Kyle Baxter (Ethan Randall, now known as Ethan Embry) is the kind of 90s teen computer nerd that was in 90s video game-based movies. After hacking a tournament to win the Evolver—a state-of-the-art robotic opponent designed for interactive laser tag—he thinks he’s scored the ultimate gaming peripheral. He couldn’t be more wrong. Every time you beat the robot, it learns, adapts, and evolves. Unfortunately, it doesn’t just learn better tactics; it develops a psychotic competitive streak. When the bot decides that foam balls are for losers, it switches to ball bearings. When it decides that bullying jocks are an obstacle, it switches to eye-gouging. Before long, our intrepid heroes are running for their lives from a machine that is essentially the Terminator with the personality of a sore loser.

Maybe that’s because the Q made it. Or at least John de Lancie, playing Russell Bennett, the Cybertronix creator who clearly didn’t read the safety manual on his own military-grade death machine. Yes, he made an army robot called S.W.O.R.D., and when it killed too many of its own men, he sold it as a toy. Paul Dooley plays the boss of Cybertronix, and Evolver looks like the child of Sico, the birthday robot from Rocky IV, and the Killbots from Chopping Mall.

And the real MVP, hidden because it’s just his voice?  William H. Macy, who provided the voice for Evolver. 

Between the baggy jeans, the clunky computer interfaces and the virtual reality sequences that look like a screen saver from 1994, it’s peak nostalgia for those of us who remember when the internet was still a novelty. This is so 90s that Kyle and his friend Zach (Chance Quinn) send Evolver into the girls’ locker room, so this movie for teens can feature topless nudity for foreign investors. Then, when the girls shove it into the boys’ lockers, it ends up shooting the bully, Dwight (Tim Griffin), right through the eye with a ball bearing.

Even better, you can’t have a 90s horror movie without the inevitable “it’s not really dead” stinger. That final shot of the glowing HUD screen reading KILL NOT CONFIRMED is the cinematic equivalent of a franchise sequel that never actually arrived. And there’s still time for romance between Kyle and Jamie (Cassidy Rae)!

Director and writer Mark Rosman also made The House On Sorority Row. Shout out to Jacques Haitkin, who shot this and was also the cinematographer for Galaxy of Terror, The House Where Evil Dwells, the first two Elm Street movies, Faust, and The Silence of the Hams.

There’s still a laser tag place in the North Hills of Pittsburgh, but after this, I am afraid to go.

You can watch this on Tubi.

You can watch this either in-person or virtually at the Chattanooga Film Festival. For more info, visit the official site.