Virtual Nightmare

The idyllic existence of Fairview advertising executive Michael Muhney is upset by bad dreams and disturbing visions. He's unknowingly experiencing a reality-check in a bracing post-apocalyptic Matrix riff from Australia (which explains the unfamiliar cast). A faceless corporation called Arora has wallpapered-over the real world with pacifying signals sent direct to the brain: this is a world where you can buy a new car every day at 1950s prices and your unflaggingly cheerful parents talk in reassuring platitudes, a place where Kurt Cobain sings children's songs and Marilyn Monroe makes movies with Leonardo DiCaprio. Mixing paint-box colours with grimy black-and-white, director Michael Pattinson conjures up a delusional universe that repels and attracts in equal measure. This curious picture lifts good ideas from impeccable sources: the too-perfect nostalgic small-town setting of Pleasantville, the sealed perimeters of The Thirteenth Floor, the out-of-wack office of The Truman Show, the on-screen catalogue tags of Fight Club, the paintings of Rene Magritte. Even though it's consistently engaging, like so many Outer Limits-style tales, the more it's explained, the less interesting it becomes. This could be because the dialogue sounds as though it's been lifted wholesale from comic-book speech-bubbles. Even so, the conflicting ideas gnaw: Socrates' assertion that the unexamined life is not worth living is all very well, but would we want to know the truth if the truth is unbearable?

I liked this movie. I'll even admit that I watched it twice back to back just to take it all in. There's no top Hollywood named stars, no big explosions, no over the top special effects, just a neat little story line that keeps a person interested, and maybe even guessing a little bit.

I enjoyed how they mixed the flavor of the 1950s with the technology of the 2000s. The underlying message seeming to be that that's how people in the future would create their own reality if they could. Car enthusiasts will love their concept of car buying. I don't want to explain too much about the movie's plot line in fear of taking some of the fun of discovery out of it. Suffice to say, if you like the idea of the possibilities of virtual reality, the wackiness of the 1950's stereotypes, and your sci-fi lite, give this movie a try.

Last note. There were a few plot holes in my opinion but nothing major, and nothing I couldn't come up with an explanation for on my own. My only real complaint is that I had to watch this movie on a tape of commercial television because it doesn't appear to be available on DVD. I'd buy a copy if it were. It's a keeper.

Virtual Nightmare is one of those films you catch on cable television by accident. I was one of the lucky people who did just that, over the Christmas period in 2002.

This was one of those films that did well to show the acting talents of virtual nobodies. The only criticism I have of the film is the ending, which I felt was a little unsatisfactory. That said, Virtual Nightmare does give food for thought, and the last film that made me think in this kind of way was "Cube", which was a completely different genre, but still made me feel "claustrophobic".

Nevertheless, this is one film that should be seen. It highlights the rot of consumerism and globalisation, and how we are all blind to it.

I'm one of the folks completely underwhelmed by the Matrix series' "Let's bankrupt-the-Studio!" mindset toward oppressively massive SFX. I like movies that make you think and which DO NOT rely on massive amounts of gunplay and car wrecks.

Virtual Nightmare, like its true inspiration, THE THIRTEENTH FLOOR, is such a film.

On viewing Virtual Nightmare numerous other films came to mind. Total Recall, The Stepford Wives, The Wizard of Oz and also The Matrix. Despite this, the film did not seem that derivative and for me exists in its own right as an original.

The premise underlying the film was more believable to me than The Matrix, which I could not take seriously. The fact that there were no really big names in the film added to the charm and I was not focused on a Bruce being Bruce, or Arnie being Arnie. I could concentrate on the film itself rather than the star.

There were a few surprises along the way and I never lost interest for a minute. Though having said that there were some gaps in the plot and the ending was ultimately a little unsatisfactory, in the same way that Total Recall was. It was not quite up to the high standard of what had gone before.

The film seemed to convey to me the dangers of over eager consumerism and small-minded indifference to anything beyond our own doorstep. I would certainly watch it a second time in the near future and maybe again sometime in the distant future, but for me it is not a film to watch over and over again. Highly enjoyable though and evidence that you do not need a huge budget or a big name to create something worthwhile.