31 Days of Horror: Scream & Shout! Day 21

Eve of Destruction (1991)

What's It About?

Terrorist hunter Colonel Jim McQuade (Gregory Hines) is brought in to hunt a killer android with a nuclear core set to blow in 24 hours with the help of a scientist upon whom the android's appearance and personality is based.

Is It Any Good?

Eve of Destruction is a late night movie channel staple.  It's a trashy 90s action/horror knock-off of The Terminator.  As this sort of movie goes it's not as bad as it could be, but it is certainly not great.

The gist is that an android, bearing the looks and personality of its creator, (both android and creator are played by Renee Soutendijk) goes on the fritz in Northern California.  This would be an issue in general because she's programmed to kill and stuck in "battlefield mode", but the real issue is that the Eve VIII model has the personality profile of its creator Eve Simmons without her insecurities or inhibitions.  And to make things worse she's also armed with a nuclear fail-safe set to detonate in 24 hours.

Gregory Hines' Colonel Jim McQuade is a seasoned terrorist fighter who has been called in to execute the Eve VIII before she can do immeasurable harm but Eve VIII's motivation seems to be in living out Eve Simmons' midlife crisis and she's not always easy to predict.

This movie was made in 1991 but it feels in many ways like a 70s TV movie (not the least because of Gregory Hines' involvement) and that coupled with Eve's "sexy" outfit really make this movie seem stupid.  In fairness, Eve's leather jacket/tight black dress attire is meant to be a reflection of the silly concept of sexy this robot with the mind of a middle-aged woman is meant to have but since Eve in the dress and jacket appear in all the promotional stills for the movie it's got to have at least a bit of earnestness to it.  And it's not that Renee Soutendijk isn't attractive enough to be convincingly sexy, it's that she's dressed in an outfit that Kelly Lebrock at her peak would've had a hard time pulling off.  Gregory Hines is great as expected, though having him play a bit of an action hero is certainly a bizarre choice.

Ultimately Eve of Destruction is a better movie than you'd be led to believe based on its look and pedigree but it's also not some lost gem that's in need of a re-evaluation.

Watch, Toss, or Buy?

This is a watch, at best.