Future Kick (1991)

H Y P E R D R E A M

Objectively, Future Kick (1991) is one star direct-to-video trash. Yet this is right in the pocket of a low-rent cyberpunk vibe that I’m very much into. I love The Terminator, Robocop and Total Recall so much, that to see a cheap knock-off from the 1990s is a joy, for how they replicate moments on a lower budget. Usually there are practical sets and special effects, and if there’s any CGI, it’s going to be on the level of a CD-ROM video game.

In the “future” of Future Kick, wealthy people live on the moon while the Earth has become a Blade Runner type ruined metropolis, all overcrowded police stations, streets with fire drums, and illicit night clubs always cutting away to a stripper performing a dance. Meg Foster (They Live, Masters Of The Universe) is searching for her missing VRS programmer husband (VRS is “Virtual Reality Systems” as he helpfully explains to her) in the sprawl. Eventually she teams up with a sunglasses-at-night bounty-hunter cyborg played by Don “The Dragon” Wilson (his championship titles as a martial artist are given underneath his name in the opening credits). I loved how his opening narration explains that a new line of cyborgs were created to crack down on corporate crime, but they found out the corporations were responsible for too much crime, and a special task force of corporate police were created to hunt down and terminate the cyborgs (info given in the space of two minutes). There’s also a serial killer (who has a pouty Chris Sarandon Fright Night aura) with a three blade knife who rips out people’s hearts and sells them to a New Body rejuvenation corporate business on the body organ black market. And there’s also Chris Penn as a robot who does kickboxing, no doubt waiting for Reservoir Dogs to shift him out of the Best Of The Best era.

The great thing about Future Kick is that its 76 minutes long and moves at a clip, with ADR exposition papered over edits between scenes, and producer Roger Corman recycling sets and stars from other films, even footage (the space scenes I believe are from Battle Beyond The Stars) to make it to the finish line as a releasable movie. It still has enough William Gibson rip-off shit (there’s even an underground death game called Laser Blade) to make me love it, alongside other VHS cyberpunk knock-offs like Mutant Hunt, Cyber Tracker and Virtual Assassin.

Available to stream on Tubi (of course). Recommended (if you like your direct-to-video detritus).

Heatseeker (1995)

Heatseeker (1995) brings together two current interests of mine when it comes to movies. It’s a mid-1990s cyberpunk movie, something I’ve been searching for, ever since rewatching The Lawnmower Man earlier this year. And it’s directed by Albert Pyun, who passed away recently at the end of 2022 and left behind a back catalogue of direct-to-video action flicks. Set in the future, Heatseeker envisions a world where martial arts fighters upgrade their abilities with robotic enhancements, and corporations bankroll tournament competitors, the outcome of fights determining the company’s stock market value. All of this sounds more compelling than the film actually is, which is basically another Bloodsport knock-off with some William Gibson shit in there.

A champion all-human fighter named Chance O’Brien (Keith Cooke) is blackmailed into participating in a corporate mega-tournament where everyone else is a cyborg; the fighter’s wife and manager (Tina Coote) has been kidnapped by a duplicitous, power-hungry promoter (Norbert Weisser). The low budget is clear with reused shots and locations (for example, there’s a montage of the corporations walking into their VIP boxes for the tournament, and its basically the same room with the corporation’s sign swapped out for each shot). Apparently filmed on a tight shooting schedule with limited time for choreography, the fights were shot with multiple cameras, often favouring a distant view that leaves everything feeling a bit flat. The main cyberpunk edge is that whenever a fighter is injured or knocked out, they cut to a close-up of a knock-off T-800 robot puppet shorting out.

