VIRTUAL SEDUCTION (1995) A "Turkey of the Week" film review by Justin Felix. Copyright 1998 Justin Felix.
Rating: ** (out of five)
Story by Michelle Gamble-Risley and William Widmaier. Screenplay by Michelle Gamble-Risley, William Widmaier, and Paul Ziller. Directed by Paul Ziller. Starring Jeff Fahey, Ami Dolenz, Carrie Genzel, Meshach Taylor. Rated R (contains nudity, violence, and profanity) 89 mins.
Synopsis: A man whose lover, Paris, was murdered agrees to test out an experimental virtual reality home unit system. The subject escapes from the real world and his current girlfriend, Laura, and becomes addicted to virtual reality, which, due to a design flaw in his unit, recreates the dead Paris.
Comments: VIRTUAL SEDUCTION, executive produced by Roger Corman and Lance H. Robbins, serves as a cheaply-made precursor to STRANGE DAYS, a far superior film. Both movies deal with desperate men who have trouble relating to their current lovers because they are (ab)using technology to be with former lovers (in STRANGE DAYS, the technology utilized recorded dreams rather than virtual reality). Interestingly, both films also take place a couple of years from now during the turn of the new millenium, though STRANGE DAYS uses the setting far more effectively. This exemplifies the problem with VIRTUAL SEDUCTION. It's not bad for what it is: low-budget science fiction concerning the psychological dangers of virtual reality. Unfortunately, it's been done before and since in much better films, a fact which ultimately leaves the sci-fi fan bored by this movie.
VIRTUAL SEDUCTION has many faults (one of them is the fact that the video inexplicably has its own trailer before it begins). The film's script explores the possibilities of virtual reality interestingly at first, but its treatment of the subject matter gets heavy-handed and wooden as the movie progresses. Many important scenes seem too dark; the lighting could have been improved significantly. The cast, a collection of veteran B-movie actors and sitcom regulars, do only a mediocre job in their roles. Jeff Fahey, of the original LAWNMOWER MAN, convincingly, though unenergetically, plays the lead character. Carrie Genzel plays Paris, the VR lover, but Ami Dolenz, as the current love interest, seems like a much more interesting and attractive character with a caring personality, which doesn't lend credence to the film's premise. Meschach Taylor, of the once popular DESIGNING WOMEN sitcom, adequately plays a scientist working on the project, but his performance isn't something to write home about either.
VIRTUAL SEDUCTION is one of those harmless movies to which you could do some light manual labor and not mind having it on in the background. In other words, one could fold laundry while glancing up at it every now and then, but it's rather boring to just sit and watch. The movie is surprisingly not as violent as one expects from B-movies in this genre, but it is still an adult R-rated film due to sexual situations and a suicide attempt. This turkey, ultimately, isn't awful, but it's not particularly interesting or unique either. Don't be seduced into watching this movie unless you've got several loads of laundry and nothing else to watch.
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