The premise of this site is to review and find unique movies that perhaps very few have ever heard of. Movies like Night of the Living Dead or The Rocky Horror Picture Show are classic examples of these cult/drive-in movies. In the past decade the definition has become less clear. I wouldn’t say that there is a full definition of what a cult movie is today, I would however say that there are movies that push the boundaries and take chances.

Murderbot is a 2025 series produced by Apple TV with 10 episodes. It’s a story about a security robot that manages to hack the controls that keeps him from committing violent acts against the humans he has been contracted to protect. The show plays out in the distant future where competing corporations and national interests results in groups exploring unknown planets for raw minerals or anything else they can find. It’s beyond Wild Wild West — it’s pure lawlessness, in fact — so to protect these groups they contract SEC robots to protect them. They are exceptionally good at what they do.

We are introduced to the titular character played by Alexander Skarsgård (Godzilla vs Kong). In the first scene of the first episode, we see that after rigorous abuse from the miners, Murderbot manages to break his programming and goes on a killing rampage, in the process naming himself.

The company retrieves him and wipes all the programing from his brain in the hopes of being able to restore him to some kind of normal function. After all, these are fairly expensive robots. Murderbot somehow manages to retain his memory and hide the fact that he is no longer controlled by the governing software. This is where we see some smart screenwriting. For all intents and purposes, the robot is self-aware and conscious. He loathes humans and desperately wants to be on his own to watch his favorite sci-fi TV show, “The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon.” And to say that this is the dollar store’s scifi show would be generous. He can’t just walk away though; after all, he is a robot and would stick out in a crowd. Being fully aware of this problem, he decides to take a job with a group that’s excavating on the outer rim.

The humans Murderbot is guarding are a basic bunch of hippies looking to make the universe better through research and discoveries. There is one thing they have in common and that is that they do not like the robot. For some reason, it creeps them all out to have a machine designed to kill hovering around them constantly. The hilarious part of this situation is that Murderbot is well aware of how they feel and doesn’t give a crap. In fact, he would encourage it if he could but that might give away the fact that he’s conscious.

Exploring on a distant planet is extremely dangerous and it doesn’t take long for situations to arise that shed some light on the mysteries that Murderbot is hiding. It turns out that Murderbot is terrible at keeping a secrets, mostly because of poor social skills. The really important thing here to know is that everybody knows what he is and what he’s capable of, kind of like if they let a wild tiger live among them. The group decides to keep him around as long as he promises not to kill any of them.

The true beauty of the show is the inner dialogue going on with Murderbot. There’s even extensive discussion on if he has a penis or should have a penis. Murderbot has a strong opinion on the subject.

I think the best way to imagine it would be visualizing the Terminator being a sarcastic jerk who wants nothing more to go live in the woods and be an interior designer.

In many ways, this is a fish-out-of-water story, except that its told by a snake in the desert who has no interest whatsoever in the fish. It’s not one of those stories either where he learns how to experience emotion and find love and friendship. He is not Data from Star Trek. In fact, I think he would want to punch Data in the face. Murderbot has extremely strong points of view about society, humans, and all their activities. He’s not a fan.

The beauty here is that we get a story from a nonhuman perspective. Essentially, he is an alien of sorts and while he thinks our TV shows are awesome, that’s about as far as his admiration goes. As the research on the planet continues events force him to get closer and closer with the humans — and one human in particular (Noma Dumezweni), the leader of the group who’s managed to gain an element of respect from Murderbot.

I’m not really certain how to sum this one up. It’s on the cheap side of sci-fi. They go on location and build a couple of sets, it’s not bad. The writing is really where this show shines. It’s clever and it holds your attention. I honestly think that this is the time of series. Multiple shows give writers a chance to explore characters and situations in a way that hour and ½ doesn’t.

This is one of those shows where the raring of PG is absolutely applicable. It has a fair amount of violence, as you would imagine for a show about a murdering robot, it’s not so graphic though that it might shock kids. Just so you know, there are couple decapitations and exploding heads. The show is not pure scifi, although it is decent scifi action adventure. I don’t know how I would describe the current environment around TV and film. There’s a heavy dose of cynicism and disappointment. I think this is shortsighted because there has always been lackluster films and TV shows. At the same time there is also quality stuff being produced, you just have to dig for it. This series is worth your time.