Parallel universes, this is the way of "Sliders". This TV movie was very well done with relatively good attention to details. This movie is worth watching as many "B" series or TV movies are. Many aspects of the movie were left undeveloped and that prevents us from really feeling what it would be like.
12 Reviews
Loved it 6 stars out of 10
MuggySphere12 May 2006
Warning: Spoilers
I loved it. It was not a big FX kind of movie. In fact they had very little in the way of effects apart from the initial exits and entry from our world to the parallel world in this movie. The only other thing that could be construed as effect were the props for the sliding machine but you don't see them for very long ....
I found that the movie focused on its 3 main cast members and that was all it needed to do. The lead a doctor disappointed with his life who finds in the other world he can meet and be husband to the one woman he loved in our world but never got to marry here. His friend a dentist (I kid you not) also unhappy with life joins him and from their the story goes on.
This world seems like a paradise at first. No war, no money, things like cars are left on the street for anyone to use whenever and wherever you live. However it has its dark side in that this world has a brutal way of dealing with undesirables. They randomly pick people from the population to be runners in a game where they are hunted and bashed to death with baseball bats. So they copied a slice of Shirley Jackson's 'The Lottery'" which others here have also made mention of.
I won't say any more or risk spoiling this more.. But it's very entertaining and I'm sure you will like it.
I found that the movie focused on its 3 main cast members and that was all it needed to do. The lead a doctor disappointed with his life who finds in the other world he can meet and be husband to the one woman he loved in our world but never got to marry here. His friend a dentist (I kid you not) also unhappy with life joins him and from their the story goes on.
This world seems like a paradise at first. No war, no money, things like cars are left on the street for anyone to use whenever and wherever you live. However it has its dark side in that this world has a brutal way of dealing with undesirables. They randomly pick people from the population to be runners in a game where they are hunted and bashed to death with baseball bats. So they copied a slice of Shirley Jackson's 'The Lottery'" which others here have also made mention of.
I won't say any more or risk spoiling this more.. But it's very entertaining and I'm sure you will like it.
Strangeness Abounds
HyperPup22 April 2001
This film was not that bad but it would have been better as an episode in an anthology series like the Outer Limits or Twilight Zone. Take a slice of Sliders, a bit of Brave New World and a little of the famous Shirley Jackson story "The Lottery" and then you have the concept of this movie. Not bad but not super, though worth a look if re-run on television.
Sliders: The Movie
damorejj4 June 2020
Warning: Spoilers
This is essentially a feature length episode of the hit show Sliders. It's definitely entertaining but could've been done much better and is very corny at times. A few key plot holes which make it ridiculous...Ellen enters the new parallel universe and is immediately in trouble because she's claiming she is herself when there's obviously another her there. It's pretty simple to realize that these people are very dumb and don't really understand crime or lying so she should've just made up another name. Especially when she was being threatened with brain alterations, she continues to tell the truth which is ridiculous for someone with her intelligence. Also the fact that they left his friend in that world to live in the woods with a bunch of rejects was very unsatisfying, and his friend seems to have forgot about him instantly. Dumb.
The game also seems a bit ridiculous, especially how Melody suddenly didn't seem to bad about her husband being a contestant. But it was watchable and entertaining so 5 stars for that.
Nice ideas, cheap execution
Leofwine_draca8 April 2019
Warning: Spoilers
TEMPTING FATE is a low budget TV movie flirting with various sci-fi tropes including time travel, parallel universities and future dystopias in which the general populace plays a lottery with extermination as a reward for the unlucky. Given the lack of money it's one of those films where such ideas are merely discussed rather than shown or utilised. There's a lot of melodrama from the cast members, some of whom are familiar (including Ming-Na Wen from AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D.), but it only starts getting interesting in the last twenty minutes and then it's abruptly over.
Fascinating Twilight Zone like story
Dutchey18 April 1999
A science fiction movie with a twist
yal-311 July 2009
Warning: Spoilers
This little known made for TV movie is a small gem. In the guise of yet another version of an episode in the cult TV show "Sliders", what we get instead is a philosophical and psychological meditation on the idea of free will and about the choices we make in life.
As the characters find themselves in a parallel universe-- L.A without crime and traffic jams-- they soon discover that this paradise is really a totalitarian hell. The twist here is that this hell is the product of psychatry and its wish to make people "even".This "evening out" leads the loss of individual freedom and diversity.
The movie does not boast a star cast or elaborate effects. Its appeal lies in its humane view of the human predicament. The only thing I found disturbing is that the two "different" characters end up in a community of "freaks" in the parallel world.
