
VIDEO
Mind Warp [VHS]
$30.00
About this product:
Mindwarp is one weird little film. It sounds like it might be a precursor of sorts to The Matrix, but it really isn't. It's got the whole virtual reality world thing going for it, but the whole tenor of the film changes with the introduction of Bruce Campbell. Campbell is always worth watching, and he brings his usual few truckloads of slime and goo with him here. There's a lot of gore, but it's a little too nasty and gooey to be completely satisfying, plus the film is so dadburned dark most of the time that it's hard to see exactly what you're looking at. The whole cannibal subplot is a little disappointing, though, as no humans were actually eaten in the making of this movie. Midway through, the film seemed to be going nowhere, but it picked up steam at the end and threw a few plot twists in the mix to make things interesting.
Apparently, there was some kind of nuclear war, and now the survivors live their lives inside a place called Infinisynth, jacked in to a super virtual reality system that allows them to be and do whatever they want. You get kicked offline to take care of bodily needs and eat green gloop, but other than that it's a dream come true. Of course, there's always someone out there who doesn't like making all of her dreams come true in a realistic fashion; no, she wants something truly real. Well, she gets it, as the Sysop eventually kicks her out for mucking around with the system. Judy (Marta Alicia) finds herself on a barren world that is half-desert and half-glacier (those nukes really screw up the environment, don't they?). She quickly discovers some quicksand, and you almost want to see her die because she is just really annoying. Stover (Campbell) saves her from the zombie cannibals that pull her out of the sand, and the whole "only man and only woman on the face of the earth" things gets them all cozied up. The good times don't last long, though, as they are both then pulled down underneath the earth by the zombified "crawlers." These guys live underneath a landfill, so you can imagine just how disgusting a world this is. The plot gets pretty weird at this point, but you basically get a whole lot of gore from here on out - no actual cannibalism, but there is blood drinking. Lots of blunt instruments get swung around, meat hooks are put to good use, there's a great big saw for the most important sacrifices, and one kid's eyes get gouged out (even though we don't actually see the eyes removed, darn it). There's also a certain little critter that lays its eggs on a person's brain stem, and the journey to that destination ain't a pretty one - neither is the birth of the little darlings and their exit from the host.
The ending, or should I say endings, is what I would all predictably unpredictable, but it works. Mindwarp is a lot of fun to watch if you're not doing anything for an hour and a half. It's certainly not my favorite Bruce Campbell film, but it is a Bruce Campbell film - and usually that's enough to make a movie worth watching. Bruce got an extra bonus from the making of this film, as he met his wife, costume designer Ida Gearon, on the set.