Brainscan
Tags: allegory, cult, comedy, murder

Plot synopsis:
A lonely boy named Michael Brower (Edward Furlong) lives an isolated existence in his absent father's mansion. Michael's mother was killed in a car accident, which also permanently injured his leg. He spends his spare time stalking his crush, a typical girl-next-door named Kimberly. A huge fan of horror films and video games, Michael's only friend is a similar-minded misfit named Kyle. Kyle tells Michael about a new, ultra-realistic game called Brainscan. Intrigued, Michael sends away for the first disc.
The game begins strangely, with a warning screen informing him that the experience has much in common with hypnotic suggestion. During his first experience with the game, Michael is encouraged to act as a psychopathic murderer by the game's host, an entity known as Trickster. In-game, Michael murders a stranger and takes his foot as a trophy. Later, he is horrified to discover that his victim in the game was a real person, and that the same murder also happened in the real world.
Kyle begs Michael to let him play the game, and Michael angrily rebuffs him. Later Michael is tormented by Trickster, who exits the game and plays a song by the musical group Primus in Michael's bedroom. Because he is a possible witness to the earlier murder, Trickster tells Michael he must kill Kyle, which he eventually does in-game.
Michael doesn't remember Kyle's murder and calls his house. The phone is answered by a policeman, Detective Hayden (Frank Langella). Michael becomes paranoid that he will be sent to jail. He is also continually annoyed by the presence of Trickster, who refuses to leave his home. Trickster ultimately instructs him to kill Kimberly.
At nightfall Michael sneaks into her room, but refuses to hurt her. Trickster reveals that he is actually the evil part of Michael. He possesses Michael, the struggle of which wakes Kimberly. Kimberly tells Michael that she loves him, which allows him to break free from his own inner darkness. At the last minute, the Trickster materializes and opens the bedroom door. Detective Hayden enters and shoots Michael dead.
Michael awakens in his room. He discovers that the whole experience was a fantasy. After a short tantrum, ranting at the game for his traumatic experiences, he excitedly realizes that Kyle is still alive and that nothing in the game happened in the real world. He goes over to Kimberly's and asks her out, which she replies with "maybe" before giving him a kiss.
The next day, Michael brings the Brainscan disc to school to show as part of a horror movie marathon. Unexpectedly, Trickster appears before the disc begins to play.

Review: Instead, I found myself simply feeling uneasy while watching it.I recently decided to rent it for the nostalgia factor and give it another watch, fully expecting it to be horrible and downright laughable, but I was surprised to find that this movie still has the power to make me feel uneasy and even uncomfortable while watching it.The scriptwriter's alien ideas about how computers and games work are indeed rather laughable, but if you can forgive those, the movie does an admirable job of pulling you into Michael Bower's world.
The main theme, played several times throughout the movie, is very creepy and mood setting; I loved it.I found Brainscan far more compelling than the standard slasher flick or monster movie, and would readily recommend it to anyone looking for something a little more psychological..
Ed Furlong of Terminator 2 is a high school student that exposes himself to large amounts of Horror, Hard Rock, and Video Games.
A sinister antagonist called The Trickster drives the plot of the movie and forces the main character (Furlong) to become either a hero or a victim.
This film should be highly recommended to fans of Horror, Sci-Fi/Fantasy and admirers of Frank Langella and/or Edward Furlong..
It has been many years since I saw my teens or in fact my 20's, but Brainscan is one of those rare movies that can appeal to anyone who enjoys a good horror spoof..
Edward Furlong (T2) plays a horror fanatic who stumbles upon an advert in a horror magazine advertising a CD ROM game called 'Brainscan' He decides to play it but is skeptical, that is until he gets a little more than he bargained for.
The fact that characters may be just a little melodramatic doesn't necessarily come down to a bad script but it is in the essence of all horror films.
This movie took a very creative stance behind the usual blandness of a typical horror story and made what could be interpreted as a piece ahead of its time.
This kid is sent the latest in video game technology, an interactive VR experience which sees him kill another human being, the catch being he's not allowed to leave any witness's or clues.
To give any sort of praise 'Brainscan', a film coincidentaly lacking a brain, requires you be either a teenage girl with a crush on Edward Furlong, or a 20 something video gameaholic.