All in all, a "small" movie with an interesting message and some moving moments.
As the characters find themselves in a parallel universe-- L.A without crime and traffic jams-- they soon discover that this paradise is really a totalitarian hell. The twist here is that this hell is the product of psychatry and its wish to make people "even".This "evening out" leads the loss of individual freedom and diversity.
The movie does not boast a star cast or elaborate effects. Its appeal lies in its humane view of the human predicament. The only thing I found disturbing is that the two "different" characters end up in a community of "freaks" in the parallel world.
All in all, a "small" movie with an interesting message and some moving moments.
Good TV Movie That Stuck With Me
EricNorcrossDotCom10 March 2010
I first saw this movie when it was the TV Movie of the Week in the late 90's and ever since the concept and imagery has stuck with me. I couldn't pin point it and in between the first time I saw it and now (2010), I had inadvertently forgot the title and therefore, this film that had stuck with me over the years I couldn't access it.
I managed to extrapolate the title through an IMDb search on the keyword "parallel dimension". I then found the DVD on Amazon, new for five dollars. Receiving it today, I was able to find the time to watch it again and while the aesthetics weren't as good as I remember it being, the concept was all in tact as were the key scenes that had stuck with me. I could see immediately why I was drawn to this film.
A brilliant scientist is disregarded by the scientific community as harebrained and foolish. He manages to develop a machine that transfers a living being to a parallel universe, a universe that exists "between atoms" or the space within matter, where life is seemingly perfect in every way. His friends get in on the action and in a show of self- centered behavior, make an attempt to stay in the parallel universe and never go back home. It is at this point that the movie's psychological elements begin, as signs of the new world's demons and imperfections begin to take shape.
I managed to extrapolate the title through an IMDb search on the keyword "parallel dimension". I then found the DVD on Amazon, new for five dollars. Receiving it today, I was able to find the time to watch it again and while the aesthetics weren't as good as I remember it being, the concept was all in tact as were the key scenes that had stuck with me. I could see immediately why I was drawn to this film.
A brilliant scientist is disregarded by the scientific community as harebrained and foolish. He manages to develop a machine that transfers a living being to a parallel universe, a universe that exists "between atoms" or the space within matter, where life is seemingly perfect in every way. His friends get in on the action and in a show of self- centered behavior, make an attempt to stay in the parallel universe and never go back home. It is at this point that the movie's psychological elements begin, as signs of the new world's demons and imperfections begin to take shape.
A precursor to SERIES 7!
CoenSis12 March 2001
When I heard the plot outline of the new SERIES 7: THE CONTENDERS movie, I remembered this little t.v. movie. There's a similar game show in the film, but it's more a story about not being able to go back and rewrite your life. A very unique tale for an unhyped television movie, but well-done and quite entertaining. Had some nice surprises and solid performances by everyone involved.
"Sliiiders"
joetaylor1325 July 2004
Warning: Spoilers
So, this movie came out in 1998. I don't know how I missed it then. I saw it on Lifetime Movies Network in July 04, and really enjoyed it. But, for some reason, at every commercial break, I was expecting to hear a whispering voice say, "Sliiiders". Wow ! Where was Wade, Remmy, Professor, and Quinn?
I don't care who is in the story. I want more movies like this. Many commenters compare this movie to the Twilight Zone; But, I say it was a clone of Sliders. Still wonderful tho. I only wish I knew when it will be aired again so I can tape it. I was disappointed that Matt didn't make it "home", but, I was happy to see he found new friends in the Sierras. And since Matt was given an option of a lobotomy or banishment to the Sierras, I wonder why they didn't offer the same to Ellen Moretti. Oh yes, someone mentioned the spin from Shirley Jackson's The Lottery" A wonderful story. But, then, "Sliders" had an episode based on that story as well, where Wade "won" that Lottery. And this movie was similar in many respects.
I don't care who is in the story. I want more movies like this. Many commenters compare this movie to the Twilight Zone; But, I say it was a clone of Sliders. Still wonderful tho. I only wish I knew when it will be aired again so I can tape it. I was disappointed that Matt didn't make it "home", but, I was happy to see he found new friends in the Sierras. And since Matt was given an option of a lobotomy or banishment to the Sierras, I wonder why they didn't offer the same to Ellen Moretti. Oh yes, someone mentioned the spin from Shirley Jackson's The Lottery" A wonderful story. But, then, "Sliders" had an episode based on that story as well, where Wade "won" that Lottery. And this movie was similar in many respects.
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