What a waste of my time!!!

Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

Don't listen to the negative reviews

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

The first complete work by director Mark Netter and co-writer and co-executive producer M J Rotondi is a "Drop the Keyboard, I'm out" success. Normally one would expect a smaller budget film to skimp on detail, and substitute blood spatter for material, however this absolutely was not the case with Nightmare_Code. The stunning attention to even the smallest detail made this film as good as anything you'd see out of big Hollywood, and the best part (wait for it!): It's a terrific, multifaceted story! Let me begin by writing I would not classify this as horror. It is much more of a thriller / suspense movie. It has a few horror elements to it, but it certainly is not blood and gore by any stretch of the imagination or anything akin to a "slasher" type movie. If you love thrillers and suspense this movie is for you. If you are looking for Jason XXXIV: Jason kills the Matrix you're probably off base.A prima facie look at the movie will tell you that it centers around ROPER, a computer AI that runs amok. What is one of the many wonders of this movie is that the story really is the human one, and not the story of ROPER. ROPER more acts as a gravitational point which the other characters revolve around.For much of the movie, we are viewing the world through the eyes of the artificial intelligence, ROPER, and the screen is split into 4 distinct quadrants, like looking at surveillance cam footage. The sound team deftly moves the sound appropriately to each area of the screen by moving the sound through the 5.1 or Stereo fields so you aren't left fighting to figure out which "screen" to watch. Just relax and let the sound guide you and you'll follow along just fine.Foster Cotton, played by Steve Wozniak type Googy Gress, and his team are working on an artificial intelligence surveillance system that reads emotions and state of mind by tracking facial movements, body positions etc and then tries (with gaining accuracy) to predict the target subject's next behavior. Unfortunately, Googy for reasons later revealed comes unhinged and massacres his fellow co-workers. The sequence/footage of the killings, when revealed, is downright disturbing due to the artful way the entire movie is put together. You feel like you are witnessing a workplace shooting first hand and there is nothing you can do but watch.When the carnage is over, it is left to the reboot team to finish the project. Enter Brett Desmond played by Andrew J West of Walking Dead infamy, and Nora Hunstman played by Mei Melançon and the rest of the crew. The underpants gnomes are off to work! (South Park reference). Working tirelessly, with Desmond both working and sleeping on site, the group tries to close out bugs and finish the project but for some reason, they can't seem to just get it over the hump and ready to ship.Working in the technology world myself, I was stunned how close to reality this was in many ways. Of course film makers take liberties, however the idea of working all the time, facing drop dead dates, and doing the impossible as an everyday course of life nearly sent me into post traumatic stress from my days sitting and working with a team much like the group Netter and Rotondi have put together.The little details, like the Unix shells on the screens, the obsolete books on the table, and the constant jumpiness of the characters themselves can be found in any tech company still today.Stress points and boil overs, with a constantly menacing AI stirring the pot lead the characters down some pretty dark holes. When the characters do make mistakes, even ones they shouldn't, you feel sorry for them. You "understand" why they do the things they do, even if you know they are wrong. This is the very human piece of the story. You are meant to have little sympathy when the AI goes wrong. Humanity, is a purely human trait, and left for humans.I will close out by writing: Nightmare_Code is a must see if you enjoyed movies like 2001: A Space Odyssey. ROPER is not as overwhelming as HAL but quite frankly, that makes it more nefarious. The question was posed to me, is the writer in the code or is the code in the writer, and I think this movie sort of answers that question in it's own interpretation. I personally thought this was a great movie and have already seen it twice. I will certainly see it a third time.

