tbyrne4 Mind-boggling, somewhat exhausting, but gorgeous, original, and totally vital, "Spectres of the Spectrum" is part practical joke, part hysterical paranoid rant, and part sci-fi film, wrapped in one glorious low-budget package. I've never seen anything like it. Baldwin has taken a breath-taking amount of archival film footage (who knows where he got all of it) and chopped it into a fairly lean history lesson on the use and abuse of electricity and electromagnetic frequencies. Some of it is true. Some of it isn't. Some you wonder about. All of it is fascinating. At first he gives you the information so fast you feel overwhelmed, but eventually a pattern starts to unfold. It takes place in a parallel world where a man and his daughter are living in an airstream trailer in the desert. Some kind of apocalypse has occurred. The man and his daughter speak without talking. This original footage is a bit cheesy and involves time travel and some really bad f/x (they may be intentionally bad), but fortunately doesn't take up too much of the running time. Anyway, see this if you have any interest in fringe art or cut-up technique or conspiracy theories. I found it a little overwhelming, but totally mesmerizing.

skincage it is perhaps ironic that i found this film on VHS, in a pile of forgotten movies being sold off to make room for an influx of DVDs at my favorite video store. it is a credit to the store that they stocked this film at all, and while i was sad to see many such films go the way of extra copies of Kangaroo Jack i was happy to snap it up for a measly fiver.Spectres of the Spectrum is a masterwork of what the Subgenii call "bulldada," mixing conspiracy theories, lost history, and fiction to create a story that works without an excess of linear events or character development. if you're a fan of cut-up, collage, and creative copyright infringement, this is up your alley. and since it's on DVD now, it should be easier to find.the source material draws largely from kine-scopes, video records of live television. Baldwin thus uses snippets of the peek into the Cold War mindset of the 50s to create a backdrop for a Brain War set in 2007. the use of obsolete technology by the resistance forces in the film mirrors the use of garbage footage by the filmmaker to create his work. in between the lines are bits of real history, and the entire thing is woven in such a way as to make one actually think while watching a film. outlaw stuff, these days.i can see how someone more accustomed to traditional films would complain a little about the cheese factor of the story, but in the context of this film it fits well and keeps you from taking it too seriously.see it, think about it, and see it again. it opens up a world of fascinating topics to explore.

Andrew (calan8) That's how I was when I walked (staggered) out of this "film". I couldn't leave, because it was at a film festival and the cinema was full of people. I was stuck in the middle. Trapped.The tiny fragment of original footage which attempted to bind this film together features some of the worst acting ever to grace the big screen. The daughter was a stand out performance - stand out in the bad sense.Thge cinematography was hideous, consisting of disjointed framing and some of the oddest lighting I've witnessed.As for the stock footage... well at first one...Wait.Why am I reviewing this film? Why do I acknowledge its existence? Please, don't watch it. Do something useful with two hours of your life and go watch some paint dry.

Hubajube This movie reminded me of Wax, or the Discovery of Television Among the Bees ( http://us.imdb.com/Title?0105791 ). The very loose plot was used to frame various footage that's related to electricity. Overly kitchy in many places. Sure, it's funny the first time when the main character (Boo Boo) imitates old-school sci-fi heroes, but after a while it becomes tiring.