Eye Candy #328 - "Screamers 2 - The Hunting"

Screamers 2 - The Hunting:  A long-delayed sequel to the 1995 original based on the Philip K. Dick story “Second Variety”, about a desolate mining world overrun by self-replicating “automated swords” called screamers.  They are built to attack on human beings unless they think you are already dead.  And that won’t necessarily stop them from harvesting your body anyways.  The screamers come in different models, ranging from primitive to those that look and act human, even display feelings.  The original was a sleeper with a very cynical ending.    This time around, human survivors on planet Sirius 6B (the setting of the first film) send a distress signal and a small military unit is assembled to evacuate survivors before a meteor storm renders the planet inert.  However, the screamers have continued to evolve since the first film  and it’s not altogether clear who is and is not a killer robot.  The first film felt like a low-budget “Aliens” rip-off (and I still liked and own the first one), and this one feels even cheaper version of that with the bulk of the same plot.  The story is fairly pedestrian (it’s a “chase” picture, your standard running-from-monsters variety, and the characters, for landing on a planet they know to be overrun by killer robots, act REALLY, REALLY dumb.  I wouldn’t want them rescuing me, I’d most assuredly die due to their efforts.   Add to that an ending that is equally silly,  and well, it’s just what I thought when I decided to rent it. Woodchuck sez, “Just as expected it to be.  Not much.”