Horrorvision (2001 Video) User Reviews

its not that bad

[yourstruly2010 · 4/10 · 31 October 2005]

Decent enough with some stylish imagery however the tiny budget hampers things.

I also get the impression they were trying to shock you with some of the graphic weirdo perv website stuff.

if you like anime in particular stuff like cyber city and the AD police then this might up your street.

but basically its low budget matrix cash in however not totally devoid of its own style.

Great soundtrack by some unheard of grunge/punk/post grunge bands. Worth checking out if only for the soundtrack.

Almost unwatchable

[TerryMcC · 1/10 · 16 May 2001]

I found Horrorvision almost unwatchable. While only 70 minutes in length I still found myself hitting the fast forward button again and again. The acting was of the `if I scream and say ***k a lot I'm intense' school. And the story was at best a scenario that had yet to be fleshed out.

While I never go to Full Moon for great film making I have never seen them produce as bad a piece of junk as this.

Vision Decision

[barnthebarn · 5/10 · 19 September 2008]

Tempe and Full Moon team up for a rather slow science fiction/horror adventure regarding a website that causes trouble when one logs on to it. Cast is good, especially Maggie Rose Fleck (from Full Moon flick 'Stiches') though several Tempe regulars appear including Ariauna Albright and Tammi Sutton. Fantastic photogrophy in the film is by Ward Boult. Scream queens Linnea Quigley (in a still picture) and Brinke Stevens feature briefly and James Black is good in a small role. Watchable but dull film and another relatively poor feature from Full Moon and further evidence of their poor relationship with Tempe. There are some good graphics in this one and some new ideas so its certainly worth a look but its disappointing none-the-less.

Does the word 'closure' mean anything?

[steelcorpfilms · 5/10 · 3 September 2001]

I thought this looked interesting from the first time I saw it at Hollywood Video, although I have no idea why. I mean, if you just look at it, it looks like any other direct-to-video release and one with a pretty cheesy title at that. But, for better or worse, it kept tugging on my "check this out" senses, so when I was at the Horrorfind convention and not only had a chance to get it, but also had a chance to get it signed by Brinke Stevens herself, I couldn't resist. So now that I've seen it what do I think? Well, it was okay, but it could have been a lot better.

The story started out pretty predictably. In fact, the whole movie was pretty predictable. Another thing was that there was no sense of closure. It was left hanging wide open for a sequel. And if no sequel gets made, then "Horrorvision" will turn out to be a pretty pointless movie, you know, like the new "Planet of the Apes". It did have a nice 'end of the world' feel to it, which was cool (kinda like "Maximum Overdrive" in a way). Other than that, there weren't really any highlights in the story. Except for a few "Star Wars" references near the end. Must love those "Star Wars" references.

The acting was decent for a low budget, Full Moon production. There were a couple Full Moon regulars, a few total newbies, and, of course, Brinke Stevens. Brinke had a pretty cool part, but she wasn't around very long (that's what happens when you have 'Special Appearance by' in front of your name). The lead, Jake Leonard, was a little bit of an over-actor, but he did pretty well considering this was his first flick. Another relative newcomer that I liked was Maggie Rose Fleck, but, like Brinke, her part wasn't that big.

The make-up was done pretty well. There was one creepy-looking guy with a bunch of computer stuff on him. The other forms of special effects were pretty cheesy. Little puppet thingies on strings and quite a lot of really bad computer graphic effects. But, hey, this is Full Moon, king of the really bad computer graphic effects. One thing in the flick that I thought was pretty cool was the music. It was some weird 'electro-rock' type stuff and it fit with the movie pretty well.

Do I regret buying or watching this flick? Nope. Will I watch it again? Maybe. Anytime soon? Probably not. If you're a fan of cheesy Full Moon direct-to-video flicks with no closure or a die-hard Brinke Stevens fanatic, check it out.

