Ghost in the Machine

A dude known as the Address Book Killer can’t drive to his next victim fast enough and crashes his car.  When the doctors give him an MRI the power is thwarted by a lightning storm.  This naturally causes the killer’s soul to transfer into the computer, no wait all computers, no wait…every electronic device.  This idea works because who doesn’t have some sort of thing that runs electrically?  Chances are if you see this very movie then it’ll be watched on something powered by electricity.  Or someone could be acting it out for you.  That probably wouldn’t be as effective since there wouldn’t be as much electricity involved.

This operates in the classic slasher fashion.  A bunch of people die in a variety of ways with the killer ghost spirit stalking and playing with folks before he finally strikes.  My favorite death is the hand dryer one.  They setup the victim as a total asshole that yells at everyone and even spontaneously fires his entire staff so you don’t feel one iota of guilt when he kicks the bucket right after that.  He works in a crash test lab so you think he’s gonna get hit by one of the test cars but it goes a little differently.  He does ride in a car that smashes against the concrete wall but he survives and instead gets set on fire by the hand dryer in the bathroom.  Excellent misdirection and planning so that we get the car crash plus a bonus of someone being incinerated.  I guess the filmmakers thought this sonuvabitch was such a piece of shit so they essentially killed him twice.

Unlike your typical slasher film the heroes and victims aren’t teens (well ok, one teen dies).  Karen Allen (Scrooged) and Chris Mulkey (First Blood) play a middle aged airline customer service rep and hacker respectively.  One loves computers and the other doesn’t so it makes sense they team up to stop a metaphysical serial killer.  Their chemistry is awkward at best but they don’t fall in love or anything so it ends up working ok.

Besides the horror angle it’s also a total 90’s computer movie and encompasses all of the hilarious and dumb shit that goes with that territory.  Like Chris Mulkey is able to run a gigantic particle accelerator from his laptop.  But there are even some things that go beyond funny computer stuff and defy common knowledge and sense.  For example at one point they cover the electrical outlets with tape and it actually keeps the ghost killer from entering the fucking house.  You’re really insulting the audience with that one.

I know he was young and it was the 90's but it doesn't
change the fact that this kid looks like a fucking doofus

To complete the trifecta there are a good number of 90’s-isms here too.  It’s mainly Karen Allen’s thirteen year old son who sports baggy red pants, a black and white horizontal striped shirt that’s tucked into his exposed underwear, braided friendship bracelets and a backwards hat.  He also says shit like “I call her butt an onion ‘cause it makes you want to cry”.  It would be difficult to find a kid more fucking 90’s than this.  Beyond him though there’s also a car phone, “this stuff pisses off more people than Howard Stern” and that virtual reality video game where you would stand on an enclosed platform and wear a giant headset.  Does anyone else remember that shit?

So this one has some offbeat aspects that freshens up the standard serial murder template and it’s laughably outdated technology-wise.  It sounds like this is a real lost gem but I wouldn’t go that far.  It’s not quite clever or outrageous enough.  It’s tempered with a little too much reserve to put it over the top.  I feel a little weird about recommending it but I guess I would.  You gotta be into 90’s computer movies and/or slasher films and/or The Police album Ghost in the Machine though.