I often find it hard to assign number ratings to "so bad, they're good" movies since even though they're objectively trash, they can still be a lot of fun. However I just couldn't resist scoring this a 1.0.
I have a fondness for 2000's era garbage as it's currently the most recent period to become noticeably campy. I'm sure the 2010's will have their day, but I can't say there's anything particularly funny about them just yet. Gamebox 1.0 hits all the marks of 00s cheese and wraps them around a timelessly silly concept.
Kicking into high gear right out the gate, the nu-metal/industrial score lets you know you're in for a ride. From there, the playlist hits all the stops of dated rap, metal and techno, with everything sounding like a cheap knock off of something else popular at the time.
It's the visual effects that really steal the show though. For the majority of the film we're treated to an overload of bad CGI. In some ways, it can be forgiven, since they're in a game, so it's not supposed to be realistic. However they manage to go so overboard with the various distortions that it just feels like a film student screwing around with Photoshop filters. Plus it includes the absolute loosest interpretation of what could constitute a zombie that's ever been put to film.
The story moves fast and is easy to follow, matching it's goofy action with cornball sensitivity. The icing on the cake is of course the ensemble of random TGIF sitcom stars who you almost pity for getting involved in this straight to video flop. Weirdly, the film goes out of it's way to name drop eXistenZ and Videodrome, just in case you needed a reminder that superior movies with the same premise already existed.