Not nearly as bad as I suspected

[Battledragon · 9 October 2003]

When I got my copy of Horrorvision, I was suspecting that no movie can be this bad. Covers were pretty nice, but I had read here and elsewhere, that the movie is just awful. I was wrong. Even though, Horrorvision isn't a masterpiece, and it's pretty cheaply made, it has some atmosphere, especially at the ending, that turned out to be very apocalyptic. And I think that's the whole point of the movie, like one of the main characters say at the ending, "Future is now." Still I have seen much better movies that deals with same kind of things. So, not among best apocalyptic movies, but certainly not among the worst ones either. I would give this Full Moon -flick 2½ out of 5

the worst Fullmoon movie i have ever seen!!!

[fish8man · 1/10 · 6 May 2001]

save your money. i have been a fan of fullmoon productions for a long time and i have never seen them make a movie as bad as this. the casting is terrible, the story is even worse and the special affects are worse than any movie iv'e seen sence the 80's. this movie is so bad i cant even suggest renting it.

i'd rather kill myself then watch this again

[sinucus · 1/10 · 20 September 2001]

At first look of the plot tagline I figured it could have been a decent film. Could I have ever been more wrong? The beginning of the film makes it look like a bunch of freaks got together and decided to make a low budget film. For the first 10 minutes you don't notice the cheesy acting, horrible sound and god-awful special effects, but then it gets worse. Just about 20 minutes into it I was asking myself, "What was the plot again?" I could only ask that question when I wasn't busted out laughing from the sheer lameness of this film. The main actor has one setting for emotions and he sticks to it throughout the entire film, even though he was supposed to go through love and hate and everything in-between. The flashback scene almost made me vomit because it made me re-live one extra minute of footage from earlier in the movie. Now we hit the middle of the film where they are obviously trying to rip off Morpheus from "The Matrix," although he is doing just a horrible job. The actor's talking about "Star Wars" and fortune cookie phrases is almost unbearable. Now at the end of the movie you don't realize that it's the end of the movie because you actually think the plot is finally developing. The "Morpheus" character dies, the ONLY good thing about the movie. He utters a couple words and the credits roll. What is this? No plot, bad acting, cheesy everything, it couldn't get any worse. Please, if you value human decency, DO NOT WATCH THIS MOVIE!

Quite possibly the worst movie ever made

[JBoze313 · 1/10 · 26 May 2001]

This is crap....utter crap. I cannot believe any company could even get people to work on a film like this. Full Moon has a number of awful films, but this has got to be the worst. First off, the plot doesn't exist. It's odd. It's like, they took an idea for the story, and kind of never really got around to developing it. They seemed to have just wasted a lot of time filming outside shots while the two "heroes" drove around in the desert, and Bradbury talks nonsense for about 10 minutes. There were two scenes in the movie (when Dez and Dazzy are driving, and when Dez and Bradbury are driving) where it just went on and on and on...it was almost like 2 music videos in the place where there should have been some dialog or action. They just drove for about 5 minutes, with nothing but music and shots of the surrounding landscape.

Next, we come to the acting, which is simply horrible. First off, the girl who plays Dazzy is just a beast. She is so scary looking, I wanted to look away when she was on screen! Horrible casting. Then, you have the guy who played Dez, who couldn't act if his life depended on it. His "crying" is actually funny, and his madman antics are even funnier. The guy who plays the desk clerk at the hotel is just as bad, as is the guy who plays Bradbury. There was no acting that deserves any recognition in this movie whatsoever.

The makeup effects...hmmm, can anyone say pathetic? The "effects" were so fake, they were laughable. The crazy little robot looking catepillar thing grabs onto someone, they cut away, and when they come back, the guy has a completely fake looking flesh wound. Nice. Did they run out of money on the makeup budget or what?! I must say the druggie chick who is in the one girl's apartment...nice makeup there too. I think they were going for a drugged look, and I think she was supposed to have a black guy, but it looked more like cheap zombie makeup for halloween.

This movie is just horrible from the start. The story is stupid and very, very unoriginal, the direction looks as tho it was performed by a 10 year old, the acting is the lowest of the low, and so on. STAY AWAY from this movie at all costs. It's only 70 minutes long in the first place, and atleast 20 minutes of that is taken up by either music and no dialog or the character sitting around in the hotel. Do not waste your time on this piece of garbage.

