FOR CASTLETON!!!
Time Chasers is the grand vision of a certain aspiring, young, film-maker from Vermont, by the name of David Giancola. In his film debut he ventured into the realm science fiction, this effort ultimately spawned the time travel "epic" Time Chasers. As one views this film you'll find yourself immersed in a world were scientific breakthroughs are on a collision course with corporate greed and ambition - and since this movie is from 1991 it's also a world that's full of mullets and acid-wash jeans, to go one further you could say the screen is ALIVE with acid-wash action!
As mentioned above this is a movie that's based around the well-worn topic of time travel and the many complicated facets or "ripples in time" that such a journey might create - be them good or bad. Maybe it's in part due to my over-familiarity with this movie, but one cant't help but notice the inspiration that Back To The Future holds over this film. One can safely assume that it was the G-Man's intent to use that brilliant film as a template for his own -brilliantly bad- movie. Time Chasers was filmed on a budget of around $150,000 by a small crew of amateurs and semi-pros, with evidently more enthusiasm then talent. Because if there's one thing Time Chasers doesn't lack is enthusiasm, plus this feather-weight film possess a certain "youthful nativity" and huge charm, which helps account for it's enduring longevity. But, as evidenced in this film, enthusiasm can only take you so far and on most fronts (casting, acting, dialog, FX, soundtrack, wardrobe, art direction, etc.) Time Chasers is an embarrassingly bad movie. But on the plus-side I must say for a B-movie that was helmed by a very young, first-time director, the photography of this film is surprisingly good, even engrossing at times and it's easily the strongest aspect of Time Chasers.
The star of the film is a big-chined, bemulleted, blowhard, by the name of Nick Miller a college professor, amateur pilot and full-time computer-nerd, who with a hilariously dated Commodore 64 home computer, a mess of wire's and a batch of 5-inch floppy disk's, has miraculously turned his single-engine, light plane, into a "Time Transport" - and whammo, history is made! Not to give away too much of the plot, but once all four of the films main characters are introduced and in light of Nick Miller's astonishing levels of stupidity and nativity, the circumstances surrounding the Time Transport get complicated in a hurry. As you'll see it's used with evil intent, by an ego-centric, corporate scoundrel and it's all up to Nick Miller and his pretty blonde girlfriend, Lisa Henson, to right the wrong's of those who would seek to use it for world domination. The future of the world is at stake and it's due to the evil intentions of J.K. Robertson, as he fly's through the fabric of time and space - in the hilariously cheap and unconvincing "Time Transport". Let's put it this way, if a true marvel of science, such as a time machine existed, one would hope for something a lot more impressive looking. But hey, that's the low-budget charm of Time Chasers working it's magic on us - now isn't it.
Earlier I mentioned Time Chasers surprisingly good photography, which as I see it, is this films one and only -legitimate- attribute, BUT, where Time Chaser really excels at is it's ability to entertain people who adore amateur films. In that sense Time Chasers is an absolute tour-de-force, with all the mullets, dated clothes, the lameness of the Time Transport and it's painfully underwhelming depictions of "the future", combined with lots of over-the-top dialog, that's spouted by one amateur actor after another - several of which sport some pretty spectacular mullets. Yes this movies a lot of fun, but probably not exactly in the way that David Giancola had intended or envisioned, but he refreshingly seems to have a good sense of humor about it and I'm proud to say I have his auto-graph, scrawled on the VHS box-art of this film. Time Chasers was not only featured on Mystery Science Theater 3000, but was also years later, given a second ripping as the main feature of a "Rifftrax Live" theatrical release. An old friend revisited (in unedited form at last) and with that, the flowing bemulleted locks and iconic Castleton T-shirt of Nick Miller fly's into action once again! Mirthful and high-spirited Time Chasers shines brightly, with it's timeless ability to entertain.
For the past 25 years Time Chasers, in it's many different guises (original/MST3K/Rifftrax) has built up it's reputation as one of the best bad movies and I find it to be a marvelous thing to spend the next 90 odd minutes of my time in the presence of Nick Miller, Lisa Henderson and J.K. Robertson, a "dream cast" if ever there was one. David Giancola, I salute you.
