OBEX, from co-writer/director Albert Birney and co-writer Pete Ohs, seeks to rewind time and bring us back to 1987. That particular year, gentle reader, I was in 6th grade at the Hebrew Academy of Indianapolis. Life was simple. I went to school, was a latch-key kid, and kept watch over the house while my parents traded places being at home and being at work. There was no computer in the house. The internet was still a military utility that no one had access to. That last point is strongly relevant as the film is set in the “pre-internet days of 1987.
The story focuses on Conor (Albert Birney), a computer developer who lives alone with his dog Sandy in a condo. He makes his living preparing dot matrix portraits of people. It is a quiet life. His neighbor Mary (Callie Hernandez) serves as his grocery person. Conor tends to stay at home, working and playing games. One day, Conor sees an ad for OBEX, a game that promises to make an interactive experience out of combating the demon Ixaroth. Conor tries it out, finds it not to his liking, and deletes it from his hard drive.
This is when weird stuff starts to happen. A cicada crawls into his printer, ruining a portrait of a boy. Then his recurring dream, wherein he discusses his youth with his long-dead mother, is interrupted by the printer, which spits out the repeated message: “remove your skin.” Then, the demon Ixaroth pays Conor a visit. When he discovers his dog Sandy has vanished, the story takes off. This is a fascinating surrealist adventure. Interspersing Legend of Zelda-esque visual references with shiny luminescent in-camera special effects, OBEX creates a hybrid experience wherein Ixaroth has forced Conor to play in order to retrieve his beloved dog. You know the cinematic imagination has left the proverbial reservation when the lady who delivers your groceries is presented as a live-action Zelda clone.
“…Conor sees an ad for OBEX, a game that promises to make an interactive experience out of combating the demon Ixaroth.”
OBEX is filmed in black and white, which makes for a great aesthetic choice, evoking the German expressionism of early tales of horror and suspense. While it shares some chromosomes with Videodrome, it also calls to mind The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. There is a somnambulist vibe to everything here. The map Mary uses to direct Conor in Obex is very reminiscent of the scroll background for the very first The Legend of Zelda.
The mise-en-scène is year-accurate. Conor possesses three 20-inch televisions, stacked atop each other. He has multiple Apple IIc computers, which he uses for work and pleasure. The Apples were great mono-task units. One of them is his karaoke device. Another is his workstation. Much time is spent in the main character’s backyard, and then eventually in the great outdoors as he somehow accesses the realm of Obex. Back in the late 1980s, we spent lots of time outdoors, oftentimes left to our own devices to do whatever we wanted. The only conditions were to avoid injury and come back when it got dark. This is the world Conor, as an adult, exists in, and it was a better time for humanity.
OBEX is an earnest, strange, and delightful adventure. It contains classic 1980s fantasy, science fiction, and horror tropes. As such, OBEX will win over anyone who grew up in that time period. If you’re looking for a speedy 90-minute film to traipse through the valley of bones with, I strongly encourage you to seek this out. This is a great film to watch at home. Just remember to lock your door, and DON’T order a copy of Obex.
"…an earnest, strange, and delightful adventure."
