Put a Quarter in the Slot to Play EVIL’s Game! “Arcade” reviewed! (Full Moon / Blu-ray)

Posted by Steven Lewis on August 5, 2025

Arcade, the future of advanced, virtual reality-based video games, piques the interest of a group of teenagers eager to beta test the system in an underground arcade. Vertigo, who engineered and programmed the game, sends the project manager to also hand out at-home editions of the game for continued testing. When Arcade sucks in Alex’s boyfriend, Greg, into the game, she pleads to video game aficionado and good friend Nick about the game’s sentient dangers. Nick experiences firsthand the horrors as their friend Laurie becomes entranced by its manipulative power and disappears during Arcade’s reach into reality. Alex and Nick must venture into Arcade’s world to save Greg and their friends from a malicious machine seeking to invade and takeover the world, but they must find the hidden keys in all seven stages to reach Arcade’s soul and that’s no easy task when the game becomes very real when dying in the game will not grant respawn in the game or reality.

A movie ahead of its time but not ahead of the game, the Full Moon production “Arcade” is a live-action in a CGI-world thriller that’s one part “Tron” and one part “Virtuosity” for independent cinema, directed by the cybernetic and dystopian familiar filmmaker Albert Pyun (“Nemesis,” “Cyborg”). Charles Band, founder of Full Moon and of a number of low-budget hit franchises, such as “Puppet Master” and “Demonic Toys,” light bulbs “Arcade’s” concept while David S. Goyer, the same David S. Goyer behind “Dark City,” “The Dark Knight,” and the 2022 “Hellraiser,” penned the script, marking the second collaborative production between Pyun and Goyer (“Kickboxer II”) as well as between Band and Goyer (“Demonic Toys”). Band serves as executive producer alongside Michael Catalano and is show running produced by Cathy Gesualdo, all of whom were involved in the back-to-back productions with Albert Pyun with “Arcade” and “Dollman.”

Early Full Moon films always had an interest cast mix of known and unknown actors and “Arcade” is no exception with the tragically inclined Alex, a teen with nightmares about her mother’s year ago gruesome suicide and her father’s inability to cope since, played by an early 90’s recognizable beauty and then Full Moon regular Megan Ward (“Crash and Burn,” “Trancers II,”), coming off her success costarring alongside Brendan Fraser, Polly Shore, and Sean Astin as the love interest in “Encino Man.” Ward role isn’t a damsel in distress one as Alex isn’t afraid to take and dive into a game of certain death to be the lone riser up against all odds. An interesting piece of casting is Peter Billingsley, a name and face that might be familiar as Ralphie from Bob Clark’s “The Christmas Story.” Instead of pining over a Red Ryder BB Gun that will undoubtedly shoot his eye out, Billingsley embodies the serious gamer amongst his group of friends who pines for the next level of gaming but also pines secretly for Alex, a subplot that’s not explored as well as it was technically setup. The lone survivors of Arcade’s acute takeover embark into virtual reality to save the rest of their friends, under the cast of Bryan Dattilo as boyfriend Greg, Brandon Rane, A.J. Langer (“The People Under the Stairs”), and Seth Green (“Idle Hands”) in his early years, all of whom either disappear at moment’s notice of the game’s turn to complete evil or have a moment to stand out with dialogue or a pyshical scene. John de Lancie’s role is small in comparison to his costars but the Q actor for “Star Trek: The Next Generation” and “Picard” has the gift to protrude positively amongst the cast with Lancie’s quick-wit and timed deliveries as the Vertigo gaming production representative Difford unaware of the game’s conscious, dark design. Norbert Weisser (“The Thing”), Don Stark (“Evilspeak”), Sharon Farrell (“Night of the Comet), and the voice of Jonathan Fuller (“The Pit and the Pendulum”) as Arcade’s voice round out the film’s amazingly cult chic cast.

