The Vindicator

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Audience Member A modern-day retelling of the classic Frankenstein story set in the 80s — I mean, the movie is also known as Frankenstein 2000 as Frankenstein 80 was already taken and Joe D'Amato didn't make Frankenstein 2000: Return from Death until 1992 and he wouldn't care if he stole a movie title — The Vindicator was made in Canada and directed by Jean-Claude Lord (who also directed Visiting Hours as well as Toby McTeague the very same year). The ARC corporation is trying to make the spacesuit of the future which will have a rage mode that takes over the wearer's mind when they need to survive a dangerous situation, going pretty much full-on rage mode. Why this would be part of the machine is something that I leave up to you, dear viewer. That's the same question that scientist Carl Lehman has, particularly after some monkeys die when one of the bosses, Alex Whyte, cranks them monkeys up to eleven and lets God or whatever machine logic that runs our simulation play dice. Dead monkeys lead to dead scientist which leads to Project Frankenstein, which is sort of RoboCop a year early. I kind of like how filmmakers say they're doing a modern Frankenstein and instead of being somewhat coy and naming the robot Project Prometheus or Project Shelley, they sledgehammer the point home and just say, "Hey smart guy, it's just called Project Frankenstein, OK?" If you wonder, "Will something go wrong, sending monkeys in a rage and burning Carl's new skin off and him going on a quest to find his wife, who is played by the actress who would be Jill Bennett on Knot's Landing?," then the answer is, of course, yes. But hey — this also has Pam Grier as Hunter, a hitman who needs a challenge and that usually involves liquidating anyone who knows or sees or even thinks about Carl in the suit. He's never called the Vindicator, but hey I know one other Canadian scientist who got burned alive inside his cyborg suit and that'd be Weapon Alpha or the Guardian or Vindicator from John Byrne's Alpha Flight and Canadians may be too polite to vindicate but I do not believe they are so polite as not to steal a movie title. Anyways, there are some cyborg zombie battles and Carl's colleague Burt trying to cuck him from beyond the grave and umbilical tubes being used to drown people and much like the cover of the VHS, I'm making this all sound way more exciting than it is. But isn't that what renting movies used to be all about? You see a title like The Vindicator and a flaming cyborg — much less one designed by Stan Winston — and you say, "Gimme that." Maybe a few hours later you regret your decision, but it was only a 93 minute and $2 investment, so life used to be a lot simpler. Rated 2/5 Stars •  Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/06/23 Full Review Audience Member A RoboCop rip-off a year before there was RoboCop.The type of movie they show on Fox at 4am Sunday Rated 2/5 Stars •  Rated 2 out of 5 stars 01/25/23 Full Review Audience Member A company sacrifices one of its scientists in an industrial "accident" to use his brain in a cyborg it can control. The shiny golden Mars spacesuits look more like something the Solid Gold Dancers of the time would wear over NASA astronauts. Rated 2.5/5 Stars •  Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/13/23 Full Review Audience Member The ideal is okay, the presentation however lacks electricity Rated 2.5/5 Stars •  Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/03/23 Full Review Audience Member A company sacrifices one of its scientists in an industrial "accident" to use his brain in a cyborg it can control. The shiny golden Mars spacesuits look more like something the Solid Gold Dancers of the time would wear over NASA astronauts. Rated 2.5/5 Stars •  Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 01/28/23 Full Review Audience Member A scientist dies in a lab accident. His brain and other parts are preserved and kept alive in the lab long after his funeral. His remains are used to test what the other scients have been working on, a super-strength cyborg. The cyborg gets hella pissed when it touches anyone, for some strange reason. More of a revenge-horror film with a facade of a Frankenstein-type theme (fyi, it was originally known as Frankenstein 88 and later in some countries as Frankenstein 2000 [the D'Amato movie released in the US under that name has no relation]), it appears to have been marketed as a Terminator rip-off. It may also be seen a loose blue-print for Robocop and also has aspects remnicent of the earlier Swamp Thing and the later Darkman. Some gruesome stuff is shown, but his voice is damn annoying and the pacing sucked. (As an aside, for some strange reason I have seen this credited as being from any of the years 1983-86, but my VHS case says 1984.) Rated 2/5 Stars •  Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/02/23 Full Review Read all reviews

The Vindicator

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