Coming to Amazon Prime, Full Moon Features, and Tubi.
I love the fact that Charles Band is tackling modern age concerns with movies like Aimee: The Visitor (movie review) and now Quadrant. The former concerned rogue artificial intelligence in search of romance and the latest, just whether virtual reality is a good place to go for therapy! But what if what one dreads, would they embrace their problem, so the issue becomes part of them? That’s where this story concept succeeds because the terror is presented in the best way this filmmaker can imagine. And as for Erin (Shannon Barnes), she better be careful in what she wants to reap after signing that waiver to be involved in this study.
Scientists Harry (Rickard Claeson) and Meg (Emma Reinagel) crafted a VR helmet with a few added interfaces so other bodily functions can be monitored and, if chemical stimulation is required, also pumped in too! It’s a type of neural study I am even game to try, but after seeing this film, I say not!
Erin is their tool to study how how helpful this technolgoy can be. But little do they know her obsession with Jack the Ripper is more twisted than they realise. She can’t distinguish between the two realities. In order to save her, these scientists must enlist the assistance of Robert (Christian Carrigan). He’s another person they’re studying, and when he has feelings for Erin, they hope he can provide something more real to fixate on instead of the Reaper.
But pretty soon, as with any Full Moon film, everything has to burst at the seams, and chaos erupts. Shannon Barnes is great at being Jekyll and Hyde, and had this tale not affirm the killer is Jack, I’d swear this tale is designed to honour Robert Louis Stevenson‘s work! Although the scientists don’t have the same panache as this star, they have their place as Data (from Star Trek) in those holosuite episodes where he is Sherlock Holmes, and Moriarty is given life!
To note, Quadrant marks this studio’s 400th release and is the first under the Pulp Noir label. It’s better than the recently reviewed Private Eye movie starring comedian Matt Rife in the sense we have existential dread as a theme from start to end. With this film, it’s perfect in its execution where even I wonder if therapy in the virtual realm is needed. Some phobias are best left alone, and others, I’m sure other methods to get over trauma exist!
4 Stars out of 5