Subterano

True, the special effects are a little lame in this low budget Australian movie, and the location for most of the action -- a parking garage -- is pretty cheap.

But, darn it. I was entertained.

One thing, though: This could be a good children's movie if all the four-letter words were removed.

This has been sitting on my shelf gathering dust for months, so I figured I might as well watch it. I got it for $3 in a bargain bin, so I wasn't expecting much at all, but I got a rather pleasant surprise! Sure, it's not a great movie by any means, full of plot hole and continuity problems, but the actors were actually pretty good for a low budget flick like this. Same goes for the effects. The plot wasn't anything we haven't seen before, but it was handled well. I was pretty disappointed with the "Embo Man" villain in the end....looked like a bad Power Ranger villain. Oh well, it was still a lot better than expected for $3!

7/10

SUBTERANO is one of those low-budget movies that is, unfortunately, too ambitious for its own good. The idea is there, along with a good premise, but the resources to carry it out isn't. So as a result we get a movie that uses the same color scheme and repetitive nature of the highly creative CUBE, which managed to sell its low-budget nature because the story dictates repetitiveness. With SUBETERANO, the repeating of garage levels is just, well, repeating garage levels.

Also, the screenplay is much too elaborate. There is a whole back story about revolution and the movie itself is supposed to take place in the future. I've always advised low-budget filmmakers to veer away from futuristic storylines for the simple reason that they don't have the resources to carry out the premise. And, as a result, their "future world" always ends up looking incredibly laughable.

SUBTERANO is not an entirely bad film. It has some good actors, but also some very irritating characters that, unfortunately, don't die off fast enough. There really is no surprise who will live or who will die, and who will end up being really irritating. In this respect, the screenplay fails.

5 out of 5

(go to www.nixflix.com for a more detailed review of this movie, including reviews of other films in this genre)

Just saw a Great Scifi movie..Its called Subterano.. This movie's plot was virtual reality in actual reality.. A wierd collection of people have been trapped in a underground car park. There is a killer/good guy, a sexy babe as his ex wife, a group of cyber punks, a security guard babe and a old computer nerd bum. These ppl are forced to play a game of Subterano.. Subterano is a virtual reality game, but the son of the inventor of the game snaps and forces theses people to play a real life game with him only in virtual reality.. This son has some weird devices he can control in virtual reality to hunt down these people in actual reality. If you have ever seen the movie The Cube this movie is up to that level in quality. Basicly these people have to movie from level to level in the game.. With out giving out too much information and ruining the plot

In a future society apparently ruled by virtual games, Conrad (Alex Dimitriades), the leader of a revolutionary group called "The Orphans of the Revolution", escapes from the guards when he was going to be executed, and with the support of his girlfriend Grace Stone (Tasma Walton), he goes to the last level of a parking garage trying to escape to a sanctuary. However, the garage is shutdown by a crazy teenager that has developed a new version of a deadly game called Subterano, and Conrad and Grace, with four teenagers, a security guard and an elder accountant have to play the game and fight to survive.

What a crap is the screenplay of this low-budget movie! Indeed it is a silly game, with no development of the characters, the place and time, and even their motives, being a complete mess. The imbecile writer uses a shallow situation, indeed a rip-off of "Logan's Run"and "The Running Man", and a director uses some computer effects and makes this movie. The good point is the beautiful unknown actress Tasma Walton, who has a good performance. In the end, if the viewer shuts-down his or her brain, it may be a watchable movie for killing time only. My vote is four.

Title (Brazil): "Subterrâneo" (Ünderground")