Death Machine

In the near future, the Chaank Corporation is under fire for its creation of unethical weapons and involvement in war crimes. New Chief Executive Hayden Cale (Ely Pouget) has been brought in to fill the vacancy of the old executive and right the ship much to the ire of executives John Carpenter (William Hootkins) and Scott Ridley (Richard Brake). Hayden Cale in the course of her duties seeks to put an end to the development programs of weapons developer Jack Dante (Brad Dourif), a man as psychotic as he is brilliant and keeps himself from being terminated by holding leverage over the other executives. As Dante nurses a growing obsession with Cale, Chaank becomes the target of anti-war/anti-corporate saboteurs Raimi (John Sharian), Yutani (Martin McDougall), and Weyland (Andreas Wisneiwski) who intend to blow -up Chaank's mainframe. After circumstances see Carpenter, Cale, and the saboteurs collide at Chaank's headquarters, Dante unleashes his latest creation, a murderous robot called "Warbeast", after them.

Death Machine is the writing and directing debut of effects artist Stephen Norrington. Norrington had worked on a number of genre films since the 80s (including Aliens and Lifeforce) but had grown tired of effects work and wanted to try his hand at writing. As Norrington continued to dabble in effects work while trying to find financial backing, a producer on the film Split Second for which Norrington was providing the effects had taken an interest in one of his scripts as a possible sequel and also took note of another script Death Machine which was viewed as a commercial enough idea that producers brought on board Norrington as writer and director and secured international financing. While the film was given a relatively quiet direct-to-video release in the United States, it did become something of a springboard for Norrignton that lead to him directing Blade. Death Machine isn't any more or any less than it promises and depending on what you're looking for that might be enough.

At its core, Death Machine is what happens when you mix Die Hard, Robocop (or perhaps more fitting Robocop 2), and Alien together into a trashy genre exercise that doesn't have any loftier aspirations other than setting up kill scenes. While per the cyberpunk 101 playbook it follows the old standards of unethical corporations operating without regard to human life or impact on the world, it's mostly used as window dressing so we can justify the selling point of the killer robot. As per usual, Brad Dourif is delightfully slimy playing the unhinged Jack Dante who's basically what Charles Lee Ray would be like if he had technical expertise. Nobody delivers on crazy like Dourif and you can see why his character (as well as the film's violence) led to several different cuts of this movie. Most of the characterization doesn't go for too much depth save for maybe Ely Pouget's Hayden Cale, but they do what you expect in a movie like this and play it well. The real star of the movie is the titular "warbeast" or Death Machine and structured like if the Cain model from Robocop 2 were mixed with a T-rex it's certainly a memorable killer robot and is used for some fun setpieces. The setpieces are made all the more impressive by the fact the budget was only $3 million and Norrington certainly knows how to stretch it effectively.

Death Machine is the kind of movie where it's very much "what you see is what you get?" and if you're looking for something involving a killer robot on the loose and you've already watched Hardware, this will definitely fit the bill. It's pure bloody pulp, but enjoyable if you're into that sort of thing.

The point is: This movie is a blatant *tribute* to Aliens, Die Hard, Evil Dead, Terminator, Predator, Rocky, and numerous other action/horror movies. The characters are even named after famous action/horror directors (see trivia). The plot is a brilliant rehash of nearly every great action/horror movie ever made! It's meant to be funny! People get so caught up in the details that they miss the big picture.

Watching this little movie after a decade or more , gave me the creeps again , still fresh , original , where the talent and actors' dedication , attention to detail , and the story count , and another proof that young directors must learn their ropes from the scratch ,and not from a 100 - million budget hand-outs , that turn their product into mush and the material to eternally laugh about! The movie is based on the shenanigans of a large weapons manufacturer corporation called Chaank, which has been accused of using children to produce super warriors and their new executive appointee , brilliantly portrayed by a little known E.Pouget with a tiny personal secret, who is determined to find out what exactly ' s been happening in the bowels of the beast , under the leadership of a brilliant young prodigy appropriately named J.Dante , played by B.Douriff ,and you have got to see this character , a sort of post-punk hippie with dreadlocks and an insatiable appetite for porn in all forms, who has secretly devised an ugly gadget ,and then the whole business gets very nasty , when every access and door is hermetically sealed,and the Dante guy sets a few conditions ,the most important being ' to interface ' with his unrequited blond obsession, or else the beast will get you ! If this movie reminds you of some other classics , namely –Hardware , Alien , Carpenter's movies ,you are on the right track , as all the actors even bear the familiar names ,e.g. Scott Ridley , Yutani , Carpenter etc. Briefly , still fresh , amusing , and above all, hardcore , and utterly bleak !

