Looker is a 1981 American science-fiction thriller–horror film written and directed by Michael Crichton and starring Albert Finney, Susan Dey, and James Coburn. The film is a suspense/science-fiction piece that comments upon and satirizes media, advertising, television's effects on the populace, and a ridiculous standard of beauty. Though sparse in visual effects, the film is notable for being the first commercial film to attempt to make a realistic computer-generated character, for the model named Cindy. It was also the first film to create three-dimensional shading with a computer, months before the release of the better-known Tron.
Plot
Dr. Larry Roberts, a Beverly Hillsplastic surgeon, is puzzled when four beautiful models working in television commercials request cosmetic surgery to make changes so minor as to be imperceptible to the naked eye. When these models later start dying under mysterious circumstances, he discovers they are all linked to the same advertisement research firm. The Digital Matrix research firm rates advertising models using a scoring system to measure the combined visual impact of various physical attributes in television commercials. In an experiment to increase their scores, some models are sent to Dr. Roberts to get cosmetic surgery to maximize their visual impact. Though the models are physically perfect after the surgery, they still are not as effective as desired, so the research firm decides to use a different approach. Each model is offered a contract to have her body scanned digitally to create 3D computer-generated models, then the 3D models are animated for use in commercials. The contracts seem to be incredibly lucrative for the models; once their bodies are represented digitally, they get a paycheck for life, never having to work again, since their digital models are used for all their future work in commercials. However, when these same models start dying under mysterious circumstances, Roberts becomes suspicious and decides to investigate Digital Matrix. He has a strong interest in investigating the deaths: he is considered a prime suspect by the police and his most recent patient, Cindy. Cindy is the last of the models to be digitally scanned. During his investigation, Roberts discovers some advanced technology that the Digital Matrix corporation is using to hypnotize consumers into buying the products they advertise. He also discovers the Light Ocular-Oriented Kinetic Emotive Responses gun, a light pulse device that gives the illusion of invisibility by instantly mesmerizing its victims into losing all sense of time.
Crichton started thinking about the subject of the film in 1975. He says he went to a Los Angelescomputer company to find out how they could create copies in commercials without looking too ridiculous and discovered a company in Texas was already doing it, called tomography. Looker became an early production of The Ladd Company. It was Leigh Taylor-Young's first film in eight years.
Reception
Looker was poorly received by critics. The film holds a 29% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 21 reviews. It was also unsuccessful at the box office.
