Hardware

Hardware

1990
Sci-fi, Suspense/Thriller
1h 34m
A wandering soldier finds a robot head in the post-apocalyptic desert. He brings it back to his girlfriend for use in one of her sculptures... (imdb)
Your probable score
?

Hardware

1990
Sci-fi, Suspense/Thriller
1h 34m
Your probable score
Avg Percentile 37.21% from 415 total ratings

Ratings & Reviews

(415)
Compact view
Compact view
Rated 04 Aug 2016
69
51st
Superficially speaking, it's not much more than 'B-movie post-apocalyptic Terminator in an artist's apartment'. Luckily, Hardware offers enough flourishes to rise above those roots, much akin to a piranha-inspired plant emerging from a green pipe to spit fireballs at passers-by. There's minor but cool details in world building, some neat shots, a Fallout-ish sense of cynicism, Iggy and Lemmy cameos and a bit of nasty gore. Goofy or overly serious at times, but I appreciated the end result.
Rated 21 Sep 2020
81
78th
As Stanley's directorial debut, "Hardware" showed an obscene amount of promise. He nailed the cyberpunk aesthetic, skirted with a horror atmosphere that even the greats of the genre struggle to achieve, and he did it with a modest budget, and cameos by Iggy Pop and Lemmy. Honestly, though, I knew I was hooked when I saw Carl McCoy, and if you know who that is, you have my undying friendship.
Rated 19 May 2008
35
12th
It's stupid, sadistical and suicidal (to have children right now). The flick is mostly stupid.
Rated 05 Jul 2009
61
62nd
Trippy post-apocalyptic cyberpunk extravaganza. Terrible film, but in a good way. I remembered it for the 15 years after the first watch, and I am sure I'll remember it in 15 years from now.
Rated 14 Aug 2013
40
2nd
It started great and I was really hoping for something special, but then it went bad. However, near the end it went even more bad...and more bad...and more bad, to the point where I questioned if anyone was actually piloting this wreck of a film.
Rated 19 Jul 2014
2
13th
Low budget post-apocalyptic sci-fi horror that attempts to combine Terminator's aesthetic with the claustrophobia of Alien featuring a monster vaguely resembling the robot from Short-Circuit. In other words, this movie is derivative cheese. Some good photography and a likable female protagonist can only take it so far, and instead we're asked to endure quotes like "It's my heart. It feels like an alligator." along with a laughable final act that doesn't seem to know when to call it a day.
Rated 12 Mar 2016
85
79th
Unabashedly rips off elements of The Terminator, Robocop, Blade Runner, as well as contemporary slashers of the time to end up with something that plays like Total Recall on angel dust (which actually came out the same year.) Curates an atmosphere that's both creepy and suffocating, and much like the Ministry album it features a song from, this is pretty relentless, goofy, harshly digital, and trashy. Also, Lemmy's cameo is awesome.
Rated 24 Aug 2009
73
66th
Nightmarish and harsh sci-fi.
Rated 14 Sep 2010
70
63rd
Dark and grimy, this low budget cyberpunk flick looks like it was shot through a red filter and despite the campy premise it's played pretty seriously. The attention to small details make the world seem a lot bigger and more realistic than the budget would suggest. A cool little cult movie with some quality gore and cameos from Lemmy and Iggy Pop.
Rated 10 Dec 2010
72
49th
Some poor acting, but great atmosphere, trippy visuals and a good soundtrack make this a memorable cult film.
Rated 14 Feb 2011
40
43rd
Dull story directed in the style of an 'edgy' late-80s music video. Occasionally offers glimpses of a wider post-apocalyptic world but mostly it's a few people being chased round an apartment by a scary robo-monster.
Rated 02 Jan 2013
30
7th
This is bottom-of-the-barrel B-grade science fiction. It spends about 15 minutes building a world enveloped in sand, most likely to mask how little there is to see. Then, mostly forgetting everything that preceded it, it forces the view to a single drab apartment building for the rest of the film. The art direction is so unpleasant that any compelling stylistic events that pop up every twenty minutes or so are not remotely worth the entire journey. Also, the robot looks pretty stupid.
Rated 09 Mar 2013
90
90th
With echoes of Tetsuo; A Boy & His Dog; The Evil Dead; of course Terminator; & other indie sci-fi and horror films & with production design at least partially inspired by Moebius & other hyper-detailed comics, director Richard Stanley packs his frames to overflowing with biomechanical energy and post-apocalyptic menace. Crudely but effectively edited and performed, this is in the best tradition of weird midnight movies. Prepare to have your eyeballs battered, & probably your taste challenged.
Rated 04 Jan 2024
35
27th
In a weird post-Blade Runner/Terminator, Pre-Fallout/System Shock space. Hardware's biggest problems are its director has no idea what he's doing or how to edit things, so most of its most significant moments are intro-to-filmmaking embarrassing. However, the ideas and imagery are grand and so interesting they'll carry sci-fi for the next nine years before the Matrix kills the AI question.
Rated 07 Mar 2007
45
25th
Passes the time.
Rated 31 Mar 2007
50
33rd
I don't care
Rated 14 Aug 2007
20
3rd
One of those crappy movies that are randomly and inexplicably mistaken for being cool. For a moment.
Rated 02 Nov 2008
37
31st
not so good
Rated 26 May 2009
0
12th
Vision of the future, virtually unseeable amid the monochrome, the shadows, the smoke, not to forget the mattress feathers. The story could hardly be plainer.
Rated 30 Jun 2009
22
5th
ger; [M.A.R.K. 13 - Hardware]; in einer wüste auf der nuklear verseuchten welt wird der kopf eines cyborg gefunden, welcher sich in einer wohnung plötzlich reproduziert.
Rated 22 Oct 2009
90
90th