Quirky little sci-fi flick that has its share of goofy charms. Unfortunately, though, Death Machine goes too far in a few categories, resulting in an eye-rolling-groan instead of the genuine amused chuckle. It doesn't quite nail the blending of two genres appropriately nor is it entirely effective, but it does an okay job. The movie does wear out its welcome by the time the final act starts.

The Death Machine, aka the WarBeast, didn't set well with me. Kind of a mechanical, terminator-ish Alien with autism-inspired hyper-twitches with its claws (reminding me of the guy from Cube for some reason). It's not that the thing looked unrealistic, it's the fact that it moved like a chihuahua on a coffee high.

Also the character suited up in the super soldier gear went a bit too far over the top with his Unisol-from-hell impression. Every now and then I found myself chuckling at him or his comments, but for the most part I think he should've pulled back just a tad.

There's a few others, but I'll just comment on one more that bugged me. The all-too-blunt reference to famous directors, giving characters the same first and last name (or in a 'clever twist' swapping 'em around) . . . I really think references are more effective when they're subtle and not glaring at you from the screen with a big red blinking light.

The tongue-in-cheek approach, and goofy nature and the fact they walked a thin line of parody/seriousness didn't bother me . . . I just felt they didn't do too hot a job of walking that line and frequently went overboard on the parody side.

On the plus side, everyone feels right in their appointed roles and the production value/effects are, for the most part, appropriate. Ely Pouget and Brad Dourif are the stars here; they play off each other nicely. The Dante character would've come across as incredibly lame in the hands of a lesser actor, but Dourif gives Dante a very unique aura of childish menace and pulls off one one the performances and creating probably the best character in the film.

Pouget is fun as Cale, constantly bouncing her chivarlous and noble comments off the demented Dante. The humor in Pouget and Dourif's performance comes about from their serious/straight forward delivery. Despite the wackiness surrounding them, these two characters are probably the most grounded in reality . . . which is weird, sad, and entertaining at the same time and well, you have to see the film to understand.

If material has to be 100% believable for you to like a movie . . . why do you still watch movies? Death Machine is a movie where you suspend your belief just to sit back and embrace the corniness as it pokes fun at its big cinematic brethren . . . I just wish it did a little better job of it throughout the whole movie. Oh well, it was worth the rental price.

This horror/psycho thriller/sci fi story pits a hard-nosed, naive and ethical businesswoman against the existing power structure at a very large defense contractor, Chaank Industries. What Hayden Cale (Ely Puget) does not know is that, underlying most of what she knows as Chaank Industries, is a murderous maniac - Jack Dante. Dante is played by the remarkable, under-rated, Brad Dourif (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Eyes of Laura Mars, Blue Velvet, Dune, Wild Blue Yonder, Lord of the Rings, etc etc). Dante will do ANYTHING to avoid having his sick little world disturbed... anything. The plot and characters are a string of clichés, but the movie does not take itself very seriously, and what results is a campy, intelligent, self-parody. Direct homages are paid to off-beat directors who frequently use comedy to liven up sci fi and horror stories - There are major supporting characters named Sam Raimi, John Carpenter and Scott Ridley.

Dourif, the deft pacing of the film, and the cleverly written script make this predictable farce thoroughly enjoyable. Richard Brake makes a very good impression in a support role, and lead Puget is charismatic and manages to play her role laudably straight as a counterpoint to Dourif's utterly bizarre behavior.

Death Machine was Stephen Norrington's directorial debut. Norrington has done and continues to do a lot of visual effects and robotics work on major releases which require substantial, cutting edge, effects. He also directed the decent but disappointing League of Extraordinary Gentlement and is now working on a re-make of The Crow.