The Lawnmower Man (1992) Review

CLAYTON'S CREEPY CINEMA!

WEEK 4: CREATIVE KILLERS

The Lawnmower Man (1992)

With evil bears and canines and lycanthropes behind us, it’s time to enter week four, devoted to films with either a creative concept for a killer, a killer with creative methods, or a bit of both. First up is The Lawnmower Man, a surreal sci-fi tale that, based on the title alone, you might expect to be a balls-to-the-wall slasher flick in the league of Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Instead, it’s about virtual reality, and is far from a great horror film like the aforementioned slasher classic.

In the future, virtual reality will be the technology everyone becomes obsessed with and will change the fate of the human race. Apparently. Scientist Dr. Angelo, played by Pierce Brosnan, loses his chimpanzee test subject when it is killed after trying to escape the top secret facility he works at. He’s told to take a leave of absence, but he wants to keep working, so turns his attention to a mentally handicapped gardener, Jobe (played by Jeff Fahey). Jobe is down on his luck, always being picked on and put down and beaten by the priest whose property he lives on, but he loves to mow lawns, so at least he has that. Unable to wait any longer to do his research, Dr. Angelo approaches Jobe and asks him if he likes games. He introduces him to virtual reality, and Jobe becomes his newest test subject, with the promise that he can make him smarter. As Jobe gets smarter, he gets more assertive. He becomes so smart he even gains telepathic and telekinetic abilities—far beyond Dr. Angelo’s expectations. Jobe eventually becomes so intelligent, he transcends his human form and attempts to finish his “evolution” by becoming pure energy and entering the facility’s main frame, which would spell the doom for all of humankind.

The Lawnmower Man has an interesting concept and plays with the possibilities of virtual reality, but the premise is taken too seriously for it to be much fun. The biggest issue are the visual effects used to depict the virtual world. The characters act like it’s the most amazing thing anyone has ever seen, but it just isn’t. The computer graphics are extremely primitive—I’m sure they seemed less than fantastic even in 1992, but today, they are just atrocious and laughable. The film’s setup is slow, but as Jobe gets smarter and bolder, the film slowly picks up and gets more exciting. It’s not clear how he gets smarter, and even the scientists don’t seem to know. Jobe exacts revenge on the wrongdoers in his life by killing them. The best scene is when an abusive father gets pursued by a lawnmower through his house. The film needed more scenes like this, and less with the gimmicky computer effects. Unfortunately, the brief scenes where Jobe kills his enemies are the most entertaining parts of the whole movie.

The Lawnmower Man’s premise has potential, but it fails to fully deliver. It isn’t acknowledged how absurd the concept is, and in consequence, loses a lot of entertainment value. The experimental and not fully developed effects are what kill it, and besides that, there’s little else to see.