A young programmer starts to question reality when he adapts a mad writer's fantasy novel into a video game.A young programmer starts to question reality when he adapts a mad writer's fantasy novel into a video game.A young programmer starts to question reality when he adapts a mad writer's fantasy novel into a video game.
- Won 1 Primetime Emmy
- 5 wins & 11 nominations total
- Robin
- (as Paul Bradley)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaA Gương Đen (2011) interactive film, in which the viewer chooses the plot direction multiple times. Although the listed running time is 90 minutes, this is approximate, depending how long the viewer decides to keep watching: most people can finish the story in one sitting of around 40 minutes, but this can be extended with 'do-overs', where an option is given to return to an earlier point in the story and make another choice. About 2.5 hours of footage divided into 250 segments was shot for the episode, with over a trillion unique permutations of the story (though many of those will be very similar). The total amount of footage included to make all of the film's possible variations work is 5 hours 12 minutes 13 seconds, as revealed by the film's BBFC classification.
- GoofsBoth of the programmers are seen to be working exclusively in ZX BASIC. By 1984, very few established software houses used BASIC as a coding language - most worked in Z80 assembler. Colin Ritman's games in particular showed a fluidity and responsiveness that would be very hard to achieve without the use of assembly language.
- Quotes
Colin Ritman: There's messages in every game. Like Pac-Man. Do you know what "Pac" stands for? P-A-C: program and control. He's Program and Control Man. The whole thing's a metaphor. He thinks he's got free will, but really he's trapped in a maze, in a system. All he can do is consume, he's pursued by demons that are probably just in his own head and even if he does manage to escape by slipping out one side of the maze, what happens? He comes right back in the other side. People think it's a happy game. It's not a happy game, it's a fucking nightmare world and the worst thing is, it's real and we live in it. It's all code. If you listen closely, you can hear the numbers. There's a cosmic flowchart that dictates where you can and where you can't go. I've given you the knowledge. I've set you free. Do you understand?
- Crazy creditsIn a few endings, once you finish the credits, a post-credits scene will play. Stefan would be seen on the same bus from the beginning, and plays a cassette called "BANDERSNATCH DEMO". The audio would just be some beeps and bleeps, but when translated using a ZX Spectrum Emulator, it gives you a QR code leading to the Tuckersoft website, found here: https://www.tuckersoft.net/ealing20541/
- Alternate versionsThere is no single narrative or version. There are five different endings, each with multiple pathways to them.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Jeremy Vine: Episode #2.9 (2019)
- SoundtracksRelax
Written by Peter Gill, Holly Johnson, Brian Nash and Mark O'Toole
Performed by Frankie Goes to Hollywood
While it is fun to "control" the main character, the novelty soon wears thin and you come to realise you, the viewer/controller, just have the illusion of choice over what the character does when in actual fact you don't.
I suppose that is the point of the film, but it is hardly earth-shattering nor ground-breaking.
I'm giving this 5 stars for at least making a good attempt at a multi-path interactive film. However, as many who are raving about it now will see in time, it really falls far short of a good film. Novelty value can never replace a good story and a good story is something you will not find here.
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Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Official site
- Language
- Also known as
- Black Mirror: Bandersnatch
- Filming locations
- St. George's Walk, Croydon, London, England, UK(WH Smith shop)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime1 hour 30 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix