Virtual Nightmare

No, this isn't "Robocop" and by "arresting" we mean it held our attention when so many made-for-TV sci-fi efforts send us scurrying for the remote. The world-as-virtual-reality theme isn't brand new, tho' this film beats the Matrix pictures to the idea by several years. What impressed us was the way that idea is executed, in that residents of a small, desert community only see the pretty, neat little town around them, when it's just an illusion, broadcast to the populace by a local transmitting station. One day a successful young exec starts noticing cracks in the virtual facade and begins to discover what is real and what isn't with the help of a plucky librarian. The reality, when they find it, comes as a shock to protagonists and viewers.

There are really 2 virtual realities in this world: the pretty facade most see and a horribly grubby one deliberately beamed to those jaded souls who seem to think things are supposed to look that way. The "real world," when it's finally revealed, seems half way between the two illusions, in that everything seems to be beige, pre-fab and of unimaginable blandness. We weren't sure if all the virtual realities made sense even in the context of the story, like when the hero first notices his little town isn't what it seems, he sees the horribly grubby "reality" instead of the merely bland one the ending reveals to be the truth, but all in all, for sci-fi fans, this film is entertaining and worth a look.

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.

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'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.