Signals - Experiment ausser Kontrolle

Well, it can be truly horrifically bad, as in "Battlefield Earth". Or it can be stupidly cheaply exploitatively bad, as in "Attack of the Giant Leeches". Or, it can be painfully embarrassingly bad as in "Face the Music". "Deceived" is innovative in that it creates a new kind of bad, cheap certainly but in a preachy posing altruisticaly bad way. It's as if the actors, most of whom are at least competent, sacrifice themselves for the good of the cause, saying words and performing actions that must have caused their thespian guts to wring themselves inside out. Still they trooped on and we have the result. There's enough camp to make it watchable, sort of, and of course with this kind of thing there's always curiousity about just how far down the road to "Plan 9..." it will go. The answer is quite a ways.

I gave 'Left Behind' a chance and didn't get 30 minutes into it. In that movie the acting was horrid and the situations strained to become credible. So, it was with great reluctance that I came to 'Deceived'. This time the acting wasn't horrid and the situations didn't try so hard to beat me over the head. In fact, this was no better or worse than an average X-files episode including the speculative ending. The Christian message was inserted here and there but it seemed to become part of the story rather than try to take over the story. There are logic gaps that need explaining. It was nothing too distracting though and if you accept this as a standard B-pic you can actually sit back, relax and be entertained.

I'll be honest, when I picked up "Deceived", I was less than looking forward to viewing it. Given Cloud Ten's horrible and unbearable movie record, it's still a mystery why I picked it up. But since I was out of movies to watch for the night, I popped it in.

SURPRISE!!!

This has to be Cloud Ten's best movie to date. After seeing all of the others (Revelation, Tribulation, Judgment, Left Behind, ect.) I was surprised to find out that Cloud Ten is learning the meaning of the word, "Quality". The script wasn't that bad at all; it was not overly preachy. There were some awkward dialogue, but it was a LOT less than all the other movies. As far as casting goes, again lot's of improvement from previous films. I think that casting Judd Nelson was a good decision as well as that of Gossit. It was well photographed, the sound mix was decent and the score actually fit.

Overall, I'd give it a 7 out of 10. It's not totally perfect (Title Sequence) , but it's getting there. Regardless of what others might think, "Deceived", has quality behind it that ALL the other Cloud Ten movies could only long for. If Cloud Ten continues on this path, they may just win me back.

The script is bad, the acting substandard and melodramatic, the budget was probably way up in the 4 or maybe 5 digit range. Even so, I've seen worse. Just because it happens to offer the perspective of a Christian doesn't make it as horrible as so many other reviewers seem to think.

There are other movies that preach "New Age" beliefs and aren't treated this poorly. Is it possible that people are letting their beliefs taint the reviews just a little? Yes this IS a bad movie, but some people actually do enjoy watching them. Why not just enjoy it for the poor qualities you would judge any other film?

As for whether its Sci-Fi, I've seen Ghost, The Flintstones and The Mainitou listed under Sci-Fi. Unfortunately an argument could be made for their inclusion. Now if there were an accepted category of Christian movies I might agree with moving this there. There isn't, so why quibble? Again just look at it like any other B movie and get off the Anti-Christian rhetoric.

I agree with the over reviewers, stay away from this movie at all costs. Putting aside the "Christian propaganda" aspect of it, this movie just doesn't have anything compelling going for it. The plot is meanadering and uninteresting, the characters are archetypical and flat, and the acting is so bad you want to throw objects at the screen during certain scenes. When you factor in the obviously overt religious agenda ("Maybe prayer IS still relevant to modern life...") there is just no doubt that this film will ONLY be of ANY enjoyment whatsoever to the 5 people out there that actually want to hear this apocalyptical Christian babble. If you don't need a lecture on how to be saved and feel compentant to leave evangelism out of your cinematic experience then walk, no, run from this movie at all costs.