The generation currently coming of age has never known a tome with computers as the most ubiquitous device in the world. These little chips are in our phones, laptops, televisions, cars and many common household appliances. There are even cutting edge medical research projects that will cure diseases and greatly alleviate suffering by implanting computer chips directly in our bodies. This seems wondrous to us now but it was not that long ago that such a concept was frightening, the foundation for horror stories. Every generation initially reacts to a vastly superior new technology with trepidation even outright fear. Literature is full of examples ranging from electricity in ‘Frankenstein’ zombie flicks based on recombinant genetics. Until technology becomes wide spread and generally accepted as beneficial the fearful response is natural and easily exploited by novelist and screenwriters as grist for their literary mills. ‘The Terminal Man’ is a story that proved prophetic in implementation but thankfully not results. In this story a radically advanced computer chip was being tested as a means to treat epilepsy by directly monitoring the brain for neural activity indicative of an oncoming seizure countering it by sending a small current into the brain stopping the seizure in its tracks. The result in the story has horrific in the loss of the patient’s free will forming the basis of one of the earliest computer driven horror film. This was part of aeries of seventies movies with similar themes that included such cult classics as ‘Colossus: The Forbin Project’ and ‘The Demon Seed’. These films used computers as bent on world domination or home invasion and rape. With this film the computer as threat is taken in more of a psychological direction than you see in most modern horror flicks. It is also much more consistent with the decades approach to horror concentrating on the deep seated fear of the unknown that was still a factor at this the dawn of the modern computer age. It may seem laughable from our current vantage point it has to be remembered that in the seventies computers were strange, imposing and difficult to understand. The thought that computers would become so all pervasive was not something even entertained by technological zealots of the day. It might be a lesson in historical perception for our computer savvy kids to watch if for no other reason than to understand what we lived through.

Harry Benson (George Segal) is a rising star in the emerging world of computer technology. He has dominated the field while in his thirties thanks in large part to his superior IQ of 144. Unfortunately his life is plagued by emotional and physiological problems. Benson suffers from epilepsy that result in blackouts and periods of lost time. He also was diagnosed with an Acute Disinhibitory Lesion (ADL) which causes social and emotional dysfunction including paranoia. In addition to all of this Benson has delusions that computers will take over destroying mankind. To combat his ADL and help control his seizures his doctors decide to implant electrodes within his brain that are controlled by a computer implanted in his chest. Considering his predilection for technological conspiracy theories perhaps the best course of action might not have been taking the object of his fears and delusions and making it part of his body. It may have made a lot of sense from a physiological point of view but the psychological impact turned out to be devastating. This was a solid basis for a new age horror story and nicely handled by the author of the source novel, Michael Crichton. He dominated the decade as the master of this type of thriller devising some of the best regarded tales of terror using advances in technology as the boogey man. He created such gripping stories as ‘The Andromeda Strain’ to the biological frights seen in ‘Jurassic Park’. Turning his bestselling book into a working script fell to Mike Hodges, a well known screenwriter involved stories encompassing espionage to psychological thrillers. The story is naturally dated as of this point of time but again there is a touch of irony that the procedure that resulting in the mayhem depicted here is now growing in real life applications. It must be stressed that the time this film was made computers were still a novelty; a great mystery to the majority of the population. This cloak of mystery made computers something to be feared for their ability to be faster and more accurate than us mere mortals. The danger perceived was a computer involved in every aspect of life; exactly what drives our current culture down to a level of involvement unimaginable just fifty years ago. The concept of the web’s infiltration into our everyday life would have terrorized a lot of people back then.