AllMovie

This energetic direct-to-video effort rises above its severely limited budget thanks to a fairly enthusiastic script, fraught with the kind of goofy paranoia that would later propel The X-Files to cult status. The later years of the Cold War set the stage for a plot involving a diabolical, far-reaching government conspiracy, linked to the testing of new high-tech defense equipment that uses technology cannibalized from a downed alien spacecraft. It seems there's a ghost in the machine -- an artificial alien intelligence has come to life in the circuitry of the central defense computer A.S.M.O.D.S. (Automatic Systems Monitoring Offensive/Defensive Strategy), through which it manipulates much of the Defense Department's equipment and personnel. It's ultimately up to a conspiracy-hungry tabloid reporter (Hans Bachmann) to convince Pentagon officials of the impending danger and stop A.S.M.O.D.S. from ordering a massive nuclear strike. Modestly entertaining if not particularly original, the screenplay owes a tremendous debt to Colossus: The Forbin Project, but still manages to take the concept in some interesting directions.