I liked Brainscan when I was younger but it seems a bit dated now, even for a film made in 1994. It just makes such a big deal out of CD-ROM technology. I guess the only game out back then was Myst.
Michael Brower (Furlong) is a lonely kid. His mother is dead and his dad is often away on long business trips leaving him alone in his attic bedroom with his massive computer station big enough to be the Skynet system core (one presumes his dad is computer salesman or something). Horror movies are his obsession and spying on his would-be girlfriend next door breaks up the day. For him, life is easier when seen through a TV rather than dealing with it up front.
His attention is drawn to an ad in Fangoria, a video game called Brainscan which promises the ultimate high in interactive gaming. It's a horror game that is so real it'll chill your blood etc etc. Michael is sceptical but goes along with it anyway. He dials the number and gets his (apparently free) Brainscan disc.
The object of the game is to kill and that's exactly what Michael does. He's sent into a state of deep hypnosis through the TV and wakes up on his ultimate killing high. So THIS is what it feels like to be Jason Voorhees! Trouble is it appears that Michael really is killing people and when he tries to shut the game down wonderfully mad character called The Trickster pops out of the TV and involves himself in conversations regarding the nature of horror that become a bit too philosophical.
Brainscan ends with a plot twist that is quite ingenious and caught me totally off-guard the first time I saw it. However, a couple of plot points that occur after this make no sense and throw the whole logic of the plot into confusion. Written by Andrew Kevin Walker (the very man who gave us Se7en and 8mm) you can expect there to be a certain tightness to the structure of the film but it seems to be to small and restricted for it's own good. If more opportunities created by the bizarre story were explored and fleshed out it could have been a great film instead of only being a good one.
The Brainscan DVD is in average looking 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen with average Dolby 2.0 sound. The region 1 disc is really the only way to go as the Region 2 is in crappy fullscreen. Neither have any features. Don't pay more than 5 bucks this if you really want it.
Michael Brower (Furlong) is a lonely kid. His mother is dead and his dad is often away on long business trips leaving him alone in his attic bedroom with his massive computer station big enough to be the Skynet system core (one presumes his dad is computer salesman or something). Horror movies are his obsession and spying on his would-be girlfriend next door breaks up the day. For him, life is easier when seen through a TV rather than dealing with it up front.
His attention is drawn to an ad in Fangoria, a video game called Brainscan which promises the ultimate high in interactive gaming. It's a horror game that is so real it'll chill your blood etc etc. Michael is sceptical but goes along with it anyway. He dials the number and gets his (apparently free) Brainscan disc.
The object of the game is to kill and that's exactly what Michael does. He's sent into a state of deep hypnosis through the TV and wakes up on his ultimate killing high. So THIS is what it feels like to be Jason Voorhees! Trouble is it appears that Michael really is killing people and when he tries to shut the game down wonderfully mad character called The Trickster pops out of the TV and involves himself in conversations regarding the nature of horror that become a bit too philosophical.
Brainscan ends with a plot twist that is quite ingenious and caught me totally off-guard the first time I saw it. However, a couple of plot points that occur after this make no sense and throw the whole logic of the plot into confusion. Written by Andrew Kevin Walker (the very man who gave us Se7en and 8mm) you can expect there to be a certain tightness to the structure of the film but it seems to be to small and restricted for it's own good. If more opportunities created by the bizarre story were explored and fleshed out it could have been a great film instead of only being a good one.
The Brainscan DVD is in average looking 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen with average Dolby 2.0 sound. The region 1 disc is really the only way to go as the Region 2 is in crappy fullscreen. Neither have any features. Don't pay more than 5 bucks this if you really want it.