Mindwarp

 

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.