Subterano

Seriously!

Sometimes i just get the feeling that the whole movie industry is after my mental health. Someone could ask why? well the aswer is really simple > movies like SUBTERANO. When "wannabe" sci-fi flicks go bad this is a good sample what happens, totally lost script, bad acting, bad catch, bad cpu animations, bad sounds, and last, but not least bad atmosphere.

I do not recommend this movie nor will i ever say it is good, i will simply poke my eyes blind next time i even hear someone say "subterano", i mean HOW BAD CAN MOVIES GET REALLY?

True, the special effects are a little lame in this low budget Australian movie, and the location for most of the action -- a parking garage -- is pretty cheap.

But, darn it. I was entertained.

One thing, though: This could be a good children's movie if all the four-letter words were removed.

This has been sitting on my shelf gathering dust for months, so I figured I might as well watch it. I got it for $3 in a bargain bin, so I wasn't expecting much at all, but I got a rather pleasant surprise! Sure, it's not a great movie by any means, full of plot hole and continuity problems, but the actors were actually pretty good for a low budget flick like this. Same goes for the effects. The plot wasn't anything we haven't seen before, but it was handled well. I was pretty disappointed with the "Embo Man" villain in the end....looked like a bad Power Ranger villain. Oh well, it was still a lot better than expected for $3!

7/10

In Australia, a majority of films have to go through the Australian Film Finance Corporation before production. That usually means that Aussie flicks are underfunded, and Subterano is no exception. I tried to like this film. As an Aussie, I felt that I had a duty to like this film. But I couldn't. The script is terrible, the plot is unsuspenseful and you could really care less about the characters.

Sci-fi wise, Australia has had some success with 'Escape from Jupiter'. That was a children's TV series practically unheard of outside of Australia. And, in reality, Subterano is nothing more than an overbaked form of that, with little in the way of budget and creativity. Avoid this film at all costs. I remember saying that this is, without a doubt, proof that Australia should stay away from science fiction cinema. And I stand by that.

SUBTERANO is one of those low-budget movies that is, unfortunately, too ambitious for its own good. The idea is there, along with a good premise, but the resources to carry it out isn't. So as a result we get a movie that uses the same color scheme and repetitive nature of the highly creative CUBE, which managed to sell its low-budget nature because the story dictates repetitiveness. With SUBETERANO, the repeating of garage levels is just, well, repeating garage levels.

Also, the screenplay is much too elaborate. There is a whole back story about revolution and the movie itself is supposed to take place in the future. I've always advised low-budget filmmakers to veer away from futuristic storylines for the simple reason that they don't have the resources to carry out the premise. And, as a result, their "future world" always ends up looking incredibly laughable.

SUBTERANO is not an entirely bad film. It has some good actors, but also some very irritating characters that, unfortunately, don't die off fast enough. There really is no surprise who will live or who will die, and who will end up being really irritating. In this respect, the screenplay fails.

5 out of 5

(go to www.nixflix.com for a more detailed review of this movie, including reviews of other films in this genre)