EP54 - Split Second (1992)

Welcome to Cyberpunk Cinema – the Definitive Dive into the Dark Future of Science Fiction. I am your host, Anthony La Pira, and I will be taking you on a cinematic journey through the sprawling cityscapes, the crippling datastorms, and the cybernetic implants that encompass all things Cyberpunk.In this week’s episode, I will be breaking-down the 1992 B-movie cyber-trash monster-horror serial-killer-thriller SPLIT SECOND – directed by Tony Maylam; written by Gary Scott Thompson; starring Rutger Hauer, Kim Cattrall, Alastair Duncan, Michael J. Pollard, Alun Armstrong, and Pete Postlethwaite. In a flooded future London, Detective Harley Stone hunts a serial killer who murdered his partner, and has haunted him ever since. He soon discovers what he is hunting might not be human. Split Second is a water-logged, dystopian cyberpunk set in the near-future of 2008 in a flooded London. We follow a cigar-smoking, coffee-addicted, hard-boiled detective named Harley Stone as he attempts to hunt down the serial killer that murdered his partner, all while having an unexplained psychic link to the monster, while romancing early-90s Kim Cattrall, and wielding a fucking hand-cannon gun! The production design on this film is awfully impressive for its low-budget and overall, it’s a whole lot of 90s cheesy sci-fi fun. So, do me a favor – it’s time to access your cranial jacks, boot up your Ono-Sendai Cyberspace 7, and slap on your damn mirror-shades. You know what time it is! Cyberpunk Cinema starts…now!Anthony's IG - https://www.instagram.com/stormgiantproductionsCyberpunk Cinema IG - https://www.instagram.com/cyberpunk.cinemaSignal Fragment SoundCloud - https://soundcloud.com/signalfragmentSend us Fan Mail

Welcome to Cyberpunk Cinema – the Definitive Dive into the Dark Future of Science Fiction. I am your host, Anthony La Pira, and I will be taking you on a cinematic journey through the sprawling cityscapes, the crippling datastorms, and the cybernetic implants that encompass all things Cyberpunk.In this week’s episode, I will be breaking-down the 1994 B-action cyber-trash-horror curiosity DEATH MACHINE – written & directed by Stephen Norrington; starring Brad Dourif, Ely Pouget, William Hootkins, John Sharian, Martin McDougall, and Richard Brake.After a mad genius inventor of killer robots and cyborgs at Chaank Armaments Corp. kills execs, he unleashes his ultimate death machine on the new cute CEO firing him. Death Machine is an unintentional pastiche/parody of cyberpunk films. It’s equal parts Aliens, RoboCop, The Terminator, and Hardware. Written & Directed by Stephen Norrington, who had worked previously on the Creature Effects Crew on Aliens, the Special Robotics Technician on Hardware, the Creature Effects Designer on Split Second, and the Alien Creature Effects Crew on Alien 3. The film shamelessly wears all its influences on its sleeves in this hodgepodge of cyberpunk tropes. It’s a groan-inducing thrill ride that definitely has its charms and has some badass actions sequences. This is a midnight special chem-watch! You can thank me later!So, do me a favor – it’s time to access your cranial jacks, boot up your Ono-Sendai Cyberspace 7, and slap on your damn mirror-shades. You know what time it is! Cyberpunk Cinema starts…now!Anthony's IG - https://www.instagram.com/stormgiantproductionsCyberpunk Cinema IG - https://www.instagram.com/cyberpunk.cinemaSignal Fragment SoundCloud - https://soundcloud.com/signalfragmentSend us Fan Mail