Still, I enjoyed Heatseeker enough and Pyun’s clear sense of style is evident despite the production’s limitations: spotlights are used in the fight scenes while boardroom meetings seem to be lit with ring-lights, so everything has a soft, bright white glow. The hero (Cooke) looks like a ripped Justin Long, DTV staple Gary Daniels is good quality as the blonde British cyborg with green eyes and a vocoder effect on his voice, and Pyun regular Weisser makes the most of his scenery chewing villain. 1990s fashions abound with baggy mustard or green shirts, and maroon suits. Also features Tim Thomerson (of Trancers), Thom Matthews (of Return To The Living Dead) and even a young role for stuntman Chad Stahski (future John Wick director). Great throbbing synth score by Anthony Riparetti that adds to the atmosphere. HD copy available to stream/download from Rarefilmm. This is not objectively good, but Pyunheads and video-era martial arts fans might get something out of it. Recommended to them.

Looker (1981)

Looker (1981) is not a perfect film or maybe even objectively a good one, but if you have an appreciation for the aesthetic and vibe its throwing out there, it becomes a memorable experience. Directed and written by Michael Crichton, there’s a familiar sci-fi set-up with a mysterious corporation hiding a dark secret, and the incorporation of advanced technology of the here and now (by which I mean 1981) that is quite prescient about advertising, digital trickery and image-based control. Contemporary viewers have also described Looker as having “Vaporwave” aesthetics, which I have to agree with; I can imagine this playing silently with throwback synthwave if Barry DeVorzon’s own synthieser score wasn’t so compelling (Com Truise even cut-up Looker for one of their music videos). California beachfronts, private medical offices, sleek corporate hallways, commercial TV sets and pixelated computer visuals; Looker is a mix of era-appropriate fashions and older special effects. This is a movie where the hero protects himself from harm by wearing a pair of wrap-around reflective shades. Albert Finney plays Dr. Larry Roberts, a successful plastic surgeon who notices that several patients – all models – are asking for specific measurements. When they start mysteriously dying, Finney finds a connection to an advertising firm called Digital Matrix with ties to a billionaire played by James Coburn. Protecting one of the newer models, Susan Dey, Finney investigates while being chased by corporate henchmen. When the “light-gun” is introduced, a new weapon that hypnotises a person and causes them to lose time, this kicked the movie up a notch, particularly some great sequences involving its deployment. Finney is a bit miscast – you can imagine a Michael Douglas at this time being more suitable – but he does ground things with his commitment and seriousness, boxy haircut and all, similar to what he did in Wolfen. The climax, set in an early version of a green screen studio as characters fire at each other through televised TV commercials, manages to be goofy, eerie and captivating all at once, particularly powered by DeVorzon’s mounting synth score that sustains the tension. While it never reaches the height of other conspiracy techno-fear corporate body horror thrillers like Videodrome or They Live, and remains a destined to be forgotten curiosity, there’s still something here for sci-fi fans, particularly if you’re happy to soak in the vibe it produces. Rented on iTunes. Recommended.

Mutant Hunt (1987)

Some films deserve to be seen in shitty video quality rather than remastered to pristine condition. Not to worry because the copy of Mutant Hunt (1987) on Tubi is basically a VHS rip with that wavy ‘dirty tapehead’ quality over the opening credits. This is low budget cyberpunk trash that I had a blast with, basically a sci-fi rip-off shot in New York with what looks like a $400 budget (most of which was probably spent on the striking poster art which it can never live up to!). This movie is like the one scene in The Terminator where Rick Rossovich wakes up in his underpants to fight the T-800, but expanded to eighty minutes; here, fighting a robot in your white jockeys is actually a winning strategy. And if a sinister corporate villain implanted a bomb into the back of your head, if you asked nicely, they might just remove it after five minutes without question.

