The Vindicator

My review was written in May 1986 after a Cannes Film Festival Market screening.

"The Vindicator" is an extremely strange horror/sci-fi film with too many plot twists for its own good. Filmed in 1984, feature has sat on the shelf for over a year at 20th Century Fox and is, unfortunately, not crazy enough to give Fox a follow-up to its midnight hit "The Rocky Horror Picture Show".

As its alternate title "Frankenstein '88" implies, pic is yet another update of the Mary Shelley classic. For the space program, scientist Alex Whyte (Richard Cox) is working on creating a nearly indestructible cyborg using a human brain, metal body and special computer hookup with programming from his Primates Lab's "rage reinforcement" experiments on chimpanzees. This hookup causes the cyborg to react violently and lethally to any threatening stimulus, unless ordered off by a remote control device.

Whyte's colleague Carl Lehman (David McIlwraith) is angry at Whyte for diverting research funds to his own experiments, and Whyte has a henchman kill Lehman in a lab explosion. Using Lehman's corpse, Whyte creates the first of his Frankenstein monsters, but the creature escapes before the remote control unit is attached to it, making it a deadly monster that will attack anything that approaches it.

Although a ruthless killer, the creature still has Lehman's memories, making it a self-divided, rather pathetic being. Lehman's pregnant wife Lauren (Terri Austin) tries to help it while Whyte hires a talented and ruthless female bounty hunter (guest star Pam Grier) to track it down and destroy it.

This familiar story provides the springboard for a dizzying array of mostly unconvincing plot twists, particularly in the final two reels when one is never certain who is going to pop up and get the drop on whom next. Because the artificial (post-synchronized) dialog is so cliched and silly, the net effect of rather well-staged action sequences is a horror parody.

Earnest cast, especially the pretty but unpersuasive leading lady Terri Austin, is laughable, with even Pam Grier making very little of a patented macha role. Tech credits are okay though the lab facility looks more like a shopping mall than a high-security installation. The Frankenstein monster designed by Stan Winston Studio has a new look, in its tattered state (and backlit) closer to The Mummy than the original Karloff makeup job.

You probably have never heard of this movie but it's a real find. It's a mixture of science-fiction/action and revenge themes. It has a comic book plot but it's presented in a fast paced, razzle-dazzle way. The cast is in pretty good form too. Chaykin really steals the show in an interesting plot twist. It doesn't have much to do with the original Frankenstein legend so The Vindicator is a better title than Frankenstein 88. It was shot in Montreal but you'd never know it. Unlike many Canadian films made at the time, it does not have an ultra-slow, cheap look about it. In fact, the special effects and sets are highly impressive. It only had a minimal release and then turned up on Pay-TV and video. If you like sci-fi even a tiny bit, check this out and tell a friend. You won't be disappointed!

I would also say it was a "Robocop" rip-off too, but it came out before it and for all I know "Robocop" stole from this movie, but I doubt it. A mediocre version of "The Terminator" that has a scientist involved in an accident and his brain and a few other parts are placed in this super robot body meant for space flight. When I think about that it also sounds a bit like "Darkman" doesn't it? The whole scientist in an accident thing. Anyway, this robot has his brain, but if he is touched or something the suit goes off and kills. The scientist has no control over it when it goes through these swings. If this isn't bad enough he is being chased by a really stupid bounty hunter woman. She hates men and would never let her self be killed by one. In fact, she would rather turn the gun on herself rather than be killed by the scientist in the suit. Of course, simply running away from the slow moving scientist never occurs to her, I guess she figured it would be easier to pull a trigger. There is an ending with our hero in quite a fight and then the very ending is kind of cruel. For some reason he is put on display or something.

as a fan of robocop, i always loved this movie. i seen it when it first came out, and finally i bought it on DVD from Brazil, it was never released in the us on DVD. i like the film, but like everything else in this world, everyone has their opinion, love it or hate it. no matter what a movie does, someone will always say "why didn't they do it another way?" in other words you cant please everyone. if you love robocop, you will love this film. to me, its so unique thats its not cheesy, or silly like a lot of lower budget movies. this film always kept me interested. i can see a few scenes that robocop borrowed from here, but tell me what movies don't do that? a lot of films use other ideas from other movies, and sometimes change them around. fun film!

The high-tech ARC Corporation that is directed by the unscrupulous Alex Whyte (Richard Cox) is researching a software that provokes violent reaction from someone that is attacked against the attacker. The efficient scientist Carl Lehman (David McIlwraith) has an argument with Whyte since his funds have been cut. On the next morning, Carl has a serious accident while his partner and friend Burt Arthurs (Maury Chaykin) is bringing coffee for them. Carl's pregnant wife Lauren Lehman (Teri Austin) is informed that her husband has died; however, the accident was provoked by Whyte. Carl becomes the guinea pig for the ARC Frankenstein Project and is turned into a cyborg. While testing the remote control unit, the scientist Gail Vernon (Lynda Mason Green) is attacked by Carl that escapes from ARC in a garbage truck. Then he eliminates a motorcycle gang that has attacked him. Carl realizes that he cannot be touched and he contacts Lauren from outside home to arrange a meeting with Burt. Meanwhile Whyte contracts the killer Hunter (Pam Grier) to get rid off Carl.

"The Vindicator" is a low-budget movie with a poor storyline and lame production. The characters and situations are not well-developed and the rushed beginning does not exactly explain the importance of the rage project or why it was necessary to eliminate Carl. The storyline has similarities with "Robocop" that was released more than one year later. Was "Robocop" a rip-off "The Vindicator"? My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Roboman"