In terms of computer-generated graphics of the early 1990s just eking out of the last decade, “Arcade’s” virtual world is of a clunky, chunky enterprise that epitomizes the era’s current technology. One could argue “Tron” had that same boxiness only forgiven by its award-winning cast. “Arcade” may not have an accolade-laden cast but the Band and Pyun production does, too, receive a pass for its eclectic and curious cast of well-rounded and peculiar-implanted actors and actresses, and also crew, that gives “Arcade” not only a reason to subdue the heavily-contrasted and bulky CGI but also rises it up to be larger than life, more than perhaps it deserved to be in regard to the story’s influences. However, this poor man’s version still has a gimmick coating and the third act editing is atrociously choppy to a point where nowhere could possibly know what’s going on as Alex flies through the seven-level pyramid, easily unearthing the hidden keys, and ending in the summit of Arcade’s human brain wave laced soul. Pieces of the reel were left on the cutting room floor, pieces that would have depicted more rigorous opposition to thwart Alex’s climb in the levels and would explains a whole lot more why she appears bangs up by the end. Albert Pyun resurfaces some of his best directional work to create unsettling moments of possession or of being unhinged as well as using smoke to diffuse the primary hue vibrance starkly contrasted against the computerized gaming world.

Newly remastered in high-definition with touched up color and detail refinement, “Arcade” now has a new Blu-ray release from the Full Moon Feature catalogue. Compounding and restoring various elements, the Full Moon team pulls together the best pieces for the best, up-to-date version available encoded on a MPEG-2 AVC, 1080p, BD25 disc. Honestly, a BD50 would have been better suited for the compression as “Arcade” runs the gamut of effects, coloring, and dark scenes in which, those scenes outside of virtual reality, aka green screen, Albert Pyun’s infuses smoke for the underground arcade to diffuse the colors, spreading them amongst the crowd and the room to create that dive bar atmosphere. However, there’s a bit of artificial banding surrounding the natural banding that delineates the colors within the darkness. Details are also impossible to gauge with the choice styles of hazy and CGI but there are moments of clarity that gives “Arcade” a clean bill of image health around the skin textures. “Arcade” must have been made from televisions as the label remasters the ’93 feature inside it’s full screen 4:3 aspect ratio. Full Moon offers two audio formats: an English PCM 5.1 surround sound and a Stereo 2.0. Dialogue has clear projection without any damage or interference for an independent, 30+ year old film from the early 90’s, but the track isn’t as hardy as desired, especially in the multi-channel that doesn’t diffuse anemically through the side and back channels. Separation also can’t decipher between reality and virtual reality with the layers melding together on a level playing field. Range decently plays a wide berth of tonal shades in computerized, “Tron”-like synth-cycling and in-game explosions and distortions. There are no English subtitles available. Special features include an audio commentary with Full Moon found and producer Charles Band and Alex star Megan Ward in a good one-on-one conversational piece about the past production and a little insight rom Ward’s thoughts and Band’s history as a child to a movie mogul but there’s also a lot of Band flirting with Megan Ward. There’s an archival interview with John De Lancie, a rare VFX reel that extends a few scenes plus displays the scrapped original CGI, the typical accompanying Videozone marketing of Full Moon’s streaming catalogue, other Full Moon trailers, and the original film trailer. Inside the blue Amaray case, the cover art features the original VHS composition artwork and a disc concentratedly pressed with one version of “Arcade’s” virtual villains. The region free release is rated R and has a runtime of 101 minutes.

Last Rites: “Arcade” respawns in a newly remastered high-definition transfer that’s greatly cleaned up the flecked rough patches in front of the computer-generated engine but doesn’t smooth out the rocky terrain of the last act that suffers erratic editing for quick pinch pacing instead of really fleshing out the story flow.

Insert Coin for “Arcade” on Blu-ray!

This EVIL Has Brains! “Head of the Family” reviewed! (Full Moon Features / Remastered DVD)

Posted by Steven Lewis on July 30, 2024

Get Ahead in Life with “Head of the Family” on DVD!

