Stasis (film) : No budget, terrible acting... MST3K fans will enjoy

I am one of those people that enjoys a low-budget film from time-to-time. I can also appreciate the fact that good actors come with a hefty price tag. I was in a couple of films with next to no budget here in Thailand and the end-result is actually pretty humorous. I think Stasis had a decent concept, but they took themselves entirely too seriously and when you have no budget, I feel as though going for a science fiction theme involving time travel is probably one of the last genres you should consider.

source
_{Cloud Atlas you say? That sounds somewhat familiar...}

The description of the film on Netflix drew me in as it referred to something along the lines of in 2067

"Seven billion people were killed in the last Great War. Not all at once, though. It takes time to wipe out an entire species. We are the survivors....We have a choice. We can either carve out a new future for ourselves on this tombstone of a dying planet, or go back to that fairy tale. And try again."

There is some chatter online about this movie being pretty much an exact replica of a Netflix original called "Travelers" and if that is the case, this certainly wouldn't be the first time that a studio decided to copy a successful idea with no money. I guess there is a market for that sort of thing.

source

It starts out interesting enough with a couple of people wandering the post apocalyptic year 2067 wasteland. The wasteland is likely just some Arizona back lot and the directors were too lazy to even get rid of the tire tracks in the background. I suspect, as they constantly quote in MST3K, "They just didn't care."

The two agents (the ones walking through the back parking lot of Home Depot above) get "downloaded" into bodies in the years 2017. They don't get to choose the bodies, but the "skin" they receive have to be someone who recently died. One such "skin" ends up being a rebellious teen named "Ava"

source

Ava is played by an unknown actress named Anna Harr and she is likely the only person in this film that can act even a little bit. Her portrayal of an I-hate-my-mom-and-paint-my-fingernails-black-to-prove-this teen is quite brutal, to the point where you actually feel bad for her on-screen mother, who cannot act. She dies in a drug overdose and one of our Home-Depot parking lot agents takes over her body.

source

Ava and her team have a hideout that is pretty much an embodiment of how little money these film-makers were dealing with because it is meant to be futuristic, but basically it is just a bunch of wires and pipes arranged in someone's garage.

One would imagine that since these agents were sent back in time to stop nuclear war, that they would need to infiltrate Washington D.C. or some level of government, but they seem pretty content to sort out the world's issues in California high schools.

_{this is the official trailer, courtesy of Moviefone}

Now, i would just normally tell everyone to stay well away from this movie because it is really really awful. However, I think it kind of depends on whether or not you appreciate films like "The Room." I was always a big fan of Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K) and if you were as well, you might appreciate certain nuances about this film as a whole.

The story is dumb and poorly executed but is certainly understandable considering that it is extremely evident that the creators had very little money for such an ambitious project. If you go into this film being capable of appreciating bad acting and and an even worse script that boggles the mind that a studio would even attempt something like this.... then i think you will get some enjoyment out of it.

_{but only for the right type of person}
source