I’ve always heard that video games were a bad influence and quite possibly the devil. After watching a movie about a possessed arcade cabinet circuit board, I feel like this might be true.
Back in the heyday of Arcades, people filled their respective hot spots to capacity. A hundred sweaty, smelly, angsty teens crammed shoulder to shoulder in front of fifty or more glowing CRT cabinets, watching all the pretty colors and lights make magic before their eyes. It was a place to hang out, a place to meet friends, and a place to have a ton of fun on a few dollars worth of tokens (or quarters). In the current year of our lord 2023, arcades are a rarity at best.
Oz works at a run-down arcade/repair shop that is struggling to stay relevant, and open. While working on a cabinet his boss, Jerry, brings in a customer, Tess, to look at some cabinets, but he pays no attention to her. After work, though, Jerry informed him that due to a lack of interest and income in the store, he would have to close shop permanently next month. Jerry tells Oz that he is a great employee and has always been there for him. He is willing to split the sale of the business with him 50/50 and tells Oz to go out and get drunk to celebrate. At the bar that evening Oz and Tess run into each other and set up a kind of date the next day. Unbeknownst to both of them someone broke into the arcade, murdered Jerry, and left a mysterious arcade circuit board for Oz to find and hook up. When Oz goes in to work the next day Jerry is nowhere to be found, and when he hooks up the circuit board in a machine, well, that’s when his problems really begin.
I wouldn’t call this an “artsy” film, but it clearly is taking itself way more seriously than the subject matter would lead one to believe. I actually genuinely like the way this entire movie is shot. It’s very sparse as far as locations and cast, but considering the characters never really deviate from their usual habits (work, bar, home, etc.) anyway, it doesn’t really affect the movie. Every scene is dark and moody and likely meant to convey self-isolation and introversion that the characters all feel, and express. It’s not so much of a gory horror movie as it is mostly meant to be a psychological body-horror kind of film.
In the litany of horror movies I have watched that involve Video Games as a plot device, Sequence Break is definitely not the worst. In fact, it is probably one of, if not the best one I have seen. That being said though, I felt like by the end it just kinda petered out. There wasn’t some big psychological battle with a “big bad” at the end. The reason for the circuit board existing in the first place was never truly explained. It all just felt like it was either rushed by the end, or the resolution went way over my head. I get that it was about making decisions in your life and how your choices affect those around you, and in life “there is no reset button.” It’s not a bad film by any means. I just personally didn’t feel like the ending or the resolution had any real weight to it.
I read an interview with the director who said that, at least originally, this was inspired by the urban legend/myth that there was an arcade game called “Polybius” back in the 80s that was hypnotizing kids, or making them sick, or even intentionally hurting them. I’d heard this legend before but didn’t really make the connection until I read that. The gameplay shown on screen is very reminiscent of a Jeff Mintor (creator of Gridrunner and Tempest 2000) game, who would go on to actually create a game called Polybius for home consoles. I should mention that this was a “Shudder Original” movie and I found it just randomly surfing through that channel. It doesn’t quite have the production budget that something like an Amazon or Netflix original does, but that never got in the way of the film. If you’re like me a weird horror/video game fan and have the service, and are looking for something to fill time for a little over an hour, I am positive there are worse movies out there. Just don’t go into it thinking that you’re going to have your mind blown. I dunno… unless you eat shrooms or you’re on the weed.