The Stackpooles are a little strange and are usually the talk of the small town of Nob Hollows when the zombified trio of siblings pick up the groceries at Lance’s Stop and Shop general store and diner. Yet, the Stackpoole’s are not Lance’s problem, not yet anyway, when Howard, a no-good shakedown thug, forces his might into Lance’s business as a silent partner. Little does Howard know that Lance has an ongoing affair with his wife, Loretta, and they devise a plan to get rid of Howard using the newly discovered dirt on the Stackpoole family’s bizarre kidnappings to take care of Howard once and for all. Lance figures he’s found his meal ticket after blackmailing Mryon, the fourth, and unseen, sibling who’s the mastermind and head of the family – literally a giant head – using telepathy and mind control to against his brothers and sister to do his bidding, but Myron is no fool to be taken advantage of so easily.

Who just is this Robert Talbot? The director of “Head of the Family,” who hides behind a black mask and speaks through a voice modulator, is none other than Full Moon’s secret identity for Charles Band under a pseudonym persona to exact a different kind of picture outside the context he’s expected to continue as well as an empire built on the image of horror. “Head of the Family” may not be tiny dolls inflicting an affliction based on their evil ways or the resurrection of the formerly dead and abnormal to, once again, inflect damage upon their creators, and possibly, the world we know it. Instead, “Head of the Family” slips out of Full Moon’s comfort zone and into another, different kind of shadowy namkeen to small plate audiences’ bizarre fascination with the weird and fantastical. Also, to exhibit T&A more than like the usual in the Full Moon repertoire. The less horror, more zany cult 1995 feature structures around the titular big headed villain, a band of his freakshow kin, and a constantly copulating couple that’s penned by Neal Marshall Stevens (“Thir13en Ghosts”), also under a pseudonym of Benjamin Carr, based off a “Talbot” story, and produced by, also “Talbot,” and “Hideous!” and “Witchouse” producer, Kirk Edward Hansen.

I couldn’t tell you if J.W. Perra is big-headed or not in real life, but the actor is certainly quite cranial as the family-telepathic, wheelchair bound Myron Stackpoole. The literal pun of the title plays in tune with Full Moon’s madcap maniacal ties while having Perra’s large head shine, or rather sweat gland glisten, under a miniature lame body. Myron’s enfeebled corporeal flesh drives his hunger to join the ranks of normal people as he kidnaps and surgically operates on the minds of unsuspected townsfolk to incorporate a portion of his higher intellect into a stronger body. Myron uses his stupefied siblings’ talents, bestowed upon them through a paternal quadruplet birthing, with Wheeler (James Jones, “Dark Honeymoon”) given superhuman bugeye sight and hearing, Otis (Bob Schott, “Gymkata”) given the twice the strength of a normal man, and Georgina (adult actress Alexandria Quinn, “Taboo VIII”) given, you guessed it, the hot and voluptuous body to attract men like moth to a flame. Speaking of hot bodies, former adult actress and “Femalien” star Jacqueline Lovell, aka porn handle Sara St. James, is absolutely supple as Loretta, a twangy blonde girlfriend to the scheming Lance, played with Cajun confidence by Blake Adams (“Lurking Fear”), and every chance Lance and Loretta get, they’re steaming the scene with erotically charged expo and exposition. I’m fairly certain Lovell has more lines topless than she does with her clothes fully on. In the supporting cast inventory, Vicki Lynn (“Fugitive Rage”) and Gordon Jennison Noice (“Virtuosity’) make up the remaining.

I’ll admit I fell into that hole of expecting “Head of the Family” to play out just like any conventional Full Moon feature, comprised of pint-sized and mischievous devils to a carnivalesque tune of irregular horror. To my surprise but not to my dismay, Band’s incognito oddity has the bones of a blackmailing thriller spiced with eccentric and caricature types and gratuitous sex at every turned corner. “Head of the Family” progresses through interacting conversation to outline exploitation arrangements and to be informed of dangers of crossing a big headed brainiac, interjected with the occasional display of drooling operated rejects, Otis and Wheeler’s utilizing their inborn side effects, and, I keep coming around to this motif and hopefully not in a pervy way, the female toplessness that bares bountiful. The depth perception effect to enlarge J.W. Perra’s head as Myron is executed pretty well with Adolfo Bartoli’s camera work that reflects the actors facing generally at the correct angle, as if they’re eye-to-eye with the Myron, and the edits do the effect justice as well, spliced precisely to account for dimensional space, the effects are reminiscent of Randy Cook’s illusionary work on “The Gate” films using dimensional animation and scale between live actors in the same frame but some distance apart. If you excuse the upcoming intended pun, Band’s film is more of a talking head production than one of grotesque action, a realization you won’t be aware of until well stretched into the runtime and because of this that’s the reason there’s likely a ton of Jacqueline Lovell nudity. Okay, okay, I’ll stop blabbering on about the nudity!

