Disconnected (1984)

Surprisingly incoherent and boring

Sorry, this movie sucks

Fantastic!

Admirable film.

Lovely young Alicia (luscious brunette Frances Raines, who's very good in a challenging dual role) starts receiving bizarre and disturbing phone calls after breaking up with her boyfriend Mike (a solid performance by Carl Koch) who she suspects is cheating on her with her twin sister Barbara Ann). Alicia meets and befriends amiable, but awkward film nerd Franklin (a sound and likeable portrayal by Mark Walker), who alas turns out to be a total psycho with a penchant for carving up nubile ladies. But is Franklin the nutter responsible for those distressing phone calls? Director Gorman Bechard, who also co-wrote the idiosyncratic script with Virginia Gilroy, grounds the compelling premise in a believable workaday reality (the scenes with Alicia at the video rental place she has a job as a clerk at are especially cool and enjoyable), ably crafts an out of whack disorienting atmosphere, and further spruces things up with assorted artsy stylistic flourishes along with nice touches of quirky humor. Moreover, it's the clever way that Bechard plays around with basic slice'n'dice movie conventions that gives this picture its own highly distinctive outre identity. Carmine Capobianco lends amusing support as wisecracking goofball detective Tremaglio. As a tasty bonus, the delectable Mrs. Raines bares her beautiful body several times. The soundtrack of groovy rock songs hits the right-on funky spot. The rough cinematography provides a raw grainy look. The surprise downbeat ending packs a startling punch. Recommended viewing for fans of obscure low-budget oddities.

Disconnected (2017) * 1/2 (out of 4)Women are being brutally murdered by a psychopath. At the same time, video store worker Alicia (Frances Raines) begins dating a new guy but she's constantly worried that her slut sister Barbara Ann (also played by Raines) might be trying to do something wrong.Gorman Bechard made DISCONNECTED before doing PSYCHOS IN LOVE and I must say that the title of this movie perfectly summed up my feelings on it. I really did feel disconnected throughout the entire film and I had a really hard time trying to connect with anything going on. To say the film struggled to hold my attention would be an understatement. This film has quite a bit going on with it as you've got the entire story dealing with the sisters. You've also got the story dealing with the good sister and her new relationship. You've also got a detective (Carmine Capobianco) talking directly to the camera as he tries to solve the killings. All of this is going on in a film that runs 84-minutes and to say it's very fair to say that the overall movie is very uneven and it seems like they weren't quite sure how to handle everything.For the most part the performances are good enough for this type of film. There's some sleaze elements with some nudity and some mildly gory scenes but consider this is a slasher film, neither are really up there among the genre's more memorable moments. With that said, fans of the director might want to check this out but others can certainly stay clear of it. I will add that it was fun seeing a video store like they used to be.

OK, I don't normally like to trash filmmakers and this director seems to want to make something way beyond his abilities. But seriously anyone who gave this film high marks needs to have their Thorazine doses lowered. This director makes Ed Wood look like a genius. I had never heard of this film (and for good reason). The plot is non-existent. The editing appears to have been done by throwing all the film into a Veggiematic and then randomly splicing it together. There are numerous "wall reaction" shots (seriously) that go on for literally 30 seconds. The sound is terrible. The photography aspires to good but fails miserably. There is one whole sequence that is shot directly into the sun where you can't make out at all what's going on. In a climatic scene (as though it would really exist in this movie) the entire action happens off-screen. This is a train wreck of movie. It just doesn't get worse than this.I can only imagine the director apparently went to the the Xavier Cogat School of film and failed. The only redeeming thing in this is Frances Raines who is great to look at. I am stunned by the IMDb info that this filmmaker went on to make more films. I have to think he must be a rich kid whose parents indulged his every whim.

I'd like somebody to explain exactly how this movie was made. It starts as a (bad) psychokiller where basically nothing makes sense : it's just one scene after another without reason nor logic. Then we witness the killer's demise (do we ? I'm not even sure) and then, the heroine suddenly gets persecuted by her phone in a flood of weird, "arty" shots. The movie ends because they ran out of time, or somebody yelled "cut !", or everybody fell asleep, I still don't know?. In a way, it is a movie to be experienced : your latest dream had more logic in it than this attempt. What were they on ? Who made this ? Who released this ? What will become of the world ? What time is it ? What are you reading ?