Future-Kill

I didn't really know what to expect from "Future-Kill", but I certainly hoped it would be a little better than what I got. I knew the rating was bad and the reviews were unfavorable, but the Subversive DVD-cover illustration looks beyond cool and I can't resist that. For a very long (too long, in fact) time, this film raised the impression of being an unofficial sequel to Porky's with lame, vulgar and offensive fraternity pranks. Five mega-dorks, one of them resembling an exact young clone of Jim Carrey, desperately want to become members of a frat house but their ultimate initiation might just be a tad bit far-fetched and dangerous. They are dropped in the city center with provocative marks painted on their faces, simultaneously with the outbreak of a violent gang war. It doesn't take too long before they are confronted with Splatter, a seemingly half-man and half-machine warrior, who leads a gang of which I never really figured out who or what they were. Were they a government experiment? Cyborgs? Terminator imitations from a distant future? Does anyone care? "Future-Kill" is a bizarre amateur flick with a scenario that leaps from one subject onto the other without any form of logical connection or narrative. The plot borrows vital elements from great cinematic cult classics like "The Warriors", "Escape from New York" and "The Terminator", but the end result is one gigantic Sci-Fi monstrosity. The costumes and special effects are quite pitiable and there's a truckload of cheap and gratuitous nudity. The acting is terrible, but I'm willing to blame the retarded dialogs instead of the cast members. One to avoid at all costs, in spite of really cool DVD-cover art. Resist it!

FUTURE-KILL! Holy crap, I revisited this one last night and was shocked at the disconnect between my childhood memories of it and reality. I thought it was cutting edge stuff at the time, but it is just awful. The setting is a futuristic Austin, TX (I assume, they never say) where a gang of painted up punks protest nuclear armament. A bunch of college frat guys head down to the ghetto to play a prank on them, but end up running into radiation-mutated Splatter (Edwin Neal, TCM's Hitchhiker). Splatter kills pacifist anti-nuke leader Eddie during a scuffle and blames it on the frat boys. After that, the film is THE WARRIORS with a $50 budget as they kids try to escape and get help from sympathetic punks including Dorothy Grim (Marilyn Burns). From 30-year-old frat guys to laughable punks, director Ronald Moore gets everything wrong. One would think the re-teaming of CHAINSAW stars Burns and Neal would lead to some interesting moments, but the film has none.

I just saw this film and I have to say it has an interesting concept. However it is poorly done. It is still entertaining, but it would have been way better if it had a half way decent budget. I am a huge fan of Marilyn Burns(Texas Chainsaw Massacre,Helter Skelter) so thats why I was drawn to this film. The box is misleeding because she is only in the movie for a little in the begining and some at the end. SO see it at your own risk. The cheesy 80's rock songs will be in your head for days

I'm sure I saw FUTURE KILL for the same reason as most people: the awesome poster by HR Giger. And like everyone else, I was disappointed to find that the movie could not live up to the poster (Giger said that director Moore actually begged him to do it). When I first saw this, at the age of 14, I thought it was the worst movie ever made. I'd still think that if I hadn't seen certain movies on MST3K since then.

The plot has a bunch of annoying college boys driving into the "mutant city" to kidnap a gang-leader for their fraternity. That's when they meet Splatter (Ed Neal), a mutant/cyborg/psycho who kills the gang leader and blames it on the frats as an excuse to hunt them down and seize power. The rest of the movie consists mostly of chases. A hand-full of frats try to battle their way out of mutant city (which I think is supposed to be LA, even though it was made in Texas). There's some pseudo-political stuff about the frat boys' society being pro-nuclear weapons and the mutant-society being anti-nuke. There's talk of how Splatter became a freak due to radiation. Most people develop cancer from radiation, but splatter just shoots spikes and slaughters girls. Yeah, that makes tons of sense. At one point, our heroes rescue a mutant girl from two pro-nuke police, and she shows them "how the other half lives." The other half, it turns out, are all punk kids who dance around to a bad 80s pop-band. So our little epic is both dumb and dated. That's really all there is to it. Frat boys running around in messed up buildings while guys who look like bikers try to kill them... Oh, and it's the future.