But he is also like a cool nerd who adores watching horror movies and playing bloody video games.
Acting is very good and the character in the spotlight, main character Michael, is excellently preformed by Edward Furlong.After I watching this film through, I thought that we humans, as a race, are not ready to be mind readers or be able to materialize our imaginations.
Still, Edward Furlong does a neat job as teenager Michael Bower, whose video game starts manifesting itself.
The story's about a disturbed teenager named Michael Brower (played by the asthmatic Edward Furlong) who is obsessed with death, horror movies, and heavy metal; and what ensues when he plays a virtual reality-like horror game called Brainscan.
The story is Edward Furlong plays a teenage slacker who loves computer games and horror movies.
When I got back and watched my "Braveheart" recording I was disappointed to find that out, but one day I discovered that my best friend -to whom I had given a couple of tapes to record whatever might be of interest to me- and after a couple of minutes I was bound to that excellent movie and couldn't refrain from watching it.The script is definitely good but it lacks what makes up a real good script: the unforeseeable plot.
Knowing American movies all too well I could be certain just after the first murder that the end would be "all good" (All's well that ends well) and I imagined the rest of the story going something like...
But the plot was able to stun me with a turn, when the game demands what can't be done.I also have to admit that I was mostly fascinated by the characters which had the luck to be played by actors who fit into their parts and were extremely good at it.
Another bonus there.I would have loved if they would have showed more of the story "Michael - Kimberley" towards the end because -as I find- this is as elementary to the movie as the "Brainscan game" and "Trickster" itself.
Edward Furlong plays Michael Brower, a teen who spends his spare time playing video games and spying on the beautiful girl next door (Kimberly played by Amy Hargreaves).
One day Michael calls a number his clownish friend (Jamie Marsh, who is basically good for a few dry laughs) gave him and thus discovers Brainscan, a new interactive video game with a goal that reaches beyond innocent entertainment.
With a plot about a virtual reality video game in which you get to indulge in people's sickest innermost urges (killing people).It's a little too violent for pre-teens, yet that's why it would be such a stand out movie at that age.
The movie overall gives you a very uncomfortable feeling but it's too campy to be one of those "I love it because it's so incredibly hard to watch" movies like Irreversible for example.The cheesy effects are actually pretty entertaining at least.
I've watched plenty of movies with Furlong and what can I say, they're all great.Brainscan is an excellent thriller with a lot of suspense.
Badly executed attempt at a video game horror movie....
1st watched 10/14/2009 - 3 out of 10 (Dir-John Flynn): Badly executed attempt at a video game horror movie although it's an interesting concept.
The storyline revolves around a disturbed kid who's obsessed with horror movies and videogames and is presented with supposedly the scariest experience available called Brainscan.
Edward plays a teen that gets this great game that allows you to kill someone...kind of a virtual reality game.
Brainscan is a horror film where the things you expect to happen do, but not in the method you would come into to call with.
He loves horror films, violent video games and anything dark in aura.
It's like `lighting a marijuana cigarette and travelling to the real world, or getting an erection from watching a pornographic sex film and raping someone.' He is a best friend with another naive narcissist youth named Kyle, and together they discover Brainscan.
Great movie with cool characters you can like.
Impressed with the realism of his latest virtual reality video game, a teen horror fan begins to suspect the murders in the game actually happened in this nifty thriller shot in suburban Montreal.
One of the cleverest meta lines in 'Brainscan' is "do all these horror movies that you watch make sense?"; the line is uttered though by an annoying comical supporting character that emerges after thirty minutes to taunt the protagonist.
The comical final scene does not quite work but the denouement is surprisingly good with the teenager truly altering his outlook on horror, gaming and the like as the result of his experiences..
Edward Furlong plays his main character very well in this movie.
Honestly I especially like "bad" horror movies because they are many times funny as well, which you don't see in the average "ohh now I am supposed to be scared movie's"The background music is great as well!At last I was also surprised at the actor who play's "The Trickster" (Who acts crazy funny and mad!) (he doesn't play any many movie's which is weird in my opinion!)8/10 for me..
