... aka: Scared to Death II
... aka: Soldat Cyborg
... aka: Syngenor: Synthesized Genetic Organism
... aka: Syngenor: The Synthetic Experiment
Directed by:
George Elanjian Jr.
The Norton Cyberdyne Corporation has created the "virtually unstoppable soldier of
tomorrow" in the form of Syngenor, which is short for SYNthesized GENetic ORganisms.
These black, reptilian-looking killing machines (played by men in suits)
are impervious to conventional weaponry, trained only to kill, can easily
survive harsh desert climate because they require no water and live only
on their victims' spinal fluid and are capable of asexually reproducing every
24 hours. Wanting to sabotage the company, smarmy executive Stan Armbrewster (Charles
Lucia) lures "expendable" PR man Tim Calhoun (Jon Korkes) and a
couple of drunk party girls to the basement of the high rise Cyberdyne
building where the creatures are kept and lets one free. The Syngenor
lives up to expectations by quickly dispatching Tim and the girls, then
escapes the building and goes to the home of scientist Ethan Valentine (Lewis
Arquette), the man who originated the Syngenor project but has since quit. It
kills him and then goes after his niece Susan (Starr Andreeff), who
manages to fend it off using a can of aerosol spray and a lighter. Naturally,
the police don't believe Susan when she tells them what really happened, especially
after Cyberdyne CEO Carter Brown (David Gale) throws them off their
trail.
Nosy reporter Nick Carey (Mitchell Laurence) shows up to do a piece
on Ethan's death and teams up with Susan. She wants to justice while he's simply looking for a good story. Meanwhile,
at Cyberdyne, icy megalomaniac Paula Gorski (Riva Spier), another
high-ranking exec, wants to take over the entire company by any means
necessary. Not only does she have the pussy-whipped Stan wrapped around her finger and
at her bidding, but she's also been sleeping with
Carter while conspiring behind his back to drive him crazy. Stan tricks
Carter's 17-year-old bimbo niece Bonnie (Melanie Shatner, daughter
of William) into going to the basement and unleashing over twenty of the
Syngenor they have on hand from the thermal vault. After she's
electrocuted and her death is relayed back to Carter, he starts going even
crazier than he already was.
Nick and Susan (posing as his photographer) arrange for an interview with
Stan, who wants to use the opportunity to implicate Carter for the deaths
that have occurred thus far. Our heroes have the misfortune of showing up on a
Saturday morning just when the shit is really hitting the fan. Not only
are the creatures on the loose throughout the building (even wiping out
all of the facilities armed guards) but the unhinged Carter proves to be even more dangerous.
Apparently, this is
a loose, belated follow-up
to director William Malone's Scared to Death (1980) featuring the
same design of monster. A sequel had been announced in Variety back in 1984 (see below) complete with a great poster and with Malone listed as the
director and co-writer, but the project was shelved at the time after Malone bowed out to direct the higher-budgeted Creature
(1985) instead. It would later be made without his involvement. While I have yet to see Scared, for
a medium budget 'B' monster movie, Syngenor really isn't too bad.
It's consistently entertaining and often very amusing, the creature designs (by
Malone and Doug Beswick Productions) are decent, the production design is
heavy on silver, blue and purple giving it a handsome, sleek futuristic sheen, there's
plenty of chaos and action and even a tongue-in-cheek sense of humor about the whole silly thing. I enjoyed myself.
The 1984 Variety ad.
French poster. Soldat Cyborg = "Cyborg Soldier"
Trivia Note: The kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel doubled for the Syngenor lair!
We call this "corporate scum."
Green Eggs and Gale.
The original, none-too-exciting-looking American VHS box.
Now this is more like it!
I've always enjoyed Andreeff as an actress, especially in Katt Shea's underrated
vampire film DANCE OF THE DAMNED (1989). She makes for a likable tough heroine
in this one as well and is nicely-paired up with the amiable Laurence.
Gale is also another standout, though I'm not sure whether that's a good thing
or a bad thing. It's more just like a weird thing. The late actor, who was able
to secure work in films just like this after his memorable turn as Dr.
Hill in the cult classic Re-Animator (1985), gives one of the most
unrestrained, over-the-top performances I've ever seen in any film.
He screams and laughs maniacally while injecting some kind of glowing
green drug into a boil on his neck, makes hilariously goofy faces, bugs
his eyes out, childishly bounces up and down, starts blasting his
employees to smithereens with a "Death Rattle Gun" (which can dispatch 1000
rounds of ammo in a second) and keeps crying "Hold me!" in a baby voice.
By the end, he's running around wearing a bunny mask and killing more of his own employees (after stripping them
down to their underwear) than the monsters! If
you're a fan of completely unrestrained acting, you won't want to miss this.
Syngenor was a modestly successful venture that apparently
did better business overseas (particularly in Japan) than here in the States. After a brief theatrical
run, it was issued on VHS by Southgate Entertainment and then reissued by
Hemdale a few years later before making its DVD debut in 2003 through Elite
Entertainment. In 2008, a "Special Edition" DVD was released by Synapse
Films, which includes several behind-the-scenes featurettes and a commentary
track from star Andreeff, producer Jack F. Murphy and writer Brent V.
Friedman.
★★1/2
