Mr. Payback: An Interactive Movie (partially found interactive science-fiction comedy short film; 1995)

Poster for the film.

Status: Partially Found

Mr. Payback: An Interactive Movie is an interactive science-fiction adventure comedy short film written and directed by Bob Gale (co-writer and co-producer of the Back to the Future trilogy) that was released by Interfilm Technologies and Sony New Technologies on February 17th, 1995. The film, which varied from 20 to 30 minutes in length, is a rare example of an interactive film, with audiences being allowed to choose between various options at different points throughout the plot to influence the direction the story will take.

Plot

The film stars Billy Warlock as Mr. Payback (real name Payton Bach), a half-human half-cyborg vigilante who takes cases on behalf of people seeking vengeance against those who have wronged them, including a female college student who has been the victim of repeated sexual harassment at the hands of her dean, a Latino man who was cheated out of his home and his land by a city politician, and a black businessman who was framed at work and illegitimately fired by his racist boss. Mr. Payback would arrange meetings with one of these alleged miscreants to judge their character for himself before initiating payback, while also encountering various other criminals and evildoers along the way, such as a bike thief, a mugger, and various threatening gang members.

As the title would imply, the main gimmick of the film was its interactivity, with audiences getting to vote between three different paths the story could take at various point throughout the film using a joystick attached to the armrests of their seats, with the option that received the most votes being the one that was selected. For example, when coming across an able-bodied man who has illegitimately parked in a disabled parking space, audiences can vote between the options of "Move It", in which Mr. Payback tears the man's car apart with his bare hand, "Good Excuse", in which Mr. Payback uses darts to deflate all of the car's tyres, or "Make It Legal", in which Mr. Payback shoots the man with a dart that paralyses his legs, thereby legitimising his use of the disabled space. Many such instances of interactivity occur throughout Mr. Payback, with at least twenty-four viewings of the film being required to see every possible scenario. For this reason, each purchase of a ticket for Mr. Payback actually entitled viewers to two showings of the film, one after the other, allowing them the opportunity to see first-hand another one of the many paths the story could take.

The film concludes with a gameshow segment titled Payback Time, in which three of the villains faced throughout the film are brought back before the people they wronged to face a final humiliation. As before, audiences can vote between the various punishments the wrongdoers would face (such as the college dean either being covered in human waste^[1] or dressed in S&M doggy bondage gear and led around on a leash, or the racist boss being forced to wear a French maid outfit whilst in blackface), while also getting to choose whether Paul Anka or Ice-T among others make an appearance on the show as a celebrity guest. Depending on the choices made throughout the film, an epilogue scene would also be included in which Mr. Payback and his assistant Gwen celebrate a successful operation by going to the movies, where they take revenge against a pair of teenagers who refuse to stop talking.^[2]

Cast

Billy Warlock - Payton Bach (Mr. Payback)
Holly Fields - Gwen
Bruce McGill - James Konklin
Christopher Lloyd - Ed Jarvis
Leslie Easterbrook - Diane Wyatt
David Correia - Raoul Alvarez
Victor Love - Lloyd Braxton
Carol-Ann Merrill - Cara Cook (as Carol-Ann Plante)
Michael Talbott - Car Jerk
Brendan Ford - Park Vandal
Gilbert Rosales - Bike Thief
Robby Sutton - Moe
Sasha Jenson - Larry
Joseph D. Reitman - Dick
Barbara Anne Klein - Waitress
Jan Eddy - Rocco
Art Evans - Jackie The Butler
David Rowden - Gunther
Eddie Deezen - Phil The Guard
Don Calfa - City Hall Guard
Thomas Rosales Jr. - Hoops (as Tom Rosales)
Deborah Harmon - Medical Center Woman
Raquel Gardner - Katie Beatty
Greg Natale - Pizza Man
Lorna Scott - Pizza Woman
Wendie Jo Sperber - Woman With Kitten
Marvin Katzoff - Man With Kitten
Elizabeth Meads - Vibrating Woman
Paul Roache - Vibrating Man
John McKinley Robertson - Workman #1
Daniel O'Callaghan - Workman #2
Tracey Ross - Jarvis' Motel Hooker
Joe Ochman - Candy Man
Marji Martin - Candy Woman
Elizabeth Ochsner - College Girl
Orly Sitowitz - Movie Talker Brunette
Donna Eskra - Movie Talker Blonde
Ruby Davis - Wheelchair Woman
Patrick Pinney - Narrator (voice)
Ice-T - Self
Eadie Del Rubio - Self
Elena Del Rubio - Self
Milly Del Rubio - Self
Robert Englund - Self
Cheech Marin - Self
Frank Gorshin - Self
Paul Anka - Self
Eric Paul Erickson - Restaurant Patron (uncredited)

Reception

Mr. Payback would receive an overwhelmingly negative from critics upon its release, with noted film critic Roger Ebert giving the film a lowly rating of a half-star out of 4, describing it as "so offensive and yokel-brained that being raised in a barn might almost be required of its audiences," and stating that it was "the kind of film where horrified parents might encourage the kids to shout at the screen, hoping the noise might drown out the flood of garbage."^[3] Ebert would later expand on these criticisms in an episode of his television series Siskel & Ebert, where he and fellow film critic Gene Siskel both agreed that the film failed to take advantage of the opportunities presented by the idea of interactive filmmaking, with Ebert subsequently declaring the film to be his least favourite of 1995 in a later episode. Other critics felt similarly, with Entertainment Weekly's Ty Burr tagging the film with an "F" grade while declaring it to be "horribly written, dreadfully acted, and cretinously plotted".^[4]

Despite its modest budget of $1.6 million, the film would ultimately prove to be a financial failure as well, only managing to gross $241,000 throughout the entirety of its theatrical run.^[5] This low box office return likely came about as a result of the film's extremely limited release, with only 25 theatres throughout America showing the film due to the $50,000+ each theatre would have to spend to upgrade their screens with the necessary interactive equipment.^[6]

Availability

While other examples of interactive filmmaking such as 1992's I'm Your Man have been released on home media in the years following their cinematic debut, Mr. Payback would never be shown again following its initial theatrical run, presumably owing to its critical and financial failure and the dissolution of Interfilm in the late 1990s, with the majority of the film remaining unavailable to be seen publicly as a result. To date, a brief selection of clips, a trailer, and various segments discussing the film on programs like Sci-Fi Buzz and Siskel & Ebert are all that has surfaced from it.