If you are the sort of person who needs a film to explain everything to you in excruciating detail or if your favourite phrase is "why ?" this probably isn't the film for you.

This film isn't a formulaic Hollywood no-brainer sci-fi action flick, this is a lusciously dark and atmospheric nihilistic mood piece, this is certainly no feelgood movie ( thankfully ) and what a welcome breath of poisonous air it was ( and still is ) .

People often liken this film to the Terminator but I think when compared to Hardware Cameron's film looks dull, lifeless and oh so predictable. This film has more creativity and imagination in it's little finger than all of Hollywood combined, from the wonderful post punk industrial soundtrack to the inspired imagery, at which point I must mention the death of Moses, I don't think I have ever seen a film that has made a character's death seem so beautiful, a truly inspired moment.

This film is just so full of brilliant little touches that each time you watch it you can gain something new from the experience, whilst true that this film does have a few flaws - plot holes and the occasional flat performance, they hardly seem relevant and do nothing to hamper my enjoyment of the film . In some ways this film is quite paradoxical, despite being comprised of so many grim, disgusting and nasty elements it still comes across as being quite beautiful, the level of violence is sometimes quite surprising but it's handled in such an artistic way that it transcends the usual horror film gore, the strong and vivid use of colour and copious amounts of blood remind me greatly of the work of Italian director Dario Argento.

All in all I think this is one fantastic piece of low budget film making and quite easily one of my favourite films of all time, the one true testament to it's brilliance is that whether you love or hate this film you can almost guarantee your reaction will be a strong one and to me that's art folks.

I must admit I am a huge fan of this under-estimated, enigmatic South African director.

Like his magnificent masterpiece, Dust Devil, Hardware deals with similar themes - the desert, the Old Testament, and sexual violence.

I first saw this movie many years ago when still basically a kid before I went to film school and certain sequences have stayed with me forever.

Watching it again in 2005 the movie seems a little dated or rather post-rock video in places, but when it was made in 1990, this was all cutting-edge stuff. I am not giving anything away by saying that the plot is in many ways a re-working of The Terminator or Alien, when Dylan McDermott gives his girlfriend Jill (played by Stacey Travis)what he thinks is a load of unusual scrap metal salvaged from the desert. She is an artist and welds these robot parts to a sculpture she is making...

This is an extremely visceral movie, laced with religious iconography (mark-13 often adopts crucifixion poses and in the shower scene at the end, appears to be in a prayer position) and boosted by an extremely eclectic and unusual cast. Motorhead singer Lemmy crops up playing a sort of ferryman, Iggy Pop plays DJ Angry Bob, and John Lynch is excellent as my favourite character from this film, Shades.

The narrative is essentially straight-forward but what makes this movie different and memorable is Stanley's vision. The mise-en-scene is bleached red (post-appocalypse), the use of montage is often extremely effective and nightmarish and I was frequently reminded when watching it of Renaissence paintings, just in glimpses here and there (hell, maybe that's just me..!) There is also some American comment in this movie; mark-13 is adorned with a stars-and-stripes, and the deadly toxin it employs is described as 'smelling like apple pie'. This of course is akin to Dust Devil, where the demon is simply called 'Texas' by Wendy.

So, to conclude, if you haven't seen this movie or heard of this director before I urge you to seek him out. Anyone with a love for avant-garde and challenging cinema (like me) should have heard of this guy (proper auteur by the way) and his thematically-consistent visions.

This is still a fine film but probably hasn't aged as well as it might have done - it's strength is that it is far more complex than it first appears to be.

This is a very cool little sci-fi flick. OK, it's no Aliens, but it has a lot of really interesting things happening. First off it has a slick look, filmed very well by first time director/writer Richard Stanley, a lot of strobes and brilliant colour give it a perfect setting for the `robot goes crazy' plot. I also liked the post-apocalyptic landscape, which I think worked well along with Iggy Pop's narration as `Angry Bob'. It takes a little while to build, but the ending packs a decent punch, along with just enough gratuitous violence to keep me happy. There are also plenty of religious references and imagery to look for, all centering around the `MARK 13 Cyborg.' So, if you like sci-fi, I think you should give this movie a try, it's a pretty cool ride with some very cool imagery.