Carver's Gate

In a desolate future, people play VR games to escape their crappy reality. A totally lame attempt at a Phillip K. Dick kind of story showcases a pool of poor talent in all arenas.

Bad acting, bad script, bad effects, bad direction, bad cinematography.. And not in a "so bad it's good" way, either--this movie is so awful I cringed through the whole thing.

Did MST3K ever do this one? It's even worse than "Overdrawn at the Memory Bank."

Sure, there were things that this movie lacked, but on the whole it delivered on what it promised. It was a fast-paced action movie, that was ahead of its time (released years ahead of The Matrix and EXistenZ )

There are some very competent performances (Peter Wylde, and Tara Maria Manuel), and some that fell short (Michael Pare), but on the whole this movie was entertaining and without pretensions. Could this be the grandfather of virtual reality movies?

Imagine if your Quake game started spewing out monsters in the real world who would like nothing more than to kick your ashes all over the floor.

In a bleak future (is there any other kind in sci-fi?) humanity escapes from encroaching eco-doom in a game called the Afterlife. The inventor of the game finds a way to bridge the gulf between the virtual game world and the real world, but is brutally murdered soon after. A dreamcop (responsible for making sure everyone plays this game) investigates and discovers that the bridge is turning into a floodgate for all the evil existing as opponents in the game to flood into reality.

Sounds crappy, but this is a lot better than you would think. Michael Pare is an average actor who has a real talent for picking unusually interesting scripts: "Streets of Fire", "Moon 44", etc. Check this one out if you get a chance.

The biggest mistake the film makers made with this film is they actually FINISHED it. And the biggest mistake the TV network (whoever it was) made by buying this movie was that they actually BOUGHT it and AIRED it! This is so bad the film should be stripped from the reels and used to tow out cars stuck in the snow.

First of all I want to make clear that really don't get why people do not appreciate this masterpiece of a TV/B-movie. Atmosphere, sound, special effects, acting - everything about this movie is EXCELLENT if you are into 90's cheesiness.

Michael Paré does an excellent job as the lead actor. I really like the narrative aspect of the movie with Paré telling his story.

The set pieces for the movie is very convincing. The industrial dystopic feel is phenomenal.

Music and ambient sounds are superb. They really set the perfect scene.

All in all It does not get much better than this. An absolute must see for sci-fi b-movie fans!