ESCAPEMENT (1958)
(a.k.a. THE ELECTRONIC MONSTER)
Article #65 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 5-20-2001
Posting date: 10-3-2001

When a movie star dies in a car accident, an insurance investigator is sent out to make sure it wasn’t murder or suicide. He discovers the actor was a patient at a clinic that helped people to escape from everyday life by hooking them up to machines that cause them to have prerecorded experiences. Unfortunately, the head of the clinic is using the facility to brainwash the patients for his own ends.

There are some intriguing ideas in this SF thriller; however, the movie itself is hackneyed, incredibly talky, and quite dull. Especially disappointing are the sequences where they show the prerecorded tapes used on the patients; they all look like very poorly choreographed dance routines. A further problem is the preponderance of French accents, some of which are almost impenetrable. All in all, a lost opportunity.