The idea didn't work

[alicespiral · 1/10 · 14 June 2007]

Before the Internet this movie could never have been made but the idea that the Web is full of evil is the idea behind it.Unfortunately thats all it was-the generally opinion that nowadays the Web in the wring hands can create as much chaos as anything in real life. Since the late 90s somebody found out that you could create a virus which would disable a computer.The point? Just to do something plain evil by remote control so its the cyber equivalent of robbery with violence.Which is basically what spam is without the violence-its conning you into parting with your money and has been going so long its a wonder anybody takes any notice of it nowadays so they get cleverer and use real names as doing something illegal isn't a priority, We see the Internet get worse by the week-the social networking sites or chat room which lead to evil and the child porn sites which ARE illegal. So the idea of a movie which invites people to click a name is just the same old thing-there actually IS a site called Horrorvision which is a porn site-but this one KILLS the people who enter its portals. The story though is so disjointed its boring with it and comes to no conclusion. The definitive movie on this theme of destroying an Internet Service Provider has yet to be made but clearly many DO need destroying as they won't be shut down when there's money to be made. Calling this a horror film is rather misleading as it bores not frightens

Too Much for Full Moon to Handle?

[EdYerkeRobins · 8/10 · 14 April 2002]

A science fiction film is often one of the most expensive types of films to make, especially as the science in our own era gets more and more advanced. No longer are viewers impressed by cardboard and plastic cutouts with shining buttons. Now, audiences desire heart-stopping slow motion effects, intricate designs, and costly CGI (computer graphics). Perhaps even more difficult than a science fiction film is a science fiction/horror film, because not only must the technology be conceived and impressive, it also must be believable as frightening, deadly, and evil or aiding an evil force. Can Full Moon's 2000 release "Horrorvision", a science fiction/horror film made for "the Matrix's coffee budget", be believable without a big budget and a lot of special effects? Although it has a strong story, and (as usual) wrings an amazing amount of effects from its low budget, "Horrovision" is unfortunately just too ambitious for Full Moon.

"Horrorvision" definitely has a strong story and plot. Instead of featuring a true physical entity as its technological nemesis, the film features a techno-spiritual being, a god-like manifestation of all the hate that is allowed to be spread over the internet (known, fittingly, as Manifesto). Though Manifesto has physical outlets, it is essentially indestructible because it can live and act within any piece of computer technology. The story also benefits greatly from being set in an urban, underground "geek is chic" type circle, with uber-cool, leather-clad programmers/hackers as its lead roles. Despite sharing general appearance and character types with contemporaries in films such as "Hackers" and "The Matrix", the leads in "Horrorvision" act and relate to each other like real people (e.g. Dazzy constantly tries to encourage Dez to follow his aspirations of writing a screenplay, but he'd rather make porn sites because it pays the rent). Though sometimes the plot moves a bit fast, it's well paced until the last 10 minutes where, because of the short length, it becomes extremely rushed. As soon as Dez and his mysterious ally Bradbury get their first leads, the film kicks into high gear, with a series of short, anti-climactic confrontations with the "main villains" Wetwall and Manifesto (the Manifesto one, being the film's climax, immensely disappointing) as the film just ends. Interestingly enough, there were several unnecessary music video sequences in the movie that could've been easily cut to save time and fix the pace problems near the end (combined the sequences must have eaten up around 10 minutes of screen time in an 80 minute movie), and it's a wonder why they were left in.

Although "Horrorvision" doesn't have a ton of awe-inspiring effects like its bigger-budget contemporaries, coming from a label as accustomed to low budgets as Full Moon, there is a lot wrung out of the budget. Particularly impressive are the cyber-bug creatures and the Wetwall machine/man (that whole set is amazing). The full-body suit of Manifesto is well-detailed, but the design looks just as goofy as it does sleek. Unlike the practical effects and costumes, the computer effects still aren't up to par. CGI has just not advanced to the point where it can be used effectively by low-budget film-makers yet (although for a neat little flashback of how far it has advanced, check out the footage from the 1994 Full Moon release "Arcade" that Dez watches on a hotel TV).

