Steven Gomez has been making a name for himself as a visual effects supervisor for years now, so it makes sense that when he decided to take a turn in the director's chair for his first feature-length film, he did what came naturally: make a story that focuses on big, giant, scary robots.
Inspired by the action movies of his youth (presumably Predator and The Terminator), Kill Command is a film whose story will seem pretty standard for those who grew up on this kind of stuff, but remarkable considering its strong visuals were created on an independent budget and features a lot of lesser-known actors (David Ajala is probably the best-known actor here for his role in Starred Up). Add in that it's tremendously tense, and this may be one of the biggest surprises at this year's Toronto After Dark fest.
Set in a future where artificial intelligence has made its way into modern warfare, Kill Command tells the tale of a group of American marines who venture off to a remote island training facility after receiving some weird signals from the machinery there. When they arrive, they discover that any kind of connection to the outside world has been severed, and a number of drones seem to have been reprogrammed to spy on them. Soon, they discover the source of the problem: the robots have become sentient creatures whose objective is to kill all traces of life.
It's not the most elaborate or original story, but Gomez (who plays double duty as the film's writer) injects enough subtext about our society's reliance on technology to keep true sci-fi fans interested. Oh, and the robotic villains are some of the more memorable metallic monsters in recent memory (their LED eyes are haunting). Kill Command is a film that's destined to be remade with a bigger budget.
(Vertigo Films)Inspired by the action movies of his youth (presumably Predator and The Terminator), Kill Command is a film whose story will seem pretty standard for those who grew up on this kind of stuff, but remarkable considering its strong visuals were created on an independent budget and features a lot of lesser-known actors (David Ajala is probably the best-known actor here for his role in Starred Up). Add in that it's tremendously tense, and this may be one of the biggest surprises at this year's Toronto After Dark fest.
Set in a future where artificial intelligence has made its way into modern warfare, Kill Command tells the tale of a group of American marines who venture off to a remote island training facility after receiving some weird signals from the machinery there. When they arrive, they discover that any kind of connection to the outside world has been severed, and a number of drones seem to have been reprogrammed to spy on them. Soon, they discover the source of the problem: the robots have become sentient creatures whose objective is to kill all traces of life.
It's not the most elaborate or original story, but Gomez (who plays double duty as the film's writer) injects enough subtext about our society's reliance on technology to keep true sci-fi fans interested. Oh, and the robotic villains are some of the more memorable metallic monsters in recent memory (their LED eyes are haunting). Kill Command is a film that's destined to be remade with a bigger budget.
