Hardware

Oh my god, yeah.

It would be hard for me to get it down to four, but I can definitely say Hardware, Richard Stanley.

Not familiar with that one.

[laughs] Awesome film.

I am your host, Anthony Lapira, and I'll be taking you on a cinematic journey through the sprawling cityscapes, the crippling data storms, and the cybernetic implants that encompass all things cyberpunk.

In this week's episode, I'll be breaking down the 1990 wasteland cyberpunk low-budget masterpiece, Hardware.

Directed by Richard Stanley, written by Stephen McManus, Kevin O'Neill, and Richard Stanley.

Original score by Simon Boswell.

Starring Dylan McDermott, Stacy Travis, John Lynch, William Hootkins, and special appearances by Iggy Pop and Lemmy.

The head of a cyborg reactivates, rebuilds itself, and goes on a violent rampage in a space marine's girlfriend's apartment.

Hardware is an impressive debut film by Richard Stanley that nails almost all of the thematic elements of cyberpunk that we love.

It's soaked in red neon, infrared, and atomic dust.

September 14th, 1990.

Hardware opens theatrically in Los Angeles, and industrial art becomes an assembly instruction for murder.

Richard Stanley's feature debut takes place in a scorched future where radiation and government control have made survival feel temporary.

Dylan McDermott plays Mo, a scavenger who gives his artist girlfriend, Jill, played by Stacy Travis, a robot head found in the wasteland.

The apartment, well, that becomes the, the trap.

But it's also her workshop.

Hardware earned about $5.7 million domestically, and the budget was around $1.6 million.

So while not a monster hit, it has certainly left an impression on the horror genre.