Annihilator

I first saw this TV movie on late-night British TV in the late eighties and was thrilled with it's simple, yet effective sci-fi edge; obviously, the film was made for a prospective television series that never happened - Which is a shame as the end result was far better than many of the series' that were approved and syndicated at the time.

Synopsis: Mark Lyndsay Chapman plays Richard Armour, a likable reporter whose life changes after his girlfriend, Angela (Catherine Mary Stewart) returns from a holiday in Hawaii with a female friend (Lisa Blount). Their return sees them change into emotionless cyborgs (like that of Terminator, complete with robotic red eyes under their lifelike human skin masks! In fact, so close is the analogy to "Terminator", that the "Annihilator" also stars Earl Boen (whom played Dr Silberman in both movies!) in a supporting role as fellow reporter, Sid!)).

These cyborgs (or Dynamitards as they are later revealed to be known as) exhibit calculated and unsympathetic views of animals, at one point referring to a dog as being 'One of these lesser animals', before disposing of the poor canine in a dumpster! Angela's lack of 'humanity', soon gives Richard just cause to think that something is up and is easily convinced that a dirty weekend away to a remote log cabin would be the ideal solution to rekindle and reconnect! It is here that Angela reveals her deadly intentions and Richard gets more than he bargained for as he barely escapes with his life and is forced to go on the run...

Richard soon discovers that the Hawaii passenger manifest is something of a Dynamitard 'hit list' and tries to find other passengers in hope of finding answers - And possibly the whereabouts of the real Angela - Before running into more deadly Dynamitards! The film is punctuated with Bowie's "Ashes to Ashes" soundtrack, using this now classic song to great effect as our hero staggers around, disillusioned and helpless; armed with a pump action shotgun, an English accent and some attitude, Richard's quest for the truth is soon accompanied by female friend and convert, Layla (Susan Blakely) as she convinces him to seek additional help and advice from Professor Alan Jeffries (Geoffrey Lewis), with disastrous consequences of betrayal...

Truly could have been a great TV series ( Personal Rating 8 / 10 )

This movie was a series pilot that was not picked up by the network.

It was not bad, but parts of it were a bit corny as some have pointed out.

As for the Ashes to Ashes segment with the music, this was in the era of MTV back in the days when they actually aired music videos 24/7. This scene was sort of a music video within a movie. Since I liked the song, I didn't mind it.

The basic concept had and still has alot of potential. Considering most sci-fi today is largely rip offs of Star Trek, something like this would be a nice change of pace. There was a kind of creepiness to it that the androids were so lifelike that most people would never know who was real along with the mystery of who or what was really behind the replacement of humans.

I would have to rate it an 9/10 for concept, but 7/10 for execution. This might be an idea for the Sci-Fi channel to pick up now since they did not exist 15 years ago.

Dated 1980's shlock, except for one brilliant throwaway scene near the end.

I wouldn't recommend buying the VHS, and pretty sure this never made it to DVD or Blu Ray, but with a little digging you can probably find it on YouTube. Be ready to skip forward to this scene (a little less than an hour and a half into the movie) if you don't find the movie watchable.

A momentary nice touch, completely unnecessary to the story or plot.

A malfunctioning android. The WAY it malfunctions is nothing short of genius!

It's only a couple of minutes, midway into the climax. I don't want to spoil with any more detail. All I can say is that 30-odd years later, it's every bit as good as I remember.

A great sci-fi film and a good cast and music from David Bowie excellent special effects make this film a must to view and have myself seen over 50 times at least surely this must be released on DVD likewise night of the comet also starring catherine mary stewart and is equally a great film.it seems that the best cult classics are always the last to appear on DVD. An excellent soundtrack also help this movie along even though its not needed. At around 90 minutes this is one sci-fi film to look out for.... The David bowie song ashes to ashes is heard at two pivitol moments in the movie and indeed makes the movie that much more enjoyable.

Just seen this film on tv......and well the plot had promise but never delivered on it-we never found out why all this was happening and how.The way the film ends you think there may be a sequel-leaves a lot of unanswered questions.......