I don't think you'll have any doubt about why Ron W. Moore never made another movie. This thing is a real stinker. If you like Giger, buy his books (they have the poster without the horrors of the movie), or just watch ALIEN again. FUTURE KILL is a waste of time that nobody needs.

If this description makes the picture sound good, there's another crappy movie that does the same thing, only bigger and better: AFTER THE FALL OF NEW YORK. It's crap, but it blows FUTURE KILL off the screen.

Greetings And Salutations, and welcome to my review of Future-Kill; here's the breakdown of my ratings:

Story: 0.50 Direction: 1.25 Pace: 0.50 Acting: 0.50 Enjoyment: 0.75

TOTAL: 3.50 out of 10.00.

Future-Kill is one of those IMDb-listed films where you have to query the genres listed. Sci-Fi - just: Adventure - not quite: Comedy - NO! - not unless the awful acting, dire dialogue, feeble FX, and mad makeup give you a fit of the giggles.

Writer and director Ronald W Moore delivers a stinky wet fish of a story to the audience. There's nothing new or eye-opening in the narrative. However, there was an obvious opportunity at the start of the movie to make the story more powerful and emotional. Unluckily for the poor viewing public, Moore chose not to pursue this fascinating avenue. Instead, he opts to tell the tale of a group of frat boys taking their pranks to a new level by kidnapping a mutant from their part of the town. Of course, frats are not known for their wisdom: I mean, what could go wrong? Well, a mutant leader gets killed, and our lucky lads are in the area to get framed for the murder. Now the boys are on the lamb from the rest of the muties: Who, in turn, are hunting their pretty norm arses. This plot should've been engaging and thrilling. Sadly, Moore is unskilled at creating the atmosphere to entice and engage the viewer. His dialogue is trite and cringeworthy. The characters are so flat you could use them as the perfect ironing board. And it's here that the opportunity reared its head. Splatter is the lead villain. However, in the opening scene, we see him chatting with another member of the group he's associated with, and it's a non-violent group. This scene shows Splatter is attempting to go straight. Now imagine how much better the story would've been to display his inner conflict in addition to his basic compulsion to hurt people. But, as I stated before, Moore didn't possess the skills to make it happen - just look at his bog-standard stereotypical frat boys. The severe lack of individual personalities definitely adds to the yawn factor - and yes, I nearly fell asleep watching this flick.

Moore doesn't improve when he moves behind the camera. Though you can see that he's endeavouring to make the picture more engaging by employing lighting, colour, and compositional shots, he never entirely makes it work. I would put down his unfortunate miscarriages on the terrible script and his lack of skill at pacing a film. The dullness originates from his capacity to hold a shot in frame for too long. And there are too many of these. One of the worst, and the best example, is when the frats are sitting around discussing their plans. The dialogue is claptrap, and the performers appear to know that as they put in one of their most shoddy performances. However, Moore does his best. He uses upward angles and close-ups to add interest, but he holds them too long. There's a segment where one guy on the sofa is gabbling away, for a good minute or two, before his friend replies. He filmed the two minutes plus conversation from one position low to the floor at an upward angle. The screen showed everyone sitting around, hardly moving. It is the worst scene in the film. Regrettably, there are many similar overly-long scenes in Future-Kill.

The cast is a mixed bag. Each of the performers has their problems throughout the picture. Not one of them delivers a stable or entirely credible performance. However, this drawback may stem from either the script, which is poor, or the director, who isn't totally on top of his game; but in this case, I believe it's the lack of talent on the performers' part. It doesn't help matters much when you consider that most frat boys are way too old. A couple of them even possess a reclining hairline. Didn't Moore know any teens, or had he merely given the parts to friends and family?

All in all, Future-Kill is a dull dud of a Sci-Fi Action film. Every fan of the genre should steer well clear of this flick. Unless you're looking for a cure for insomnia, then feel free to give it a try...oh, and pleasant dreams.

I may be an aggressive a-hole of a mutant, but I'm trying my best. But By God, if you don't read my IMDb lists - Absolute Horror, Killer Thriller Chillers, and The Final Frontier to see where I rated Future-Kill, I swear I'll rip your head off and (Expletives redacted for the sake of human decency. Please think kindly of your fellow man, be they mutant or otherwise.)

Take Care & Stay Well.