Quadrant was directed by Charles Band and written by C. Courtney Joyner. It follows a girl named Erin, portrayed by Shannon Barnes, who is permitted into a virtual world to treat her obsession with Jack the Ripper. Things take a violent turn as the virtual world exaggerates her obsession instead.

The performances are generally decent. The characters are rather shallow. The character relationships are either forgettable or rushed. The dialogue is ok sometimes, and weak other times, but it’s mostly melodramatic. It makes the entire experience similar to watching a soap opera.

While soap operas are known for slow deliberate pacing, Quadrant‘s pacing is too quick. This is the major reason the character relationships are difficult to buy, but it also severely weakens the impact of plot developments. The runtime is roughly an hour and ten minutes. With so little time, one might think the creators would be rather careful and deliberate with their pacing. This is not the case. Instead of characters and plot, Quadrant invests in sex and nudity. I am not against sex or nudity, but I am also not of the opinion it should take priority. There are three bare-chested make-out sessions within the first thirty minutes, while other aspects are begging for more time and exploration.

Quadrant fails to invoke any emotion in me. Nothing pays off satisfyingly. One would usually expect things to become more thrilling or suspenseful as time progresses, but here, things only become more goofy. It’s a shame given how successful it is at creating atmospheric locations. It’s well shot. The lighting, in particular, proved to be one of the most consistently appealing things from scene to scene.

There isn’t a single effect that impresses me. The practical blood looks like something lifted from a late 1970s giallo. The CG blood looks awful. There is a scene when someone is bleeding like crazy, and the wound appears to vanish if it is ever there at all. The elephant in the room is the blatant use of A.I. art. It’s a solution to the problem of portraying the virtual world on a budget, but it’s also a huge hurdle given how controversial the use of A.I. art is at the time this is being written. People will avoid Quadrant based on its use of A.I. art alone. It is that serious.

There is a movie called Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow that is made almost entirely through blue screening. It’s very similar, except in Sky Captain they worked a lot harder to make it seem like the actors were interacting with the environment. Even then, it was still too uncanny for many people. The way A.I. is used presents all the challenges Sky Captain had to overcome, in addition to the hurdles that come with A.I. art, without any extra effort to make it immersive. Ultimately, it presents itself as uncanny at best and utterly ridiculous at worst.

Dear reader, I have done you a great disservice. I have lied to you by omission. There is one significant thing you need to know. This is a Full Moon Features production. This is classic Full Moon cheese, and suddenly, flaws have become strengths. If you enjoy Full Moon’s extensive catalog, Quadrant is tailor-made for you. I am not in that camp of people, but I do share the utmost respect for Full Moon’s legacy and its commitment to feeding the audience it has lovingly cultivated.