{"id":20159,"date":"2020-06-24T01:50:03","date_gmt":"2020-06-24T05:50:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=20159"},"modified":"2020-06-25T02:57:30","modified_gmt":"2020-06-25T06:57:30","slug":"br-death-machine-1994","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=20159","title":{"rendered":"BR: Death Machine (1994)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Film<\/strong>:\"\" Very Good<\/p>\n

Transfer<\/strong>: \u00a0Excellent<\/p>\n

Extras<\/strong>: n\/a<\/p>\n

Label:\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0Turbine Medien<\/p>\n

Region:<\/strong>\u00a0Region B<\/p>\n

Released:<\/strong>\u00a0 2015<\/p>\n

Genre:<\/strong>\u00a0 Science-Fiction \/ Horror<\/p>\n

Synopsis:<\/strong>\u00a0After being promoted as CEO of a highly profitable arms corporation, Hayden Cale finds her rejection of a resident development whiz lethal when he unleashes his personal death machine – all teeth, no love.<\/p>\n

Special Features:<\/strong>\u00a0 Director’s Cut on Blu-ray + DVD \/ Soundtrack CD \/ Limited Digibook Edition.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Review:<\/strong><\/p>\n

After working his way up \/ toiling on other people\u2019s projects, visual effects whiz Stephen Norrington made the leap from art department to writer-director with Death Machine<\/strong>, a calling card & instant cult film with a very odd release history, and various running times.<\/p>\n

Norrington\u2019s first credits in makeup effects include The Witches<\/strong> (1990), Waxwork II: Lost in Time<\/strong> (1992), and Hellraiser: Bloodline<\/strong> (1996), plus animatronics work for Young Sherlock Holmes<\/strong> (1985), James Cameron\u2019s Aliens<\/strong> (1986), and Richard Stanley\u2019s cult cyberpunk horror Hardware<\/a><\/strong> (1990).<\/p>\n

Like Norrington\u2019s subsequent The Last Minute<\/strong> (2001), his acidic poke at the worth and effects of fame, Death Machine<\/strong> has its share of veiled barbs at corporate culture, its control over the lives of mid- and low-level employees, and the quick application of obfuscation and denial to save itself when confronted by investigative reports or governmental inquiries that can minimize its overreach of power. (Well, somewhat, as companies too large and established are literally too big to fail and require some propping up when a whole industry and its massive work force face collapse.)<\/p>\n

Norrington\u2019s tale is also a mash-up of Alien<\/strong> (1979), Aliens<\/strong> (1986), Robocop<\/strong> (1987), and Saturn 3<\/strong> (1980), so it\u2019s easy to dismiss the scenario of recently promoted executive Hayden Cale (Ely Pouget) discovering her colleagues remain super-silent when she discovers lead engineer Jack Dante (Brad Dourif) is given an unlimited expense, research, and broad behavioural leeway because he has the power to ruin careers and destroy lives.<\/p>\n

Buried in the basement\u2019s Vault 10 is his \u2018monster,\u2019 the eponymous death machine that’s more lethal than the company’s faltering human cyborg program. The all-mechanical robot offers potential clients a soulless thing fueled by the pheromones of its doomed, terror-stricken victims. It stalkes, pokes, tears, mulches, and mutilates things human, and leaves in its mangled wake costly redecorating for whole departments.<\/p>\n

Both respective auteurs of Hardware<\/strong> and Death Machine<\/strong> share a similar offbeat sense of humour, with sexist slimeball characters and vicious robotic creatures, but whereas Stanley\u2019s monster stemmed from a welded art piece that hungers for its shapely Dr. Frankenstein, Norrington\u2019s is the extension of a spoiled, pubescent brat whose lab is pasted with raunchy centerfolds. Dante also dreams of \u2018interfacing\u2019 with Hayden, especially after he discovers her past contains both a tragedy, and in her younger years, some naughty photographic work.<\/p>\n

Inspired by the corporate visuals in architecture and interior design of Ridley Scott\u2019s Alien<\/strong> (1979), the head office of the weirdly titled Chaank Armaments \u00a0is another lone angular slab of steel and glass, but Norrington’s inspiration and homages go a little bit farther. When Dante doesn\u2019t get his way and fears his tenure is seriously threatened, he sends his monster to devour asshole exec Scott Ridley (get it?), played by Richard Brake. When his replacement John Carpenter (get it?), played by William Hootkins, realizes he\u2019s next, he summons Haden from home, and the two are soon pursued by the monster when Dante\u2019s \u2018interfacing\u2019 request \/ demand is flatly rejected.<\/p>\n

About a third into the narrative, Norrington switches to a very<\/em> overt Die Hard<\/strong> (1988) riff, in which three supposed cyber-terrorists in a large truck sneak around the building, and start drilling into the foundations to access the mainframe where they plan to blow up the network, and like Hans and his terrorists for hire, aim to steal a fortune in bonds. Leader (ahem) Sam Raimi (John Sharian) takes his crew of (ahem) Yutani (Martin McDougall) and (ahem) Weyland (Andreas Wisniewski, Die Hard<\/strong>\u2019s Ho-Ho-Ho doomed terrorist Tony), and soon encounter trapped Hayden and Carpenter, and the group eventually make their way towards the basement, losing a couple of members before Dante, Hayden, and the monster have their special person-to-person moment.<\/p>\n

