Syngenor (1990)

Director:

George Elanjian Jr.

Writers:

Michael Carmody (story)
Brent V. Friedman (writer)

Genre:

Horror | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

Product of science - nightmare from hell

Plot:

A scientist engineers a group of genetically engineered cyborgs for use as "supersoldiers" to fight U.S. wars in the Middle East. However, things get ugly when the cyborgs malfunction and turn on their creators. |

Plot Keywords:

Unofficial Sequel | Monster | One Word Title | Cult Favorite | Independent Film

Cast

Starr Andreeff	...	Susan Valentine
Mitchell Laurance	...	Nick Cary
David Gale	...	Carter Brown
Charles Lucia	...	Stan Armbrewster
Riva Spier	...	Paul Gorski
Jeff Doucette	...	David Greenwait
Bill Gratton	...	Lt. Leo Rosselli
Lewis Arquette	...	Ethan Valentine
Jon Korkes	...	Tim Calhoun
Melanie Shatner	...	Bonnie Brown
Kenneth Zavayna	...	Sam Krebs (as Ken Zavayna)
Roy Fegan	...	Donnie
Julie Kris	...	Candy
Kate Romero	...	Brandy
Christopher Burgard	...	Scott
Kathryn Noble	...	Receptionist
Merritt Yohnka	...	Guard
Tim Trella	...	Guard

Directed by
George Elanjian Jr.

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Michael Carmody		story
Brent V. Friedman		writer

Produced by
William G. Dunn	....	line producer
Marcel R. Elanjian	....	executive producer
Jack F. Murphy	....	producer
Eldon Nygaard	....	associate producer

Original Music by
Thomas Chase
Steve Rucker

Cinematography by
James Mathers

Film Editing by
Ellen Keneshea

Casting by
Cathy Henderson

Production Design by
R. Clifford Searcy

Costume Design by
Rhona Meyers

Production Management
Patricia Mastorakos	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Fred H. Dresch	....	assistant director
Kelly Kiernan	....	second assistant director

Sound Department
Mark A. Rozett	....	sound re-recording mixer
Steve Sollars	....	sound

Special Effects by
Theresa Burkett	....	special effects
Yancy Calzada	....	special effects
William Malone	....	creature design
Margaret Prentice	....	special effects (as Margaret Beserra)
Mark Williams	....	special makeup effects

Visual Effects by
Larry Arpin	....	optical effects
Austin McKinney	....	special effects camera operator
Dennis Skotak	....	visual effects consultant
Robert Skotak	....	visual effects consultant

Stunts
Gregg Smrz	....	stunts

Camera and Electrical Department
Bryan Godwin	....	assistant camera
Geza Sinkovics	....	camera operator: second unit

Animation Department
Mike Hyatt	....	rotoscope artist

Editorial Department
Amy Tompkins	....	first assistant editor
Norman R. Walker	....	assistant editor

Music Department
Stephen C. Marston	....	composer: additional music (uncredited)

Production Companies

• American Cinema Marketing

Distributors

• Astro Distribution (2002) (Germany) (DVD)
• Cinéma Plus Distribution (1990) (Canada) (VHS)
• Elite Entertainment (2003) (USA) (DVD)
• Hemdale Home Video (1992) (USA) (VHS)
• Southgate Entertainment (1990) (USA) (VHS)
• Southgate Video (1990) (USA) (VHS)
• Synapse Films (2008) (USA) (DVD)

Special Effects

• Doug Beswick Productions Inc.

Also Known As:

Syngenor: Synthesized Genetic Organism (USA) (DVD box title)

Runtime:

98 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Australia:M | Germany:16 | UK:18 | USA:R

Company:

American Cinema Marketing

Trivia:

The scene where actor David Gale wears a bunny mask on the back of head was his own idea. He convinced the director to do it to show how crazy his character had become.

Quotes:

Carter Brown: Somebody wants me to fry - I can feel it.

Movie Connections:

Follows Scared to Death (1981/I)

Low-budget genre fare is laughably bad.

Norton Cyberdyne is a multinational company in the business of manufacturing military technology. Their pet project is the title creature, designed to be the perfect soldier. Young Susan Valentine (Starr Andreeff) gets wind of all of this when one of these things kills her uncle Ethan (Lewis Arquette), who was the brains behind the project. She teams up with goofy reporter Nick Cary (Mitchell Laurance) to take down the creature - designed to be impervious to most weaponry and to asexually reproduce every 24 hours - and the company, whose boss Carter Brown (David Gale) is going absolutely bonkers.

This is undeniably a very silly movie, but it's got some things going for it. First of all, there's a tongue-in-cheek quality to the proceedings. The actors (especially Laurance and Gale) wisely don't take it all that seriously. (Charles Lucia is also funny in a key supporting role as a weaselly executive.) The creature is a recycling of the monster designed by director William Malone for his own 1981 movie "Scared to Death", so it's cool that it was allowed a second go-round here. The film looks good enough, with some highly amusing special effects and fairly decent pacing.

The lovely Andreeff is appealing in the lead, with the sexy Riva Spier entertaining as the conniving Paula and cute Melanie Shatner (William's daughter) as the ill-fated Bonnie. But David Gale pretty much becomes the whole show. He hams it up to the nth degree, and is downright hysterical at times. If you loved him in the "Re-Animator" movies, you should get a kick out of what he does here.

"Syngenor" (as in SYNthesized GENetic ORganism) is just ridiculous enough to be a good time for those who enjoy bad B movies. I know I do, and I found it pretty entertaining.

5/10