Last week, Apple enthusiasts made the terrifying discovery that some iPhone 4 devices were surreptitiously taking photos of their users, then posting said spy pics during FaceTime calls without having been told to do so. Have smart phones become too smart? Is our collective dependence on rapidly evolving technology setting the stage for a SkyNet future? Movieline revisits the sinister history of gadgets and technology gone wrong in the movies for clues as to where and when the robot wars might begin -- and, hopefully, how humanity might be able to fight back.
1. WarGames (1983)
Techno-threat: A government supercomputer designed to run international war simulations takes its job way too seriously. Also see: Eagle Eye.
Vanquished by: A plucky teen hacker (Matthew Broderick) and a computer programmer (John Wood), who distract WOPR (War Operation Plan Response) with the simple, sedate, and eternally frustrating joys of a game of Tic-Tac-Toe.
2. The Terminator series (1984-2009)
Techno-threat: Robot assassins from the future controlled by SkyNet attempt to kill the future leader of mankind, repeatedly.
Vanquished by: Various models meet their end in the Terminator films thanks to a hydraulic press (see below), a vat of molten steel, a hydrogen fuel cell detonation, and, um, their own latent humanity. But has SkyNet's genocidal agenda ever been definitively stopped? No.
3. The Brave Little Toaster (1987)
Techno-threat: A self-aware toaster stalks its human owner across the country with gang of fellow household appliances.
Vanquished by: No one -- it's a happy ending for this toaster, after repeated brushes with death and a hero's sacrifice. Offscreen, however, lackluster confidence in animated features in the pre-Pixar era meant theatrical distributors were wary, despite a near-win at the Sundance Film Festival. Years later, BLT animators Joe Ranfft and John Lasseter ushered in a new era of animation at Pixar with Toy Story, so we can probably thank The Brave Little Toaster for at least partially spawning that terrifying modern classic about self-aware toys who stalk their human owner.
4. 976-EVIL (1988)
Techno-threat: Satan's personal telephone line dispenses horror-themed novelty advice and grants supernatural killin' powers to those that call it. "From director Robert 'Freddy Krueger' Englund."
Vanquished by: The cool kid, who reluctantly banishes his nerdy, possessed cousin to Hell.
5. The Refrigerator (1991)
Techno-threat: A killer fridge controlled by the Devil terrorizes a yuppie couple in Manhattan.
Vanquished by: Well, first Steve Bateman (Dave Simonds) tries to shove his wife Eileen (Julia McNeal) into the refrigerator, so she stabs him and the fridge eats his body when she's not looking. Then Juan the plumber comes in and bolo-ties the fridge shut, and after the Cuisinart and the trash compactor attack, he and Eileen just leave out the front door. Easy as pie!
6. The Lawnmower Man (1992)
Techno-threat: TMI -- literally, too much information. A handy man with a learning disability (Jeff Fahey) pulls a Limitless after exposure to an intelligence-boosting experiment, then goes crazy, develops superpowers, and wants to become one with the information superhighway.
Vanquished by: A virus. But that didn't stop Hollywood from making a sequel!
7. Ringu (1998)
Techno-threat: A VHS tape that kills. Also see: the American remake and sequels; Remote Control.
Vanquished by: Paying it forward. Watch the famed videotape and you have seven days to live -- unless you make a copy for someone else to watch. It's the perfect pyramid scheme for vengeful ghosts seeking to widen their reach in the world of the living.
8. The Shaft (2001)
Techno-threat: A sophisticated elevator starts messing with people by chopping off heads and limbs and getting stuck between floors on purpose. Remade in English from the 1983 Dutch film De Lift AKA The Elevator.
Vanquished by: A pre-Mulholland Drive Naomi Watts, who figures out how to destroy the mad scientist-created brain that is controlling the evil elevator. Seriously, this movie happened.
9. FeardotCom (2002)
Techno-threat: An evil website possessed by the vengeful spirit of a murder victim scares people literally to death within 48 hours of logging on. Also see: Kairo/Pulse.
Vanquished by: Freeing said internet-savvy ghost from her dot com domain. Which, incidentally, is Feardotcom.com. How does that make any sense?
See how much we all learned, kids? Now, since VHS is obsolete and the Devil only seems to possess refrigerators in flea-bitten New York City apartments, just stay away from evil toasters, cell phones, elevators, robots, websites, and the internet and you should be just fine.