Time Chasers is the grand vision of a certain aspiring, young, film-maker from Vermont, by the name of David Giancola. In his film debut he ventured into the realm science fiction, this effort ultimately spawned the time travel "epic" Time Chasers. As one views this film you'll find yourself immersed in a world were scientific breakthroughs are on a collision course with corporate greed and ambition - and since this movie is from 1991 it's also a world that's full of mullets and acid-wash jeans, to go one further you could say the screen is ALIVE with acid-wash action!
As mentioned above this is a movie that's based around the well-worn topic of time travel and the many complicated facets or "ripples in time" that such a journey might create - be them good or bad. Maybe it's in part due to my over-familiarity with this movie, but one cant't help but notice the inspiration that Back To The Future holds over this film. One can safely assume that it was the G-Man's intent to use that brilliant film as a template for his own -brilliantly bad- movie. Time Chasers was filmed on a budget of around $150,000 by a small crew of amateurs and semi-pros, with evidently more enthusiasm then talent. Because if there's one thing Time Chasers doesn't lack is enthusiasm, plus this feather-weight film possess a certain "youthful nativity" and huge charm, which helps account for it's enduring longevity. But, as evidenced in this film, enthusiasm can only take you so far and on most fronts (casting, acting, dialog, FX, soundtrack, wardrobe, art direction, etc.) Time Chasers is an embarrassingly bad movie. But on the plus-side I must say for a B-movie that was helmed by a very young, first-time director, the photography of this film is surprisingly good, even engrossing at times and it's easily the strongest aspect of Time Chasers.
The star of the film is a big-chined, bemulleted, blowhard, by the name of Nick Miller a college professor, amateur pilot and full-time computer-nerd, who with a hilariously dated Commodore 64 home computer, a mess of wire's and a batch of 5-inch floppy disk's, has miraculously turned his single-engine, light plane, into a "Time Transport" - and whammo, history is made! Not to give away too much of the plot, but once all four of the films main characters are introduced and in light of Nick Miller's astonishing levels of stupidity and nativity, the circumstances surrounding the Time Transport get complicated in a hurry. As you'll see it's used with evil intent, by an ego-centric, corporate scoundrel and it's all up to Nick Miller and his pretty blonde girlfriend, Lisa Henson, to right the wrong's of those who would seek to use it for world domination. The future of the world is at stake and it's due to the evil intentions of J.K. Robertson, as he fly's through the fabric of time and space - in the hilariously cheap and unconvincing "Time Transport". Let's put it this way, if a true marvel of science, such as a time machine existed, one would hope for something a lot more impressive looking. But hey, that's the low-budget charm of Time Chasers working it's magic on us - now isn't it.
Earlier I mentioned Time Chasers surprisingly good photography, which as I see it, is this films one and only -legitimate- attribute, BUT, where Time Chaser really excels at is it's ability to entertain people who adore amateur films. In that sense Time Chasers is an absolute tour-de-force, with all the mullets, dated clothes, the lameness of the Time Transport and it's painfully underwhelming depictions of "the future", combined with lots of over-the-top dialog, that's spouted by one amateur actor after another - several of which sport some pretty spectacular mullets. Yes this movies a lot of fun, but probably not exactly in the way that David Giancola had intended or envisioned, but he refreshingly seems to have a good sense of humor about it and I'm proud to say I have his auto-graph, scrawled on the VHS box-art of this film. Time Chasers was not only featured on Mystery Science Theater 3000, but was also years later, given a second ripping as the main feature of a "Rifftrax Live" theatrical release. An old friend revisited (in unedited form at last) and with that, the flowing bemulleted locks and iconic Castleton T-shirt of Nick Miller fly's into action once again! Mirthful and high-spirited Time Chasers shines brightly, with it's timeless ability to entertain.
For the past 25 years Time Chasers, in it's many different guises (original/MST3K/Rifftrax) has built up it's reputation as one of the best bad movies and I find it to be a marvelous thing to spend the next 90 odd minutes of my time in the presence of Nick Miller, Lisa Henderson and J.K. Robertson, a "dream cast" if ever there was one. David Giancola, I salute you.