ARCADE (1993)
Label: Full Moon
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 81 Minutes 5 Seconds
Audio: English Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo or 5.1 Surround (No Subtitles)
Video: 1080i HD Fullscreen (1 37:1)
Director: Albert Pyun
Cast: Megan Ward, Peter Billingsley, Seth Green, John De Lancie, Sharon Farrell, A.J. Langer, Bryan Dattilo
Arcade (1993) is an interesting early 90's entry into the virtual reality sub-genre, produced by Charles Band, directed by Albert Pyun (The Sword and the Sorcerer), with a screenplay by future superstar David. S. Goyer (Batman Begins, Dark City), and in interesting cast of young talent. High school student Alex (Megan Ward, Crash and Burn) is haunted by the tragic suicide of her mother (Sharon FarrellI, It's Alive), looking for a distraction from her sorrow's she accompanies her boyfriend Greg (Bryan Dattilo, TV's The Days of Our Lives), and pals Nick (Peter Billingsley, A Christmas Story), Stilts (Seth Green, Ticks), Benz (Brandon Rane), and Laurie (A.J. Langer, Escape from L.A.) to the local arcade hangout Dante's Inferno where Vertigotronics executive Difford (John De Lancie, Star Trek: The Next Generation) is promoting the latest gaming craze, Arcade, which offers an immersive gaming experience like no other, with stunning videographics. Greg tries it out but mysteriously disappears while playing the game, his pals are slightly alarmed, but don't pass up the opportunity to take home complimentary at-home versions of the game. At home they find themselves sucked into the digital landscape of the game, if they die in the game they lose their souls, discovering that Arcade was created using the brain cells of a dead teenager, who is the malevolent intelligence behind the game's brain. While their friends are absorbed into the game Alex and Nick set out to save their friends, with some help from the game's programmer Albert (Norbert Weisser, The Thing), who realizing the monster he's helped create offers the game's schematics so they can enter the game and defeat Arcade.
The flick is certainly ambitious, and while the early CGI effects are certainly dated, I sort of love that about it, the antiquated game play was pretty nostalgic for this Gen-Xer, and it's the highlight of the film for sure, because the acting and construction of the flick is otherwise pretty rough going to be honest, the acting is stilted, but the forward thinking premise of the virtual reality is still pretty interesting and ahead of it's time for the era, and it's pretty dark as well, themes of suicide and depression, and it has a pretty bleak ending. Despite it myriad problems I found this quite entertaining as a product of its era, dated effects and all, and well-worth a watch. The film's original CGI effects were replaced, and it has long been rumored that there was a lawsuit threatened by Disney when the film's sky cycle were a bit too similar to the Tron Cycles, this rumor is somewhat addressed in the accompanying audio commentary, and a couple of the extras feature the original CGI effects that were replaced. It's great to see this one get a Blu-ray, finally, and while it is not HD perfection its the best it's ever looked by a considerable margin, and it seems it's the best we are gonna get for now unless the
Audio/Video: Arcade (1993) arrives n region-free Blu-ray from Full Moon sourced "remastered from the very best available elements", presented here in disc in 1080i framed in 1.33;1 fullscreen. The source looks quite clean, no blemishes t speak of and generally looks solid, but not HD perfection. The hazy, smoke-filled interiors of the Dante's Inferno arcade look less than stellar, but colors generally fare well and black levels are adequate. I believe what we are seeing here are a mic of film elements and CGI effects that were finished on video. There were production issues that plagued the film, one of which was rumored to be a threatened lawsuit by The House of Mouse who felt that the effects, were too close to Tron for comfort, necessitating are-do of the digital effects work in the film. Audio comes by way of Dolby Digital 2.0 and 5.1 with optional English subtitles. The compressed tracks sound fine, the digital gameplay scenes have some fun retro gaming sound effects, and the score, featuring compositions from John Carpenter collaborator Alan Howarth (Retribution) and Anthony Riparetti (Nemesis) comes through fine. No subtitles are provided.
Extras include a new Audio Commentary with Charles Band and actress Megan Ward, it does not directly address the production issues, and only skirts the Disney lawsuit rumors with Band saying he doesn't remember there being one, but he does speak about replacing the original digital effects. Ward talks about Pyun, the ADR process, her memories of the actors, and while she initially says she has little specific memory of the filming she does manage to squeeze a few interesting tidbits from the recesses of her mind. We also get the 10-min original Videozone featurette that includes clips of the original digital work, and yes, they do look a ot like the Tron Cycles. We also get an archival 15-min John Delancie Interview, 18-min Rare VFX Reel, the 2-min Original Trailer, plus a selection of Full Moon Trailers.
The single-disc release arrives in a standard keepcase with a single sided sleeve of artwork featuring the original VHS artwork.
Special Features:
- Audio Commentary with Charles Band and Megan Ward
- Videozone (9:43)
- Original Trailer (1:44)
- John Delancie Interview (15:42)
- Rare VFX Reel (18:03)
- Full Moon Trailers: Savage Island (1:22), Quadrant (2:04), Crash and Burn (1:05), Bad CGI Gator (1:04), Bad Channels (1:40).
Screenshots from the Full Moon Blu-ray:
Extras:
Buy it!
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