Welcome to Cyberpunk Cinema – the Definitive Dive into the Dark Future of Science Fiction. I am your host, Anthony La Pira, and I will be taking you on a cinematic journey through the sprawling cityscapes, the crippling datastorms, and the cybernetic implants that encompass all things Cyberpunk.In this week’s episode, I will be breaking-down the 1990 wasteland cyberpunk low-budget masterpiece HARDWARE – directed by Richard Stanley; written by Steve MacManus, Kevin O’Neill, and Richard Stanley; original score by Simon Boswell; starring Dylan McDermott, Stacey Travis, John Lynch, William Hootkins, and special appearances by Iggy Pop and Lemmy.The head of a cyborg reactivates, rebuilds itself, and goes on a violent rampage in a space marine’s girlfriend’s apartment.Hardware is an impressive debut film by Richard Stanley that nails almost all of the thematic elements of cyberpunk that we love. It’s soaked in red neon, infrared, and atomic dust. The film is perverse and dangerous and it is essentially a cyber-giallo, as Stanley was heavily influenced by Dario Argento and Mario Bava. Stanley banned the colors blue, turquoise, and standard gray lighting and instead drenched the film’s single-apartment location in toxic, oversaturated blood-reds and fluorescent day-glo oranges. The result was a radioactive, psychedelic, acid trip through the ruins of civilization. It fucking rules. So, do me a favor – it’s time to access your cranial jacks, boot up your Ono-Sendai Cyberspace 7, and slap on your damn mirror-shades. You know what time it is! Cyberpunk Cinema starts…now!Anthony's IG - https://www.instagram.com/stormgiantproductionsCyberpunk Cinema IG - https://www.instagram.com/cyberpunk.cinemaSignal Fragment SoundCloud - https://soundcloud.com/signalfragmentSend us Fan Mail

Welcome to Cyberpunk Cinema – the Definitive Dive into the Dark Future of Science Fiction. I am your host, Anthony La Pira, and I will be taking you on a cinematic journey through the sprawling cityscapes, the crippling datastorms, and the cybernetic implants that encompass all things Cyberpunk.In this week’s episode, I will be breaking-down the 1975 proto-punk paranoid sci-fi thriller sports film ROLLERBALL – directed by Norman Jewison; written by William Harrison; starring James Caan, John Houseman, Maud Adams, John Beck, and Ralph Richardson.A corporate dictator tries to oust the star player of a brutal 21st century spectator sport.Rollerball is a dystopian sports movie wrapped up in a cautionary cyberpunk tale of a corporate governed world that strips away an individual person’s free will and replaces it with product, gladiatorial TV combat, and random female assignments to men. The film explores what it means to be human in a world that is dominated and controlled to eliminate hunger, pain, and disease. One man decides to become greater than the game and to show the citizens of the world that you can indeed fight to control your own destiny. So, do me a favor – it’s time to access your cranial jacks, boot up your Ono-Sendai Cyberspace 7, and slap on your damn mirror-shades. You know what time it is! Cyberpunk Cinema starts…now!Anthony's IG - https://www.instagram.com/stormgiantproductionsCyberpunk Cinema IG - https://www.instagram.com/cyberpunk.cinemaSignal Fragment SoundCloud - https://soundcloud.com/signalfragmentSend us Fan Mail

Welcome to Cyberpunk Cinema – the Definitive Dive into the Dark Future of Science Fiction. I am your host, Anthony La Pira, and I will be taking you on a cinematic journey through the sprawling cityscapes, the crippling datastorms, and the cybernetic implants that encompass all things Cyberpunk.In this week’s episode, I will be breaking-down the 1986 B-movie teen horror cyberpunk film CHOPPING MALL – directed by Jim Wynorski; written by Jim Wynorski & Steve Mitchell; starring Kelli Maroney, Tony O’Dell, Russell Todd, Barbara Crampton, John Terlesky, and Dick Miller.A group of young shopping mall employees stay behind for a late night party in one of the stores. When the mall goes on lock-down before they can get out, the robot security system malfunctions, and goes on a killing spree.Chopping Mall is a classic 1980s science-fiction teenage horror set in a futuristic shopping mall that is policed by malfunctioning laser-shooting killbots! It’s a hilarious ride of camp humor, gnarly kills, and robot blood (even though we never see it)! It basically combines the dumbassery of teenagers doing dumbass things while being hunted by robots whose only intention is to kill. What more can you ask for in an 1980s sci-fi movie? So, do me a favor – it’s time to access your cranial jacks, boot up your Ono-Sendai Cyberspace 7, and slap on your damn mirror-shades. You know what time it is! Cyberpunk Cinema starts…now!Anthony's IG - https://www.instagram.com/stormgiantproductionsCyberpunk Cinema IG - https://www.instagram.com/cyberpunk.cinemaSignal Fragment SoundCloud - https://soundcloud.com/signalfragmentSend us Fan Mail

