Chilling Dystopian 80s Sci-Fi Thriller Will Make You Suffer Horrific Visions

By Robert Scucci
| Published 28 seconds ago

Part of me wonders how tremendous a short film 984: Prisoner of the Future could have been if it had a production budget that didn’t feel nonexistent. It falls into the same wheelhouse as The Twilight Zone, The X-Files, and 1984 in its breakdown of government overreach, conspiracy theories, and how easy it is to forget what it means to be human when the powers that be believe they’re above the law. Originally meant to be a TV pilot, 984: Prisoner of the Future is instead a one-off effort from director Tibor Takacs that tells a complete story, as disjointed as it may be.

Despite its poor production value, 984: Prisoner of the Future is interesting enough to keep you watching, but it will also make you wish it actually was a 30-minute television pilot because, as a feature, the longer it runs, the more it falls apart. If you can take a step back and imagine what could have been, the concept is chilling, the acting is what I’d call “adequate” for the kind of project it is, and the story mostly lands even when the execution struggles.

Lock ‘Em Up And Throw Away The Key! 

984: Prisoner of the Future is set in the not-so-distant future from when it was filmed in 1978. We’re introduced to a convict named Tom Weston (Stephen Markle), imprisoned by a totalitarian regime known as The Movement. He’s accused of making a number of business deals before his incarceration that were meant to disrupt the oppressive regime. Tom maintains his innocence, even after enduring years of torture from Dr. Fontaine (Andrew Foot), one of the higher-ups working for The Movement.

The Warden (Don Francks) has reason to believe that Tom is, in fact, innocent, but continues following orders and abusing him anyway. Through flashback sequences Tom experiences while being drugged and tortured, we learn what he was up to before being locked up. Even then, it’s still unclear whether he technically did anything wrong, or if The Movement’s version of events is exaggerated so they can maintain total control over anybody who dares speak out against them.

Dr. Fontaine asserts that if Tom just admits his wrongdoing, he can be forgiven, reprogrammed, and reassimilated into the new world order. Tom, even after 10 years of continuous torture and manipulation under horrific living conditions, refuses to admit fault. But as the years march on, he begins to lose his grip on reality, finding it difficult to discern between real life and what he’s hallucinating.

Hoping one day to breach the prison walls and start a new life, Tom remains optimistic despite his conditions. But a man can only take so much before he completely breaks, becoming just another statistic in a post-apocalyptic society where humanity’s well-being is an afterthought.

Aggressively Low Budget, But Not Without Potential

The best way I can describe the production values of 984: Prisoner of the Future is by comparing it to a DIY musician’s demo tape. The artistic direction and intention are clear, but there simply aren’t enough resources to pull it off. There are recurring motifs, but the demo itself feels both bloated and incomplete. Had the screenplay been tightened up and trimmed of its excess, I could see this working as a one-off X-Files or Twilight Zone episode. But at 76 minutes, it plays like a TV special trying to stretch into something it isn’t.

Don’t get me wrong, 984: Prisoner of the Future is a solid watch for anybody who’s into dystopian sci-fi, but you need to go in knowing it’s rough around the edges. If you can see through the production limitations, there’s a lot of promise behind the grit. The setting and overall vibe are perfect for hard lines like, “Those who don’t believe will eventually perish from their own horrific visions,” but moments like that are few and far between. I’d argue that if somebody dumped this into editing software and cut it down to a tight half-hour, it would be much better received because every standout moment would actually have room to hit.

984: Prisoner of the Future SCORE

As of this writing, 984: Prisoner of the Future is streaming for free on Tubi.