The Philadelphia Experiment - Reactivated - DVD

Film: In 1943, the U.S. military attempted to make its warships invisible to the enemy using the Philadelphia Experiment. But in the first attempt to use the new technology, the ship The Eldridge disappeared without a trace and never reappeared. That was sixty years ago now. Decades in which technology has advanced rapidly. And so the government, led by the ruthless Katheryn Moore (Gina Holden), plans to reactivate the Philadelphia Experiment. In fact, the new experiment seems to be succeeding. For suddenly the Eldridge reappears as if from nowhere. But there is no reason for joy, because the ship brings great dangers with it, which could soon become a serious threat to all mankind. But Moore does not want to hear anything about it. She wants to finish her experiment at any cost. Only the soldier Bill Gardener (Nicholas Lea), the only survivor of the crew of the Eldridge, could banish the danger. With the help of his niece Molly (Emilie Ullerup), he tries to unravel the mystery surrounding the Philadelphia Experiment while evading Kathy's dangerous henchmen. But that proves more difficult than anticipated...

Back in 1984, filmmaker Stewart Raffill adapted the legend of The Philadelphia Experiment into a not necessarily logical, but highly entertaining fantasy thriller that has gained something of a cult following over the years. After a disappointing sequel from 1993, the American cable channel SyFy has now taken up the material again. The Philadelphia Experiment - Reactivated, however, is not another sequel, but rather a very free remake of the 1984 film, not coming close to matching its quality and charm.

SyFy productions do not usually feature good actors, intelligent scripts or stunning effects. Rather, the genre channel's films have a fairly obvious trash factor, but it can be quite entertaining. Compared to other productions of the channel, The Philadelphia Experiment - Reactivated then performs quite well. Some effects are absolutely decent and have a pleasant show value. The well-known from the cult series X-Files Nicholas Lea, a deliciously exaggerated evil Gina Holden and Clockwork Orange star Malcolm McDowell deliver decent performances and with Michael Paré could even be won the main actor of the original for a small role in this TV production.

Sure, with the logic takes it the story in this variant not so exactly, the dialogues are sometimes very flat and especially the finale is then but quite thickly applied. But the whole thing is entertaining in its very own trashy way. If you like simple fantasy B-movies with sometimes good, sometimes rather cheap effects and amusing uninhibitedly leave all the limits of logic behind, you can take a look at The Philadelphia Experiment - Reactivated.

Picture + Sound: With decent detail, satisfying overall sharpness and a coherent color scheme, this TV movie leaves a good visual impression. And also the sound can score with some decent surround effects, whereas the dialogues take place mainly in the frontal area and sometimes sound a little flat.

Extras: Unfortunately, except for the trailer and other program tips, the DVD has no bonus material to offer.

Conclusion: The Philadelphia Experiment - Reactivated is a rather trashy remake of the cult film from 1984, which, however, has only taken over the basic framework of the story, but otherwise goes its own way. Some of the effects are decent, but the low budget of the TV production is all too obvious. Not logical, neither dramaturgically, nor acting particularly valuable, but quite entertaining and on the DVD also technically well implemented. If you like B-movies of the fantastic kind, you can definitely enjoy this entertaining remake

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp