The Vindicator (film)
| The Vindicator | |
|---|---|
|
VHS cover | |
| Directed by | Jean-Claude Lord |
| Produced by |
Don Carmody John Dunning |
| Written by |
Edith Rey David Preston |
| Starring |
David McIlwraith Teri Austin Richard Cox Pam Grier Maury Chaykin |
| Music by | Paul Zaza |
| Cinematography | René Verzier |
| Edited by | Michaël Karen |
Production company |
Michael Levy Enterprises |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
Release dates |
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Running time | 93 min |
| Country | Canada |
| Language | English |
The Vindicator (also known as Frankenstein '88 and known in Brazil as Roboman) is a 1986 Canadian science fiction film directed by Jean-Claude Lord.[1] The film is a modern-day retelling of the classic Frankenstein story set in the 1980s.[2] It involves a man who was killed in an accident in a laboratory, but revived as part of an experiment as a cyborg. The film was released by 20th Century Fox and released on video by Key Video (a division of CBS/FOX Video), and is now out of print. The special effects were by Stan Winston.[1][3]
As of 2012, the only known DVD release is in Brazil, where it is known as "Roboman".
Plot
Carl Lehman (David McIlwraith) is a scientist working on a next-generation space suit for the ARC corporation, run by the sinister Alex Whyte (Richard Cox), where all kinds of high-tech research is being conducted. One of these projects is developing "rage program" software that can sense when a user is provoked and take over its brain to destroy the attacker. After Carl confronts Whyte about some suspicious funding cuts, Whyte sends his employee Massey to kill him and disguise the death as a lab accident.
ARC informs Carl's pregnant wife Lauren (Teri Austin) and daughter Catherine (Catherine Disher) that Carl has died. In reality, Whyte is keeping Carl's charred body in a suspension of oxygenating fluid which keeps his brain functioning. Using Carl's space suit and ARC's cutting-edge prosthetics technology, they build Carl a cyborg body and dub him "Project Frankenstein". The rage program is also installed, with a remote control unit acting as a safeguard. The reanimation initially fails, so researcher Gail Vernon (Lynda Mason Green) disassembles the suit. After the remote control unit is removed, Carl suddenly revives and throws Gail onto a control panel in rage. This releases lab monkeys who attack Gail in rage, killing her.
Carl stows away on a garbage truck, which drops him into an incinerator. Thanks to his immense strength, he is able to break out and heads for his residence. On the way, some street thugs chase him into an alley, and he kills them in rage. Realizing that the rage program forbids close contact with people, he talks to his wife from outside their house through a synthesizer in their living room. Later, the thugs' bodies are discovered and Whyte, fearing a police investigation of Project Frankenstein, hires the elite assassin Hunter (Pam Grier) to eliminate Carl.
The next day, Lauren visits Carl's colleague and friend Burt Arthurs (Maury Chaykin) to tell him about her conversation with Carl. Burt, secretly in cahoots with Whyte, shows her security footage of the accident to convince her of Carl's death. In the evening, Carl's voice comes over the synthesizer again; this time, however, Whyte's accomplice Kessler is monitoring them. Carl learns that Massey signed his autopsy report and death certificate, and sets out to confront him. At his home, secured by Hunter's forces, Massey is snorting cocaine and evicting his girlfriend Lisa, when Carl appears to interrogate him. In doing so, Carl learns that if he can get to the suit's programming, he can remove the rage program. Massey shoots Carl in panic and gets thrown out a window. Lisa bears witness, so Hunter kills her to cover up the project.
Carl flees down the sewers, and Hunter gives pursuit along with her men. They corner Carl, and their guns damage his life-support system. Carl defends himself by ripping open a gas line and manages to incinerate Hunter's men as well as Kessler, then escape. Hunter confronts Whyte, who had not disclosed the Frankenstein enhancements, and he admits that the enhanced Carl is nearly indestructible. Meanwhile, Carl arranges a meeting with Lauren by coded message. Upset over his grotesque appearance, he exhorts her to leave him and move far away. He also asks her to summon Burt's help, which she does. Unsuspecting of Burt's treachery, Carl meets with him, and falls into a trap of quick-setting resin. Whyte sends the block of resin to ARC, but Carl's strength prevails and he breaks out during transport.
Burt goes to the Lehman residence, where he confesses his lust for Lauren. Rebuffed, he subdues her by strangulation. Hunter later arrives and kills Catherine. Carl shows up in time to crush Burt inside his car, but Lauren gets captured and taken to ARC to lure Carl. Meanwhile, Whyte's girlfriend is being interrogated by the police, hinting that Project Frankenstein will be investigated and defused.
At ARC, Carl manages to evade the security cameras for some time, so Hunter goes on the intercom and threatens to kill Lauren unless he comes to the laboratory to bargain for her. There, Hunter throws Lauren onto Carl to provoke him, but he does not go into a rage, since he reprogrammed himself in the computer room while the cameras weren't monitoring him. Realizing she is no match for the cyborg, Hunter commits suicide. Carl and Lauren get to Whyte, who has turned himself into a cyborg along with the corpses of Gail and Kessler. Carl, his life-support failing, battles Whyte while Lauren dispatches the others by pulling their own life-support umbilical cables. As Whyte begins to overpower Carl, Lauren hands him an umbilical, and he drowns Whyte by filling his suit with fluid. His own fluid supply exhausted, Carl expires.
Years later, Lauren is visiting a museum with her son Carl Jr. They admire a display of Carl's space suit, which has been successfully deployed on Mars.
Cast
- David McIlwraith as Carl
- Teri Austin as Lauren
- Richard Cox as Whyte
- Pam Grier as Hunter
- Maury Chaykin as Burt
Production
It was filmed in Montreal.[1]
Critical reaction
Janis L. Pallister in her survey of Quebecker cinema calls it "tedious", noting a strong influence from the earlier films of David Cronenberg.[1] Horror Chronicles praised the special effects, while criticising a thin storyline and uneven pacing.[4] Film School Rejects criticised the acting and low production values.[3] HorrorMovies.ca gave it 7/10.[5]
References
- 1 2 3 4 Janis L. Pallister, The Cinema of Québec: Masters in Their Own House, Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press, 1995, p 361
- ↑ Eleanor Mannikka, "The Vindicator", Rovi, online at New York Times website, http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/52789/The-Vindicator/overview
- 1 2 http://www.filmschoolrejects.com/features/junkfood-cinema-the-vindicator.php
- ↑ http://www.horrorchronicles.com/sci-fi-movies/the-vindicator-1986-review.html
- ↑ "The Vindicator", HorrorMovies.ca, http://www.horror-movies.ca/horror_reviews_8673.htm