Runaway

Directed by MICHAEL CRICHTON

Starring TOM SELLECK GENE SIMMONS KIRSTIE ALLEY

1984

Released 17 FEB

Blu-ray

ave you ever, at any time in your life, yearned to see a film in. These killer spiders resemble an old fashioned roller skate that has been welded to a hand stapler – scary stuff. They leap up onto their victim’s chest, inject some kind of oleaginous poison via a protruding, head-mounted, retractable syringe, and then they explode in a ball of fire. Also in Simmons’ arsenal is a gun that fires bullets which are programmed to home-in on a predetermined victim – they “literally have your name on them” (sample dialogue). The film is set at a time when robots have been integrated into society to take on such menial tasks as cleaning, cooking and industrial farming. A “runaway” is when one of these bots rejects its programming, and Selleck’s Jack Ramsay is the surly bod who’s tasked with decomissioning them… indefinitely.