A corporation called Inteltrax has developed cyborgs – however the sinister boss, Z, who acts like one of the aliens from Plan 9 From Outer Space is scrambling their circuits with a street drug called Euphorianon (or something like that) to be effective killing machines. These cyborgs all wear dark shades and black clothes, and stumble around like hungover Devo-esque New Wave ravers. The bad guy imprisons the hunky scientist, Dr Haynes, who worked on creating the robots, strapping him to a table, while the scientist’s sister, Darla, escapes to find a soldier of fortune named Matt Riker to help them out. Now this Matt Riker is quite a guy – our hero is basically introduced jumping out of bed in his white underpants and having a ten minute punch up with a cyborg in his apartment. Once our heroes – including Elaine, a brassy exotic dancer/mercenary and Johnny Felix, a tech expert proficient in martial arts – join forces to hunt the escaped cyborgs, their whole plan to defeat these unstoppable machines? More fist fights! They even have a scene where gadgets and tech are handed out – no laser weapons though – and still prefer to go all Streets Of Rage on any hulking robot stomping their way through New York back-streets in the dead of night (when I’m sure there were no worries about cops busting the crew for lack of permits).

This movie also features a rival villain, Domina, a former partner to Z, who is made up a little like Rachel from Blade Runner but talks with a flat Brooklyn accent and sounds like Patti Smith. She also has her own Frankenstein cyborg kept under wraps as she strides across her room plotting to her attentive cyborg. They also keep ripping off the same shot from Blade Runner where the camera pans up to the Tyrell pyramid and you hear the score copycat the Vangelis synth tinkling. There’s also slow loading Escape From New York computer graphics, a grotesquely slimy and melting android puppet, a scene in a cyberpunk new wave bar, and lots of street fighting in deserted New York streets and an abandoned factory with wailing guitars and crusty synth on the soundtrack.

Directed by Tim Kincaid who also made gay porno under another name and this has that quality without the hardcore sex scenes. It’s very goofy, objectively complete dreck, but also a completely tactile, hilarious and fun entry into straight-to-video cyberpunk rip-offs. Recommended (if you dare).

Cyber Tracker (1994)

Don ‘The Dragon’ Wilson is a name I know from the video store shelves, a direct-to-video action star on the lower circle of action heroes. Like Jeff Speakman or Olivier Gruner, these were recognisable names but I never saw any of their flicks. Until now. Cyber Tracker (1994) is a sci-fi martial arts thriller that is a lower budget copy of Terminator and Terminator 2. Instead of Terminators, these indestructible assassins are called Cybertackers, and instead of being controlled by futuristic AI, they’re basically robocops authorised to go all Judge Dredd on any convicted felon punched into the database. When I started watching this VHS rip off uploaded onto YouTube, I’ll be honest, there’s a voice in the back of my head going, “Why, you could be watching something good?!” But then, you get a lo-fi version of a high-tech special effect – like a gun emerging from a robotic thigh through some basic graphic effects – and the entertainment value kicks in. Wilson plays a secret service agent wearing a suit and shades who protects a Senator (John Aprea, great to see members of the On Cinema universe represented) keen to adopt more technological enhancement in society. Yet, there’s a sinister plot underfoot and Wilson is double-crossed and on the run, hunted by a Cybertracker (Jim Maniaci – who looks like a huge, bald middle-aged ex-football player, which I assumed he was). Inevitably Wilson has to team up with those he thought were terrorists, the anti-tech freedom fighters, the UHR, which stands for the Union of Human Rights – probably my favourite detail in this near-future society. This is brain-dead knock-off stuff but I was entertained. I think I was mostly impressed that this low-budget direct-to-video number could still pull off throwing multiple cars off ramps and having them explode on the streets of LA. Wilson is a better fighter than an actor, so thankfully there’s plenty of martial arts fights amongst all the car explosions and shoot-outs in abandoned warehouses. Thankfully also in the mix is long-time stunt-man and martial artist, Richard Norton, an Australian guy who’s been in cult classics like Gymkata and Alien From LA; he plays the formidable henchman after Wilson, and it’s just great to see a nemesis who looks a bit like Richard Wilkins and sounds like a Bondi life-guard in this low budget sci fi schlock. Available to watch on YouTube.