Syngenor

SYNGENOR concerns an eeevil corporation that is secretly building synthetic beings to be used as super-soldiers in the next big war. Shockingly, the deadly creatures are released to roam around the corporate building, tearing hapless victims to pieces.

This is all part of a plot to drive the corporation's head, Carter Brown (David Gale) insane. It works, causing Brown to lose his mind entirely. He proceeds to grimace, laugh hysterically, and continually ask people to hold him. As is common knowledge, Mr. Gale is a magnificent, USDA choice ham. He's also the best thing about this movie. His ultra-dynamic performance is pure platinum!

The monsters themselves, while not a total disgrace, aren't all that menacing either. The costumes are fairly cool, just not terrifying. That said, there is a cool scene toward the end involving a SYNGENOR in total meltdown mode.

Recommended for schlock lovers everywhere...

Total & utter trash, this moronic low budget Sci-Fi flick about a genetically engineered army robot that reproduces itself by laying eggs (!) and naturally turns against its creators before it's even properly finished. In some desperate attempts to thicken the unoriginal plot, there's the lame sub plot about a nosy journalist and his ugly girlfriend going undercover in the company and the awkward story about the Corporate Executive (David Gale from "Re-Animator" fame) who injects the veins in his neck with the same liquids as the robots need in able to function. "Syngenor" is nearly unendurable nonsense, made on a shoestring budget and featuring no redeeming elements whatsoever, apart from the over-the-top performance of David Gale. The supposedly extraordinary killer robots, meant to replace human soldiers to fight wars in the Middle East, are actually very deficient machines! They can't deal with fire or water, and they're pretty easy to kill if you just aim well or hit them over the head hard enough. On top of that, they only last 24 hours before incubating their own successors. And these faulty metal things are supposed to be the future of the US Army? He's dead now, but I'm sure Saddam Houssein wouldn't have been impressed. The first half is still remotely amusing, since the inept dialogs and cheesy massacres supply the film with a handful of chuckles, but then the whole thing gets too stupid to even smile at. The climax battles are exaggeratedly retarded, with a very Terminator-esquire sequence in which the leftover pieces of one of the robots melt together with human tissue, resulting in an ultra-hideous robot-woman creature. What the hell was that? My rating of 3 out of 10 is extremely generous, mainly just because David Gale was a cool dude who never got the good roles he deserved, apart from once in "Re-Animator".

Not completely a direct sequel to William Malone's 1981 "Scared to Death", but "Syngenor" sees the return of Malone's alien creation (this time there's even more and a new creation to boot as well). As a low-budget, late-night b-grade offering, "Syngenor" is actually very well pulled off. I was expecting it to look much cheaper. It remains trashy fun throughout, namely due to the spontaneously intense and ham-fisted performance of David Gale. You could never tire watching this guy perform! It might be his show, but the rest the performances do shape up rather nicely. A delightful Starr Andreeff and snappy Mitchell Laurance agreeably work off each other. Riva Spier is enticingly manipulative. Also showing up is Melanie Shatner (William's Daughter) and character actor Lewis Arquette.

Carter Brown is the CEO of Norton Cyberdyne, a corporation that deals with military defence technology. His latest creation under the project name "Dark Skies" is that of some genetically made super-soldiers known as Syngenor --- Synthesized Genetic Organism. However problems start occurring when one of them is released from its basement enclosure to leave a bloody aftermath, which involves the death of their original creator Dr. Valentine. Growing increasingly paranoid that somebody (within) is trying to knock him from his perch; Brown's sanity soon begins to spin out of control. Also he has to deal with a pesky news reporter and Valentine's daughter.

Pulpy hokum, which has many dumb and unintentionally humorous qualities… but in the end that's what makes it. Really it could have been more enjoyable than it was. The plot is nothing new (by starting off rather mild-mannered and then transcending into demented craziness) and the script is sub-standard, but bestowed a conceptual base of satirical barbs and tongue-in-cheek sparks. The tightly knitted execution at times was a bit shoddy (with some cheaply staged action --- like the onslaught in the basement involving an oddly dressed security squad), but the pacing keeps on the move and the optical / special effects (done by Robert and Dennis Skotak) and make-up stand up better than you would think. The Syngenor designs (a man in a suit with an amatronic head) look quite decent, as they're crafted with specific details. Although when they go after their prey, it can be rather laughable with their slow movements as they dawdle around waving their arms. Super-soldiers? Locked away in the basement? The feature was mainly filmed in the Ambassador Hotel, in Los Angeles which has an infamous history. Some moments have an atmospheric edge, while other sequences are truly devoid of it. Composers Steve Rucker and Thomas Chase provide a typically unhinged music score.

Slightly enjoyably low-end creature-feature oddity that's brought to life thanks to David Gale.

For those who enjoyed David Gale in RE-ANIMATOR (and who didn't??) it would seem that SYNGENOR (that is SYNthesized GENetic ORganism) is required viewing. Hell, Gale even injects himself (IN THE NECK!!) with what appears to be a substance VERY SIMILAR to re-agent! In this sequel (?) to SCARED TO DEATH we have a corporation by the name of Norton Cyberdyne (rubbish logo by the way) who have created a series of "creatures" to act as "supersoldiers" in any upcoming conflict in "rain-free" (there's the catch...) environments, namely: The Middle East. Things go wrong (of course) resulting in a handful of Syngenors breaking free from their Cyberdyne basement confines to wreak havoc in true cheap-horror fashion. The creatures themselves (though obviously inspired by a certain Giger design) are the strong-point - I'd even go so far as to say that they're THE BEST low-bud monsters since INVASION OF THE SAUCER MEN, problem being there's too little running, blood & screaming to keep them occupied. When the "action" finally arrives we're treated - in one scene - to a selection of Cyberdyne guards - looking like they'd just fell out of an old (pre-flowerpot) DEVO promo - marching to the depths of the Cyberdyne 'scraper with such little conviction you'd swear the comedic angle was intentional. Perhaps this IS supposed to be funny: the "learned" screenwriters attempt to parody the perceived insanity of The Military Industrial Complex (TM) via both "Carter Brown" (Gale) & Cyberdyne's infommercial promo material. In the hands of an Italian director, SYNGENOR could have been a DEMONS style contender - as it stands, a reasonable stab at an SF/stalker/gore flick which attempts to recreate the intensity of a certain other film (yep, RE-ANIMATOR again) during in final minutes.

I love cheap creature feature or monster movies. I really do, no matter how cheap they are as long as they are entertaining.

"Syngenor" wasn't. It started out OK but as the movie went on I find myself paying less and less attention to the screen. Creature design is interesting and cool looking, but that's probably the most interesting about the movie.

I wouldn't complain too much about acting, because I didn't really expect some excellent performances in these kind of movie, but David Gale really went over-the-top even more then his usual self.

What I find really funny is monster concept itself. It's suppose to be indestructible bio-engineered super-soldier that's half machine, half organic, that can reproduce itself every 24h that would replace American soldiers on the battlefield. Yet, creature seems to easily goes down by shotgun-to-the-face and water!? I find that incredibly funny, because for a super-soldier it has two major weaknesses: firearms and water.

A semi-sequel to cult movie "Scared to Death" from early '80s, but you can watch it as stand alone movie.

"Synapse" released this on DVD (along with it's mother movie), which has some bonus features. So if it's your coup of tea, go for it, but I think "Syngenor" makes a better trailer then a movie.