Tempting Fate

When I heard the plot outline of the new SERIES 7: THE CONTENDERS movie, I remembered this little t.v. movie. There's a similar game show in the film, but it's more a story about not being able to go back and rewrite your life. A very unique tale for an unhyped television movie, but well-done and quite entertaining. Had some nice surprises and solid performances by everyone involved.

Parallel universes, this is the way of "Sliders". This TV movie was very well done with relatively good attention to details. This movie is worth watching as many "B" series or TV movies are. Many aspects of the movie were left undeveloped and that prevents us from really feeling what it would be like.

I first saw this movie when it was the TV Movie of the Week in the late 90's and ever since the concept and imagery has stuck with me. I couldn't pin point it and in between the first time I saw it and now (2010), I had inadvertently forgot the title and therefore, this film that had stuck with me over the years I couldn't access it.

I managed to extrapolate the title through an IMDb search on the keyword "parallel dimension". I then found the DVD on Amazon, new for five dollars. Receiving it today, I was able to find the time to watch it again and while the aesthetics weren't as good as I remember it being, the concept was all in tact as were the key scenes that had stuck with me. I could see immediately why I was drawn to this film.

A brilliant scientist is disregarded by the scientific community as harebrained and foolish. He manages to develop a machine that transfers a living being to a parallel universe, a universe that exists "between atoms" or the space within matter, where life is seemingly perfect in every way. His friends get in on the action and in a show of self- centered behavior, make an attempt to stay in the parallel universe and never go back home. It is at this point that the movie's psychological elements begin, as signs of the new world's demons and imperfections begin to take shape.

This film was not that bad but it would have been better as an episode in an anthology series like the Outer Limits or Twilight Zone. Take a slice of Sliders, a bit of Brave New World and a little of the famous Shirley Jackson story "The Lottery" and then you have the concept of this movie. Not bad but not super, though worth a look if re-run on television.

No big cast, directing, cinematography or anything, but a fascinating Twilight Zone like movie. Pretty plain looking and acted, but well worth watching.