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)