explanation for this and wouldn’t have been damn right cooler if it killed the people while sporting the colors of an American flag painted on top of it’s dome? I guess, this was another Miramax censorship statement where we can’t show America as a form of unstoppable destruction. I’m also positive that this was symbolism for some kind of conflict where the U.S. was involved, probably the tension of the pre-Gulf War, because you have to remember that Richard Stanley is a British activist who, in his liberal ways, would run off to fight with a guerrilla army than bow down to capitalism.

The overall review of the film ranks very high. Hardware produces the similar resulting effects of drugs, it delivers a sinister killer and the unique scenario does one for catching the interest of any person with a demented mind. As the first feature film of Richard Stanley, I am thoroughly impressed with a constant hard-on. There is a deranged mind and an eye for cinematic thought behind Stanley. I can see where he would be shunned from America cinema and not receive many offers from anywhere else, but if given the chance and with a decent script, you could witness a master at work.

DVD REVIEW

Severin Films two disc special edition release is really worth the money. Taking the old VHS image and remastering it remarkably shows the real effort in restoring this gem. Finally, true widescreen 1.85:1 ratio and a 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround Sound for the great soundtrack that is actually flawless – I couldn’t ask for more. The bountiful extras are what make this Severin release so outstanding. The second disc is jammed pack with Stanley’s short films such as The Sea of Perdition, Rites of Passage and the super 8 version of Hardware titled Incidents in An Expanding Universe. You also receive a lengthy making of featurette, a brief mentioning of the ill-fated sequel to the film and deleted and extended scenes which stay in the old VHS format. I had a problem with the making of featurette. I must had had a defective copy or something because it would pause in the middle of the interviews. So, if this is a mass defect, it would effect the ranking some but not much.

The overall review of the Hardware DVD is very high. Packed with extras and correctly formatted, I found the Severin release to be as pleasant as pleasant can get almost. The pausing in the making of featurette worries me a bit for this might be a massive defect and I surely hope it isn’t. The DVD art is absolutely stunning – the blue and white metal skull really appeals and jumps right at you. It is simple yet industriously dangerous. I fell in love with it when I first laid my eyes upon it. Make sure you pick up this immediately! Hardware hit shelves Tuesday, October 13, 2009 – don’t delay or else your flesh shall not be spared!