Max Headroom (1985 TV Movie) User Reviews

Absolutely Brilliant observation of post-capitalist corporatism

[A-Ron-2 · 8/10 · 28 June 2000]

The original version of this film, which was titled 120 minutes into the Future (I believe) was by far one of the most impressive and subversive things I have seen on TV. The premise involves the idea that Blipverts, or high-speed advertisements, are allowing the TV stations to create more ad time, but are also at risk of causing the most indolent members of society to spontaneously combust.

This is absolutely wonderful!

The whole Max Headroom angle was never really exploited until this became a (too short lived) TV series shortly after. However, this movie is nothing short of being among the most impressive and visionary movies ever made, and by far one of the most interesting (and underrated) cyberpunk tales told.

The low-budget enhances the bleakness of this dystopic future, and the utter pessimism about the future of mankind is palpable at every moment. Watching the TV zombies wander the streets in search of more TV, the dark rooms where the future of man (and media) is decided... the burnt-out buildings, the police-state siege mentality. I have rarely seen anything this ambitious attempted in the past.

This movie warned us about the dangers of mass media, and managed to do it in a way that was not ironic and was highly entertaining. Run out and find this movie if you can (I have seen it on tape, and Sci-Fi channel runs it occasionally). Go... NOW!

A realistic look at a bleak future not far from now

[RichardS · 10/10 · 9 December 1998]

Reporter Edison Carter discovers that an advertising medium developed by the TV network he works for is killing viewers. The network attempts to 'dispose' of him and replace him with a computer generated version. And so the story goes...

This is a really good film, taking the bleak vision of Blade-Runner and injecting a little 20th century realism. Set in a world where TV networks rule and the population is made up of couch potatoes who rarely venture into the desolation outside their doors, Max Headroom is frighteningly plausible and potentially very downbeat.

However, the story has enough lighter moments to balance the overall darkness of the film and together with a likeable and talented cast, this is a thoroughly enjoyable film that - like its content - was maybe a bit too ahead of its time. 10/10.

Phenomenal future-shock sci-fi!

[KB-21 · 10/10 · 1 March 1999]

Like the TV show that followed it, the "Max Headroom" movie was a great grim look into a bleak, Blade-Runner-esque future ruled by corporations who keep the proletariat down by anesthetizing them with junk food and mind-numbing television pageantry. The parallels are frightening, or haven't you seen a Jerry Springer audience lately? The UK movie is, if anything, even grittier and more creepy than the eventual US pilot and TV series. It's out of print, but well worth searching out -- a dramatic, thought-provoking example of everything that's good about science fiction.

The "future" of media that has now become all too real

[cadfile · 10/10 · 15 January 2005]

I happened on the "Max Headroom: 20 minutes into the future" film on the cable channel Cinemax by accident in 1986 or so. The story, the setting, and the characters drew me in and I was blown away. It had the dreary, rainy, dark mood of "Blade Runner" and "Alien" with a touch of film noir where everyone smokes and the surrounding city is dirty and decaying. The cautionary tale of corporate control is dead on target even becoming more true than when this film came out.

There is an underground of people who don't exist - called 'Blanks' - and others who kidnap and kill people to sell their organs at the local tissue collection agencies.

Amongst this backdrop is Edison Carter - played by Matt Frewer - star reporter for Network 23. He uncovers evidence that his employer is killing viewers in an effort to generate more ad revenue. Instead of "killing the story" as happens today, the bosses decide to kill Edison. They have a problem in doing this however. Being that Edison is the star of the network, if he dies then people will know something is up. Enter teen genius Bryce Lynch - played by Paul Spurrier - who does his best thinking while taking a bath, downloads Edison's brain into a computer. He uses that to create a computer version of Edison in hopes of fooling the viewers.

All is not well when virtual Edison takes the name Max Headroom and escapes the control of Lynch and Network 23.

Helped by the lovely Theora Jones - played by Amanda Pays - and the leader of the Blanks, Blank Reg - played by William Morgan Sheppard - Max puts the screws on Network 23 and the whole corporate control culture.

