SCREAMERS (1995) Blu-ray review

Screamers (1995) d. Christian Duguay (Canada) (108 min)

Set in the far-off future of 2078, a violent 10-year war rages on between the loyalist Rebel Alliance and the splinter faction of the New Economic Bloc, with Col. Joseph Hendrickson (Peter Weller) assigned to protect the distant Sirius 6B outpost from the NEBs. Assisting him in the cause are Autonomous Mobile Swords, manmade killing devices programmed to eliminate all life forms, dubbed “Screamers” for their high-pitched mechanical whine as they sweep underground like supersonic moles. Unfortunately for both sides in the conflict, the artificially intelligent Screamers have begun to evolve and mutate, transforming from easily identifiable robots to cybernetic creations that look disturbingly… human.

LEVIATHAN (1989) Blu-ray Review

Leviathan (1989) d. George P. Cosmatos (USA/Italy)

Days away from completing its tour of duty, the highly photogenic crew of Tri-Oceanic Mining Corporation’s Shack #7 encounters a submerged Soviet submarine and salvages one of the craft’s storage containers. A couple sips of pilfered noxious vodka later, several members are dead, with their bodies mutating into a strange and messy amphibian organism possessing tendrils, teeth, tails, and a terrible ’tude. With icy deep waters all around, the surviving rock jockeys pit their wits against the carnivorous monsters below and wait for help from the corporate monsters above (personified by oily Meg Foster), though they probably shouldn’t hold their breath.

Sorry, I had to.