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Charlie is a
videogame-addicted nobody who spends his
days (and nights) playing games - either at home or
at work (since it is in fact his occupation). One day
he receives a new game box in the mail and is immediately
intrigued. The game has great graphics and the virtual
reality feels extremely realistic. What Charlie doesn't
know is that it is all in fact very much real - and
when you've started to play the game, there's only one
way to exit, and that's to finish all the levels.
Nate Richert (more known as Harvey Kinkle from Sabrina,
The Teenage Witch) plays a videogame addict in this
Videodrome inspired horror-thriller marketed more or
less as a Stay Alive spin-off. Now, you probably think
that this is a complete Stay Alive rip-off, but it's
not since it actually went into production before
Stay Alive - and while the concepts are somewhat
similar, Gamebox 1.0 isn't a teen-slasher at all.
Nor is it as silly as Stay Alive was.
The story revolves around Charlie, a videogame addict
who one day receives a new game box in his mail. He
figures that it's probably a promotional one so he
decides to give it a run for its money. Naturally
things start to go terribly wrong as Charlie quickly
starts to realize that this is no ordinary game.
Every time he gets wounded, he can feel it, and if
he dies, he dies for real. Will he be able to do what
no one else has been able to do before? Will he manage
to finish the game, before the game finishes him?
The premise is fairly intriguing and it's obvious that
the makers of this movie wanted to make a modern-day
version of Videodrome since they even mention that
movie in here. In other words, it's an homage - and
a quite decent one at that (even if far from as
brilliant as Videodrome was). Charlie is a somewhat
relatable character as we all know people like this
and therefore it's very easy to root for him. His
quest in the game is also pretty interesting and
keeps you watching. Unfortunately, Gamebox 1.0 also
has a bunch of flaws.
First of all, it's obvious that this wasn't a high
budget movie as the graphics are quite poor. There
were even times where it looked like the cast were
just walking in front of a green screen. Then there's
the obvious fact that it wasn't as much of a horror
flick as I had wanted it to be. I'm not even sure
I should review it as it really is more of a sci-fi
thriller. But on the other hand, it's been marketed
as a horror flick so I figured, what the hell. The
cast is decent though and give stellar performances.
Ultimately, I have to say that I was pleasantly
surprised by this movie. I, just like you, thought
that this was a cheap Stay Alive knock-off and when
it turned out to be a fairly original movie with an
interesting story, I was extremely pleased. If you're
a fan of Videodrome, I'm sure you will find this
somewhat entertaining as well so give it a shot.
Nothing much.
Hiphop music, rock music and dance music. Very cheap
sounding score which felt like it really came from
a videogame - so it actually worked.
Well, it's not really a horror movie, but for what
it's worth, it's surprisingly decent. I was pleasantly
surprised by the refreshing story and the obvious
homage to Videodrome and I was much more impressed
by this than by Stay Alive. Give it a shot if you're
into these kind of movies, you might like it.
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