JOHNNY MNEMONIC (1995) Part 2 | Virtual Insanity: The Cyber Thrillers of 1995

"I can carry nearly eighty gigs of data in my head."

For our Cinema Shock summer series, we wanted to take a look back at a few movies that were celebrating significant anniversaries this year. When we began browsing films released in 1995, we noticed an interesting trend: There was a glut of cyber thrillers released that year. And more specifically, cyber thrillers that dealt with the concept of virtual reality.

This probably shouldn't be surprising: 1995 was a banner year for technology; with the release of Windows 95 and the increasing availability of home internet, more people than ever were being connected to the World Wide Web. And as we know, Hollywood loves a trend. Enter: Virtual Insanity.

In this series, we'll be exploring some of the more significant films of this very specific subgenre, all of which are celebrating their 30th anniversary this year. Most of these films fell flat at the box office in 1995 but all have reached varying degrees of notoriety in the decades since.

Kicking things off, we're taking a look at JOHNNY MNEMONIC, possibly the strangest of the bunch. It's a film with a long, complex production history whose journey from page (in a short story by cyberpunk legend William Gibson) to screen was fraught with delays, difficulties and compromises.

In our last episode, we detailed the early days of JOHNNY MNEMONIC's development and filming. This week, we'll focus on the film's contentious post production period, where the Hollywood execs responsible for marketing the film tried to turn it into something it was never intended to be, hoping to capitalize on the newfound post-SPEED superstardom of Keanu Reeves. We'll also get into our own thoughts on the film's legacy, as well as how its views of the internet and global connectivity are still relevant today.

Next week: We continue our look at the cyber thrillers of 1995 with an often-overlooked film that stars two of Hollywood's biggest names.

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Theme Song: "There's Still a Little Bit of Time, If We Hurry and I Mean Hurry" by Slasher Film Festival Strategy.

This episode was written, produced and edited by Gary Horne, Justin Bishop & Todd A. Davis.

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