Idaho Transfer is one of those odd little movies you run into just when you think you've finally seen all the obscure 70's youth themed sci-fi flicks- I blundered into it by accident when I bought a $10 for 10 DVD pack of bad apocalypse-themed flicks. It involves a group of young researchers who are projected forwards into time 56 years at a super-secret government lab in a remote area of Idaho. Their landing zone/base camp is in a desolate lava field some miles away; and in this future, there's no apparent sign of human civilization to be found, as an apparent catastrophe has wiped it out! When suspicious government officials shut the project down, the youths flee into this unknown future... Like any number of films made during this time period, there's a bit of a token anti-establishment vibe in places; among other things, it is indicated that time traveling is fatal for those who are 'much over 20' (the one guy who tries it does indeed die, thus polishing off all 'good' adult characters before the movie is halfway over) and the 'government officials' who close the facility are the standard suit-wearing guys with bad haircuts, no wisdom, and no lines. The kids get trapped in the future and vent all the appropriate 'heavy thoughts' about how maybe the end of the human race is a good thing (they run into some apparently degenerate human descendants who are deaf, mute, and retarded and the kids make a point of mentioning several times how 'kind' and 'happy' they are, for example) and then it all degenerates into some Lord of The Flies style violence between two of the gals before the ending, which is so utterly cheesy that I refuse to try and ruin it for you. Trust me- it will disappoint you on so many levels. However, there are some things the movie gets right. The idea it starts out with is a compelling one, and the choice of scenery (the Craters Of The Moon national monument) is right-on. This is a low-budget movie, but the most unsettling feeling was squeezed from every dollar. Even the time machine itself, with its low-key brushed steel panels and dymo labeled warning to deposit all metal objects in the tray (apparently wearing metal while being 'transferred' can cause injury) looks somehow more 'real' than ones costing millions in later films. I can't write this one off, just wonder if there's an alternate future in which a decent script was written for it...
Review of Idaho Transfer
