Brainscan

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.