"Arcade" is not only the name of this direct to video feature, but the name of the cutting edge video game within the feature. This game Arcade is a virtual reality extravaganza that its makers hope will be all the rage among todays' kids. However, something's gone horribly wrong with the game (natch) and the teens who play it go bonkers and then get trapped somewhere inside the game. And the game would dearly love to become a part of the "real world". Megan Ward ("Encino Man", "Freaked") is sexy and appealing in the main role; even if technically she's too old for her role, casting 20-somethings as teenagers is a concept that's hardly new for the movie business. It's also extremely amusing not only to see a young Seth Green in this, but none other than Peter Billingsley (a.k.a. Ralphie in "A Christmas Story") as another of Wards' friends. The cast also includes John de Lancie (Q from 'Star Trek: The Next Generation), Sharon Farrell ("Night of the Comet"), A.J. Langer ("The People Under the Stairs"), Bryan Dattilo ('Days of Our Lives'), Don Stark ('That '70s Show'), and Norbert Weisser, a regular in the films of director Albert Pyun ("The Sword and the Sorceror", "Cyborg", "Nemesis"), as the games' designer. The issue that this viewer had with "Arcade" was that considering its subject matter, it still turned out to be a rather boring, muddled story. It simply has little energy, and it's too hard to muster much interest in the characters or the tale being told, even though there's one intense story thread with the heroines' mother having killed herself. And even for a company that specialized in low budget genre fare, this looks especially cheap. The special effects are basically adequate; "The Lawnmower Man" had more visual buzz when it came to the whole virtual reality concept. This may entertain less discriminating viewers, but with the characters lacking rooting interest and the movie coming up short in dramatic tension, it has to rate as a below average Full Moon production. Four out of 10.
Review of Arcade
