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story identification - Sci-Fi/Horror movie possessing robot with long neck


I'm trying to identify a sci-fi/horror film from the late 70's or 80's. It was live-action and takes place mainly on a spaceship or station. The film is very dark with a vibe similar to Alien (1979). I don't remember the plot (other than people getting killed off one-by-one), but I do remember that the robot/android on the ship was distinctive:




  • Humanoid body, black or dark gray in color

  • long, extendable neck with a head on the end (think the lamp from Pixar's logo, only black)

  • had a human brain, and may have had a psychotic break as a result (pretty sure the robot was doing the killing IIRC)


Sorry, I know this isn't much to go on, but that's exactly why I'm having problems finding it.



Answer



Looks like Cugel may have found it:


Saturn 3 (1980), stars Farrah Fawcett, Kirk Douglas and Harvey Keitel.



In the distant future, an overcrowded Earth relies on research conducted by scientists in remote stations across the solar system. One of these, a small experimental hydroponics research station on Saturn's third moon (called Saturn 3), is run solely by Adam (Douglas) and his colleague and lover Alex (Fawcett).



Alex and Adam's idyll is broken by the arrival of Captain Benson (Keitel), who has been sent to Saturn 3 as part of a project to replace at least one of the moon's scientists with a robot. Benson assembles the robot and names him Hector. One of the first of its kind, a "Demigod Series", Hector relies on "pure brain tissue" extracted from human fetuses and programmed using a direct link to Benson's brain. Benson states that it will render one of the crew "obsolete", most likely Major Adam who tells his partner that he is close to "abort time" according to the government on Earth.


Unknown to both Alex and Adam, Benson is a homicidal sociopath who murdered the captain originally assigned to Saturn 3 and took his place on the mission. Benson had actually failed a crucial test of psychological stability.


As Benson uses the link to his brain to program the robot, Hector acquires Benson's homicidal nature and his lust for Alex.



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