Darkdrive

When I saw the name of Julie Benz on the cover of this VHS, I have decided to see the movie since I am a great fan of her character Darla, in Angel series. Further, she has one of the most beautiful faces of the cinema industry. However, this movie is such a mess, that is almost impossible to understand the plot and write a summary of the story. The intention of this confused screenplay might be a noir version of `The Matrix', but it never works. The characters are not well developed and it is almost impossible to the viewer understand their motives. For example, who is the girl showed in the end of the story? Why Julie Falcon dies many times? In the end, the unique worthwhile scene along the whole film is when Julie Benz is showed naked, unfortunately with the presence of her husband Falcon. My vote is one.

Title (Brazil): `Fuga Alucinante' (Hallucinated Escape')

This movie is one of, if not the absolute worst movies I have ever had the misfortune of seeing. I only rented it because I happen to like Julie Benz, but she couldn't save it for me. The plot is hopeless, and the acting is worse. The special effects are dated, so you really have no excuse for seeing this, unless you like to suffer.

It doesn't even fall into the so bad it's good type movie.

I don't see enough of this genre to properly make any comparisons, but this film certainly had very little analytical thought behind the script. It takes place in some future when people are all driving black 97 Ford minivans, but penal reform has reached the point at which prisoners are banished to a virtual reality, furnished with, among other things, abandoned Pintos and Vegas, as well as the other prisoners in a similar plight. The banishment, of course, is accompanied by sustained, blinding flashes of intense white light. The general story line is told through closeups of computer screens the flash up-dating messages like "Transformation Complete" and "Program Compromised". The film abounds with non-sequiturs, which I suppose is de-rigeur in a world where the final outcome cannot possibly have any link to the premise. Needless to say, it has its standard complement of beautiful babes, and Claire Stansfield is kinda cool.

I get 25 cable movie channels, and this was the best thing on at not-quite-bedtime, so I guess it wasn't that bad.

Yeah yeah, I know, it isn't supposed to be in my collection but like many reviewers I bought it for Julie Benz. I have seen her perform in quite a bit of movies and of course in Dexter. Over here in the genre she's well sought after due Dexter and due her appearance at European conventions were I have met her. Why it shouldn't be in my collection is that it isn't a horror but a SF flick. But as a collector I have seen a lot of crap, from top class to Z-movies. It's a phenomena that is regular in horror to have some real turkeys. I would say that I would classify it under a straight-to-video B-flick. The effects used are typical 80's stuff like flashing lights and flashbulbs tearing down persons. They surely have watched Terminator and Blade Runner to come up with something but sometimes the acting is really wooden. The story itself is hard to follow but for many it's the scene with the 21 year old Julie that makes the film worth watching. She's seen in frontal nudity here a thing she never did again, except for Dexter and Eating Las Vegas, a parody on Leaving Las Vegas, but she shows the most in this flick. If you are into B-movies than you surely can watch this. A few years later The Matrix showed how it should be done.

I agree that the plot is incomprehensible, but it takes you on a weird trip that can be fun. The music is worth the price of admission. The love theme was inspired, as was the entire score, by Eraserhead. It's a bit of a cross between Ennio Morricone and Angelo Badalimente. Hey, I'm not even Italian; I just love those guys. I put on the soundtrack around the house sometimes just to get into a trippy vibe. The later at night the better. I wrote this music right after Distorted Reality (composer tool) came out, and the score is a showcase of the DR samples. The true gem here is the vocal by Giancarlo. We had a great time writing and recording that song. Honestly, this is the best music I ever wrote for a film. Check it out!