Welcome to Cyberpunk Cinema – the Definitive Dive into the Dark Future of Science Fiction. I am your host, Anthony La Pira, and I will be taking you on a cinematic journey through the sprawling cityscapes, the crippling datastorms, and the cybernetic implants that encompass all things Cyberpunk.In this week’s episode, I will be breaking-down the 1994 cyber-horror film BRAINSCAN – directed by John Flynn; written by Brian Owens & Andrew Kevin Walker; starring Edward Furlong, Frank Langella, and T. Ryder Smith.A teenager is a part of an interactive video game where he kills innocent victims. Later, the murders become real.Brainscan was a cyber-thriller movie that captured the zeitgeist of the 1990s, right before the critical Cyberpunk Mainstream year of 1995. Just think about it for a second – it had Edward Furlong as the high-school protagonist, it had horror vibes, it was cyberpunk, it had CD-ROMs, it was about interactive video games (which were all the rage back then), and it had a Freddy Krueger-esque villain in The Trickster. On paper, home-run! In reality, not so much, but it definitely has its audience and it became a minor cult hit.   So, do me a favor – it’s time to access your cranial jacks, boot up your Ono-Sendai Cyberspace 7, and slap on your damn mirror-shades. You know what time it is! Cyberpunk Cinema starts…now!Anthony's IG - https://www.instagram.com/stormgiantproductionsCyberpunk Cinema IG - https://www.instagram.com/cyberpunk.cinemaSignal Fragment SoundCloud - https://soundcloud.com/signalfragmentSend us Fan Mail

Welcome to Cyberpunk Cinema – the Definitive Dive into the Dark Future of Science Fiction. I am your host, Anthony La Pira, and I will be taking you on a cinematic journey through the sprawling cityscapes, the crippling datastorms, and the cybernetic implants that encompass all things Cyberpunk.\In this week’s episode, I will be breaking-down the 1982 West German cult cyberpunk film KAMIKAZE 89 – directed by Wolf German; written by Wolf German and Robert Katz; based on the novel by Per Wahloo called Murder on the 31st Floor; soundtrack by Tangerine Dream founder Edgar Froese; starring Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Gunther Kaufmann, and Franco Nero.In a totalitarian society of the future, in which the government controls all facets of the press, a homicide detective investigates a string of bombings, and finds out more than he bargained for. The poster logline for Kamikaze 89 is – “Ninety-Six Hours to Crack His Last Case…His Time’s Already Up.” Lieutenant Jansen (played by the sweaty and portly Fassbinder) must unravel the mystery of murder, bomb threats, counter-revolutionaries, and the multi-national media conglomerate that governs their daily lives. It’s set over 4 crackling days as we accompany Jansen on his quest to keep his perfect case record intact! So, do me a favor – it’s time to access your cranial jacks, boot up your Ono-Sendai Cyberspace 7, and slap on your damn mirror-shades. You know what time it is! Cyberpunk Cinema starts…now!Anthony's IG - https://www.instagram.com/stormgiantproductionsCyberpunk Cinema IG - https://www.instagram.com/cyberpunk.cinemaSignal Fragment SoundCloud - https://soundcloud.com/signalfragmentSend us Fan Mail

