Oz (Chase Williamson, John Dies at the End) is content to be alone with the ancient video games - fixing them, playing them, creating them - in his boss Jerry's arcade. Everything in his life is thrown for a loop in one day: the arcade is closing, he meets a girl named Tess (Fabianne Therese, John Dies at the End) and a strange new game shows up unannounced.

What follows is a Cronenberg-esque body horror odyssey with sexualized video game controls being manipulated, bodies being distorted to add circuits and time loops where multiple versions of Oz can exist. It's also a love story.

The game, when shown, looks like what Polybius has been described as. It gradually takes over Oz's reality until he decides that the only person who made the rules for his game is himself.

It's an interesting effort from actor/writer/director Graham Skipper, who starred in Almost Human and directed the film Space Clown. It's an obvious tribute to Videodrome, but where that film had volumes to speak about culture, violence and the intersection of both, this movie doesn't have nearly as much to say. I was kind of hoping for Oz to have more of a redemptive journey after he argued with Tess, telling her that he may have always been the person that he has become post video game freakout.

So what we have here is a lovecraftian horror set in an old school arcade console repair shop. We have a small cast involved, mainly consisting of four people, two of which share the majority of screen time. There's Oz, the young quiet loner working repairing consoles for his kind boss Jerry until an attractive yet somewhat quirky and forward young woman named Tess comes in to look at what they have in stock. Jerry later excuses Oz and tells him he needs to get out and have a little fun and to go have some drinks at the local bar where he meets Tess once again who sparks up a conversation. Due to her outgoing nature they somewhat hit it off and plan to meet up later which becomes the beginning of a relationship that spans the rest of the movie.

Shortly after a mysterious package arrives at the shop holding a chip board which Oz installs into an empty stand up arcade console. Upon playing this mysterious game Oz experiences a loss of time and becomes violently ill. Meanwhile a creepy homeless man repeatedly appears on the outskirts of the story observing Oz and Tess. Time goes by, Tess and Oz become closer, and the ominous game begins to affect our two protagonists in dangerous ways leading to mind altering body horror sequences commonly seen in Lovecraft inspired horrors.

What I liked about this movie is all the special effects were real world common sense effects with little to no CGI. Good old fashioned disgusting special effects based on gooey melting bits and loads of slime and fluids. The story while bizarre is tight and paced well. The relationship between Oz and Tess seems rushed but they have pretty good chemistry. This movie won't be for everyone, some will find it confusing as it doesn't have a well outlined explanation for the events going on, but it's not meant to. Anyone familiar with Lovecraft themes should be able to appreciate it as well at those who enjoy the body-horror genre. I would definitely recommend it to these two groups with a soft recommendation to more mainstream horror fans.

Saw 'Sequence Break ', being fond of horror regardless of budget (even if not my favourite genre) and being intrigued somewhat by the idea. Being behind on my film watching and reviewing, with a long to watch and review list that keeps getting longer, it took me a while to get round to watching and reviewing it.

Giving 'Sequence Break' a fair chance with being interest and apprehension, it turned out to be far better than expected. Won't say that 'Sequence Break' is a great film because it isn't and the potential, while not wasted, is not fully lived up to. Considering the large number of films seen recently being mediocre and less and wasting potential, was expecting worse and was relieved that while wanting in a fair few areas it was actually one of my better recent low-budget viewings.

'Sequence Break' started off quite well, the first twenty minutes or so starting the film off on a promising, unsettling and atmospheric note that really does intrigue.

Production values did have some eeriness and nowhere near as cheap as expected, and the music, which not the most memorable in the world, didn't detract from the atmosphere.

The setting is effectively spooky and the acting was not bad all round. There are spooky and suspenseful moments and it isn't dull. The direction doesn't feel phoned in. The effects were surprisingly decent as well in a nostalgic sort of way.

However, the story was severely wanting. It is very disjointed and after the promising start the final third especially loses atmosphere, one loses interest and things start to not make sense. Too much of the film is vague and doesn't explore some elements and story strands enough, things happen too conveniently and the romantic element is too hastily done.

Ending is unsatisfying, on top of feeling hasty there are too many loose ends hanging in the air. Got the sense that the writers didn't know how to end the film. Would have liked much more tension and suspense, scares could have been more consistent and some weren't surprising enough.

Found too the script to lack natural flow and with a bit of cheese going on, and the characters bland with some adopting some annoying and not always logical decision making.

Overall, better than expected but not great still. 5/10 Bethany Cox