Norrington\u2019s riffs from the aforementioned big budget blockbusters are grounded by Dante\u2019s ongoing efforts to ultimately \u2018meet\u2019 Hayden on an emotional level, but once the monster is loose, the film switches to Aliens<\/strong> mode, albeit with Raimi donning a Robocopian cybersuit, and having his memory temporarily wiped to become the weapon that\u2019ll offer serious defence against the mangling thing.<\/p>\n

Norrington\u2019s smart-assed humour and quips are akin to a teen comedy, and the dialogue isn\u2019t the film\u2019s strongest asset nor are certain cast members who devour the scenery, but somehow, within its 2 hour running time, Pouget keeps the story grounded, and Dourif elevates what more severe critics could brand as a fanboy genre homage \/ garburation. \u00a0Moreover, no one can deny that once the machine is unleashed on the final five by Dante, Death Machine<\/strong> lives up to its reputation as a mean, unrelenting action classic that goes far beyond its modest budget.<\/p>\n

With models and a mass of practical effects, the impending mayhem is telescoped when Ridley becomes Dante\u2019s first vengeance kill. Norrington\u2019s monster is nasty<\/em>; it\u2019s as unrelenting and physically similar in minimalist structure as the mass of tubes and metal exoskeleton of Saturn 3<\/strong>\u2019s Hector, but way more primal. The Death Machine is a bottom-feeder that it pins down its prey, and not unlike H.R. Giger\u2019s Alien <\/strong>creature, taunts them with its head comprised of 90% red-painted teeth that clamp & chomp at 300 mph, and spins 360 degrees like a hellish wind-up toy before total mutilation.<\/p>\n

Dourif devours the scenery in what might be his most extreme performance on film. He\u2019s a ratty-haired, heavily armed prick who taunts posturing executives from a place of outrageous job security within the corporation, and in one scene he out-spits Brake in a yelling match where both seem to be channelling \u2018suffering succotashing\u2019 Sylvester the cat. (Dourif\u2019s character and performance also foreshadows the mad doctor who clones various Ripleys in 1997\u2019s Alien Resurrection<\/strong>, and in the end becomes quite contentedly food for the \u2018beautiful\u2019 mutant baby he helped bring into the world.)<\/p>\n

John de Borman\u2019s cinematography is gorgeous, and editor Paul Endacott brings extra tightness to the kill montages, with the monster\u2019s POV readout evoking a video game. Crispin Merrell\u2019s largely synth score follows a similar industrial sound palette used by Brad Fiedel in The Terminator <\/strong>(1984), but it loses some potent oomph due to the sound mix which dials down the music in favour of sound effects. Some dialogue by Dourif is very<\/em> soft, and when Norrington cuts to the monster\u2019s POV, the 5.1 sound spectrum snaps into a very wide field, albeit lacking needed bass, although pounding low frequencies are largely saved for the outrageously long salvo that Hayden and Yutani unleash on their tormentor.<\/p>\n

Director Norrington has a small role as an exec an early boardroom scene, as does an almost unrecognizable Rachel Weisz (black hair, nose ring). Although the homages, riffs, and grafts from other films are heavily interlaced, the film\u2019s strength is clearly Norrington\u2019s creature design, and the last 40-odd minutes which, at their peak, are incredible<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The running time of Death Machine<\/strong> has added to the film\u2019s cult following. A Japanese laserdisc reportedly sported a 121 min. Director\u2019s Cut, which was later released on a German Region 2 DVD, but with a German-only dub track. A Spanish-dubbed Region 2 DVD (and reportedly Blu-ray) features a longer 128 min. cut which Norrington doesn\u2019t like, and the U.S. DVD sported a fullscreen 99 min. cut that trimmed material for pacing.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Although the Japanese laserdisc contains a roughly 7 min. making-of featurette and trailer, the recent German Blu-ray (limited to 3000 copies) sports the Director\u2019s Cut with English 5.1 audio on Blu + DVD, and a soundtrack CD. This lavish release with gorgeous cover art really, really<\/em> should\u2019ve been more widely released, if not licensed to a North American label, being the definitive presentation of this cult film. Death Machine<\/strong> proved to be a successful a calling card, enabling Norrington to direct his best-known (and most satisfying) gig, Blade<\/strong> (1998), a near-perfect entry in the hip modern vampire sub-genre due to its cast, direction, sleek production, and superb blend of pulsing score and pounding source music.<\/p>\n

Blade<\/strong> should\u2019ve<\/em> yielded a mass of work, but his next film, The Last Minute<\/strong>, feels like Norrington\u2019s hybridized techno-musical rumination on not just the worth of fame and its corrosive backsplash, but perhaps his own place within the corporate studio system. After the disastrous The League of Gentlemen<\/strong> (2003), Norrington vanished from directing, with rare effects credits popping up in Renny Harlin\u2019s dreadful Exorcist: The Beginning<\/strong> (2004) and Harbinger Down <\/strong>(2015).<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a shame, because Blade<\/strong> represents his firm grasp of sound and image for the big screen; more great material should\u2019ve followed since the peak of that withering vampire franchise debuted more than 20 years ago.<\/p>\n

Will there be a comeback?<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a9 2020 Mark R. Hasan<\/p>\n

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