This movie falls into the same category as the Matrix, eXistenZ, and other such movies. In fact it is quite similar to eXistenZ in that by the end we are not sure whether we are in a fantasy world or not. Main character's father three times is revealed three times, first as the leader of uglies, the second as the sysop, and finally as a black cannister on a shelf in the room.The world as been destroyed and people now live in computer created hallucinations. They leave the hallucinations simply to eat, but one girl is dissatisfied with it. She sees through all of this and decides she wants out and tries to bring her mother out, but fails. She is then confronted by the sysop and asked what she wants, so when she says she wants out, she is sent out into the wasteland.In fact this wasteland is really only an illusion, as we find out later. Okay, this destroys the whole plot of the movie, but once you know the plot, its appeal literally disappears. I think the big question here is what is real. She is given the job as the sysop, but is she really the sysop, or is she simply monitoring a make believe computer system.Also, there is the idea that they can give but can also take away. Throughout the entire movie, they have complete control over her, even though she believes that she is outside. They use this experience to simply quell the objections of all agitators so that they might continue monitoring society they way they wish to. In the end we wonder if she really did win or not.

Although not really having "enjoyed" Mindwarp, I must admit it's a fairly competent movie with a handful of disturbing images and a whole lot of blood-spurting gore. The popular genre magazine Fangoria raised the necessary funds for this film and they pretty much know what their target audiences adore as well as whom they like to see in horror films. So we've got a story with some really dark topics and two respectable icons starring in important supportive roles. I'm sure many horror fans would blindly pick up a copy of "Mindwarp" only because the names of Bruce Campbell ("the Evil Dead") and Angus Scrimm ("Phantasm") are displayed on the cover. Unfortunately, however, the script is weak and very incoherent and it too often feels like the outrageously nasty gore was only put in to compensate for the lack of content. Somewhere deep into the 21st century, our planet has become a completely uninhabitable wasteland and the remaining humans live in underground rooms where their days are filled with mind-controlling computer games that induce personal fantasies. Judy rebels against this dull way of life and she's promptly exiled to the dangerous upland, where she teams up with solo-warrior Strover (Bruce Campbell) and battles a community of mutated cannibalistic creatures. The opening sequences involving hi-tech computer mumbo-jumbo are boring, confusing and pretentious and the film only becomes somewhat interesting as soon as we're in the uncanny post-apocalyptic surface settings. The Crawler's liar is creepy and sinister, and their leader (Angus Scrimm) has some gruesome hobbies like gouging people's eyes out and throwing the rest of their bodies into propellers. Nice. One-time-actress Marta Alicia doesn't bring her lines very convincing, but she sure has an athletic body and at least she had some quality time with the almighty Bruce Campbell. Good for her! "Mindwarp" is okay entertainment, but if you're looking for really good post-apocalyptic Sci-Fi movies, check out the "Mad Max" trilogy, "Damnation Alley" or "Hardware".

I write reviews under the nickname of Gorehound-1, but I also write reviews under the nickname of ~PL~. My reviews, as Gorehound-1, are there to give hints to gore fans, to help them in their choices for viewing or buying a gore movie. I advise you that I am a very strong stomach, and it's almost impossible to gross me out. My ratings are a mark between 0 and 10 for the gore (its quality and amount), the violence, the sadism, and the brutality.(Spoilers warning)Gore quality 7/10: It has nice gore effects, I admit it. Even when a guy is shot with a crossbow, you see the arrow piercing the flesh and blood and organs spurt out of the wound. The gore is good, but still, it's not memorable, sometimes we don't clearly see it. Also, there's not a huge emphasis put on the gore scenes...the editing is too fast at times, so we don't clearly understand what just happened...Gore amount 6/10: Even though it has its quantity of gore scenes, they are not lenghty enough or graphic enough to really satisfy a gorehound with high needs. It has about 10 scenes of violence that show more or less briefly gore. That's it.Violence 7/10: Many people are killed, or simply hit and beaten. There is plenty of violent scenes, but again, it's more violence than gore.Sadism 2/10: Not much of it, except a brief torture scene.Brutality 6/10: People are hit with many objects, some death scenes are pretty brutal too.Gore film to rent 5/10: For the gore factor, you'll find better. But if you're looking for a stupid, low-budget, sci-fi, futuristic, quite boring movie with Bruce Campbell, well, this might be for you. Otherwise, even a renting could be deceiving.Gore film to buy 3/10: Except if you find it used in a video store for less than three bucks, this could be an okay buy, but other than that, forget this. There is not enough gore for a real gorehound...even Predator (with Schwartie) is gorier than that.MPAA says: Rated R for horror violence and gore.GH1 says: should be Rated R for strong violence and gore, brief sexual content and some language.

~Spoiler~One can say quite a bit about this movie. I've heard good arguments for and against it. My beef with Mindwarp is that it should have ended ten minutes earlier than it did, when Bruce Campbell is holding up Scrimm's mask and he should have taken the role as the new Seer. But no, the movie goes on for a bit longer and ticks me off. I'm especially angered when Bruce dies, but did he ever really exist. I guess not since they went with the classic cop-out "it's all in your head" ending. So that means that the entire movie didn't really exist. On a great note, it stars Bruce Campbell and Angus Scrimm. In what other movie do you get to see Ash take on the Tall Man (hopefully in Phantasm's End, but I doubt that movie will ever see fruition)? When there's action (eye gouging, blood drinking, etc.) in the movie, there's action. But when the movie's slow, it's really SLOW. Mindwarp does have some awesome sequences though. The whole scene where Claude "rises to the dream" is incredibly gory. Oh yeah, and when Bruce's mouth explodes. And I love the Evil Dead II hand joke within the movie. When all is said and done, Mindwarp is not a bad movie, I just expected a little more from Fangoria's first film seeing as how two of my icons star in it.