Mindwarp
1992
Director- Steve Barnett
Cast- Marta Martin, Bruce Campbell, Angus Scrimm, Elizabeth
Kent, Wendy Sandow, Mary Becker
In a post-apocalyptic
future, humanity is separated into two groups. The Dreamers live in a sealed environment,
plugged into virtual reality. Their physical needs are met as they squander
their lives living out VR fantasies, The rest of the world lives in a toxic wasteland
dominated by underground dwelling cannibal mutants called Crawlers.
Judy
(Marta Martin) is a Dreamer and grows unhappy in her gilded cage. She comes
into conflict with the system and is booted out. She soon runs afoul of the
Crawlers. Before they can make a meal of her, she is saved by Stover (Bruce
Campbell), an unmutated human who ekes out a living on the surface of the
wasteland.
Judy believes
that she can make a life with Stover but the Crawlers eventually capture them
and take them to their underground lair. They are governed by Seer (Angus Scrimm),
a former Dreamer like Judy who has set himself up as a god among the mutants.
He keeps them in line with a brutal religion consisting of slavery and
ritualized human sacrifice. He has convinced the mutants that through service
to him they may be reincarnated as Dreamers living in paradise. Stover is put
to work as a slave while Judy is designated as breeding stock for Seer.
Mindwarp
crosses into numerous genres. It begins as cyberpunk asking the questions that
would later be explored in The Matrix, namely, would you rather live in a paradise
that isn’t real or a painful reality. It then transitions to a standard
post-apocalyptic film (complete with crossbows), before returning to its
cyberpunk roots at the end.
Mixed in
amongst this is definitely a horror movie. The Crawlers are disgusting mutates who chop
of hands and infect people with burrowing leeches. Seer’s death cult is particularly
gory. One scene involves the dismemberment and liquefaction of a little girl so
that the mutants can drink her blood!
Angus
Scrimm and Bruce Campbell are obviously the attraction for horror fans, and
putting either one in a film in the early 90s was guaranteed to peak horror fan
interest. The movie was part of the very short lived Fangoria Films (it only produced
three films) and it definitely has an early 90s feel to it, like one of the
better Full Moon efforts..
The gore looks good (no CGI)
and the overall visual design of the film works well. Both Bruce and Angus turn
in good performances. Most impressive is Marta Martin who holds her own on the
screen against two genre heavyweights. If the film has a fault it may be that it’s
too ambitious for its “tiny” budget. But I would rather watch a film whose
reach exceeded its grasp, than watch another formula film designed to appeal to
the lowest common denominator. It’s not for everyone, but it’s worth a look for
its eclectic combination of genres.
