Brainscan (1994)
Film Information
Director: John Flynn
Producer: Michel Roy
Writer: Brian Owens, Andrew Kevin Walker
Date Released: April 22, 1994
Cast:
Edward Furlong as Michael Brower
Tod Fennell as Young Michael Brower
T. Ryder Smith as The Trickster
Frank Langella as Detective Hayden
Amy Hargreaves as Kimberly
Jamie Marsh as Kyle Hilliard
Michèle Barbara Pelletier as Stacie
Rating = 2/5 Graves
***May contain some spoilers***
Synopsis
Michael, a teenager, is a lonely horror fan who is neglected by his father as he is always out of town on business. One day, his friend, Kyle, tells him about a new horror video game called, Brainscan. Brainscan is said to be a completely interactive game that tailors the experience to the player. But when Michael puts the disk into his computer, he is submerged into a horrible and inescapable nightmare.
Gore Factor
There is very mild blood or gore in this film. The only exception is in the beginning when Michael gets in a car accident with his mother. Otherwise, Brainscan has little in the way of gore scenes.
The Grave Review
Brainscan stars Edward Furlong as Michael in this science fiction horror film. The most interesting part of this film is the concept of being submerged into the game itself. The game triggers your subconscious and lets your darkest desires become a reality. Unfortunately, the concept of this film was more interesting than the film itself. The story did not provide much explanation in the way of the inner workings of the game. More importantly, the game sequence that Michael (Edward Furlong) experiences was not captviating. To add to this, the film as whole felt very sluggish and was progression in a very slow manner. As such, the story was poorly executed.
Look out for Zak, the German Shepard in the film. The dog is so adorable that you almost forget about the film, itself. Besides Zak, Edward Furlong and Tod Fennell perform admirably in this film. Unfortunately, their respectable performances were not enough to keep the film interesting. To no fault of their own, the story just didn’t have enough substance that would enable the star actors to be utilized to their fullest potential.
Despite the film’s flaws, Brainscan does create an interesting science fiction concept. This concept could have been brought to the next level but unfortunately the creative minds of this film didn’t take advantage of that. Nevertheless, we can appreciate what the creators attempted to do.
For the foregoing reasons, Grave Reviews gives Brainscan two graves out of five graves.
Do you agree with our review of Brainscan (1994)? Comment below.
Join the Conversation