I know, I know, Bruce Campbell is great. He was great, is great and will always be great. So is Angus Schrimm (yes he from PHANTASM) who has a cameo of sorts in 1991s MINDWARP, newly fresh to Blu Ray thanks to our friends at Eureka. The year 2037. Pollution has destroyed the ozone layer and many have died. Those that haven’t are split between living off the arid land or dreaming in a computer simulation. They are the Dreamers, living through virtual reality fantasies. Judy (Marta Martin) is a dreamer, who live with her mother. When she has grown tired of this, she rebels, as any younger person would. The mysterious System Operator who controls the programme is displeased and banishes her to the Outworld.
There things are not AI sweetness and IT mainframes. She is attacked by cannibals, mutated by pollution and solar radiation, which is not mitigated by the earths atmosphere. Trapped with no way out, a figure appears and she is only saved thanks to Stover (Bruce Campbell), an Outworlder who believes he is the last “normal” human being still living. This leads to love, monsters, underground liars and a cult leader who likes the taste of human flesh. Which might sound like I am coping out by not running through the whole synopsis but I think you will benefit from knowing less and watching more. MINDWARP is a well put together, slightly clever, slightly obvious adventure yarn.
It has the gore and grim of films by Raimi but plays with its technical side, adding sci fi notes. Its an oddity. By this I mean, it comes out of the blue, at a time when sci fi was less dystopian and more utopian. Well more action and entertainment over the idea of the apocalypse. The cold war was over after all. Campbell is great as usual and the story, though starting with a burst, loses steam halfway through. I cant say its the best of the 90s bunch, but it is a solid actioner and fun to watch.
SPECIAL BLU-RAY EDITION CONTAINS
- Limited-Edition O-card slipcase (First Print Run of 2000 Copies Only)
- 1080p presentation on Blu-ray
- LPCM 2.0 audio
- Optional English SDH
- Brand new feature length audio interview with Tony Timpone, former longtime editor of Fangoria Magazine
- Fangoria s Weekend of Horrors 1990 footage from the horror convention, with Bruce Campbell and Angus Scrimm in attendance after recently filming Mindwarp
- Reversible sleeve artwork featuring original poster artwork for both the original US release, and the international Brain Slasher artwork
- PLUS: Limited-Edition Collector s Booklet featuring a new essay by film scholar and author Craig Ian Mann; and a reprinted article from Fangoria sister publication, Gorezone (First Print Run of 2000 Copies Only)
