cnburbridge
Cadet
Hi! About 1999, I was watching UPN, and there was a series with a sexy, big-bosomed computer-animated woman (from a video game I think) who was the "host" of this weekly sci fi movie series.
One week, there was one of the most amazing sci fi movies I had every seen, and I am still wondering what it was, and if I can get a copy of it.
It was not particularly well made, and it was a little cheezy. But the metaphors it used were so powerful, I have always wished I could refer back to it, and show people.
If you have any idea about what this movie is, I would be very grateful!
Plot summary. (Note: This is definitely a "spoiler" of a great surprise plot. I am trying to see if anyone can tell me the name of this movie.)
A happy, Leave It To Beaver, 1950's world. A handsome youngish family man leaves his house and goes about town. He shops for a car at a car lot. The prices of the cars are alarmingly cheap -- even for the 1950's -- like, $150 for a brand new shiny big car. Everyone is sickeningly nice and "happy" and your first impression of this world is that the filmmaker was a hack and is totally overplaying a stereotype.
The man comes into his workplace -- not 1950's, actually. More 1980's. A corporate building somewhere. Lots of people working at desks, maybe in low cubicles. Everyone says "mornin!", etc. Happy happy.
Then, as the man looks out on the office floor, something surprising happens. On top of some things, glowing green letters display the name of the thing. "Desk". "Woman". "Chair." This is very disturbing to the man.
It starts to happen more. He gets really freaked out. And then, the whole world starts to look this way. It starts to appear that rather than an illusion, he may be seeing something about the way the world is. He runs home. Now, the whole world is like this, covered with glowing green descriptors. The whole world is a grid of glowing green lines -- no more the reality he thought he knew.
Then, he starts to experience a lower layer of reality! All of a sudden, underneath the reality he thought he knew, there's a disgusting, creepy reality. His beautiful clean house is now grey, covered with a hundred years of dust, cobwebs, and rats. The pantry full of food is now empty, or a little bit of rotting food. Is this what he's actually been eating all this time? Is this the house he's been sharing with his family?
He gets really freaked out and runs out of the town (perhaps something it's never seemed necessary to do before). He runs into some other refugees. They discover a domed city with a big satellite dish thing on the top. They break in, and infiltrate the city. It turns out there's this mind control ray that was set up a long time ago, and it's been blasting these layers of unreality, and keeping these people in illusion. They break the ray.
They return to their home town. Now, it turns out there's a layer underneath the "rats" layer: It's all cardboard boxes! All the furniture, cars, houses, are made of plain, generic cardboard boxes. Their clothes are simple neutral burlap sack cloth. There's a parade going on.
Thanks,
Chris
One week, there was one of the most amazing sci fi movies I had every seen, and I am still wondering what it was, and if I can get a copy of it.
It was not particularly well made, and it was a little cheezy. But the metaphors it used were so powerful, I have always wished I could refer back to it, and show people.
If you have any idea about what this movie is, I would be very grateful!
Plot summary. (Note: This is definitely a "spoiler" of a great surprise plot. I am trying to see if anyone can tell me the name of this movie.)
A happy, Leave It To Beaver, 1950's world. A handsome youngish family man leaves his house and goes about town. He shops for a car at a car lot. The prices of the cars are alarmingly cheap -- even for the 1950's -- like, $150 for a brand new shiny big car. Everyone is sickeningly nice and "happy" and your first impression of this world is that the filmmaker was a hack and is totally overplaying a stereotype.
The man comes into his workplace -- not 1950's, actually. More 1980's. A corporate building somewhere. Lots of people working at desks, maybe in low cubicles. Everyone says "mornin!", etc. Happy happy.
Then, as the man looks out on the office floor, something surprising happens. On top of some things, glowing green letters display the name of the thing. "Desk". "Woman". "Chair." This is very disturbing to the man.
It starts to happen more. He gets really freaked out. And then, the whole world starts to look this way. It starts to appear that rather than an illusion, he may be seeing something about the way the world is. He runs home. Now, the whole world is like this, covered with glowing green descriptors. The whole world is a grid of glowing green lines -- no more the reality he thought he knew.
Then, he starts to experience a lower layer of reality! All of a sudden, underneath the reality he thought he knew, there's a disgusting, creepy reality. His beautiful clean house is now grey, covered with a hundred years of dust, cobwebs, and rats. The pantry full of food is now empty, or a little bit of rotting food. Is this what he's actually been eating all this time? Is this the house he's been sharing with his family?
He gets really freaked out and runs out of the town (perhaps something it's never seemed necessary to do before). He runs into some other refugees. They discover a domed city with a big satellite dish thing on the top. They break in, and infiltrate the city. It turns out there's this mind control ray that was set up a long time ago, and it's been blasting these layers of unreality, and keeping these people in illusion. They break the ray.
They return to their home town. Now, it turns out there's a layer underneath the "rats" layer: It's all cardboard boxes! All the furniture, cars, houses, are made of plain, generic cardboard boxes. Their clothes are simple neutral burlap sack cloth. There's a parade going on.
Thanks,
Chris