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HORROR: The Thirteenth Floor
REVIEWER: Shane Gavin
RATING: A-
REVIEW:
Is this the redemption film from centropolis? Well it could be.. They
have fed us ID4 and Newzilla (popcorn films), but they have reverted back
to the very existential openings of Star Gate. How many levels can humans
exist? Well by the end of The Thirteenth Floor you'll be aware of a few
more.
There have been a run of existential films (mainly horror) in the last
few years, Brainscan, Dark City, Trumann Show (kinda), Pleasantville, The
Matrix and eXistenZ. Now what sets this film apart from all the rest. Well
for starts it has a different approach to making a film based on the topic
and instead of leaving the audience hanging at the end of the film. The
audience is given some place to end, a total finishing point. This is a
film that has been made prior to the latest batch and has been a long time
in the making. As it was optioned way back in the 70s.
However the film strides along without leaving it's audience behind.
The film is not able to leave it's audience behind as it feeds the nowadays
intelligent audience too well. But if I had to revise all the existential
films of this year and put them in some kind of order. eXistenZ would still
be at one.. The Thirteenth Floor would follow at 2nd.. and the hyper violent
CG reality of "The Matrix" would fall into 3rd. It seems that
the more of these sub genred scifi films that come out the more annoying
the set pieces get.
However the most annoying set piece is the EXPLANATORY SCENE.. Where
one character has to tell the other, "This is how it works.."
In the MATRIX it was just about the whole film.. eXistenZ it was told right
at the start. But in "The Thirteenth Floor" it has evolved to
a very simple explanation of going into another form of existance. It was
a brilliant film because of the low key casting and the low budget of the
film making.. The film is not made on the same centropolis budget as ther
forementioned films. This film is works well as a story.. Well worth seeing
at the cinema with someone.. you love or hate.. Who knows you might even
walk out with them as someone else.. There is a point in this film that
the brilliance hits you.. And that's why it gets a A-..
A-
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, 1998-1999.