Deceived

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.

It's a shame this film couldn't maintain the edgy intrigue of its first twenty minutes or so. Instead, it unravels to the point where the title might refer to the viewer who was expecting some kind of payoff for investing their time in watching it.

The idea of the signal and the question of its origin is a sturdy enough hook to hang a plot upon. The story is not the problem, but the means that are employed to tell it certainly are. The first sign of trouble is when the military shows up at the observatory. Naturally a storm soon follows - is there some rule in Hollywood that people must always be trapped in remote locations by thunderstorms? Once the debate about the signal starts...it goes on..and on, for almost the entire movie. For folks who are stuck in a tense situation far from anywhere and who don't trust each other, the characters act remarkably calm and there is far too much talking and too little action. One of the biggest mysteries is why for such an important character - she's the only one with overt psychic ability - the part of Vasquez is so woefully underwritten. It seems that she has only two lines in the whole movie - a total waste of a very fine, sultry performance by Ramona Milano.

Gossett Jnr is passable as the army honcho - it's not like he hasn't had previous experience in such a role - but the only other solid acting comes from Judd Nelson, who gives a workmanlike performance as Jack (not Jake!) Jones. He valiantly tries to carry the film for its duration, but the tepid script sinks his efforts. It doesn't help that Michelle Nolden's performance as the devout love interest fails on practically every level. Most of the other leads fall into stereotype - feisty female reporter - or caricature - the preacher who likes his food.

Basically, this film is such a disappointment that you might be well advised to send a signal of your own to the TV set - and watch something else!

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.

Only in the US would such a piece of horse manure be able to be made. I accidentally rented it as I was Deceived by the cover saying it was about receiving an ET signal, not so. Ok, I will try to type this with a straight face: It's a signal lasting 6.66 seconds and therefor originated from Satan. Only people with the brain matter of an amoebe would take this movie serious. Sorry, I'm trying to be respectful of people with a certain belief system, but after having undergone the excruciating stupidity of this movie I had to write "Jesus is coming: get wood and nails!" at least a dozen times on my living room walls to compensate for this retarded religious propaganda effort.

Cloud Ten has made some pretty decent films in the past such as the Apocolypse Series, which I actually enjoyed, but this film is pure garbage. Thank God I didn't pay full price for it ( I auctioned it off of ebay for around $10.00). This movie should be number one in the "Worst Movies of All Time". The storyline is so retarded. If you don't want to waste your time and money, do yourself a favor and avoid seeing this film. -1/10