“Head of the Family” arrives onto newly remastered DVD from Full Moon Features. The MPEG2, upscaled 720p, DVD5, presented in a widescreen 1.78:1 aspect ratio, doesn’t have any detail regarding the remastering on the latest re-release but I suspect it’s the identical image or a slightly touched up 35mm negative used for the original Full Moon release from 1999 scanned in 2K. 15 years later, a reimagined “Head of the Family” retains the softer, radiant picture quality with a highly extensive color palette through the aura glow and a natural, yet reduced, grain. The negative does have a flaw in what looks to be cell damage a little halfway through the runtime with a brief, dark cut line making itself known, if you blink, you’ll miss it. This sort of obvious damage does lean more toward an identical transfer being used for the 2024 release with just a 2k scan without restorative elements. Remastered restoration likely went hot and heavy into the audio elements. The English language LPCM is available in two channel formats, a dual-channeled 2.0 and a surround sound 5.1 mix. Robust with added nuances, “Head of the Family’s” soundtrack breathes new aural acuities that not only clean any distortions, if there was any, but also sharpens the tracks like a knife on a wet stone, cutting and clean. Dialogue is clear and assertive through what is mostly a talking head span. English close caption subtitles are available. Much of the special features are reused from the 2016 Blu-ray release, including an audio commentary track from Actor J.W. Perra (Myron), promo behind-the-scenes video of the long anticipated “Bride of Head,” which has been stagnant for years, the original trailer, and other Full Moon Features’ trailers. The DVD release is an exact mirror image of the physical Blu-ray release from 8 years prior with a disc press image of Myron’s closeup through a murky filter and no inserts included. The region free release has an 82-minute runtime and is rated R without specifying the content but there is language, nudity, strong sexuality, and violence.

Last Rites: “Head of the Family” bucks the lucrative trend of miniature killer imps for the Full Moon empire but keeps moderately in line with eccentric characters, unabashed skin, and a Richard Band jaunty soundtrack, accentuated even more in a brand-new remastered DVD version of the film that was helmed by Charlie Band himself in anonymity.

Get Ahead in Life with “Head of the Family” on DVD!

#Programming_Evil. “Nightmare_Code” review!

Posted by Steven Lewis on January 17, 2016

Brilliant programmer Brett Desmond has been hired at a tech start-up to quickly complete the groundbreaking coding of a previous programmer Foster Cotten who went on a murderous rampage at the start-up’s tenth floor office right before killing himself. Desmond, struggling with the federal government breathing down his and his family’s necks due in part of him leaking sensitive classified material, works night and day and around the clock to crack Cotten’s code for ROPER, a behavior recognition program. A small work group remains with Desmond during the day, but at night, Desmond sleeps at the office, working aggressively to make the deadline and get his life back in order. The further Desmond or anyone else becomes familiar with the code, the code starts to modify their behavior, twisting their thoughts, and succumbing them to it’s will of the dead programmer.

From time to time again, the film industry on the subject of pioneer technology relays information upon the fears and consequences of intertwining arrogant brilliancy and controversial technology. From the genres of cyber punk to Sci-Fi horror, decades old films such as the virtual reality plotted “The Lawnmower Man” and “Virtuosity” to the more recent “Transcendence,” transferring consciousness into the machine, have been outspoken against the use of behavior modification and recognition programs. The idea behind the notion can said that the person envisioning the possibilities of such software will become obsessed, power hungry, or vengeful if the creation is taken away from them to which all three can be attributed to director Mark Netter’s 2014 film “Nightmare Code.”