The slightly erotic and mysterious atmosphere a la Lost Boys boosts it the most, too bad they used just a little smudge of it and a lot more Elm Street tricky demon stuff.The plot is pretty predictable, but the script is decent and Edward Furlong is very suited to play the alienated youth obsessed by hard, but fake, horror movie scares.
Edward (T2) Furlong stars a troubled teen named Michael who loves horror movies and horror video games.
Well I first watched this movie when I was 18 in 1994 and, feeling a little nostalgic thought I'd give it another look as I remembered it being good.
Sure the special effects can look cheap and are shoddily conceived, but the virtual reality context (high tech for the period) and it's critical allegory on society's narrow-minded views on violence (the horror genre here) as escapism entertainment to supposedly fulfil their deranged fantasy's seemed to draw me in and Edward Furlong (stemming of the success he gathered from James Cameron's 1991 film Terminator 2: Judgment Day) is actually quite good with a sympathetically appealing moody character.
However, I consider Edward Furlong to be a decent actor, plus I had nothing better to do.I wouldn't consider this a horror movie really, there is really not much to frighten you but, the plot is decent, well paced and it does keep you interested the whole way through.
In parallel, the bogey Trickster, also, testifies a typical heaviness of any "cyber-ludic" productions.The pub's sociology of this kind of "B movies", seldom as much did not show relevance with its prototype of the nineties anomic teenager (thrash metal, discomfort, returns to oneself, first sexual instincts) who takes refuge in the virtual world.Unfortunately, in addition to the ubuesque control of the characters above-mentioned, a certain number of slownesses accumulate throughout film and the happy end of the high-school pupil who is avenged for his headmaster as in a Twisted Sister's video leaves the spectator disappointed..
Fanatic teenage horror movie fan discovers a video game which gives him the possibility to become a serial killer.
only to find out the next day that the people he kills in the game are really dead.The video games host called Trickster tells him that if he doesn't finish the game his girlfriend next door will die.Edward furlong as the teenage kid does an OK job, Frank Langella as the detective who investigates the murders kinda feels out of place in this campy teen cyber horror movie ( Cause he was snorting 2 pounds a day ).
Depressed teenager (Edward Furlong) finds out that his newest video game is forcing him to commit a series of murders.
Ryder Smith) is forcing Furlong to keep on playing the video game.
Edward Furlong's performance as Michael was great and also the guy who played Trickster he was like a Freddy Krueger type character.This type of film is mainly targeted at 15 year olds and younger, and me being around that age I quite enjoyed it.Overall I gave this film 7/10, so any kid who wants a night in to watch a light horror film I recommend this film..
This is a real good movie.Eddie Furlong was really scary in this one.
On the surface, Brainscan seems to be your run-of-the-mill dumbed-down Hollywood hollywood thriller; Its plot seems gimmicky, it's got a young up-and-comer/teenage heart-throb as its star, and it seems to try very hard to be cool, presenting us with the usual watered-down and unrealistic depiction of teenage life that we've come to expect from studios:  a surface depiction of stereotypical personalities, obviously produced by middle-aged men deliberately attempting to target the MTV audience, which will see through it instantly anyway.
BRAINSCAN sounds very cool as pseudo sci-fi, but when the attempt is made by creating something out of a video game and turn it into another cheesy movie, the result is painfully lacking.
First my question: The computer Michael has, is there such a thing and is it out for sale or can you have someone down load the stuff and you can personalize it so you don't have to call it I'gore, How much would it cost?My comment:  I loved the movie so I bought and watch it all the time, if they ever made a game like that I would try it but have a friend there to tell me the day and time so I wouldn't think it actually happened or go crazy wondering if it was true or not..
Edward Furlong (Terminator 2: Judgment Day, American History X) and Frank Langella (Frost/Nixon, Dracula) team to bring a comedy, horror, sci-fi thriller.Michael (Furlong) discovers a new video game that he plays when he isn't checking out Kimberly's (Amy Hargreaves) breasts.
The only thing lamer than "Brainscan" is actually watching all of it.I'm sorry Edward!!!I'd like to admit that I'm over 14 so it's not really aimed at me anyway...but I feel better having said that..
But, truly, I gave this movie a chance...I loved the premise and the idea of a video game that is supposed to be a 'virtual reality' session of what it is like to be a murderer...except all of the murderers happen to occur in real life.
