2035: Forbidden Dimensions |
USA • 2013 • 86m •
 • Directed by: Christopher James Miller. • Starring: Brittany O'Neil, Amy Daly, Carl Crew, Christopher James Miller, Al Ridenour, Al Gomez, Steven Briggs, Kyle Morris, Clifford Lee, Jamie Katonic, Hart D. Fisher, Robert Diaz Leroy, Sean Stearley. • Music by: Bryan Alexander, Christopher James Miller.    Jack Slade was born during a solar eclipse in the year 1980. 18 years later, he finds out he has the ability to travel into the future. He projects himself into the year 2035, where society has been destroyed by a fascist regiment of psychopathic doctors that rule the wastelands, creating deformed mutants with a serum synthesized from the flesh of dead aliens. Now Slade must travel back to the year 1998 to destroy a device known as the wavelength generator, which opened the dimensional gateways to these alien beings. With the help of an army of female outlaws and a sleazy detective, Slade re-connects with the star child Khadijah, who holds the key to stopping these tragic events from ever taking place.
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Review:
Story? Let me give it a shot. Jack Slade is an S.E.K.—a "solar eclipse kid"—who finds himself jumping back and forth in time—from 1998 to 2035 and back again. He works for the Kronos Corporation, which in 1998 creates a "wavelength generator" that brings aliens into our dimension. The maniacal Dr. Schector then uses alien tissue to, um, do some stuff, thereby destroying the world. As the last surviving S.E.K., it's up to Jack to find some chick named Khadija in 2035 and stop Kronos and Schector (who looks and sounds like he's fronting an '80s metal band) in 1998. I think. It's weird in spades right from the get-go, and things get even more confusing near the end. I would have preferred a slightly more linear story with less jumping around. But whatever.
Overly ambitious? Well, define "overly." I am a big supporter of independent filmmaking and I understand how hard it is to even get a movie made, so I will let an indie get away with a lot of things I'd criticize a big-budget movie for. FD is either unintentionally bad or lovingly bad. I prefer to think it's lovingly bad. Do not take this movie seriously. It is what it is, and it knows it. As such, there's no such thing as a goof. Post-2010 cars in 1998? Crew walking around in the background? It's all good.
FD displays all the trappings of a bad '80s movie: shots that last much longer than they should, bordering on indulgent; overly expository, on-the-nose dialog ("I have to save the future!"); actors taking extra time with movements to be sure the camera is seeing it. The dialog is not just unsubtle, but often it seems like characters are having two separate conversations.
I love the total lack of adherence to medical reality (the "reverse embryo" scene in particular); that is, the total impossibility of it. It's as if writer-director Chris J. Miller had a bunch of weird ideas and just decided to cram them all in, whether they made sense or not. Evidently a lot of the budget went to practical makeup effects. The weak-of-stomach should probably avoid this one.
There is a pact between B-movie makers and the audience, and the director knows it: Namely, if we're going to watch your low-budget movie, we want boobies. Miller delivers. He also gets very good performances from most of the rest of his (non-nude) cast, which was unexpected. Detective Giger is a hoot. Based on the trailers on the DVD, I gather he's a recurring character in Miller's movies.
Shot compositions are remarkably good, and there's interesting and clever integration of original footage with "guerrilla" footage shot on location at Wasteland Weekend. There are some interesting real-world locations, and even a pretty cool "sci-fi corridor" set.
If I have one complaint, it would be the overuse of different fonts for super cards and too many modern video effects. That said, there are enough '80s-era video graphics to satisfy purists. FD features great original music, plus an extra bonus: the same music that Epic Meal Time uses!
Is it logical? No. Easy to follow the story? Not really. But is it fun to watch? Absolutely.
Review by Curtis G. from the Internet Movie Database.
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