It was twenty-five years ago that I sat
in a theatre and watched Rachel Talalay's Ghost in the Machine so I
figured now was as good a time as any for a revisit to see how much I
actually remembered.
After a serial killer's consciousness
is digitized after a power surge, he uses to the
city's computer network to continue stalking his victims.
I was surprised at how much of this I
had forgotten. While I admit a chunk of my enjoyment was down to how
dated this movie was, Ghost in the Machine was still highly
entertaining. It is comical how nineties this thing is. Let's go down
the checklist, shall we?
Include a “hip” soundtrack from the
era. Uh-huh.
Dress your “cool” characters as
garishly as possible. Yessir.
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The Fresh Prince of Encino. |
Put as much “new” tech in it as
possible. Oh, that's a bingo!
This movie falls into that time period
where hackers were still mythical-like creatures that could do
anything and computer networks were a fantasy land with no
boundaries. If you thought Lawnmower Man played it fast and loose
with computers, you ain't seen nothing yet. Actually, films like
Brainscan and Arcade pair up better with this one... except this has a digital serial killer!
I think the most amusing thing about
this movie – and there are many – is that they really do throw
out any notion of how electronic devices actually work. However, I'm
more than willing to forget an open microwave can't irradiate an
entire room if it means I get to see a dude fry like a TV dinner care
of some pretty neat f/x from Alterian Studios. If you need to see the
dichotomy between practical and digital effects, you need to look no
further than this movie.
That VR game played by Josh (Wil
Horneff) & Frazer (Brandon Adams from People Under The Stairs who
I totally spaced was in this). Wow. I remember I played this thing at
the CNE one year, except of course, without my face superimposed on
my avatar. It is still amazing to me that VR was a working concept in
1993 and yet only became commercially viable just last year. It's
crazy how some advances are blisteringly fast and some putter along.
Watching Ghost in the Machine, I was
struck by how much it felt like a precursor to Final Destination. The
crash lab sequence in particular played out like it could've been
pulled from one of those movies.
I also want to bring up that I've
always really liked star Karen Allen. I was thinking about it and
because of the age I saw Raiders of the Lost Ark and Starman (the
latter would've been one of my first theatre experiences), Allen may
have played two of the first independent female characters I saw
represented onscreen. She made an impression.
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Who wore it better? Terry Munroe (Karen Allen), or Dana Scully? |
And speaking of Allen, I gotta mention
a cinematic parallel I always found funny that just recently became a
trifecta. Karen Allen starred in Starman and Ghost in the Machine and
both feature her in driving scenes involving the perils of a changing
traffic light. Then, last month when I watched 1988's Pulse about a
sentient intelligence killing people in their homes with electricity;
what appears on the television within the movie? Starman!
Though incredibly dated, Ghost in the
Machine was a totally functional thriller and though I'm sure
filmmakers didn't want me to be grinning through most of it, I had
fun. Sadly, this was the second of three critical and commercial
failures for Talalay (Freddy's Dead & Tank Girl), but she
soldiered on and has since enjoyed a highly successful career in
television that continues to this day.
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