Michael Bower (Edward Furlong) is a teenager who loves the horror genre (ironic considering he lost his mother when he was just a child). His father is frequently away on business, and as a result, lives in his own world (which involves spying on his next door neighbor, a girl he's had a crush on for years). His best friend calls him up one day and tells him about the newest interactive computer CD-Rom video game called "Brainscan." Michael calls up the company who makes the game, orders his copy, and receives it the next day. The objective of "Brainscan" is to kill somebody within the timeframe allotted. Today, that sounds pretty tame, but keep in mind that this movie came out before there ever was a "Grand Theft Auto."

So, Michael pops in the game, and kills somebody (pretty gruesomely, I might add). He wakes up, and thinks the game is over. There's only one problem. The man he killed in the game is really dead (or is he?). This sets off a string of "murders-to-cover-up-other-murders", all masterminded by the "Brainscan" video game.

Is "Brainscan" a good movie? Not really.
Does that mean that I hate the movie? Not at all.
To me, "Brainscan" is a movie that defines rental. It will keep you busy for the 90 minutes you watch it, and afterwards, you'll forget about it, just like I did for 8 years.

Video:
Columbia Tri-Star presents "Brainscan" in Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1. Although not one of the best transfers I've seen from Columbia Tri-Star, "Brainscan" is far from the worst I've seen. The palette is a little murky, but nothing so bad that it will impede your enjoyment of the movie. There is some dirt on the print as well, and some grain is apparent at times. But overall, it's nothing horrible, as I'm sure Columbia Tri-Star did the best job they could considering this is just a catalog release.

Audio:
The audio is presented here in Dolby 2.0. The soundtrack sounds pretty good, although this movie would have greatly benefited from a 5.1 mix (lots of action scenes, computer noises, etc). Everything sounds crisp and clean, and there are no audio dropouts present at all.

Menus:
A static DVD menu offers the choices of "Play Movie", "Subtitles", "Scene Selections", and "Trailers."

Extras:
Just three stinkin' trailers… One for "I Know What You Did Last Summer", "I Still Know What You Did Last Summer", and "Urban Legend."

Final Thoughts:
Just like I said earlier, "Brainscan" is rental material (a MSRP of $24.95 is just too high for a movie with an average transfer/audio and no supplements). For fans of the movie, it's a different story. Since this movie will never see a re-release on DVD, you might as well pick this up.