BLINDED BY SCIENCE
Technology-gone-wrong has long been a tradition in movie theatres
Technology has captured the imagination of filmmakers since the beginning of cinema. And as technology evolves, so do our fears surrounding its capabilities and the potential for things to go wrong.
The technology film gets a nod again with Countdown, the new movie about an app that predicts when you will die, with horrifying consequences. From artificial intelligence to the implications of mass surveillance, these are some tech-savvy films you can watch before our robot overlords gain sentience and censor them.
1
Bride of Frankenstein (1935) Technology: Reanimation science.
A cinematic sequel to 1931’s Frankenstein, based on what is widely considered the first science fiction novel, Bride of Frankenstein picks up where the first movie left off.
The monster (Boris Karloff ), assumed dead after being trapped in a burning windmill by an angry mob at the end of the first movie, has in fact survived and escapes. Meanwhile, the monster’s creator, Dr. Frankenstein (Colin Clive), has also survived the events of the earlier film and is pressured into creating a companion for his original creation. It’s remembered as one of the best monster movies from Universal Studios and some consider it even better than its highly successful predecessor.
2
Westworld (1973)
Technology: Humanlike androids.
Recently repopularized by the HBO series of the same title, the original Westworld is a classic technology-gone-wrong tale. Three historically themed hightech amusement parks for adults, Medieval World, Roman World and Western World, are populated by lifelike androids who act as characters in their historical settings, fulfilling the fantasies of the park’s guests.
The androids begin malfunctioning, and eventually become a threat to the real human vacationers. Westworld is also considered a pioneer of digital effects in film for its first use of pixelation to capture a robot’s point of view as he hunts for the protagonist’s body heat.
3
Poltergeist (1982)
Technology: Television.
“They’re here!” announces the tot as the TV in the background transmits static. Seconds earlier, a white hand had jabbed out of the screen, dispersed throughout the room and caused it to shake. Steve and Diane Freeling live quietly in the suburbs with their three kids, until supernatural forces infiltrate their home and kidnap their youngest child, Carol Anne (Heather O’rourke). She can only be heard through their television set. The film was a critical and commercial hit, spawning two sequels, Poltergeist II: The Other Side (1986) and Poltergeist III (1988).
4
The Fly (1986)
Technology: Teleportation.
While many of David Cronenberg’s horror-science films could have wound up on this list, The Fly stands out as a cautionary tale about what happens when science goes too far. When eccentric scientist Seth Brundle, (Jeff Goldblum) tries to teleport himself, a housefly slips into the teleportation pod and Brundle slowly (and horrifyingly) begins transforming into a grotesque fly-like creature. Based loosely on the 1957 George Langelaan short story (and 1958 film starring David Hedison) of the same name, the 1986 film won the Academy Award for best makeup for the gruesome deformities applied to Goldblum as he becomes a human-fly hybrid.
5
Unfriended (2015)
Technology: Social media.
The horror genre’s found-footage tradition lives on with a modern twist in Unfriended, a story told through a laptop screen. One year after Laura (Heather Sossaman) was bullied into committing suicide, an uninvited, anonymous user named “billie227” joins a group of friends’ Skype chat and starts harassing its members. It turns out the account can be traced back to Laura, and when it begins revealing the friends’ darkest secrets and terrorizing them online, it’s clear someone is out for revenge. Created on a
US$1 million budget over the course of 16 days, the film has made nearly US$63 million.