Three years after passing the RoboCop mantle onto Robert John Burke for a third helping of cyborg crime fighting, Peter Weller headlined a sci-fi which imagined an even more dystopian vision. Indeed, celebrating its 30th anniversary this month, Screamers made the sin-ridden streets of near-future Detroit look positively idyllic in comparison.
Set on the desolate planet of Sirius 6B in the year 2078, the largely forgotten tale is relentless in its misery, from the opening scene where a soldier is brutally torn limb by limb to the closing shot twist (which the sequel confirmed caused the only survivor to commit suicide). It also looks bleak as hell, the color palette rarely straying from murky grays and browns and most of the action confined to rusty underground bunkers infested with rats. This is not the kind of film to cheer you up on a wet weekend.
