The Mind's Eye

I'm a very big fan of low budget Sci-Fi films, and this one was quite impressive.

If you ever seen the David Cronenberg film, Scanners, it's very, very similar to that experience, The effects are simple and effective, and a good use of both visual and sound effects to make the psychokinetic powers seem eerie.

It's a good set of interesting characters with the best one being the guy who played the main antagonist, Slovak. He starts off sane and gets crazier like a super villain as the movie progresses.

The Mind's Eye follows Slovak as he hunts down and experiments on the ever growing population of psychokinetic people, in hopes of gaining great power from them, only to have to chase down a few of them who had escape his clutches.

I'm also a sucker for movies that allow me to reminisce over my 80s upbringing with a look and a soundtrack that remind me of that era (The film actually takes place in the early 90s)

It's a stellar production.

http://cinemagardens.com

To call The Mind's Eye a homage to Scanners might be stretching it. A reboot of the Scanners series, maybe. In the long run, this movie is a decent thriller that would probably wow those who never saw the Scanners series. One thing that annoyed me regarding the patients VS the guards is there wasn't any conflict. All the patients had to do was stare down the guards, and that's that. The one guard near the end had it right. He told the lead patient to stare down at the ground or else! It didn't work, but it was a better solution to handle the patients.

This entire film was very slow. Nothing really happens besides some brief action every now and then. The acting is mediocre at best and the plot is very derivative. The only good part is the film's third act, which features some cool gory kills. The effects aren't the best but they're definitely gory enough to prevent the movie from being a complete waste of time. If the only reason you want to watch the movie is the gore, then skip to the last 20 minutes, you won't miss anything.

Imagine if David Cronenberg had just a 100 IQ. This then is what Scanners would've looked like. It doesn't suck, but it's not all that impressive either.

Unlike Scanners, there is no cerebral subtext. What you see is what you get and nothing more. One thing that drove me sorta nuts watching it is that the characters will announce that some course of action is not a good idea and then proceed to do just that. They also engage in fights to the death, where they get the upper hand, but then do not finish off their opponents. Guess what happens.

The lead actress and the score are pretty good. Plus, the general storyline is interesting, the foreboding atmosphere is well maintained, and the practical gore effects are impactful. All in all, I'd probably rather just rewatch Scanners, but that said, you could do a lot worse than watching this homage/ knockoff/ what-have-you.

Fantastic, fun, low budget, daft horror film made for peanuts. Just the sorta thing we here at Plop Towers love watching.

Written and directed by Joe Begos who also done the cracking Almost Human.

If you ask me, the horror genre, and films in general, need chaps like young Begos. People who won't let the lack of budget get in the way of telling a story, and doing so well.

Same goes for anyone who reads this, if you want the world to hear your voice, do it now. Don't wait for external endorsement, sponsorship or someone to hold your hand, it won't happen. You'll probably fail, but what do you wan't to say when your ticket's punched? You tried your best, or you thought about it a lot?

Good luck.

(Originally at www.filmplop.blogspot.com)