Mindwarp (film)
Encyclopedia
Mindwarp is a 1992 post-apocalyptic science fiction
movie, starring Bruce Campbell
as Stover, Angus Scrimm
as the Seer, Marta Martin
(credited as "Marta Alicia") as Judy, Elizabeth Kent as Cornelia, and Wendy Sandow as Claude.
The film is notable as one of three produced by Fangoria Magazine
's short-lived Fangoria Films
label.
In contrast to Fangoria's immersion in the horror film
genre, this movie is science fiction - although some elements are extremely gory and emotionally shocking.
Mindwarp was filmed on location on the stamp sand and copper mining ruins in Gay
, MI.
and The Time Machine
. It takes place in the year 2037, after the loss of the ozone layer
has left most of the planet a desolate wasteland scattered with highly radioactive Death Zones, except for several areas which still flourish.
The human population has been reduced to Crawlers, cannibalistic human underground dwellers
, ugly mutant
s who have lost their intelligence, who speak only in grunts and mine garbage dumps. A few are Dreamers, who live in Inworld, a sealed biosphere
maintained by the central Infinisynth computer
. They spend all their time plugged in via an implant in their necks, living through virtual reality
fantasies.
The heroine, Judy, who lives with her mother. She has gradually become less satisfied with the life they have. After an unsuccessful attempt to talk directly to her mother, Judy manages to penetrate her virtual reality to wake her up. Judy interrupts the dream, but she causes her mother to die in the real world.
For interfering with dreams of other users, Judy is exiled from Inworld. She is saved from the Crawlers by Stover, who believes he is the last "normal" human being still living on the surface, protecting himself from the deadly ultraviolet
, radioactivity, caustic ground water, and Crawlers, while subsisting on a diet of small animals. The two are captured by the Crawlers, however, and brought to their underground village, where Stover is set to work mining the garbage dump and Judy is saved by the Crawlers' leader, the masked Seer (who is intelligent and can speak), from being butchered. The Seer's consort, Cornelia (also intelligent, can speak and is very beautiful), is jealous of the Seer's intentions towards Judy; her attempt to infect Judy with a mutant leech
-like parasite fails, however, and the Seer has Cornelia's slave/foster daughter Claude, another Inworld runaway, crushed by an elaborate meat grinder
constructed from salvaged parts. It is a quasi-religious ritual attended by the Crawler population, who all drink Claude's blood.
In the meantime, Stover used a food processor blade
he found in the dump to escape and free Judy, only to be recaptured. He is thrown into a half submerged cage where he is attacked by many of the mutant leeches. The Seer, meanwhile, reveals to Judy he is her father, excusing his actions by claiming he did what was necessary to survive. He wants Judy to follow in his footsteps. Initially, she is ambivalent, but becomes fully resistant when he reveals the second part of his plan: the two of them will breed a race of healthy children to continue leading the Crawlers. She escapes and liberates Stover, scraping off the parasites with a sharp blade. The two are captured yet again and the Seer convenes another ceremony to put them into the grinder. Judy overcomes him and feeds her father into the machine, causing the Crawlers to proclaim her as the new Seer. By that time Stover, who seemed to go insane from the leech infection, tries to convince her to stay and accept the leadership as well.
Judy escapes to the surface with Stover chasing after her. When they stop and talk, Stover (infected by the leeches) suddenly vomits leech larvae onto her. Then she wakes up back in Inworld and realizes it was all an Infinisynth simulation; she is then confronted by her father, who is in actuality the old Infinisynth operator and wants to hand the position down to her. Judy wakes up again back in her old room, living with her mother. The ending leaves the question whether the handing of the Infinisynth operator position over to her actually happened or was only a simulation created by her subconscious mind.
