Robots & Horror: Rivals of Terror, #7

By Steve Hutchison

Robots are machines capable of carrying complex actions. They can be autonomous or semi-autonomous, they can be cyborgs or androids, and they are often driven by artificial intelligence. They are a major archetype of horror movies. In this book, film critic Steve Hutchison reviews and ranks 50 of the best horror movies featuring robots ever released. How many have you seen?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Steve Hutchison
• Release date: Jun 1, 2019
• ISBN: 9781393520535

Steve Hutchison

Artist, developer and entrepreneur in film, video games and communications Steve Hutchison co-founded Shade.ca Art and Code in 1999, then Terror.ca and its French equivalent Terreur.ca in 2000. With his background as an artist and integrator, Steve worked on such games as Capcom's Street Fighter, PopCap's Bejeweled, Tetris, Bandai/Namco's Pac-Man and Mattel's Skip-Bo & Phase 10 as a localization manager, 2-D artist and usability expert. Having acquired skills in gamification, he invented a unique horror movie review system that is filterable, searchable and sortable by moods, genres, subgenres and antagonists. Horror movie fans love it, and so do horror authors and filmmakers, as it is a great source of inspiration. In March 2013, Steve launched Tales of Terror, with the same goals in mind but with a much finer technology and a complex engine, something that wasn’t possible initially. He has since published countless horror-themed books.

Book preview

RivalsOfTerror2019_Robots_Cover.jpg

Tales of Terror’s

Rivals of Terror 2019

Robots & Horror

INTRODUCTION

Robots are machines capable of carrying complex actions. They can be autonomous or semi-autonomous, they can be cyborgs or androids, and they are often driven by artificial intelligence. They are a major archetype of horror movies. In this book, film critic Steve Hutchison reviews and ranks 50 of the best horror movies featuring robots ever released. How many have you seen?

Alien

1979

An ore harvesting crew discovers a dead alien and large unidentified eggs inside an abandoned spaceship.

From stasis cages and poorly lit tunnels to the deep isolation of space, and considering how small the sets appear to be, Alien is vividly claustrophobic. It succeeds both on the horror and science-fiction levels. It’s disorienting from the start and confinement isn’t even the horror of it all. There is a giant extra-terrestrial aboard the ship and it’s more a monster than a cute humanoid.

The beast is gradually revealed but never fully. Mystery and build-up are some of the many strengths of the well-paced script. There is unifying rigor in the creature and ship design. The rooms aren’t just atmospheric; they are conveniently built, from the storyboard phase, to inspire distress. In a way, after all, this is a slasher taking place in space with, for victims, bored public workers.

The cinematography is a delight; always mastered, always vibrant. The effects are something else. If you needed a reason to fear alien invasion, this is it. They are depicted as smart but too savage, too animalistic to negotiate. Dense in detail and scientific procedural, Alien is high caliber sci-fi that’s virtually flawless on all aspects and speaks to a rather intellectual niche.

8/8

Halloween III: Season of the Witch

1982

A shady mask factory plots to decimate the children population worldwide on Halloween night using a rigged live broadcast.

This Halloween sequel doesn’t feature Michael Myers, the infamous shape, and converges in no way with his storyline. This is a whole new concept. We get a darker and a highly supernatural film. Halloween celebrations are the main focus, now; not just a backdrop. It is politically incorrect and it’s perfect this way.

Indeed, despite its cheesiness and fun elements, the third Halloween contemplates the concept of child genocide as main theme and, for this reason, never lets you drop your guard. No matter how funny it gets, you can’t exactly laugh about it. This is delivered crudely, with striking gore but with stunning creativity. The script is flawed but is filled with surprises and well executed.

Halloween 3 may break the franchise’s flow, but is remarkable as a stand alone horror movie. It has its own sonata and a legendary synthesizer score that manages to creep you out. It has quite the gimmick, quite the cast, and it is completely over the top. Don’t try to make too much sense of it all. Sometimes, too much fantasy kills the story.

7/8

The Terminator