The science fiction genre has a massive purview. Some of the most intelligent stories of all time take place in the distant future or the depths of space. Sci-fi doesn't always have to question the underpinnings of society or interrogate what it means to be human. Sometimes it can just dream up a horrific dystopia and force heroes to survive it, as in Screamers.
Blade Runner is one of the most beloved science fiction films of the past few decades. It's a foundational text in the ever-popular cyberpunk genre, a triumph in production design, and one of the most influential stories of modern history. One of its many accomplishments was catapulting the works of Phillip K. Dick onto the big screen in several new adaptations.
What is Screamers About?
In the near future of 2078, the once-prosperous mining colony on Sirius 6B has become terribly contaminated. The miners recently discovered that their work released toxic gasses into the planet's atmosphere. Understandably, they began striking for survivable conditions. The owners, known as the New Economic Block or N.E.B., hired mercenaries and strikebreakers to force them back into the mines. The miners and scientists banded together to form a group called The Alliance. Five years into the war, Alliance scientists invented their greatest weapons, the Autonomous Mobile Swords, also known as screamers. The screamers kill N.E.B. soldiers en masse. This eventually results in a fragile peace treaty as both sides of the conflict are exhausted and running out of supplies.
The leader of the Alliance army, Joe Hendricksson, begins to believe that both the miners and the owners have given up on Sirius 6B. When his fears are confirmed, he and his fellow soldiers set out to organize their own peace treaty. Along the way, they're attacked by a type of screamer they've never seen. The automated weapons have outgrown their creators and are now wantonly attacking both sides of the war. Shortly thereafter, they discover an even more unnerving evolution. A screamer takes the form of a human being. Suddenly, anyone could be a murderous machine in disguise. The few survivors from both armies must set aside their differences to battle the threat that seeks to destroy them both. It's a war movie that gives way to a dystopian slasher as soon as the story gets going. Screamers combines the ambiguity of Blade Runner with the claustrophobic horror of Alien to create something special.
What is Screamers Based On?
Like Blade Runner, Screamers is adapted from a story by Phillip K. Dick. The author of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? wrote the story that would become Screamers in 1953. Screamers is an adaptation of Dick's sci-fi novella Second Variety. Dick cited Screamers as one of the more faithful cinematic takes on his work, though it does make some substantial changes. Second Variety takes place after a nuclear war between the U.N. and the Soviet Union. The Soviets claimed a series of early victories that forced the U.N. army to take shelter on the moon. From there, they develop robots called claws. Described as "churning spheres of blades and metal," the claws quickly even the score. Just like the screamers, the claws become self-aware, improve their design, and wage war on both sides. It's a fairly faithful adaptation of a lesser-known Dick story.
Did Screamers Get a Sequel?
Alien co-writer Dan O'Bannon finished his script for an adaptation of Second Version in 1981. Around the same time, he wrote a treatment for an adaptation of Dick's We Can Remember It For You Wholesale, a script that would later become Total Recall. Screamers sat untouched on a shelf for a decade before anyone decided to do anything with it. When the film finally went into production, Miguel Tejada-Flores rewrote the script. According to O'Bannon, the second pass mostly affected the dialogue. When it finally hit theaters, Screamers underperformed disastrously. The film lost between $10-20 million at the box office and received mixed reviews from critics. Some supported the film, and it earned a sequel fourteen years after its release.
Screamers: The Hunting was released straight to DVD in 2009 and suffered the same below-mediocre reception as its predecessor. Most critics considered it a weak retread of the original film with slightly better special effects. Neither Screamers film is perfect. They lack the intelligence that made Blade Runner or Total Recall great. Instead, they use similar tricks to deliver violent scares and an oppressively grim atmosphere. It's a fun creature feature that takes inspiration from a ton of classic science fiction films. Though it's far from original, Screamers delivers a ton of excitement in its clever premise. A modern film crew with a modest budget could turn Screamers into the hottest sci-fi film of the year. Anyone looking to check out Screamers can find it for free on Pluto and Tubi. It's not exactly intellectual, but it is entertaining.