Shot entirely through a surveillance-like setup and notebook web cams, “Nightmare Code,” for most of the duration, is viewed through four screens as like security footage. Netter and cinematographer Robert Fernandez designed this structure not for the sole purpose of a novelty exhibition, but to also confine characters in a small box coded by technology, as explained in an DVD’s bonus featurette, and creating a sense of isolation and distant connections that make the life of a programmer very lonely and depressing which develops in the characters very thoroughly. The story is told through the virtual eyes of ROPER, using it’s self-awareness and advanced modules to voyeuristically watch the small group of programmers and manically motivate their actions by use of altered video projections. ROPER also accesses the past, filling in the gaps that only the infamous story of the genius Foster Cotton can fill, and by accessing the past, the dead programmer’s coding can be understood for it’s malevolent behavior modification.

“Nightmare Code” is complimented by an underrated cast whom work well together through the smaller ROPER displays in the small screen film industry. Andrew J. West, better known for his role as the Terminus cannibal Gareth on “The Walking Dead,” takes on the protagonist role of Brett Desmond who battles legal and family trouble and West epitomizes isolation by effectively taking a man with a moral conscious in leaking immoral government information and leading him down a path of legal morality, but at the same time, being unfaithful, deceitful, and prone to corruption. He becomes pitted against antagonist Foster Cotton, played by veteran actor and long time supporting actor Googy Gress, notably recognized as a NASA mission controller from Ron Howard’s “Apollo 13.” The two foes never have screen time together as their stories live separate lives, tangled by their connection to ROPER, and so without that nourishment from the other actor, West and Gress use their talents to virtually interact with one another, developing a realistic struggling relationship that isn’t really there. The characters that surround Desmond and Cotton are negatively affected by both main characters and Mei Melançon’s supporting character Nora Huntsman figures into that coded nightmare as she becomes affectionate with Desmond. Even though he’s married, Nora feels the urge to fulfill her needs after separating herself from addictions: gaming, abusive boyfriend, and drugs. Melançon, who had portrayed a minor role as a major character, Psylocke, in the mutant world of “X-Men: The Last Stand,” had another hugely important role as a side dish techie lover, but her role doesn’t seem very present and that might because of the editing technique to create the dooming cyber vision.

Netter’s resulting editing style inefficiently told the story, I thought. We’re well aware that ROPER can mislead the performance buggy human race, but ROPER, in my mind, wasn’t responsible for some of the delayed or fast forwarded actions of the characters seen through the security footage as it stylishly seemed unimportantly and pointless. Luckily, these particular editing moments are far and few in between and don’t exactly hinder the narrative. What does hinder the narrative are the quick, considerably choppy, edited scenes. Netter creates long, sometimes drawn out, scenes to convey the office solitude, but then transitions to the numerous and quickly implemented scenes that spawn a constant stop and go narrative that loses the ominous factor. The longer scenes tend to generate gloom, dread, and despair. Supporting characters become underdeveloped in the quickly edited in scenes, affecting not only life recovering Nora, but also the rest of Desmond’s team – Louis, Kevin, and Ray – who become the underdeveloped characters and they are worthless to the viewer, essentially. Still, check out the Tonya Kay scenes as you might care about hers.

The Indie Rights Inc. produced film and MVD distributed release has a clean and sleek 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen presentation. Colors seem balanced and bright. There lies some minor noise, but that only adds to the security cam charm. The Dolby Digital 5.1 audio is clean and balanced in all channels and douses with Ari Balouzian’s synth soundtrack that embarks to terrorize. Balouzian’s score reminds me of Ennio Morricone’s “The Thing” theme, developing a soundtrack character that contributes to the intensity of “Nightmare Code.” Extras includes the film with commentary and a handful of featurettes explaining briefly the characters, the production, and the fear on the technology horizon. Mark Netter, along with the cast and crew, has good source material here and though this sort of tech horror isn’t exactly novel, “Nightmare Code” is fiercely entertaining and forebodingly frightening on a low-budget, startup scale.