Film

Movie theaters, reviews and showtimes in New York, plus articles, trailers and more
 

Brainscan (1994)

Director: John Flynn

Average user rating
No reviews

Movie review

From Time Out Film Guide

The titular computer game, 'the ultimate experience in inter-active horror', gets a little too real for high-school misfit Michael (Furlong) in this dumb hi-tech horror movie. While playing Brainscan and seeing through the eyes of a killer, Michael breaks into a suburban house, grabs a kitchen knife, climbs the stairs and stabs to death a sleeping, middle-aged man. Next day, he learns that a middle-aged man has been murdered in his quiet suburban neighbourhood. Was it real or was it virtual reality? 'Reality, unreality, what's the difference?' asks the cadaverous Trickster (Smith), who emerges from the screen as the personification of the game's malevolent electrical impulses. Director Flynn presents the dogged investigation by smoothly insinuating detective Hayden (Langella) with some style; but he seems much less interested in the fantastic elements, the self-conscious in-jokes and lacklustre visual effects.

Author: NF 0000-00-00 00:00:00

Time Out Film Guide

  • Print this page
  • Send to a friend

What do you think?
Post your review now

clear rating
Min 1 star. Zero stars will be treated as unrated.

*mandatory fields


Cast & crew

Director: John Flynn

Producer: Michael Roy

Cast: Edward Furlong, Frank Langella, T Ryder Smith, Amy Hargreaves, Jamie Marsh, Victor Ertmanis full cast

Genre(s): Horror

Duration: 95 mins


Features

Making a name for himself

Making a name for himself

Sin Nombre's Cary Joji Fukunaga learned his lessons well.

To the letter

Forty years later, Costa-Gavras's Z still brims with fury.

Mind over matter

David Cronenberg reflects on a most bizarre body: his own corpus of work.

Fool's gold

Can an Oscar win lead to a cursed career? Here are five stories of postaward professional meltdowns.

We are the championed

Terrorists and teens abound in this year's "Film Comment Selects."

A history of violence

Matteo Garrone's kaleidoscopic Gomorrah wallops you with Italy's crime crisis.

True romantic

James Gray exchanges urban amorality for amour in Two Lovers.

Playing in the dark

MoMA salutes pianist Stuart Oderman's 50 years as the one-man sound of silents.

Junk bonds

Cast and crew recall the making of the classic NYC drug drama The Panic in Needle Park.