Hardware (film)

Hardware
Theatrical release poster
Directed byRichard Stanley
Screenplay byRichard Stanley
Based onSHOK!
by Steve MacManus
Kevin O'Neill
Produced by
Starring
CinematographySteven Chivers
Edited byDerek Trigg
Music bySimon Boswell
Production
companies
Distributed byPalace Pictures (United Kingdom)
Millimeter (United States)
Release dates
  • 14 September 1990 (1990-09-14) (US)
  • 5 October 1990 (1990-10-05) (UK)
Running time
94 minutes[2]
CountriesUnited Kingdom
United States[1][3]
LanguageEnglish
Budget£960,000[4]
($1.5 million)
Box office$5.7 million (US)[5]

Hardware is a 1990 science fiction horror film written and directed by Richard Stanley, in his feature directorial debut. It stars Dylan McDermott and Stacey Travis, and also features cameo appearances by musicians Carl McCoy, Iggy Pop and Lemmy. An example of the cyberpunk subgenre,[6] the plot of Hardware follows a self-repairing robot that goes on a rampage in a post-apocalyptic slum.

Fleetway Comics successfully sued the filmmakers of Hardware for plagiarism, due to similarities between the screenplay and a short story entitled "SHOK!" that appeared in 1980 in the Judge Dredd Annual 1981, a spin-off publication of the popular British weekly anthology comic 2000 AD; credit was added to later releases of the film. Since its release, Hardware has become considered a cult film.

  1. ^ a b "Hardware (1990)". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. Retrieved 22 February 2021.
  2. ^ "HARDWARE (18)". British Board of Film Classification. 22 August 1990. Retrieved 22 May 2013.
  3. ^ "Hardware (1990)". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 24 June 2016.
  4. ^ HARDWARE Blu-ray Disc (Director's commentary)
  5. ^ "Hardware". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 15 April 2014.
  6. ^ Short 2002, p. 169.