SCREAMERS (1995)
Starring Peter Weller and Roy Dupuis
This decent horror-sci-fi flick was penned by Dan O'Bannon of "Return of the Living Dead" fame. It also made headlines when its producers sued Dimension Films, the makers of "Scream," claiming that the title of that Wes Craven classic was attempting to cash in on this title. It was a crazy idea for a lawsuit. Nobody got the two films confused, even though they came out at around the same time. "Screamers" has since been forgotten, while "Scream" is spawning a second sequel.
But "Screamers" was a pretty good movie. Weller, tired of starring in "Robocop" movies, plays a macho space marine leading a band of combatants on a distant mining planet. He winds up fighting not his country's enemy, but a weapon his own military created: a blade-wielding, self-replicating species of killing machines known as "Screamers."
Weller is very effective as the studly, cigar-smoking leader and is easily the best thing about this movie. Too bad this actor generally eschews genre films like this, opting instead to star in "serious" pics. Not exactly a horror film, "Screamers" does feature some good scares and a particularly terrifying child character who's really one of the monster machines. Pretty creepy.
Recommended.