When I was a teenager my brother and stepsister used to watch Viewer’s Choice trailers when they couldn’t find anything else to watch. (I probably did this too but in my memory it was entirely their fault.) For some reason, one of the movies I remembered from these trailers, but which I never watched, was Lawnmower Man 2: Beyond Cyberspace. I don’t know how many times I saw this trailer but it basically convinced me that Matt Frewer must have been the star of the franchise. So the few times I did see bits of the original on TV, I was always a little bit confused. Wasn’t that…Jeff Fahey?

Can I have a SPOILER warning for a 30+ year old movie?

Fahey, by the way, is ridiculous. The way they’ve dressed him up and dyed his hair is so very early ’90s. I wouldn’t have noticed it at age 11 – if I had somehow managed to watch the film when it came out – but now he looks hilariously of his time.

Another thing I wouldn’t have caught at age 11 is all the technology nonsense. This is one of those films where nobody really understands the technology they are talking about and so any fears can be grafted on it, supposedly. I can’t imagine how frustrating it would have been to be an IT professional in 1992 and to see this insane movie. Yes, sure, other horror films are also not based in reality, but usually those films have some kind of basis in stories we’ve told ourselves or in universal experiences. Everyone has nightmares. Every person at some point has thought they were being followed on a dark street. I don’t know how many people in 1992 were worried about computers merging with people to give them superpowers.

It’s really hard to know where to start with how ludicrous the technology angle is and how utterly detached it was from current technology and even potential. Yes, the idea of uploading consciousness to a computer is still something rich people dream about but the rest of it – such as a computer somehow giving you the ability to manifest your thoughts as pixelated reality – is just rot. It was then and it is now. I wish I had taken notes because I kept talking back to the movie saying “Yes, of course, that’s exactly what would happen if you put on a VR headset.”

The whole climax I was just mystified as to why Brosnan’s character had to password protect seemingly thousands or millions of…were they ports?… rather than just unplugging the connection and the power. That’s the thing I remember most of all the tech nonsense. Fahey’s character is going to do some dastardly deeds through the internet so…just unplug him. I guess that would have confused audiences or not involved an explosion, though.

I guess the computer graphics for the day aren’t bad. They look terrible now but the one thing you can say for them is they look distinct. I can’t think of too many movies with graphics like this in 1992. So that’s…something.

And I will say the cast does a pretty good job given the how ludicrous everything is. (Brosnan is extremely committed.) And though the set design of the institute makes absolutely zero sense considering what they were up to, it looks futuristic for 1992.

I guess what I’m saying is, it could be worse. It really could be. I bet that sequel I used to watch the trailer for is worse. It’s just another in a long line of films that tries to scare people about new technology.

4/10