Hardware: Special Edition

The best adaptation of a 2000AD strip to date, HARDWARE is a fast, exciting flick that should satisfy the more discerning horror/sci-fi fan. There's not a teenager in sight with this one - it's a serious, sombre flick packed with plenty of style, gruesome gore (watch out for those sliding doors!) and a cracking soundtrack to boot. This special edition DVD is superb and is definitely one to check out.

Hardware is a highly derivative low budget british sci-fi shocker that inexplicably became a cult hit for palace pictures upon its original release. Based on the story "shok!" from magazine 2000ad, the movie is set in a post-apocalyptic future where a young scavenger acquires a "mark 13" robot head found in the desert wasteland and unwittingly takes it home to his girlfriend for her sculpture - unprepared for the mayhem that lies in store. The awful truth is soon revealed - the mark-13 head has the ability to reassemble itself into a formiddable (yet slightly cumbersome looking) killing machine that wages war on humans. Director stanley should have taken notes from terminator director cameron in terms of pacing - this film takes far too long to get going, before cutting loose in the second half with some effective action sequences and gore. It's not without style, but demanding sci-fi fans may expect much more. Hardware never looked particulary good on vhs with a reliance on orange and red filters, so it really does benefit from an improved presentation on dvd. Optimum's special edition release is loaded with extras, some of which are exclusive to r2, making this a very collectable purchase.

Worth a watch if you are a fan of the genre but it ain't going to set the world on fire...

I remember seeing this on VIDEO about 15 years ago and, oh my god, it was awful. I like most things, but this was just excrutiatingly awful. Save yourself the bother of wasting precious time and hard earned money. Don't do it - I beg you!

Prophetic, current (even after all these years), fantastic cast, is not dated at all; fantastic soundtrack. If you're between 18 and 35 and think too much, worry too much, see beneath the skin of this infected society, or are watching a decline paralleled only by the shameless delight of military 'invention', give this a go. Besides, any film where Lemmy is a bit-part playing the ferryman whilst listening to a wired Iggy Pop on apocalyptic radio has got to be worth a punt!

M..