On the whole, "Horrorvision" is just too much for a Full Moon picture. The story is involving, and definitely requires much more than the hour and a half length that a Full Moon picture is limited by budget to be, not to mention the super-expensive CGI and other special effects it requires and can never get; Danny Draven definitely shows his talents as an up-and-coming director on this one, unfortunately he has too great of a vision for the low budget. The plot and concept are just too involved, and by the end too rushed (of course, this can be blamed on the time lost on the useless music video sequences previously mentioned), such that it seems like a work-in-progress that will never be finished.

Great idea, nothing else from this Full Moon effort

[kannibalcorpsegrinder · 7/10 · 1 October 2022]

After a friend mysteriously disappears, a writer and his girlfriend start to investigate the connection between the incidents and a strange computer virus created in a lab, and after shutting down the virus they go out on the run as the rest of society begins falling with the release of the virus.

This was a rather weird Full Moon genre effort. It's mainly based on the idea to release a film about cyber-technology when they never used modern ideas before. It is a breath of fresh air to see them try this for their films to use a more modern theme is really exciting. What the film does really well is it makes technology seem like a dangerous concept in a modern world by having every possible way that a technological device could be dangerous imagined. This brings out the fear that many have about our cell phones or whatever devices we may have at our disposal. This was a cleverly designed plot idea and was cleverly realized on-screen to integrate the whole S&M tortures of the victims at the beginning which was very believable in how they got everything tied together. That allows this one to feature a solid series of attacks by the released creature to capture and disrupt victims. With the opening attack featuring the computer wires acting as tendrils to ensnare and capture the unaware victim, it sets a solid precedent for how this works as the other features here with the technological terror it creates have some fun to it. The final form of the virus was also a nice way of wrapping up things, and it did have a slightly realistic way of ending with the series of techno-based creature attacks and carnage that take place. It was something new and it came off as a new way of hooking things together which makes for the film's main positives. There are some big factors that drag this one down. The main issue here is that beginning of the film is almost mind-numbingly dull that takes boredom to almost new heights. Focusing on an endless stream of relationship building between the couple or a slew of techno-jargon that sets the stage for nothing in particular interest to happen. As per normal in Full Moon films, there are almost no jumps or scares which make the boredom even more apparent. This is all enhanced with the obvious low-budget on display that comes with everything from the glossy digital glare over the proceedings to the effects-work and the overall cheap, confined nature of everything present here. Combined, this all really drags the film down.

Rated R: Graphic Language, S&M References and Images, Nudity, and Violence.

Above average full moon feature that suddenly fizzles

[jthompson195 · 5/10 · 21 February 2001]

It started off on the right foot. Full Moon movies are notoriously bad but this 'lunar edition' dvd had an interesting plot, solid direction and some good performances. But just when you thought the movie was really taking off it ended. It's like they decided not to spend anymore money and that was that. Or maybe they figured that because of all of the extra features which can now be dumped on the dvd format you only need a little over 70 minutes for the actual movie. This saves money and to cover it up you can add a lot of cheap slop under the guise that you're giving the collector more for his buck. Whatever. Wait until Horrorvision 2 comes out and maybe coupled with the first one you'll be able to see an entire movie.

Full Moon's Version of The Matrix

[BHorrorWriter · 14 May 2001]

Okay, Danny Draven is a very good director...only 23 years old...anyway--

Like most reviews I have read about this movie...I also felt it ended too quickly. This movie was actually building up to be something...The story line about technology destroying mankind, was getting good...then a 2 minute show down at the end killed the whole thing.

