Incidents in an Expanding Universe

An extra on the Hardware Special Edition DVD, Incidents in an Expanding Universe is an early 8mm effort from Richard Stanley that acts as a dry run for his cult cyberpunk sci/fi horror, featuring many of the elements that would eventually make it into that film (there's no shonky killer robot, but we do get a struggling female scrap-metal artist, a DJ called Angry Bob, an irritating pillock called Shades, big hydraulic doors, a character with a metal hand etc.,).

For fans of the director and his work, this 'short' from his amateur movie-making days will no doubt prove fascinating stuff, but for those who believe Stanley to be a plagiaristic hack and Hardware an over-rated, highly derivative mess, this home-made dystopic vision of the future will do nothing to change their minds.

Incidents in an Expanding Universe makes it clear to me that, right from the start, Stanley wasn't averse to stealing from the work of others, with many scenes uncannily reminiscent of Bladerunner (flying cars in rainy streets; smoky rooms with sunlight filtering through slatted blinds) and assorted details pilfered from the pages of 2000AD (muties, weather control etc). With the film being incredibly boring to boot, it easily qualifies as one of the worst DVD extras I've ever bothered to watch.