Arcade (1993)

"Kiss reality goodbye."  - Arcade

A virtual reality game begins taking over the minds of teenagers... Just like real life!
Starring: Megan Ward, Peter Billingsley, Seth Green, and John de Lancie

Link to IMDB

Alex is a troubled teen, having nightmares about her mother's suicide and anxiety about life in general, and it doesn't help that her dad is also struggling to cope with his own depression. Whoa, where's the fun video games!? I admit that I was not expecting such mature themes here, and they mostly remain a part of the story to varying degrees of success.
Luckily, Alex has a close group of friends at high school that make her laugh, and they assure her that she's going to be okay. Along with her boyfriend Greg, they all plan on heading to the local arcade after school to check out some demos of the new video game technology being advertised.

Screamer.exe

Once at the arcade they find John de Lancie promoting the latest interactive virtual reality game that will "blow a hole in their underwear," utilizing cyber gloves and space goggles, this epic new machine is simply called Arcade. After some VR exposition about how Arcade works, and that "The Screamer" monster needs to be avoided, Greg decides to test his skills in the game. While he straps himself in, John de Lancie calls all the kids into the other room where they can each receive a free demo copy of Arcade to play with at home. Meanwhile, no one is watching as Greg is intensely struggling with his Arcade experience and he vanishes in a puff of smoke!!
When Alex gets home that night, she realizes that Arcade can speak to her through the home console VR system, and he's also a pretty damn creepy guy... or program... or VR wizard, whatever.



After Alex consults Nick, who is a bit of a computer expert, they realize that Arcade is systematically ruining the minds of all their friends and making them disappear.
They decide to find John de Lancie and confront him with this bizarre situation. He sends them to meet the actual scientist that created Arcade, who reveals the dark secrets behind the machine. Alex and Nick decide they have to "plug in" and tackle this VR jerk on his own turf.

"You're pretty smart for a fucked up paranoid teenager."  - Nick

All the silly VR stuff aside, the actors and story are actually serious enough to keep the movie worthwhile. It feels a lot like a Nickelodeon movie, but with a darker tone and lots of swearing. I was dreading the inevitable VR battle that would serve as the climax, but luckily it's very amusing, and there's a bit more going on inside Arcade than you would initially think. There's also an epilogue here that likely gave some kids nightmares.

Shit's getting real... Virtually.

The virtual reality effects look pretty damn bad, which of course makes them a lot of fun.
Apparently, the version I watched used the original outdated CGI that was mostly improved before the movie was released worldwide. The older version only released on VHS in Argentina, so it's a bit of a rarity to find, but has been beautifully archived on YouTube.

Be sure not to miss:
- Written by David Goyer. He is responsible for movies much worse than Arcade, but also wrote something called The Dark Knight trilogy.
- That was Don Stark as the owner of the local arcade.
- "I love the beach. For no particular reason at all. I love the beach. But then again... Ha ha!"
- Some nice trailers at the start, including the beloved Knights

Internet review:
"Kiss your overblown Hollywood expectations goodbye!" - Cardcaptor_Jim

Should I watch it?
Somehow, the movie is actually better than it should be, so I recommend it.

Where can I find it?
It's on YouTube

Arcade gets...