Hardware (film)
1990 film by Richard Stanley
Hardware is a 1990 science fiction horror film written and directed by Richard Stanley, in his feature directorial debut. It stars Dylan McDermott and Stacey Travis, and also features cameo appearances by musicians Carl McCoy, Iggy Pop and Lemmy. An example of the cyberpunk subgenre, the plot of Hardware follows a self-repairing robot that goes on a rampage in a post-apocalyptic slum.
Fleetway Comics successfully sued the filmmakers of Hardware for plagiarism, due to similarities between the screenplay and a short story titled "SHOK!" that appeared in 1980 in the Judge Dredd Annual 1981, a spin-off publication of the popular British weekly anthology comic 2000 AD, credit was added to later releases of the film. Since its release, Hardware has become a cult film.
Plot
A nomadic scavenger treks through an irradiated wasteland and discovers a buried robot. He collects the pieces and takes them to junk dealer Alvy, who is talking with 'Hard Mo' Baxter, a former soldier, and Mo's friend Shades. When Alvy steps away, Mo buys the robot parts from the nomad and sells all but the head to Alvy. Intrigued by the technology, Alvy begins to research its background. Mo and Shades visit Jill, Mo's reclusive girlfriend, and, after an initially distant welcome where Jill checks them with a Geiger counter, Mo presents the robot head as a Christmas gift.
The public source identifies “Hardware (film)” as 1990 film by Richard Stanley. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Hardware, film and Richard.
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Reception evidence should be dated and situated: later canonical status may differ sharply from the work’s initial circulation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 15, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1230682. 4 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 3 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1990, 1980, 1981 and 2000.
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This entry incorporates text from “Hardware (film)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.