Nightmare Code (2014) Review Nightmare Code begins with a nightmare scenario, practically a whole team of people are shot dead with the shooter then taking his own life. The shooter was programmer Foster Cotton (Googy Gress). Cotton was working on a top secret surveillance program, along with his team, that can determine an individual's next course of action. The selling point for such coding is that the program would help cut down on criminal activity by sussing out when an individual is about to perpetrate a crime before they've actually committed it (very much like Minority Report then).Keen to finish Cotton's work the company bring in Brett Desmond (Andrew J. West), a notorious code wizard, to investigate what went wrong prior to the massacre, sort out the code and thus deliver a final workable product. Desmond starts by watching clips left by the previous programmer, the shooter Foster Cotton. It appears that the code is rewriting itself and has more secrets than it is willing to give up and reveal. Will Desmond end up going 'Columbine', like his predecessor, or will Nightmare Code surprise us all and finish on a happy note? Here's a clue. There are no surprises in Nightmare Code but that doesn't prevent it from being entertaining if a little familiar.Computer paranoia seems old hat now with everyone a willing slave to technology. Back when the likes of Demon Seed (1977) and The Lawnmower Man (1992) were released there was scope to chill an audience with the potential dangers of giving technology free reign and taking over. Fortunately the film is saved by some strong writing at the start, a rarity in low budget horror, where the techno babble is digestible and the set-up initially intriguing. Otherwise there's little new on offer that hasn't been touched upon in some shape or form before with the plot also unfolds pretty much as you would expect it to right up to an unnecessary 'one more shock' ending.Speaking about technology having a mind of its own the press link to view the film was via Vimeo. Unlike other screeners I have received, that were viewed on the same format, the playing of the film kept stalling. It took an age to play, and therefore watch the film, so what should have been ninety minute's viewing pleasure took three hours instead killing the film's momentum. It seemed paradoxical that I was watching a film about dangers with modern technology when the technology itself seemed unable to play a flick about it properly.Check out more of my reviews at www.mybloodyreviews.com

In a press release, Mark Netter describes his recent film "Nightmare Code" as being much like the merging of Stephen King's "The Shining" with Hal from "2001" and this is a very apt description for this exciting movie. I normally am not a bit fan of violent or horror films, but this one was very intelligently made and is well worth seeing-- just be forewarned that it is intense and not something to show your kids. Amazingly, this excellent film was made with a budget reported to be only about $80,000....a mere pittance. Yet, inexplicably, the picture looks great and kept my attention throughout.When the film begins, a new expert, Brett, has been hired to rescue a failed computer project called "R.O.P.E.R.". It seems that the genius who was the mastermind of this facial recognition program lost his mind....killing many of his co-workers and then himself. So, with the project nearly complete, the company is desperate for Brett to rescue this expensive program. This is because the surviving team members are frustrated. Each time they think the program is nearly complete and ready to go, bugs keep surfacing...almost as if the program itself is re-writing itself and creating glitches! The further Brett delves into the project, however, the more sinister it all becomes...and just how powerful R.O.P.E.R. is becomes apparent. The program not only can potentially recognize faces but emotions and intent. So, a user could see what co-workers were seemingly thinking about them...and this apparently led to the genius going on his recent killing spree. But is everything R.O.P.E.R. shows them real? And, what nefarious agenda is behind all this? And what's going to happen to Brett and this bizarre project? I could easily say more about the plot but just don't want to give too much away. There are many wonderful twists you just need to see for yourself.In many ways, "Nightmare Code" is a so-called "found footage" movie. However, instead of a found video which makes up films like The Blair Witch Project or Troll Hunter, this one shows what is happening through four-paned security camera footage as well as Skype phone calls! This is truly revolutionary and complicated--and surely required Netter to do some very impressive editing and directing. While the technique might sound a bit bizarre, it actually works very well and is quite visually arresting. Because of this as well as excellent acting and a taut script, the picture is among the best low-budget films I have seen in recent years. It also makes me wonder what Mike Netter will be able to do with a larger budget and even more experience under his belt.

The picture pushes the envelope by disrupting the audience with multiple perspectives and 4 different camera angles on the screen at one time. This puts the "user" in the computers mind and subjects the viewer to the whims of "Roper". "Roper" is the brainchild of a gifted, but jaded programmer. He is replaced by a younger sexier version to "de-bug" Roper, but the new guy seems to fall into the same traps. He is under pressure by an international corporation that prioritize profits before people. Sex, violence, and complicated modern relationships emerge the audience in a tomorrow which keeps one gripping the edge of their seat to savor one last day "today"...