In the '50s at Montreal's Allan Memorial Institute, Dr. Ewan Cameron tried to find a cure for mental illness. With his studies leading nowhere, he developed new methods: brainwashing, LSD-testing and massive doses of electro-shock. Somewhere along the line, the CIA decided to finance the project. The Sleep Room (1997, Canada) is based on this REAL story: three hours of film that has a real miniseries feel to it. Worth seeing, but unfortunately it doesn't really get going until the second half, when former patients decide to bring the CIA to court 25 years later--a breath of fresh air after all the abuse and bad acting (including some courtesy of Macha Grenon).

Yves Simoneau's In the Belly of the Dragon (1989, Quebec) also deals also with "brain power." Lou, a 20 year old without any family or real friends, becomes a patient in an institute where, by aging the brain (and, progressively, the patient), they can get an expanded usage of the mind. The film skips disturbingly between the institutional universe and the comic relief of Bozo and Steve (two guys Lou used to work with).

Also disturbing is seeing acclaimed Quebec director Jean-Claude Lord's name in a big, lime-green computer font in the opening credits of The Vindicator, a Robocop-esque 1986 movie. This mind-meets-machine flick has it all: explosions, fights, lots of "red alert" sounds, plenty of cheesiness and cheap dialogue!

--Cozmik Kay