A surreal sci-fi romance wherein a beautiful young woman and strange metaphysical forces threaten the reality of a reclusive video arcade technician, resulting in bizarre biomechanical mutations and a shocking self-realization.
If Tron was written and directed by David Cronenberg (albeit on a much smaller budget) at his most body-horror-ish you’d have something that looks like Sequence Break (and squishes like it too, hehehe), the second full-length movie (are we counting Space Clown? IMBD does, so…) by genre favorite Graham Skipper.
Oz (Chase Williamson) helps run an arcade game repair shop with Jerry (Lyle Kanouse), the owner. Oz is a little awkward, heavily focused on the innards of the machine he’s fixing and not really paying attention to anyone else, even when the comely Tess (Fabianne Therese) stops by to look for a game for her dad. The two begin an awkward courtship that soon blooms into a sweet and lovely romance.
A mysterious motherboard has been dropped off at the shop and, not knowing what else to do with it, Oz installs it in an available arcade cabinet. He boots it up and–surprise!–an 80s-style video game comes on and Oz starts to play. And play. And…something starts messing with his brain when he does. He starts hallucinating (or does he?) and, even as his relationship with Tess deepens, he can’t quit playing this game every day. He becomes quite attached to it (in more ways than one, hehehe).
This was such a fun throwback to the 80s I could practically taste the Crystal Pepsi as I watched it. The synth-heavy soundtrack by actor Van Hughes is terrific, evoking the best of John Carpenter and Wendy Carlos as counterpoint to the eye-popping visuals Skipper shows us. Even the video game itself is a fabulous wireframe-modeled playground reminiscent of early faves Tempest or Tank.
Williamson and Therese are great as the young couple. They are natural and affectionate and we believe in them and root for them as their relationship grows (and as bad weird things happen, as well). Williamson, especially, gives Oz an endearing awkwardness that really works to his advantage when the game hits the fan and he has to man up, as it were.
Graham Skipper has a great eye as a director. Some of the shots in this movie are downright gorgeous, even with an assumed limited budget (based on the somewhat minimal sets). He creates terrific tension just with shots of Oz clicking buttons and flipping a joystick (and when that joystick…changes, I seriously felt queasy). I’m a fan of practical effects and I was happy to see that Skipper dives right in and makes sure we can see every squish and hear every slick slurp, limiting the computer graphics to just what you see on the game screen.
I felt the last act went on a bit long and got a tad unfocused along the way. I think it could have made it to the climax/epilogue (which is really good and satisfying) a little sooner–but that is a minor irritant in the 80 minutes of awesomeness that is Sequence Break. Slip a quarter in the slot, press Player 1, and slide your hand on that joystick. Keep your eyes and your mind open.
Ready!
Go!