Frewer is a hoot as Max. His zingers through out the movie help lighten the dark tones and Max is not just a computer clone of Edison. Max is how Edison wishes he could be.

Pays is lovely as Edison's and later Max's producer. She and Max have a good relationship.

Sheppard's Blank Reg is an aging punk rocker with a Mohawk to boot. He has it all figured out.

If you get a chance to see this movie then do it. You won't be sorry.

I wish everything was on DVD now!!!!!

[amigafuture · 10/10 · 24 January 2005]

I grew up as a teen in the 80s being a HUGE computer geek back when the term wasn't popular. There was something special about Max Headroom, & I still to this day (1/24/2005) think it was one of the BEST TV shows made! It was the only show I made time for...otherwise I was outside with friends or doing some programming with my Commodore 64 (once I found out Amiga computers were used in the show I **wanted** one. Sometime later I bought one, I still believe the Amiga IS the BEST computer platform there has ever been. Windows just doesn't match up. Anyway, I digress...

I loved the humor of Max Headroom/Edison Carter. Matt pulled the characters off very well. The show really did inspire the young hacker in me as well as the fantasy idea (of the time) for computer generating a Computer Character like Bryce did. ;) Hehe. The sense of humor was awesome, the character roles were very good & it touched very WELL on the Truth of TV!!! :D

I would love to see all of the episodes, commercials U.S & U.K., talk shows, & the Paranomia music video by The Art Of Noise come out on DVDs. Everything that was Max Headroom should be on DVD by *NOW*!! A lot of other junk TV like Sienfeld, Friends, etc have made it to DVD & they don't have the loyal following that MAX does. Common, we're WAITING to spend our hard earned $$ on MAX HEADROOM DVDs Loaded with EXTRAS, interviews, the Car Commercial, & so MUCH MORE. Get that stuttering dude on DVDs!!!! It's WAAAAAAAAY past time, Folks!!

As we used to say in the 80s... MAX HEADROOM for President!! At least THAT talking Head says something worth hearing!! :D

Bravo to Bravo for when they aired MAX HEADROOM without commercials. I miss MAX on Cinemax, too!

there is also an extended edition to this movie

[fish4spider-1 · 10/10 · 16 December 2005]

i have two versions of this movie the first one is just the 60 minute version the second uk version is the same movie with extra max headroom dialog and music videos when blank reg firsts puts on max in the big time TV bus max and reg talk and dominique says he could have his own show max starts to play music videos. there are music videos by squeeze,xtc,queen,the vapours, the untouchables, my favourite video here is making plans for nigel, just before grosmen says get me bryce max plays a music video by the untouchables free your self you see more max telling jokes(very funny) and extra scene's of theora and Edison i hope one day every thing max did will be on DVD, its a shame this was never followed on as a uk TV series and let us see what happened to network 23 etc instead it was remade in the us the series was good but the uk stands out far better

Max Headroom - 20 Minutes Into The Future

[holahola47 · 20 August 2005]

For some reason unknown to me I received this video as a prize/gift from a company called 'Argus Press' who in the early '80's were one of many prolific ZX Spectrum games producers. Don't remember entering a competition, but there you go....

Anyhow, the film was brilliant, and not to be confused with the later TV series that, from the other write ups, I now learn of.

If this film is not on DVD then it should be. The dark urbun setting of some nightmare future is perfectly portrayed and the story is much as has been described in previous reviews.

Blipverts! - I'm surprised they aren't on Fox nowadays, in saying that the most indolent members of society may be most at risk there! The one thing that hasn't been mentioned, but that should be emphasized, is the fantastic soundtrack, coming as it did from the pen of Midge Ure who had recently departed the prolific 'Ultravox'. The setting, soundtrack, script and performance from a tremendous bunch of characters made this a film that, to this day, I still pull out of the loft and watch on my annual pilgrimage back home for Christmas.

To me its the urbun dystopia, the (then) futuristic use of desktop computers to track the action and the soundtrack that made this one hell of a movie and one of the most unsung of the 1980's.

