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Brainscan Review

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Posted 23rd June 2016 at 02:03 AM by Zach Zeman

This is being posted from another review blog that I spent some time on as one of the horror reviewers before they focused more on podcasts, but I thought you guys might enjoy it. Here it is!

Brainscan (1994)



Brainscan is a film that I had heard of for the longest time, but never actually got around to seeing. The DVD was always appearing on my suggestions under Amazon, but when I searched the movie online to get some stills and a general idea as to what happened in the film, it just kept bringing up this man with an oddly stretched face that looked like Sammi Curr (from the cult horror Trick or Treat, not to be confused with Trick ‘r’ Treat (it’d be nice if people had better titles)) and dyed red hair.

The film didn’t seem to offer any sort of value and it doesn’t hold the highest Rotten Tomatoes score. So I thought, **** it. Then I was graced with a $30 Amazon gift card and I didn’t have to worry about spending my money on something that would disappoint me (I already disappoint myself and I don’t need any outside help dammit).

After watching this movie, I am disappointed…in myself. I wish I watched this movie sooner. Brainscan is bizarre, different, and just plain fun. Unfortunately, my viewing of it was scattered in between my incessant rantings about my hatred for Grease on social media (I don’t know why it was on my mind at the time; it just was). But each section of it immediately hooked me back into the story as soon as I pressed play again.

To summarize it, because I don’t want to spoil much, Brainscan is about this horror buff (me…?) played by the annoying kid from Terminator 2, Edward Furlong. (He’s not nearly as bad in this since he doesn’t cry fifty percent of the time.) His friend suggests this new horror video game to him called “Brainscan” (heh, the title of the movie is in the movie) and its big claim to fame is that the game interacts with your mind so everything is personalized. The kid, Michael, starts playing and is immediately thrust into the world and perspective of a killer, only once he kills someone in the game, he finds out that the person he killed died in reality! OoooooooOOOOOooooh! It’s a little hokey and predictable in that aspect, but damn, it is well done.

The main antagonist is the host of the game, Trickster, he’s the weird, Sammi Curr-type I mentioned earlier. I haven’t loved a horror villain this long in awhile. He’s charming and vicious at the same time as well as disgusting. I just felt a sense of nostalgia from horror movies I watched as a kid with this guy, but he maintains a solid R-rating to keep things tense.

Speaking of tension, I didn’t think I actually would end up in that sort of condition while watching Brainscan. There’s a moment or two where I actually wondered whether or not things would turn out horrible or great for the main character. The director, John Flynn, really handles the suspense well.

Granted, I’m rambling about how much I loved it, but the film is definitely flawed. It’s not the greatest comedy-horror movie of all time nor is it the greatest thing ever made. It’s just a lot of fun to watch and appreciate. There’s some neat and original things that the writers, Brian Owen and Andrew Kevin Walker, throw into the script.

I should also note that when I say a lot of fun, I do not mean the type of fun someone has while watching Troll 2 or Miami Connection. I think a good comparison to the tone of this movie would be Fright Night (the original dammit!). It’s just very well paced and a good movie for a Friday or Saturday night when neither of your two friends want to talk to you or be near you because you killed their mothers (shhhhh). Unfortunately, the only way to watch this film is to order the DVD off of Amazon. They’re still making discs and it's still in production, which is good. I just wish that some sort of streaming service (because who uses DVDs or BluRays as much as film students now?) would pick it up and get it out there.

Check this movie out if you can!
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