Science fiction film
Science fiction film is a film genre that uses science fiction: speculative, science-based depictions of phenomena that are not necessarily accepted by mainstream science, such as extraterrestrial life forms, alien worlds, extrasensory perception, and time travel, often along with futuristic...
movie, starring Bruce Campbell
Bruce Campbell
Bruce Lorne Campbell is an American film and television actor. As a cult movie actor, Campbell starred as Ashley J. "Ash" Williams in Sam Raimi's Evil Dead series of films and he has starred in many low-budget cult films such as Crimewave, Maniac Cop, Bubba Ho-tep, Escape From L.A. and Sundown:...
as Stover, Angus Scrimm
Angus Scrimm
Angus Scrimm is an American actor, best known for playing the Tall Man in the 1979 horror movie Phantasm and its sequels.-Life and career:...
as the Seer, Marta Martin
Marta Martin
Marta Alicia Martin is an American television and film actress.-Personal life:Martin was born in Medina, Ohio. She is of partial Mexican American heritage on her mother side. She is one of four children. She relocated to California at the age of 19. She married singer-songwriter, producer Shawn...
(credited as "Marta Alicia") as Judy, Elizabeth Kent as Cornelia, and Wendy Sandow as Claude.
The film is notable as one of three produced by Fangoria Magazine
Fangoria (magazine)
Fangoria is an internationally-distributed US film fan magazine specializing in the genres of horror, slasher, splatter and exploitation films, in regular publication since 1979.-Planning:...
's short-lived Fangoria Films
Fangoria Films
Fangoria Films is a film production and distribution company based out of New York City, New York. It is a subsidiary of Fangoria Entertainment, which encompasses various branches of Starlog's Fangoria brand.-As Production Company:...
label.
In contrast to Fangoria's immersion in the horror film
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
genre, this movie is science fiction - although some elements are extremely gory and emotionally shocking.
Mindwarp was filmed on location on the stamp sand and copper mining ruins in Gay
Gay, Michigan
Gay is an unincorporated community in Keweenaw County in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is 12 miles from Lake Linden on Copper Island at the western end of the Upper Peninsula. Local government is provided by Sherman Township. As of 2000, its population is 60....
, MI.
Plot
The film borrows plot elements and themes from Mad Max 2: The Road WarriorMad Max 2: The Road Warrior
Mad Max 2 is a 1981 Australian post-apocalyptic action film directed by George Miller. The film is the second installment in the Mad Max film series, with Mel Gibson starring as Max Rockatansky...
and The Time Machine
The Time Machine (1960 film)
The Time Machine is a 1960 American science fiction film based on the 1895 novel of the same name by H. G. Wells in which a man in Victorian England constructs a time-travelling machine which he uses to travel to the future...
. It takes place in the year 2037, after the loss of the ozone layer
Ozone layer
The ozone layer is a layer in Earth's atmosphere which contains relatively high concentrations of ozone . This layer absorbs 97–99% of the Sun's high frequency ultraviolet light, which is potentially damaging to the life forms on Earth...
has left most of the planet a desolate wasteland scattered with highly radioactive Death Zones, except for several areas which still flourish.
The human population has been reduced to Crawlers, cannibalistic human underground dwellers
C.H.U.D.
C.H.U.D. is a 1984 American horror film produced by Andrew Bonime, and directed by Douglas Cheek with Peter Stein as the director of photography and William Bilowit as production designer. The cast includes Daniel Stern and John Heard. It was followed in 1989 by C.H.U.D. II: Bud the...
, ugly mutant
Mutant
In biology and especially genetics, a mutant is an individual, organism, or new genetic character, arising or resulting from an instance of mutation, which is a base-pair sequence change within the DNA of a gene or chromosome of an organism resulting in the creation of a new character or trait not...
s who have lost their intelligence, who speak only in grunts and mine garbage dumps. A few are Dreamers, who live in Inworld, a sealed biosphere
Biosphere
The biosphere is the global sum of all ecosystems. It can also be called the zone of life on Earth, a closed and self-regulating system...
maintained by the central Infinisynth computer
Computer
A computer is a programmable machine designed to sequentially and automatically carry out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations. The particular sequence of operations can be changed readily, allowing the computer to solve more than one kind of problem...
