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‘Altered Perceptions’ Review: DIY Sci-Fi Gets Lost in Its Repetitive Message
Indefatigable indie director Jorge Ameer’s low-budget stylings take a step backward with supernatural political critique 'Altered Perceptions.'
Announcing itself as a work of fiction in its opening onscreen text (alongside a mounting death count, from an unnamed virus, that steadily grows to 80 billion), “Altered Perceptions” unfolds with distinctly real-world politics, despite featuring a fantasy pathogen that turns people violent. Watching this and other lengthy, talky sequences unfold involves a fair amount of incredulity when it comes to who is where, and why they say the things they do, though these questions are at least fun to parse when Alex is visited by a naked, Terminator-esque figure (Joseph DeMatteo) claiming to be from the future. That’s a shame, since it approaches hints of poignant character drama in its final few minutes — involving Alex spending time with his father’s new husband, played by previous Ameer collaborator Peter Cardenas, as the world falls apart — but by then, it’s too little too late.
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