One of my favorite cult films. It's not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but what it lacks in narrative and scope is largely rectified by its at once unique and inspired atmosphere. It's a unique vision of the post-apocalyptic future that wears its influences on its sleeve, but Richard Stanley adds enough of his own eclectic touch to make things interesting. The soundtrack, comprised of both original and licensed tracks, is excellent.
Rated 09 Jul 2010
21
8th
Some great soundbites, but that's pretty much it.
Rated 13 Jul 2010
30
17th
Lame adaptation of the GREAT 2000ad comic book story. Being a fan of the comic version, I WANTED to like this, but sadly couldn't
Rated 16 Nov 2011
50
16th
really cool visuals. not much else.
Rated 10 Mar 2012
20
5th
The killer robot doesn't really do anything until the last third of the movie, which isn't a problem by itself; a lot of other, good movies do the same thing. The problem here is that the characters are not interesting or strong enough to carry the film through the first two thirds. Honestly, I hated all of the characters; I found them very obnoxious, and their behavior is often plain stupid. I couldn't empathize or identify with any of them; could just be me though.
Rated 12 Apr 2012
78
57th
Beautiful B-SciFi. Part of 2000AD /Judge Dredd universe. More please
Rated 12 Aug 2012
9
87th
Of all the movies I uncovered during my research for this list, Hardware far and above tops the list of movies I previously had no knowledge of. Put simply, Hardware is absolutely AWESOME low budget cinema. This cross between Alien and the Terminator is set in a totally weird cyberpunk dystopia. It's scary as shit, it's totally weird, and DAMN it's good!
Rated 28 Apr 2013
50
8th
Top Badass moment? No one likes their place to get trashed by strangers. Reluctant hero maybe, but Jill's defence of her flat is most definitely badass. Not many people manage to really break a baseball bat over anyone's head. I hope her insurers take all this into account when they come to assess her claim. I wouldn't want to be a Jehovah Witness in her neighbourhood. No cats or decapitations, plus one 'built-in' chainsaw. Someone does get sliced in two though, by a front door closing on him.
Rated 29 Apr 2013
0
9th
Just a weird mess. I definitely couldn't make myself care about the characters
Rated 31 Jul 2016
95
80th
Outstanding use of music and visuals to tell a story and create atmosphere. The film is well paced and edited. I enjoyed the characters and dialogue. The practical effects are well done and the early computing technology is nostalgic.
Rated 09 Feb 2017
58
32nd
Hardware is wonderfully effective when it's not being a slasher film. The world-building and production design is excellent for the budget, which hardly ever shows, and there's a cynicism in this dystopia that gives it a timeless edge. There's also an occult subtext if you look hard enough.
Rated 02 Jun 2017
45
21st
Standard cheesy 80's animatronic robot effects and accompanying wooden scifi acting, but plot was completely empty and pointless. No interesting sci fi concept, futuristic backstory or anything. Boring and pointless.
Rated 08 Mar 2019
44
15th
The scenes drag and drag.
Rated 26 Jun 2019
90
99th
What can I say, based on my name here you know I'm going to like this flick on the spectacular soundtrack alone. It's a great apocalyptic cyberpunk film with good thriller and horror elements as well. By no means a high budget, but what the filmmakers have is used wisely creating the gritty futuristic world they live in. The actors also do a great job with their roles, and the god Lemmy even shows up for a minute.
Rated 24 Mar 2020
25
12th
Under Quarantine Film Review #3: How can you make a cyberpunk horror film with a mindless killing machine and make it boring? I would have fallen asleep had it not been for the incessantly loud sound design.
Rated 29 Mar 2020
40
19th
I thought that this would tickle my fancy, but although it's certainly a curious piece (of borderline trash), it never really did.
Rated 10 Apr 2020
60
51st
Stacey Travis does a great job, and the world that's hinted at is intriguing, but ultimately the killbot itself is so lame that it's hard to take it as a real threat. I like the esoteric overtones and wish they had made it out of the apartment more.
Rated 13 May 2020
68
66th
Demonstrates Stanley's modest talent for contorting familar tropes into something that isn't wholly original yet nonetheless stands alone. It's an aesthetic creation made of composite parts stolen from a metal junkyard, and Stanley's inexperience shows--the acting and dialogue are wildly uneven--but there are a handful of isolated moments that almost justify the hype it received in the early 90's, and his video clip via goth Gilliam style has stood up surprisingly well.
Rated 30 Mar 2023
75
80th
Weird, amusing and psychedelic little techno-horror that happens basically at an apartment of an artist who uses remains of machines and other post-apocalyptic shit in her works. It's basically the cyborg going rampage against her, her pervert neighbor and her soldier boyfriend. Gotta love the acid-driven montages and the part industrial rock, part acid western vibes all over it.
Rated 19 Jul 2023
78
72nd
A hallucinatory, grimy, gory cyberpunk nightmare that feels ripped straight from the pages of HEAVY METAL or 2000 A.D. Its anti-technology message isn't the most original (or cohesive), but the killer atmosphere it creates on a limited budget is very impressive. A grad student's kind of B-movie.
Rated 19 Feb 2024
40
19th
I always tend to give some credit to movies that maybe were meant to catch on to some genre fad, but end up mutants. This is such a film, although it doesn't reach the grand mutant heights of Lawnmower Man or God Told me To. And you get a lot of points deducted for a movie being set in a red/brown haze in many cases. One of the best things they did for the experience was kill the creep early.

Collections

(29)
Compact view
Showing 1 - 24 of 29 results

Similar Titles

Loading ...

Statistics

Loading ...

Trailer

No Trailer