Feb 18 2009
Overdrawn at the Memory Bank (Review)
OVERDRAWN AT THE MEMORY BANK (1983)
Starring Raul Julia (The Addams Family)
Data entry sounds like a boring job. I’ve considered it as a possible career, but wasn’t sure if it was for me. But after watching Overdrawn at the Memory Bank where a data entry technician goes on a mind adventure and ends up taking the company down while falling in love, date entry still sounds boring.
Aram Fingal (Raul Julia) is a computer data slave at Novicorp, a futuristic corporation. However, because of his genius, Fingal uses his computer to watch movies at work which is against work regulations (like any workplace). Now I know it’s not a good idea to show a better movie in your own movie (especially a TV movie like this one), but kudos to Fingal for going with Casablanca. If he’s going to be caught at work watching movies, he may as well watch one of the best. Apparently, in this society, very few people have actually seen movies as they call them cinemas.
And as if that weren’t terrifying enough, getting caught means you have to go through rehabilitation theory (that’s harsh). So what kind of rehabilitation is he in for? Its called Doppling which involves patients’ minds being transplanted into that of animals. However, Fingal’s body is misplaced and Fingal’s mind is forced into his own vision of Casablanca. He is observed and kept company by Apollonia James, the medical technician who inserts herself into Fingal’s fantasies and, of course, falls in love with him. Soon, he stumbles into Novicorp’s financial computers forcing the chairmen to get involved with Fingal’s brain.
So, basically, the movie turns into the equivalent of one of the Star Trek episodes where they get stuck in the holodeck. Except the script is mediocre and the special effects are incredibly dated. I swear this movie uses every video special effect they had available from rotating 3D planes to ‘pixeling’ the picture. Acting-wise, Raul Julia does a good job, but everyone else is okay at best. Donald Moore as the Novicorp Chairman is your typical pompous, extremely fat villain. In fact, his second character name in the movie is ‘The Fat Man’. The movie’s biggest flaw is in the Casablanca fantasies which are admirable, but all they really do is show off how low-budget the movie really is. I’ll give them credit for the Peter Lorre impersonator, but pardon me if I find it hard to believe Raul Julia impersonating Humphrey Bogart.
DVD Dump Counter:
-1 opening credit sequence of Casablanca.
-1 female narrator.
-3 scenes of rotating ‘hologram’ planes.
-1 scene of brain surgery.
-3 scenes of Raul Julia voicing over nature footage of monkeys.
-1 low-production remake of Casablanca.
-1 Peter Lorre impersonator.
-1 very fat villain.
-1 vision of a lake lady handing out commandments.
-?? moments of green screen and ‘3D’.
RATING: C-Movie
From a story standpoint, Overdrawn at the Memory Bank is a capable B-movie. But because of its low-budget and overused special effects along with some lackluster direction, it’s a C-movie. I could only recommend watching this movie if you want to see some early Raul Julia before he starred in The Addams Family. Oh, and if you want to see some real dated special effects.
