Ghost in the Machine (1993)

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

Not scary, not thrilling, and filled with dull characters who are phoning it in all the way through. The kid was punch in the face annoying, and eventually I wanted the killer to win. Plus this is one that actually needs to be remade, as technology is a little more sophisticated in 2017 then 1993. I think we can do the virtual reality with the killer scene a whole lot better. Karen Allen was so attractive and likable in her early roles and seems really embarrassed to have ended up in a cheap serial killer flick. Rachel Talalay must also have regretted that as a woman director all she ended up doing was D grade horror movies rather than something interesting. Skip this one, thankfully it's hard to find, and it should stay that way.

Josh Munroe likes to pull scams with his friend Frazer. His single computer-illiterate mom Terry (Karen Allen) is overwhelmed. Karl Hochman is a technician at the computer store and also "The Address-Book Killer". He gets into a car crash and sent to the hospital. As he gets a CAT scan, an electrical surge downloads his consciousness into the network. He retrieves a page from Terry's address book and starts killing people on that page. Former computer hacker Bram Walker (Chris Mulkey) turn white hat in a main frame company tracks down the ghost in the machine.The kid is annoying while a brat. Karen Allen isn't able to save him or the movie. Mulkey is too old and doesn't look like a hacker. He's more of a blue collar guy. This was a time before the internet took off. I'm willing to accept some of the cheesy ideas about computers. The filmmakers spent a lot of time and money to represent the computer world but it isn't that compelling. It looks kind of bad. There are moments of fun horror. The kills are similar to the Final Destination movies. However, every good moment is interrupted by a bad moment like the creepy stripe tease in front of the boys. In the end, the bad moments outnumber the good.

... and I should have never watched it now. A bad rip off of Nightmare on Elm Street mixed with Lawnmower Man, & a bit of Shocker.Sure, you are not supposed to ask questions like "Gee, why is the Address Book Killer such a stupid name?" or "Why don't CAT scans have surge protectors?", but it's hard not to.I found myself at odds with even more bewildering, illogical explanations. Such as how a serial killer suddenly has control of every single electrical appliance and mechanism. Look, I'm not the one to judge intelligence when it comes to sci-fi or any "good" movie that requires a stretch of the imagination. But had the movie moved out of the realm of a typical hospital CAT scan, and more into a mad scientist lab...I cared so little for the characters, with the exception of Karen Allen's. Her son is a brat, so what if he dies? The bad guy is so... meh. Typical & boring. Special FX's are laughable, even by it's time of release. Compared to computer sfx extravaganza Jurassic Park, which released the same year, GITM showed it's low budget like strings holding a UFO. Like many 80's movies, it tried to reach out to a new "computer horror" genre, but this movie was from the 90's. Too late.

OK it is very average, and it is before Windows95, but this film gives people a sort of index point as to what was do able in that era of computing. People really were afraid of PCs then and this movie is silly with some good and some bad computer graphic special effects. A few laughs a few scares, and lots of popcorn on a late Saturday night with some friends or my case the kids lots of fun. Imagine if they made a sequel with todays technology and brought that rotten kid back as an adult....now that could be scary. It's directed by Rachel Talalay who was a producer of many of the Nightmare films and she also directed one of them. Karen Allen is know for her role in Raiders of the Lost Ark. You will recognize a few other talents as well.