His relationship with the female lead was absolutely unrealistic, and the movie suffered from it.Then there is 'The Trickster', the main bad guy of this film who looks like a recurring character in a number of 80's bands.
In addition, the special effects are for the most part very dated, which further hurts the film.The movie's highlights are the impressive camerawork in some scenes (reinacting a virtual reality video game) and a very nice soundtrack...but the acting ranges from okay to subpar.
Not much of a horror film, and not a very good movie overall, yet it is mildly entertaining with an interesting premise.
BrainscanThe upside to murdering someone online is not having to clean up all that blood afterwards.Unfortunately, for the player in this horror movie, his victims are appearing in reality.A homebody since an accident, Michael (Edward Furlong) has become a skilled gamer eager for new challenges, which he finds in a hyper-realistic mail-order game.Egged on by the games master Trickster (T.
If you like 90's teen horror, with a little bit of 80's feel thrown in, you can't go wrong with Brainscan..
Edward Furlong (Terminator 2) stars as a monster movie/video game fanatic who receives a CD-ROM that challenges players to carry out brutal killings.
When Furlong discovers that the murder has also occurred in real life, he attempts to rid himself of the game, but its hideous "referee," Trickster (T.
One of the best low budget psychological horrors ever made.Edward Furlong plays Michael, a teen-aged boy who lost his mother at a young age.
It changes his life.Excellent cinematography, adequate direction, and weak performances from Frank Langella as the local homicide detective (why was he even IN this movie?!); James Marsh as Kyle, Michael's only friend; and Amy Hargreaves as the girl next door tend to drag down the decent performance given by Edward Furlong and the excellent and compelling talents of T.
This movie was more of a psychological mind twist than anything else.SPOILERS FROM HERE ON OUT.Michael was forced by Trickster (and ultimately the game) to kill Kyle to show him that things DO matter; friends matter.
The new video game Brainscan comes out and this young horror movie fan tries it.
There's a great scene at the end when he hands the game disk to the high school principle who banned his horror movie club.
This is the Trickster.Trying to prove that the game is evil he films himself the next time he plays.
But before he can leave he notices a stack of pics like the ones in the game.The next day Furlong brings in the Brainscan disk and gives it to his principal.
Edward Furlong gives an excellent performance as a young teenager who compensates for his loneliness by playing violent video games, until one gets a little to real.
I thought that the film was better in the beginning then the end.The story goes like this: A kid (Edward Furlong) gets a video game which is like virtual reality and it makes him kill people.
Michael Bower(Edward Furlong)is an alienated teenager who loves horror films, is still haunted by the car crash that left him with a limp & took his mother's life, and is in love with a girl named Kimberly(Amy Hargreaves), for whom he records with his camcorder.
This game is called "Brainscan" and it has four different stages with the first having the person playing actually committing a crime of brutal murder.
The film's special effects are hokey, but the idea works for me..this poor kid decides for the ultimate experience and is thrust into a macabre world of his own doing basically because he likes escape through the horror genre often criticized for displaying mindless violence in the way of entertainment..
I love an intelligent horror movie with a real life social message.
Trouble is it appears that Michael really is killing people and when he tries to shut the game down wonderfully mad character called The Trickster pops out of the TV and involves himself in conversations regarding the nature of horror that become a bit too philosophical.Brainscan ends with a plot twist that is quite ingenious and caught me totally off-guard the first time I saw it.
Used to like them but now I think they're some of the dumbest movies ever made.Edward Furlong probably gives his worst performance ever in this film.
He stays at home playing video games, watching horror flicks and reading Fangoria.
I don't have a real feel for horror flicks, but I love a good sci-fi, I think this movie would fall somewhere in between the two.
Edward Furlong stars as Michael in "Brainscan".
He finds out about a new video game called "Brainscan" from a friend and orders a copy.
However, as a work of art (something which I think all films are), Brainscan was excellent.Dealing with a sixteen year old boy (T2's Eddie Furlong) who comes upon a video game that puts him within the eyes of a murderer, Michael experiences horror after horror when he finds himself essentially inside a truly scary horror flick.
I think Edward was a bit awkward at times I mean when he's spying on his love interest he doesn't even look like he's interested in what he's doing.