Best film ever

[nathanjay · 10/10 · 26 June 2003]

I loved this film back in the 80s, and its story of CGI characters to replace real people for TV is easily a possibility now. This is my favourite film ever, infact I only found out today that the its less than an hour long - theres so much going on Id swear it was 90 mins plus.

Anyone who is remotely into Sci Fi or computer graphics should see this, or anyone who just likes unusual films and fancies a break from the norm without being bored.

If this was a Manga cartoon instead of a British film, it would be massive!

Fanstastic movie

[philcald · 10/10 · 2 August 2005]

Why this movie has never been put to DVD is beyond me. A wonderful cast of actors, Matt Frewer, Morgan Shepherd, Hilary Tindall, Paul Spurrier, Amanda Pays, Paul Spurrier and George Rossi.

Matt Frewer and Amanda Pays are TV reporters who find out that a corporate TV company that controls what people watch run by Ben Chevio (Constantine Gregory) is developing a new type of advert - a Blipvert - to entice people to buy goods, unfortunately it has some unexpected side effects, Max Headroom (Matt Frewer) is created following a slight accident whilst trying to get away from Paul Spurrier and George Rossi (Breugal and Mahler - body part dealers who have been retained by its designer, Byrce Lynch (Paul Spurrier) to dissuade people from finding out about the project.

Whilst escaping on a motorbike Frewer hits a closing -car parking barrier (remotely closed by Bryce) and suffers head injuries, Frewer' personality is taken from his brain by Byrce Lynch and made into a computer generated TV icon as a pet project.

Blank Reg (Morgan Shepherd) and Dominique (Hilary Tindall) owners of BIGTIME TV find the computer containing Max by accident and decide - when they power it up and see Max, to broadcast him as a presenter on their network.

Theora Jones (Amanda Pays) then attempts to regain the personality to put back into Frewers head after rescuing him from the body bank.

There's a lot more to it but overall an excellent movie, if the powers that be don't release this to DVD they themselves should receive a visit from Breugal and Mahler themselves.

I Agree!

[daisy2mae2 · 10/10 · 30 October 2005]

I looked up Max on IMDb to see if I could find any information about the powers that be putting it on DVD. This was one of my favorite shows (along with Moonlighting, Magnum PI, Thirty Something, and Murphy Brown). I agree that it was intelligent and worth taping or scheduling your time around and SHOULD be produced on DVD!!! Get to it!!

For all those who never had the good fortune of being able to view this show, I would compare it to a cross between Robocop on a computer network and combined with the comedy of Jim Carey on steroids. Max, the main character of the show, exists as the personality and life form of the computer--it's not-so-artificial artificial intelligence.

I don't remember much else about the show, which is one reason I would love to see it again, because I love to reminisce, but as the previous posting pointed out...they only seem to come up with shows that have just been running and, mostly, are of no interest to me. So, put it out, Powers That Be!

Exceptionally smart & finely crafted, an exemplar among TV movies

[I_Ailurophile · 10/10 · 4 January 2023]

I've been long overdue to watch this. One hears the name 'Max Headroom', and sees star Matt Frewer all over the place, long before knowing anything else about the character, or the associated film or TV programs. I assumed a cheeky cyber sci-fi comedy; what I didn't anticipate was how stunningly dark the underlying ideas are, however sardonically they're approached. True, in the broad strokes it's a familiar dystopia of wealth, power, and extreme corporate malfeasance without one shred of humanity; one recognizes glimmers in every aspect of the production of similar fare from all throughout the 80s, and the reality of how much Network 23 has in common with real-life organizations in 2022. For that matter, one also has to consider the equivalence between the development in-universe of the talking head, and how there's a certain oblique correspondence to present-day discussions of artificial intelligence in online spaces. This picture is unquestionably an original creation all its own, though, and even in a runtime of just under one hour, the result is reliably outstanding. '20 minutes into the future' is fantastic!

