INTERFACE
This movie is a wonderful low-budget B-movie gem. It has bad acting, a really low budget, and from what I understand, is a mere step above a student film.
It begins with Lou Diamond Phillips as a drug dealing punk, at least I think that's what he was up to before he gets killed by a masked avenger who shoots white paint in his face before killing him. We are introduced to a computer class at some university, and some computer geeks who are selling their services changing grades, and records with their computer. A professor is trying to teach, but the students are busy talking about 'The Prankster's' latest crimes. The Prankster is known for spraying people with white paint. He has been changing passwords, and doing all sorts of things which are upsetting the faculty, and now he's wanted for murdering the drug dealers. The Professor's student aide is busy running computer scams and not finishing grading his papers until he disappears, and his wife shows up after a story is published that he died in a car accident. The police are after her, and she gets the professor into trouble by climbing into the ceiling ventilation system...
This movie is crazy. It is bizarre, and it actually gains momentum and becomes pretty funny. A mysterious group of masked people in a basement are conducting a kind of 'computerized Star Chamber' and they call themselves the Circle of Logic...a secret society of vigilante computer geeks who wear weird masks to conceal their anonymity...(sound familiar?). They have decided to get hardcore and go beyond hacking and changing passwords and records and pulling pranks, and start killing people. This movie isn't what I expected at all, and actually becomes entertaining. The Professor and the aide's wife get into all sorts of crazy trouble, and the movie becomes comedic, and utterly ridiculous. The soundtrack is vintage electronic and very bizarre, and makes this movie just plain nuts. It cannot be called a 'bad movie' in the sense that it is some sort of failure, because it isn't, the acting isn't that great, but compared to ACCESS CODE, which contains the worst acting in the world, and a plot which rarely makes any sense, it succeeds regardless of the $200 budget and not-so-good acting with its absurdity and zaniness. Dumb cops get shotgunned to the chest, crazy hackers with crazy 'computery' masks consult the "Master Process" computer to determine what to do. Like some sort of college geek fraternal secret society, these vigilante pranksters armed with their circle of computers attack the people we don't like...and this is before anybody ever heard of Anonymous or even the "Internet." ...back when people used words like 'interface' and 'mainframe.' This movie is a retro-gem of B-movie greatness. It is watchable, and rarely gets dull. If you're into archaic computer stuff, this is worth watching. It is fairly rare and as a matter of fact, there are probably 15 copies of this movie left available to obtain anywhere, only on VHS. I laughed a lot while watching this movie, and long before Austin Powers, they pull off a very funny lengthy urination scene...in 1985. I'm sure people thought it was stupid when it came out, but now, its a treasure of absolute retro-weirdness.
This is truly a memorable cult treasure, and I advise you to pick this up as soon as possible while it is still fairly cheap, though hard to find on VHS. A normal search on AMAZON.COM brings up absolutely nothing, lucky for you, bad for sellers...however this is likely what has driven the price down, as sellers are baffled as to why their tapes aren't selling...it is because Amazon doesn't even show it exists.
You can't find on it on an ordinary search, but it is there. The only copies probably in existence are there and there's not likely to be more of them anytime soon. (Unless someone like Roger Corman buys this film). You can find it through this link here. I can almost guarantee you this film will probably never be 'officially' released on DVD, the VHS tapes left (which are 25 years old) are rare, deteriorating, and one cannot find this on the internet available anywhere to download. Its rarity, absurdity, and obscurity is sure to make this very valuable soon. I enjoyed watching this madness, and if you get a chance to and you don't find it fun, then you shouldn't even be reading this blog...and maybe go watch TRANSFORMERS again.
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