Mindwarp

Released by: Twilight Time
Released on: October 8th, 2013.
Directors: Steve Barnett
Cast: Bruce Campbell, Angus Scrimm, Marta Martin, Elizabeth Kent, Mary Becker
Year: 1992
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The Movie:

Directed by Steve Barnett, Mindwarp (which was also released as Brain Slasher) was the first film to be bankrolled by Fangoria magazine and while it wasn't the first to market, it did mark an interesting stepping stone in that the powers behind the magazine had opted to take things to the next level and actually produce their own features. It's not a perfect movie by any stretch, it was obviously made with a modest budget and it borrows from other media to play off like a mix between Mad Max, Brave New World and maybe Stanley's Hardware - but it's fun.

The story follows a woman named Judy Apple (Marta Martin) who, along with her mother, lives inside a sealed city. Here the wealthy denizens, known as 'dreamers,' spend their time dosed up with a green Soma-esque drug and connected to what is basically a virtual reality simulator called Infinisynth that lets them live out their dreams. Judy's mom fantasizes of being an Italian opera singer. Why the refusal to deal with reality? The outside world has gone to hell. The bomb has been dropped and the Earth has been scorched, leaving most of the people outside the cities mutant cannibal types dubbed 'crawlers.'

Judy is more aware than her fellow citizens, however. She wants to know what else there is and after she figures out how to contact the System Operator in charge of the Infinisyth she's exiled for her dissent. As she crawls about the wasteland she's almost abducted by a gang of crawlers but is saved by a man with a crossbow clad in rags. It turns out that this guy is named Stover (Bruce Campbell) and that he's no fan of the crawlers. After a quick love making session, they land themselves in hot water and are eventually overtaken by the crawlers and presented to The Seer (Angus Scrimm), their leader. He enslaves Stover and decides that Judy will essentially be used for breeding so that he can start a new master race…

Co-written by Michael Ferris and John D. Brancato, Mindwarp wears its influences on its sleeve but it is a pretty entertaining movie. As you'd expect from a film financed through Fangoria, it's heavy on VFX, handled here by the guys at KNB. The film is plenty gory, with Scrimm's Seer wearing a mask made of human flesh, the nasty cannibal crawlers looking all gooey and gross and a fair bit of bloodshed on display. The old RCA/Columbia VHS release of the movie was definitely trimmed by some overzealous scissors at the MPAA and some crucial bits of the gore that was originally in the picture, but this presentation from Twilight Time does appear to be completely uncut. In this form, it's reasonably strong stuff. The first forty-five minutes or so are relatively tame but once The Seer comes into the picture, things get ugly fast. Arterial spray is all over the place, there's a human meat grinder type machine, there are a few nasty kills and a woman is impaled on a meat hook (a nod to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, perhaps?) and then impaled. And if that weren't enough, Stover's body gets invaded by leeches, which he later pukes out. Yep, this is a movie where Bruce Campbell pukes leeches, and no matter how you slice it, that's kind of cool.

Performance wise, Marta Martin makes an okay lead. She doesn't have a ton of emotional range or depth but she handles things well. Bruce Campbell plays things surprisingly straight here, never hamming it up the way he does in some of his better known films, but he too is decent. Angus Scrimm steals most of his scenes but is a bit underused, though he generally classes up anything he's involved with and this picture is no exception. Ultimately this is no unsung classic but it mixes up horror and sci-fi rather well and it makes for some enjoyable low brow entertainment.

Video/Audio/Extras:

Mindwarp arrives on Blu-ray framed in its original aspect ratio of 1.78.1 and presented in AVC encoded 1080p high definition. This is a fine transfer, naturally grainy in spots but for the most part pretty clean. Detail is good if not reference quality. Some of the shots that take place out in the wasteland look intentionally hot and fuzzy. Close ups look pretty good, skin tones are nice and natural and black levels are pretty decent. Colors are nice and natural looking and black levels are good and there are no notable issues with compression artifacts, edge enhancement or noise reduction to be spotted.

The only audio option for the movie is the original English language track in DTS-HD 2.0 track. Optional English subtitles are provided. The mix is fine, there's no obvious hiss or distortion and dialogue is generally pretty crisp. The score sounds good and the effects are balanced nicely. This isn't a super fancy mix but for an older low budget genre film made without a surround track, it certainly gets the job done without any problems whatsoever.

Extras on the disc include a television spot (which is actually a home video trailer that ends with a 'buy two and save $40.00 offer!) and an isolated score. Liner notes from Julie Kirgo are included inside the Blu-ray case that offer up a history of the production, noting that even though it wasn't the first Fangoria movie to be released it was the first one to be produced. She also provides some background information on the cast and crew and offers some critical insight into what makes this one work.

The Final Word:

If Mindwarp doesn't set any new milestones for horror or sci-fi it remains an entertaining slice of modestly budgeted straight to video fare. Seeing it in a nice high definition presentation and uncut definitely makes it easier to appreciate then it was when it was a VHS release way back when, and Twilight Time's Blu-ray is of very good quality. Lots of good gory fun to be had here!

Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!