Terror at the Futureworld Theme Park

After the misfortunes at Westworld, you would think nobody would try again, but if there's anything we learned from Jurassic Park, people will stop at nothing to make dangerous theme parks with the potential of disaster.  Hence Futureworld, the sequel to Westworld.

Peter Fonda and the oddly named Blythe Danner starred in this 1976 thriller, which featured a cameo from Yul Brenner, who starred in Westworld, which surely excited fans at the time.  His cameo is in one of the strangest dream sequences I've seen on film, and you will come to this realization once witness with your own two eyes.  It starts off as fairly normal and then turns into some weird romantic thing that is oddly cold (symbolic of him being a robot, I imagine).

Critics were not fond of this when it came out.  I can understand why.  There is a lot of time spent wandering around in tunnels by our reporter main characters as they look for clues to prove that Futureworld is some sort of sham.  It is, of course, and they are right, but this conclusion could've been reached simply by spending about a half hour with the scientist/doctor involved in making the robots.  He was an odd character, and any good reporter could see that is where the story lies.  Rarely do you find anything by wandering around underground and throwing random switches.  It can make for an interesting movie, but here it falls flat.  You want to see robots tearing stuff up.  Admittedly, seeing Blythe and Peter fend off samurai robots brings a smile to my face, but only for the "1976 factor."  (The year anything and everything happened in mainstream movies.)

Futureworld is one of those forgotten relics that may someday be remade by some brave soul who is fresh out of ideas.  Should it be remade?  Of course not?  But if Ryan Gosling and Sandra Bullock ever need to supplement their income, they should be pitching it.








Ridiculous FTC Disclaimer:  I did not receive a copy of Futureworld to review.  I did it out of the kindness of my own heart.  If you click on any of the links here and buy something from Amazon, I will receive a small commission.