Max Headroom: 20 Minutes into the Future (1985)

Nice effects though.

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Admirable film.

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

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!!!

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

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.

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.