The Vindicator

The Vindicator (also known as Frankenstein '88 and known in Brazil as Roboman) is a 1986 Canadian science fiction film directed by Jean-Claude Lord. The film is a modern-day retelling of the classic Frankenstein story set in the 1980s. Its plot involves a man who was killed in an accident in a laboratory, but revived as part of an experiment as a cyborg. The film was released by 20th Century Fox and released on video by Key Video (a division of CBS/FOX Video) and is now out of print. The special effects were by Stan Winston. Plot Carl Lehman (David McIlwraith) is a scientist working on a next-generation space suit for the ARC corporation in a high-tech secret lab, run by the sinister Alex Whyte (Richard Cox). One of the projects being developed for the space suit, the "rage program" is software that can take over the brain of the user when attacked to destroy the attacker. One day, Alex Whyte is performing test trials of the software on monkeys. Alex, out of curiosity, has the rage factor turned up beyond safe levels, killing the monkey. After Carl confronts Whyte about suspicious funding cuts, Whyte sends his employee Massey to rig an explosion in Carl's lab, killing him and disguising the death as a lab accident. ARC informs Carl's pregnant wife Lauren (Teri Austin) and daughter Catherine (Catherine Disher) that Carl has died. In reality, Whyte is keeping Carl's charred body in a suspension tank filled with oxygenating fluid that keeps his brain functioning. Using Carl's space suit and ARC's cutting-edge prosthetics technology, they build Carl a cyborg body and dub him "Project Frankenstein." The rage program is also installed, with a remote control unit acting as a safeguard. The reanimation initially fails, so researcher Gail Vernon (Lynda Mason Green) disassembles the suit. After the remote control unit is removed, a short circuit causes Carl to suddenly come back to life. When Gail tries to reinstall his control unit, Carl pushes her away. She falls onto a control panel, which releases all of the lab monkeys. They attack Gail in a rage and kill her.