It may be "just" a TV movie, and a veritable prologue to introduce a character, yet in every regard the feature benefits from care and craftsmanship recalling major studio films instead of its actual kin. In various ways I'm reminded of John Carpenter, David Cronenberg, Ridley Scott, James Cameron, or other big name filmmakers: the digital additions, practical effects, production design and art direction, hair and makeup, costume design, and even Phil Meheux's vibrant cinematography. The original score of Midge Ure and Chris Cross, lending somber atmosphere, would feel right at home in the works of any of those mentioned, and sounds in turn like it could have been penned just as well by Carpenter, Howard Shore, Jerry Goldsmith, or any such composer. Directors Annabel Jankel and Rocky Morton, and screenwriter Steve Roberts, all demonstrate a spark of ingenuity that lets every component part of their contributions and the picture at large resonate with unexpectedly rich, imaginative spirit. It's at once both delightfully tongue-in-cheek and astoundingly grim, and always wonderfully smart and sharp with every idea to present.

One is quite accustomed to any film of such an abbreviated length, and made for TV movies too, coming across as very direct, and possibly rushed and forced. It would be very easy as a viewer to feel shortchanged by such a production, nevermind that Channel 4 ordered this simply as an origin for the title character. Yet the writing and direction is marvelously keen, the crew turned in work just as fine as any picture one could point to as a comparison, and the entire cast - even those in small supporting roles - bring their parts to life with such incredible, gratifying personality. It seems an impossible task, but 'Max Headroom' comes off as a complete, balanced, well-rounded feature, more than can be claimed by some Silver Screen blockbusters with the all the resources of Hollywood behind them. Even if every constituent element weren't so stupendously well done in and of itself, the film as whole is a rather impressive accomplishment given what it pulled off within its chosen medium. I don't think it's at all unreasonable to suggest that when all is said and done, frankly this is a must-see. Whether one goes on to watch the programs that followed from this introduction, or just takes in '20 minutes into the future' of its own accord, it's a tremendous, intelligent, witty, and highly entertaining genre piece that not only continues to hold up but is arguably more relevant than ever. However one must go about watching it, this is worth far more than sixty mere minutes of one's time!

Needs to be on DVD

[mrvegas61 · 9/10 · 16 June 2008]

Max Headroom is an excellent Sci-Fi movie that has a great story, interesting characters and very witty dialogue. The dreary futuristic world it depicts is the hook that caught me and it's a movie all Sci-Fi fans should warmly embrace.

Amanda Pays, worth the price of admission all by herself, as Theora Jones and Matt Frewer as both Edison Carter and the title character Max both really make this film work. The supporting cast with the likes of William Morgan Sheppard and Hilary Tindall as "Reg" and "Dominique", the quirky owners of Bigtime Television, and Nickolas Grace who nails the part of "Grossman", head honcho at Network 23, also give great performances here. Hilton McRae along with his sidekick George Rossi, "Breugal" and "Mahler", add a humorous yet scary touch while doing the dirty work for computer nerd "Bryce" who is well played by Paul Spurrier. All-in-all this is a movie which shouldn't be missed.

Luckily I recorded Max Headroom on VHS during one of the times it was shown on Cinemax but I've watched it so many times since, it's getting fuzzier every time I see it. For the powers that be, PLEASE PUT THIS OUT ON DVD!!!

One of the absolute best of the time. Incredibly premature.

[alek-uk · 10/10 · 5 February 2022]

As some other good reviews have said.. this is absolute gold if you have an affinity to the 80s in any way, and if you have seen Max Headroom before. If you haven't seen Max but you still like the 80s future-hope-worry vibe, this is for you - 10/10.

If you are younger or not into this then please don't rate it badly.. You have no idea what kind of historical masterpiece this is and you will help bury it like so many others. This was a film before its time.. and it's only now coming out as hidden treasure.

A Visionary short lived series that ill-Deserved the lack of foresight of Funding

[twiddlybits · 10/10 · 16 January 2022]

I well remember watching Max Headroom in the eighties, it was much talked about and never understood the lack of foresight in funding further work, unless of course it was down to the writer etc to produce the work.

But it was visionary work as described before and for low budget TV work it certainly was on par with Dr Who and more imaginative than the earlier Blakes Seven.

I can only surmise that some one out there with the right vision to fund exploit the original Max Headroom and unselfishly bring it to the 21st century where there is so much more to develop real media exploitation of today.