. They spend all their time plugged in via an implant in their necks, living through virtual reality
Virtual reality
Virtual reality , also known as virtuality, is a term that applies to computer-simulated environments that can simulate physical presence in places in the real world, as well as in imaginary worlds...
fantasies.
The heroine, Judy, who lives with her mother. She has gradually become less satisfied with the life they have. After an unsuccessful attempt to talk directly to her mother, Judy manages to penetrate her virtual reality to wake her up. Judy interrupts the dream, but she causes her mother to die in the real world.
For interfering with dreams of other users, Judy is exiled from Inworld. She is saved from the Crawlers by Stover, who believes he is the last "normal" human being still living on the surface, protecting himself from the deadly ultraviolet
Ultraviolet
Ultraviolet light is electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength shorter than that of visible light, but longer than X-rays, in the range 10 nm to 400 nm, and energies from 3 eV to 124 eV...
, radioactivity, caustic ground water, and Crawlers, while subsisting on a diet of small animals. The two are captured by the Crawlers, however, and brought to their underground village, where Stover is set to work mining the garbage dump and Judy is saved by the Crawlers' leader, the masked Seer (who is intelligent and can speak), from being butchered. The Seer's consort, Cornelia (also intelligent, can speak and is very beautiful), is jealous of the Seer's intentions towards Judy; her attempt to infect Judy with a mutant leech
Leech
Leeches are segmented worms that belong to the phylum Annelida and comprise the subclass Hirudinea. Like other oligochaetes such as earthworms, leeches share a clitellum and are hermaphrodites. Nevertheless, they differ from other oligochaetes in significant ways...
-like parasite fails, however, and the Seer has Cornelia's slave/foster daughter Claude, another Inworld runaway, crushed by an elaborate meat grinder
Meat grinder
A meat grinder or meat mincer is a kitchen appliance for grinding, fine mincing or mixing raw or cooked meat, fish, vegetables or similar food. It replaces tools like the mincing knife, for example, which has been used to produce minced meat, filling etc. The producer puts the minced food into a...
constructed from salvaged parts. It is a quasi-religious ritual attended by the Crawler population, who all drink Claude's blood.
In the meantime, Stover used a food processor blade
Blade
A blade is that portion of a tool, weapon, or machine with a cutting edge and/or a pointed tip that is designed to cut and/or puncture, stab, slash, chop, slice, thrust, or scrape animate or inanimate surfaces or materials...
he found in the dump to escape and free Judy, only to be recaptured. He is thrown into a half submerged cage where he is attacked by many of the mutant leeches. The Seer, meanwhile, reveals to Judy he is her father, excusing his actions by claiming he did what was necessary to survive. He wants Judy to follow in his footsteps. Initially, she is ambivalent, but becomes fully resistant when he reveals the second part of his plan: the two of them will breed a race of healthy children to continue leading the Crawlers. She escapes and liberates Stover, scraping off the parasites with a sharp blade. The two are captured yet again and the Seer convenes another ceremony to put them into the grinder. Judy overcomes him and feeds her father into the machine, causing the Crawlers to proclaim her as the new Seer. By that time Stover, who seemed to go insane from the leech infection, tries to convince her to stay and accept the leadership as well.
Judy escapes to the surface with Stover chasing after her. When they stop and talk, Stover (infected by the leeches) suddenly vomits leech larvae onto her. Then she wakes up back in Inworld and realizes it was all an Infinisynth simulation; she is then confronted by her father, who is in actuality the old Infinisynth operator and wants to hand the position down to her. Judy wakes up again back in her old room, living with her mother. The ending leaves the question whether the handing of the Infinisynth operator position over to her actually happened or was only a simulation created by her subconscious mind.