A lot of early ’90s films were enamored with computers and Brainscan is no exception. Edward Furlong plays a kid who get wrapped up in a new computer game called Brainscan. The game soon becomes reality & Furlong finds himself wrapped up in a murder mystery.
What did I learn from Brainscan?
- Eddie Furlong looks like a crack addict & turned into one
- Furlong has no range as an actor & is a whiny punk
- “Senseless violence is not entertainment.”
- Fangoria gets a mention
- Hollywood seems to think that having a teenager with an Alice Cooper poster is realistic in the ’90s
- someone loves Aerosmith (watch for the Aerosmith newspaper ad & Aerosmith poster)
- if every ’80s film had a fat sidekick, every ’90s film had a stoner/slacker sidekick with a plaid shirt tied around his waist & a leather jacket
Do I recommend this film?
No. This movie is bad. I was able to enjoy it because it’s so bad it’s good. It really sucks though. Furlong is brutal in the role & the rest of the cast is forgettable. The plot is totally stupid & the ending of the film is a total cheat.
Watch the trailer here:
2 responses so far ↓
Jon // October 9, 2008 at 9:09 am |
You know, this movie may in fact be bad, but when I was a young teen, back in the halcyon days of the 90’s, it blew my goddamn mind-hole. My guess is that this film — like “Lawnmower Man” or a bunch of other early “technology is scary” type of movies (I remember watching “Ghost in the Machine,” but can’t remember if it was any good or not) — probably just ages really poorly. Tech-horror type stuff often does, which is odd because Frankenstein is the basic model, and it has largely proven timeless.
For excellent films in this vein, I’d go with “Virtuosity” (more of an action flick) and a long-lost gem called “Demon Seed.” The latter is from the 70’s, and is hilariously dated, but still pretty sweet. The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror spoofed it a couple of years back.
Mark Wilson // October 9, 2008 at 10:00 am |
The early to mid ’90s went a bit crazy with the technology films. I really love Hackers. I have a soft spot for these ’90s tech films. Everyone is always some kind of a crazy hacker or computer genius in them.
I love Hackers. I haven’t seen Virtuosity in a long time. I know I enjoyed it the first time I saw it. I was thinking about Ghost In The Machine when I watched Brainscan. I’ve never seen it. I would like to go back and check it out.
Like you mentioned, these films age very poorly. I think that’s part of the charm. I found it almost quaint that the CD-ROM in Brainscan was so antiquated. It was an external drive instead of being installed in the actual computer.