Some seventeen years ago, horror mag Fangoria grew restless with just writing about the movie scene and tried to make a few pictures of their own. The first of their three efforts and arguably the best was Mindwarp, a grim post-apocalyptic tale that pitted Bruce Campbell (Ash from "The Evil Dead") and Angus Scrimm (the Tall Man from "Phantasm") against one another. Bungled in distribution and marketing, the flick has spent most of it's life collecting dust on video store shelves, largely unnoticed by it's target audience. But now, I think it's time to pay tribute to this B-movie treasure and share it with a few of you.

It was early 2007 when I first discovered the gem known as Mindwarp. I rented it with a bud and we both dug what we saw. I surfed online afterwards to find zero coverage of the movie and a bare IMDB page. Knowing there must exist others like myself who wanted to know more; I decided to put together a retrospective of sorts. Beginning with the folks at Fangoria, I sought out Director Steve Barnett and Stars Angus Scrimm and Bruce Campbell. All three gentlemen kindly spoke with me and I now present some of their words to you here.

THE PLOT Humanity has scorched the sky and most of the Earth's remaining population resides at Infinisynth where life is lived in a virtual reality. Waking only to meet basic human needs (nourishment, potty breaks, etc.), they spend their days exploring dream scenarios inside of their own mind. One inhabitant, Judy (Marta Alicia) is unhappy with her life and challenges the Systems Operator (Angus Scrimm) to show her the "real world". An unfortunate string of events lands Judy just where she wanted; outside the comfy confines of Infinisynth. She wastes no time in getting kidnapped by hideous mutant crawlers scouring the surface for usable waste materials, relics of the old world. Coming to her badass rescue is Stover (Bruce Campbell), a loner just living life a day at a time and trying his best not to be crawler-food. No sooner do they become acquainted and (somewhat) fall in love than be captured by said hideous looking mutants. Dragged into their underground lair, Judy and Stover are introduced to the crawler's human leader, the Seer (again, Angus Scrimm), a sinister ruler with a startling connection to Judy. Thought to be dead for some time, the nefarious Seer is in-fact her father! This is Mindwarp.

If that doesn't sound cool to you, then I don't know what to tell you. Mindwarp was arguably an inspiration on the Matrix and yet touches upon the same nightmarish narrative that Phantasm worked so well with. For fans of Phantasm, it's a must-see picture.

The general attraction to Mindwarp for many will be the lead actors. Who wouldn't like to see the heroic Bruce Campbell pitted against the sinister Angus Scrimm? Fan-boy thinking simplifies that down into Ash vs. the Tall Man and reasonably so. I went into Mindwarp looking for this sort of battle and came out with so much more. A good horror movie should make you think about it's thematic material all the while bashing you over the skull with copious amounts of gore. That's exactly what Mindwarp does. The ruination of mother Earth has wiped out any possibility for humans to have a meaningful life on the surface. They're forced to retreat to their own mental dream factories for happiness and to what do they depend on for survival? Machines. It's a grim, sickening portrayal of the future. I could go on for hours, but simply put, Mindwarp is an engrossing watch and an excellent film. I encourage you to try it out.