Screamers: The Hunting

Some might call the 1995 film Screamers a cult film, though they would be wrong. The original film, loosely based on the Philip K. Dick short story Second Variety, failed to make an impact on any but the most hardcore Dick-heads. Fourteen years later, the Canadian film industry has seen fit to resurrect the franchise for some inconceivable reason and create Screamers: The Hunting. In the original film the inhabitants of the Sirius-6B mining colony are in the final stages of a civil war that has seen the creation of Screamers: high speed, robotic, weaponized circular saws that travel underground and hunt enemy troops while emitting a high pitched whine. Of course, the screamers have been designed to adapt and evolve, which leads to them creating humanoid "second variety" screamers that infiltrate the ranks of the few remaining human resistance fighters. Screamers: The Hunting follows a small band of rescue workers searching for survivors on the decimated Sirius-6B colony world, unaware that the screamers have evolved into humanoid tricksters. For a low-budget sci-fi sequel, Screamers: The Hunting isn't bad. It's not particularly good or thought provoking and the plot is pretty much a dumbed down version of the original, but it doesn't have that "I'm having a DVD-induced lobotomy" problem that many straight-to-DVD sci-fi movies are known for. The disc is light on extras, with only a typical "behind the scenes" feature, which fails to explain the reasoning behind the creation of the sequel. If you remember seeing the original Screamers, Screamers: The Hunting is pretty much more of the same and it might entertain you. If you're a big sci-fi fan who enjoys watching the work of Philip K. Dick bastardized on DVD then you might get some enjoyment from this movie. Everyone else can probably skip this one, though you should be aware that if you don't watch Screamers: The Hunting then you won't know what's going to happen in the next Screamers movie, alluded to before the final credits. Hopefully we won't have to wait another 14 years for the unnecessary and unanticipated third film.