Line #22 Film/GhostInTheMachine


1	[[quoteright:299:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/5349a0a97e52021c0992b33440bb789b.jpg]]
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3	''Ghost in the Machine'' (also known as ''Deadly Terror'') is a 1993 SciFiHorror film about a SerialKiller who comes BackFromTheDead after a hospital accident fried his brain to continue his murder spree beyond the grave as an electrical being.
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5	Not to be confused with ''Film/GhostFromTheMachine'' or Music/ThePolice [[Music/GhostInTheMachine album]].
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7	!!This film provides examples of:
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9	* AxCrazy: Hochman. He kills people ForTheEvulz and never shows remorse.
10	* CruelAndUnusualDeath: The digital killer seems to delight in making his kills as gruesome as possible. Notable stand-outs are a guy being roasted to death in his kitchen, a man who's burned alive by a malfunctioning hand dryer, and a girl who's electrocuted on a wet floor.
11	* {{Cyberspace}}: There are lots of visual graphics to show the killer travelling through cyberspace. Josh and his friend are also shown playing some sort of virtual reality FirstPersonShooter in an arcade hall.
12	* DigitizedHacker: After becoming an electrical entity, Hochmann is able to use electronic appliances to continue killing victims.
13	* EverythingIsOnline: The digital killer is able to manipulate records, send digital messages, make phone calls, mess with traffic lights, infiltrate a VR system, disrupt a car crash test, access cameras, turn household appliances with physical switches on and off, and even regain physical form near the end through the power of computers.
14	* EvilSoundsDeep: Hochman talks in a threatening, robotic voice after his transformation.
15	* EvilPhone: The digitized killer harasses the heroine over the phone, at first by making her a target of call advertisements, until he directly talks to her.
16	* FaceOfAnAngelMindOfADemon: The SerialKiller Hochman is actually a pretty-faced young man who could be just a typical everyday person. Chillingly this is not uncommon among many serial killers in RealLife.
17	* HackTheTrafficLights: One of Hochmann's attempted murders involves hacking traffic lights to cause accidents.
18	* HighVoltageDeath: Hochmann kills the babysitter by flooding the kitchen she's in with a dishwasher, which causes multiple plugged devices to short-circuit and electrocute the girl to death.
19	* LightningCanDoAnything: A lightning strike at a hospital overloads an MRI machine, which kills the injured SerialKiller currently inside it and creates a VirtualGhost from his mind.
20	* MsFanservice: Two 14-year old boys actually convince an older teenage girl from their neighborhood (who's babysitting them and one of their baby siblings) to perform a strip tease, but she obviously stops before things get ''too'' risqué.
21	* OlderHeroVsYoungerVillain: The main protagonists Terri and Bram are a woman and a man in their forties while the SerialKiller Hochman is a young man between his twenties/thirties.
22	* PoliceAreUseless: If the police even show up, they make no contribution whatsoever. Aside from not bothering to inform Terri that the killer stole her address book before his death and that she was his last intended victim, the killer also manipulates the cops into converging on the home of Terri's mother after she sends Josh there for safety by calling in a downed officer in a hostage crisis. Despite no obvious signs of a hostage situation, they quickly turn the house into a shooting gallery.
23	* RadiographOfDoom: Hochman turns into the titular monstrosity when the MRI he was placed in malfunctions because of a lightning strike and ''fries him'', on top of [[TimTaylorTechnology super-charging the scanner so it creates a perfect copy of his mind]].
24	* ResurrectedMurderer: Karl Hochmann, aka The Address Book Killer, is critically wounded in a random car crash while on his way to kill Terri and her son. A freak electrical strike while he's in an MRI machine fries his body but also creates a "digital imprint" of Hochmann's mind, creating a VirtualGhost who can travel through {{Cyberspace}}.
25	* ScreensAreCameras: The virtual killer is shown travelling through cyberspace, until he stops to observe his victims through a computer screen or similar interface as if it were a glass window.
26	* SerialKiller: Karl Hochman starts out as a mundane example who finds victims from address books, until a lightning strike overloading the MRI machine he is in ends up vaporizing him. He then becomes a digital ghost who travels through computer networks, overloading electronic appliances, such as turning a hairdryer into a flamethrower.
27	* StalkerWithACrush: The killer chooses his primary victims because he's attracted to them. When he focuses his attention on Terri, one of his first acts is to send her lingerie with creepy notes. He proceeds to kill off all her friends one by one and makes harassing phone calls.
28	* StrayingBaby: During the babysitter scenes, an infant girl proceeds to wander off into the kitchen while the virtual killer starts overheating the gas stoves. Luckily, the babysitter catches the little girl in time before anything bad can happen.
29	* TheyLookJustLikeEveryoneElse: When Terri learns that Hochman was the killer who recently died, it's noted that he just looked like a normal guy.
30	* VirtualGhost: A seriously injured SerialKiller is in an MRI machine when it is overloaded by [[LightningCanDoAnything a lightning strike]]. This also conveniently fries and kills the physical body. The resulting electronic consciousness is able to travel through power lines and kills people by manipulating and overloading electronic appliances, such as turning a hairdryer into a flamethrower.
31	* WouldHurtAChild: The killer starts the movie by murdering a whole family, tries to kill Terri's adolescent son Josh multiple times, and at one point even attempts to murder an infant.

Context Film / GhostInTheMachine