Tuesday 21 April 2009

Screamers


Hmmm; well, there’s an entertaining-ish way to spend an evening.   Me and Adrian managed to catch the 1995 film, “Screamers”, tonight.


Which isn’t a stunning film.

But is worth watching, if nothing else is on.

And it’s also one that — from what I read on it’s Wikipedia entry — is one that is fairly close to its source text: in this case, Phillip K Dick’s “Second Variety”.

That’s something I’m pleased about.   I’m rather picky about screen adaptations of novel being as close to their source as cinematically possible

I also know it’s possibly one of the only Canadian films I’ve seen; which possibly explains the lower than usual budget I’d’ve expected for a 90s era sci-fi film.

I don’t know if Canada’s film industry has as big a budget as its more southerly neighbour: that makes any flaws “Screamers” has excusable, to an extent.

I’m not including the basic story, acting, and script; they were all excellently done. 

And, although it did seem a little derivative of — for example — “Terminator”, one thing I did notice was that the original short story it’s based on dates to 1953.   Which makes the dated feel to “Screamers” understandable, if not necessarily excusable.

And probably made the film version of “Screamers” long overdue.



Actor
Role
Notes
Peter Weller
Colonel Joseph A. Hendricksson
Leader of The Alliance on Sirius 6B
Roy Dupuis
Becker
A screamer disguised as an NEB Soldier
Jennifer Rubin
Jessica Hansen
A screamer disguised as an NEB Soldier and black market merchant
Andrew Lauer
Ace Jefferson
Alliance soldier that crashes in a ship on Sirius 6B
Charles Powell
Ross
An NEB Soldier
Ron White
Chuck Elbarak

Michael Caloz
David
A Type 3 screamer that tags along with Hendricksson and Jefferson
Liliana Komorowska
Landowska

Jason Cavalier
Leone

Leni Parker
Corporal McDonald

Sylvain Massé
NEB Soldier
An NEB Soldier carrying a message to Alliance Command on Sirius 6B
Bruce Boa
Secretary Green
An administrator of The Alliance
Tom Berry
Technician

Henry Ramer
Screamers Crawl Narration (voice)







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