The Lawnmower Man ** (1992, Jeff Fahey, Pierce Brosnan, Jenny Wright) – Classic Movie Review 8552

Director Brett Leonard’s 1992 sci-fi horror movie The Lawnmower Man stars Jeff Fahey as the simple-minded gardener Jobe Smith, who is used as a guinea pig for Dr Lawrence Angelo (Pierce Brosnan)’s experiments with virtual reality in a new computer system, which has the side-effect of increasing his intellect, with the intelligence enhancing drugs turning him into a genius.

Unfortunately the years of abuse Jobe Smith suffered for being ‘subnormal’ or ‘mentally retarded’ also turn him into a power-crazed maniac, and he tries to take over the computer and possibly the world. The Lawnmower Man is schlock indeed – a Fifties B-movie plot updated and made semi-palatable thanks to some Nineties state-of-the-art special effects (which of course now look very dated). Francesco Chiarini is the visual effects supervisor.

The tell-tale sign of the low quality of this slice of tripe is the fact that Stephen King (ostensibly involved with the film’s genesis) demanded that his name be removed from the credits as story writer, and his credit was eventually removed following a lawsuit. The screenplay is written by Brett Leonard and the producer Gimel Everett.

The advertising also claims this to be the ‘UK’s First Virtual Reality film’ – which, of course, is totally meaningless. It is more fun, and cheaper, to pop down to the local video game arcade. Don’t believe the hype.

It runs 108 minutes but the Director’s Cut runs 140 minutes, with 42 minutes of additional footage.

Also in the cast are Jenny Wright, Mark Bringleson, Geoffrey Lewis, Jeremy Slate, Dean Norris, Colleen Coffey, Jim Landis, Troy Evans, Austin O’Brien, Rosalee Mayeux, Michael Gregory, Joe Hart, John Laughlin, Ray Lykins, Michael Valverde, Dale Raoul, Jonathan Smart and Stephen Gregory Foster.

The Lawnmower Man is directed by Brett Leonard, runs 108 minutes, is made by Allied Vision, Fuji Eight Company and Lane Pringle Productions, is released by New Line Cinema (1992) (US) and First Independent Films (1992) (UK), is written by Brett Leonard and Gimel Everett, is shot by Russell Carpenter, is produced by Gimel Everett and Milton Subotsky (co-producer), is scored by Dan Wyman and Jürgen Bräuninger (orchestrator / score realization) and is designed by Chris Farmer.

A sequel, Lawnmower Man 2: Beyond Cyberspace, followed in 1995, with Matt Frewer taking over from Jeff Fahey.

It is rated R for strong language, sensuality and a scene of violence.

The film is dedicated to the memory of co-producer Milton Subotsky, who died on 1 June 1991, aged 69.

It cost $10,000,000, grossed $32,101,000 in the US, and enjoyed a cumulative worldwide gross of $150,000,000.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8552

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