Too many Matrix overtones, I feel, also killed the movie. It was good, but it was "borrowing" too much from The Matrix...However, I really did like the creatures in this movie. Wetwire and Manifesto were excellent costumes, that didn't look as dull as most of Full Moon's recent stuff does. I would really like to see the director, Danny Draven redo this movie with about 5 million dollars (instead of the maybe $200,000 or less he did for this). I think he is good director, and young...that is a good thing in hollywood. I just hope that Full Moon doesn't keep their hooks in him too long..I hope he is really discovered. JR Bookwalter did an excellent job recommending Draven to direct....

At maybe 70 mins long, this movie really relied on alot of Padding to get it thru those 70 mins...listening to the commentary on the DVD, we learn that there were several other scenes intended for the movie, but were not made because of budgetary retraints....

Charlie Band: Please, I beg you instead of the insane notion to make 40 movie a year...Please double and triple the budgets on movies with a good idea...This would have been alot better with more money....

7 out of 10

blatant Matrix ripoff

[macgruder · 3 July 2002]

This movie was not at all horrifying, let alone allowed to be let into the horror genre. The only thing horrifying was the plot.

The characters lead us to believe that all people associated with the internet dress in black latex and leather. It also wants us to think that by having a miniboss that ends up killing itself and a final boss that looks like a pile of trash on stilts is supposed to make us scared for our life.

The worst part is the driving sequences. One lasts past 5 minutes, consisting of a goth song that was probably put into the movie because the band paid them, and the visuals are simply two characters driving down a highway showing the same shots over and over again.

The plot is weak as well. The main characters girlfriend gets sucked into oblivion after viewing a website, horrorvision.com (which was a porno site when I went to it today). His girlfriend gets sucked away , and he doesnt even question it. He simply packs up a few things and leaves. If my girlfriend was sucked into oblivion, I would ask a few questions, or maybe call up the police, not run away.

Then he meets a character who is a direct ripoff of Morpheus from the Matrix, telling Dez (the main character) that the website created itself out of pure horror.

**SPOILERS**: the ending is not even resolved at the end, they meet some lame pile of garbage mentioned before. He busts the watch that he came out of and thats it. THATS IT!? I sat through 70 minutes of boring footage to see this? Please dont watch this movie, it is not good. Check out some of Full Moon's more competent movies.

The Matrix without the budget...

[sorcerer_magus · 12 April 2001]

Actually, it's the Matrix without the budget, the actors, the script, the music, the special effects, the choreography...well, you get the idea. It's also a little bit of Videodrome-style evolutionary musings and S&M thrown in for good measure.

That's not to say it's a total waste of money. On the contrary, this really is one of the better Full Moon Films out there. The creatures are fairly well-done, especially the cyborg-moderator Wetwire, although the puppet-animations are hilarious...sometimes creatures seem to be thrown at the actors and the final monster looks like a costume I used to wear during Halloween promotions at the local costume shop.

Still, there are worse movies to rip off than the Matrix--and this movie is pretty blatant about it. Bradbury is an intimidating-looking black guy in shades wearing a leather trench-coat (his is sleeveless so we won't forget we're watching HorrorVision) who teaches awkward young white hacker Dez that he is the promised one--um, make that seven--who the machines fear will end their reign on Earth. I kept waiting for everybody to start popping red and blue pills...

Still, the ideas are clever, if vague, and the apocalyptic feel of a world slowly going mad somehow manages to work, despite being shown almost no images of the chaos we're told is erupting around the country. The Wetwire sequence alone is almost creepy enough to warrent a rental, and there are some other nice touches in the film.

But, as has been pointed out before, the movie ends just when the plot really starts to pick up. Furthermore, the pacing in this movie is bizarre--twenty minutes are spent on dramatic character development, then Bradbury appears and the heroes suddenly find themselves in a scene that should have been the film's climax, and then they spend the rest of the movie driving through a desert to a battle that seems to have little consequence to the plot, and isn't nearly as impressive as some of the things seen earlier.

It's still worth seeing, mainly for the Wetwire sequence--you'll see what I mean when you watch it, and some self-aware humor that lets us know that the movie-makers aren't taking all this too seriously either. It really is one of the best Full Moon movies out there: it's just that, as of yet, that's not saying much...