Subterano

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)

Subterano (2003) is an Australian movie that I recently found on Tubi. The storyline follows eleven strangers who find themselves randomly in a car garage. They don't know how they got there but as they start investigating their surroundings they discover robots, creatures and people from the future that wants to kill them. Is there any hope for escape and getting back home?

This movie is written and directed by Esben Storm (Deadly) and stars Alex Dimitriades (Ghost Ship), Tasma Walton (Mystery Road), Alison Whyte (Satisfaction), Janet Edwards (Smokin Aces) and Jason Stojanovski (Beat).

This movie is wild and I couldn't tell if it was purposely trying to be a "so bad it's good" project or not. The action sequences are very uneven as are the kill scenes. There's a couple scenes that made me smile, but for the most part there's nothing special here. Some of the costumes and technology depictions were cool and the ID opening was hilarious. The aciting was very mediocre and the villain at the end was awful and entertaining at the same time.

Overall, this is a bad movie that I'd recommend skipping. I'd score this a 3/10.

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")

Eleven people are trapped in an underground parking lot, where they must battle their way through it against lethal toys in a real-life virtual-reality game. I rented "Subterano" for no reason in particular, having never read anything about it but passing it hundreds of times on the video store shelf (Lets just say I have a lot of free time on my hands), but upon checking IMDb after renting it I found predominately poor reviews. Perhaps it was because I didn't expect much, I thoroughly enjoyed "Subterano". It may owe one-too-many nods to 1997's brilliant "Cube", and the futuristic clothing may be pretty silly, but there's plenty to like here.

For a low-budget movie, writer/director Esben Storm has done a great job with the film visually. Despite being filmed almost exclusively in a parking lot, the lighting is interesting and attractive (Lots of filters are used in this film to good effect) and there's enough tense action that thing never get boring.

The acting is surprisingly good for the most part, John Clayton and Alex Dimitriades being the best here. Everyone else is good too, but some of the characters could be rather annoying at times (The baby-faced teen girl being a prime example).

The special effects are good. Most direct-to-video films resort to cartoony and unconvincing CG, but here the computer effects are actually quite good, and there are some fun, gruesome death scenes (I'm not going to give them away) here and there. Thankfully, the gore isn't CG.

It's not a perfect film by any means, the script can be thin in places and the music is terrible at times, but "Subterano" was a fun, fast-paced sci-fi thriller that's certainly a stones-throw ahead of the brainless, CGI-laden "sci-fi" films produced by Hollywood these days. Give it a chance and you might like it.

6.5/10.

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.