SCREAMERS

US, 1995, 108 minutes, Colour.
Peter Weller, Roy Dupuis, Jennifer Rubin, Andrew Lauer, Charles Edwin Powell, Ron White.
Directed by Christian Duguay.

Screamers is based on a short story by celebrated writer, Philip K. Dick, author of such stories as Blade Runner, Paycheck. The short story was called Second Variety. It was set on Earth when the United States had been defeated by the Soviet Union. However, in the 1990s, after the fall of the Soviet Union, the plot was transferred to the latter part of the 21st century and an outer planet.

Mining interests had developed the planet but humans had also developed a weapon, the Screamers, bladed machines with a powerful screech that hunted down enemies. However, their intelligence had developed so that they then began to pursue human life.

The small group is isolated on the planet but its leader, played by Peter Weller, decides that there has to be a pact made with the mining enemies in order to confront the Screamers.

The film shows the characters, their interactions, especially in isolation and under the threats from the Screamers. A small groups goes on an expedition to meet the enemy, traversing the planet and its hostile environment, pursued by Screamers, building up to a dramatic confrontation. One of the complications is that the Screamers can take human forms so that the leader is not always clear on who is human and who is a machine, especially with a very forthright character who does turn out to be a machine, and the leader has to test the female member of the group to see whether she is human or not.

The film has built up something of a minor cult following, admiration for Dick, the adaptation of the story, the inventiveness about threatening machines and the confrontation.

1. The status of this film as science fiction? Cult following?

2. The production values, the small-budget, the re-creation of the planet, the desolation and isolation, the military aspects, the mining aspects? The journey across the planet? Action sequences? Special effects? The Screamers themselves and their look, sound, activity?

3. The late 21st century, the isolated planet, devastation on earth, the military cutting off the survivors on the planet, the having to fend for themselves, limited resources?

4. The Screamers, their appearance, the blades, subterranean, coming to the surface, the screams, the cutting, the threats, the violence?

5. The leader, his personality, exercising leadership, contact with Earth and other planets, the threat of the Screamers, his interactions with his personnel, wary of some not being human? His lieutenant and his trust – and the later betrayal of the trust? The variety of personalities, the discovery that some were Screamers? Jessica, suspicions, her identity?

6. The expedition, the dangers, the threats, the Screamers, interactions in the group, dangers, deaths, betrayal? The Screamers who appeared human, but were revealed as machines when attacked? The leading machine, denouncing others, revealed to be a machine?

7. The continued threat of the Screamers, the buildup to the confrontation, possibilities for destruction? The humans and their survival?

8. A Philip K. Dick parable about humans and machines – and the future?