Welcome to Cyberpunk Cinema – the Definitive Dive into the Dark Future of Science Fiction. I am your host, Anthony La Pira, and I will be taking you on a cinematic journey through the sprawling cityscapes, the crippling datastorms, and the cybernetic implants that encompass all things Cyberpunk.In this week’s episode, I will be breaking-down the 1982 midnight-movie cult-classic gender-fluid cyberpunk-adjacent LIQUID SKY – directed by Slava Tsukerman; written by Slava Tsukerman, Nina V. Kerova, & Anne Carlisle; starring Anne Carlisle, Paula E. Sheppard, Susan Doukas, and Otto van Wernherr. A small, heroin-seeking UFO lands on a Manhattan roof, observes a bizarre, drug addicted fashion model, and sucks endorphin from her sexual encounters’ brains.Liquid Sky is a neon fever dream set against the backdrop of an Empire State Building monolith that resembles a plunging heroin syringe. It’s a bisexual, transgender, gender-fluid cyber-fashion show that also features an alien takeover of a protagonist that grants her the curse of killing people during sex. It’s death by orgasm, circa 1982 NYC new wave art scene, where cocaine is plentiful, night clubs are jumping, and a heroin called Liquid Sky is all the rage. Welcome to the near future, where style and fashion pave the way for stardom on rags like Midnite Magazine, a precursor to the Screamsheet adverts that dominate Cyberpunk 2020. This film was listed as one of the inspirations for the game by Mike Pondsmith, and it’s a necessary addition to the Cyberpunk Cinema canon! So, do me a favor – it’s time to access your cranial jacks, boot up your Ono-Sendai Cyberspace 7, and slap on your damn mirror-shades. You know what time it is! Cyberpunk Cinema starts…now!Anthony's IG - https://www.instagram.com/stormgiantproductionsCyberpunk Cinema IG - https://www.instagram.com/cyberpunk.cinemaSignal Fragment SoundCloud - https://soundcloud.com/signalfragmentSend us Fan Mail

Welcome to Cyberpunk Cinema – the Definitive Dive into the Dark Future of Science Fiction. I am your host, Anthony La Pira, and I will be taking you on a cinematic journey through the sprawling cityscapes, the crippling datastorms, and the cybernetic implants that encompass all things Cyberpunk.In this week’s episode, I will be breaking-down the 1982 landmark esoteric cyberpunk rock musical BURST CITY – directed by Shogo Ishii; written by Jugatsu Toi. Punk rock gangs and music groups clash with one another and the brutal police force in a futuristic Tokyo setting. Burst City is a visceral, wild, kinetic, and aggressive film that attempts (and succeeds) to encapsulate the essence of the subculture of punk rock. The film is a frantic landscape of a post-apocalyptic dystopia mixed with nuclear power plant concerns in Neo Tokyo mixed with Japan’s vibrant punk rock scene. It is pure orchestrated madness that reflects the frustration of the artists of the subculture of that particular era combined with the industrialization of society set against the backdrop of a bleak, lawless future. The film is literally BURSTING with a kinetic/manic energy that has never been duplicated in cinema. You will not see anything like this. You just have to witness it in all its glory. So, do me a favor – it’s time to access your cranial jacks, boot up your Ono-Sendai Cyberspace 7, and slap on your damn mirror-shades. You know what time it is! Cyberpunk Cinema starts…now!Anthony's IG - https://www.instagram.com/stormgiantproductionsCyberpunk Cinema IG - https://www.instagram.com/cyberpunk.cinemaSignal Fragment SoundCloud - https://soundcloud.com/signalfragmentSend us Fan Mail

Welcome to Cyberpunk Cinema – the Definitive Dive into the Dark Future of Science Fiction. I am your host, Anthony La Pira, and I will be taking you on a cinematic journey through the sprawling cityscapes, the crippling datastorms, and the cybernetic implants that encompass all things Cyberpunk.In this week’s episode, I will be breaking-down the 1989 Japanese cyberpunk masterpiece  TETSUO: THE IRON MAN – written and directed by Shinya Tsukamoto; starring Tomoro Taguchi, Kei Fujiwara, and Shinya Tsukamoto.A businessman accidently kills The Metal Fetishist, who gets his revenge by slowly turning the man into a grotesque hybrid of flesh and rusty metal.Tetsuo: The Iron Man centers on an unnamed Japanese salaryman who wakes up to find pieces of metal sprouting from various parts of his body and becomes haunted by visions of metal-oriented sexual fantasies. As the man steadily becomes a hybrid of man and machine, he develops a connection with a victim from a hit-and-run accident, who is undergoing a similar transformation.So, do me a favor – it’s time to access your cranial jacks, boot up your Ono-Sendai Cyberspace 7, and slap on your damn mirror-shades. You know what time it is! Cyberpunk Cinema starts…now!Anthony's IG - https://www.instagram.com/stormgiantproductionsCyberpunk Cinema IG - https://www.instagram.com/cyberpunk.cinemaSignal Fragment SoundCloud - https://soundcloud.com/signalfragmentSend us Fan Mail