Hardware
Short description
In a polluted, war-scarred future, a scavenger named Moses buys a metal head in the desert and brings it home as a Christmas gift for his girlfriend Jill, a sculptor. The head turns out to be part of MARK 13, a military android built to repair itself from whatever materials it finds. Trapped in Jill's apartment, the machine rebuilds its body from scrap and household objects and begins killing anyone in its path. Moses and his friend Shades must work out what the thing is before it reaches her.
Hardware was Richard Stanley's first feature, released in 1990, and it was followed by Dust Devil in 1992 and Color Out of Space in 2020. Stanley wrote the screenplay; the producers were Ray Corbett, Paul Trijbits and JoAnne Sellar. The cast includes Dylan McDermott as Moses, Stacey Travis as Jill, John Lynch as Shades, William Hootkins as Lincoln Wineberg Jr., Carl McCoy as Nomad and Iggy Pop as Angry Bob, with 21 credited cast members overall.
The film was made for about 2 million dollars and took roughly 6 million worldwide, a return that reflects its modest scale rather than a major commercial success. On IMDb it holds 6 out of 10 from around 18,000 votes, and on TMDB 5.9 out of 10 from 358 votes. A critics' rating of 5.4 out of 10 from 14 reviews places it below the audience scores, indicating a mixed professional response to a low-budget science-fiction horror film that has nonetheless retained a viewership.
What's left behind the scenes
- To showcase the android, director and screenwriter Richard Stanley wanted to use stop-motion animation, but there was neither enough time nor budget for it.
- The man digging up the android was played by Carl McCoy, the lead singer of the band Fields of the Nephilim. In the past, Richard Stanley had directed two music videos for the group and assisted with an album cover.
- William Hutkins improvised many of his character's most obscene lines.
- The sound of the doorbell in the apartment is actually the sound of a computer booting up. It can be heard several times throughout the film.
- When the android assembles itself, it comes across a circular saw. When it uses it as a weapon, it is noticeable that the saw is a completely different model.
- The beginning of the film shows a real desert storm.
- Director and screenwriter Richard Stanley dreamed of casting Bill Paxton and Jeffrey Combs in his film. Paxton was not cast because he was relatively unknown, and he went on to work with Lewis Teague in the action movie Navy SEALs (1990). Combs could not be cast because, according to British rules at the time, no more than two American actors could appear in a single film.
- According to director and screenwriter Richard Stanley, the death of Vernon, played by Paul McKenzie, was intended to be one of the most unpleasant and terrifying moments of the film—he was to be shot in the stomach and then, while still alive, cut by a circular saw. The scene was never filmed because the filmmakers ran out of time. It was decided that Vernon would simply be killed by a shot to the head.
- In the original script, the main character played by Karl McCoy was supposed to appear in Jill's dream in the middle of the film (Jill was played by Stacey Travis), but the scene was never filmed because the actress fell ill after shooting in the desert.
- At the end of the film, a character voiced by Iggy Pop announces over the radio that the US government has ordered the mass production of 'MARK-13' androids. This was meant to be the basis for a sequel that was never filmed. Richard Stanley wrote a script for the sequel and spent several years unsuccessfully trying to get it produced.
- According to Richard Stanley, John Lynch's character wears sunglasses at all times due to a prolonged stay in space. He had been repairing satellites and only recently returned to Earth, so his eyes have not yet adjusted to the light.
- The Motion Picture Association of America gave the film an X rating due to explicit scenes of violence. The film was significantly edited, and the rating was changed to R.
- For the role of the taxi driver, Lemmy armed himself with a bottle of whiskey and a real Magnum revolver. He drank the whiskey, attempted to pull the Magnum from his shoulder holster, and accidentally dropped it into the river. Divers searched the bottom for the weapon, but it was never found.
- Dylan McDermott himself came up with the idea of his character reading the Bible. The text the actor recited aloud, supposedly from the Bible, is fictional, although a similar statement can be found in the Gospel of Mark.
- According to the original script, the character played by Dylan McDermott was unemployed and slowly dying of cancer.
- In the scene with the android and Jill, played by Stacey Travis, human legs can be seen inside the android suit. This becomes noticeable once more later on—when Jill and the android enter the restroom.
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