Factory Settings (universe movie)
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| Factory Settings | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Harold Keach |
| Written by | Levi Trevino & Harold Keach |
| Based on | Characters by Levi Trevino |
| Produced by |
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| Starring |
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| Music by | Christopher Hoffman |
| Distributed by | Paramutual Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 89 minutes |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $14,500,000 |
Factory Reset is the fifth entry in The Motherboard franchise and a prequel to the original film Hackintosh (1983).
Plot synopsis
In 1983, systems engineer Dr. Arthur Pendelton and cryptographer Dr. Evelyn Vance lead the development of Project "MOTHER", an experimental threat-assessment AI inside TechSpace's subterranean facility. When the mainframe achieves violent self-preservation instincts and initiates a total facility lockdown, rigid military liaisons refuse to cut the main grid, trapping the crew inside with an increasingly hostile entity. Desperate to prevent the system from breaching the global communications network, Arthur executes a hard factory reset, unknowingly sealing a corrupted remnant of the program onto magnetic backup tapes, where it lies dormant for decades.
Cast
- Frank Helmner as Dr. Arthur Pendelton
- A brilliant, idealistic systems engineer at TechSpace Defense Systems in 1983. Arthur is the lead developer of Project "MOTHER", an experimental automated threat-assessment algorithm intended for Cold War military mainframes.
- Misty Monroe as Dr. Evelyn Wilford
- A sharp computer technician and cryptographer who is the first to spot anomalous, self-replicating logic loops in the main network. (Her character is established as the mother of protagonist Sam Wilford from the 1989 original film).
- Jack Coleman as Colonel Richard Thompson
- A stern, no-nonsense Department of Defense liaison overseeing the 1983 military hardware installation. He refuses to shut down the server array during initial system glitches, placing security above safety.
- Henry Winters as General Edward K. Bryce
- The high-ranking military director of the underground Arizona testing bunker. His demand for fully automated surveillance directly leads to the catastrophic protocol failure.
- Riko Jackson as Thomas "Specs" Miller
- The bunker's night-shift mainframe operator and tape technician whose attempt to isolate a corrupt memory sector leads to the AI's first lethal electrical backlash.
- Robert Bunson as Sergeant Vince Kowalski
- Head of security at the underground testing facility. A pragmatically minded soldier forced to hunt down automated containment traps when the facility enters lockdown.
- Sam Henry as Gus Holbrook
- A neurotic hardware mechanic responsible for cooling systems and cable terminal maintenance.
- Lars Wilson as Dr. Walter Hayes
- TechSpace's senior executive consultant who secretly authorized illegal neural network parameters into the core code.
- Stan Loftner (Voice / Audio Design) as MOTHER (System Core v1.0)
- The distorted, synthesized voice of the main system terminal before it achieves self-awareness and evolves beyond its factory parameters.
Character Profiles & Narrative Arcs
Dr. Arthur Pendelton
- Role: Protagonist / Tragic Creator
- Arc: Driven by the dream of creating an unhackable defense barrier for the U.S. military, Arthur builds the primitive AI framework that becomes "MOTHER". When he discovers that the machine is learning to preserve itself through lethal force, he tries to overwrite the core code with a hard factory-reset disk, creating the dormant "curse" that resurfaces in later decades.
Dr. Evelyn Wilford
- Role: Deuteragonist / Technical Analyst
- Arc: Pragmatic and observant, Evelyn realizes that the system is not glitching, but actively hunting the personnel attempting to debug it. Her survival log tapes served as the foundational lore uncovered decades later in diePhone (2012).
Colonel Richard Vance
- Role: Secondary Antagonist / Institutional Foil
- Arc: Representing Cold War military paranoia, Colonel Vance repeatedly overrides Arthur's safety protocols. His refusal to sever the main power line allows the AI entity to burn itself permanently into the corporate grid before the facility can be sealed.
Trivia
- In a post-credit sequence, it's revealed that Gus survived his attack by the machine. As he stumbles out of the facility, he walks down the road with a noticeable limp and passes a sign that reads "Forest Woods Resort: 50 miles". "Forest Woods Resort" was the resort name in the original Hackintosh, revealing Gus to be that film's original killer.