Megaville

Megaville is an independent/low-budget direct-to-video 1990 American science fiction film, starring Billy Zane in his first lead role. Megaville is a neo-noir psychological thriller which utilizes elements of science fiction such as cyberpunk and existentialism. Plot National boundaries have been broken, two giant super-states remain—a bleak, decaying Hemisphere, and the sprawling media state Megaville. Travel between the states is restricted. The "CKS" governs daily life in the Hemisphere. All forms of media are illegal here. Raymond Palinov, an unassuming captain of the media police finds himself drawn to a spaghetti western and cannot pull away from it during a media raid. Palinov is ostracized by his superior for the incident. After nearly losing his job, Palinov begins to exhibit strange character traits. During a rally in which outlawed media recordings are shown to the media police as examples of contraband, Palinov laughs out loud at a comedy clip. Palinov then appears to have a complete mental breakdown and loses consciousness. Whereas most agents would have been terminated following such an incident, Palinov is spared. Palinov is found to be exhibiting unusual brain activity and is sent for an examination. Palinov explains to Dr. Vogel that he has been having bizarre flashbacks and seeing memories in dreams which are not his own. Dr. Vogel tells Palinov he believes the strange behavior is due to years of exposure to media "filth" and initiates a procedure which will remove the unexplained brain activity and restore Palinov's personality in its entirety. The procedure doesn't work and Palinov's mental episodes become steadily worse. Palinov is contacted by Mr. Duprell, the director of the CKS, with an infiltration assignment. The Hemisphere war against media is about to intensify with news of the introduction of "Dream-A-Life" (DAL) a hallucination-inducing consumer product. People in Megaville could start new lives in their own fantasy world of choice. The government of Megaville has deemed DAL legal and its use has become prevalent with the help of a mysterious figure in the Megaville underworld known as Mr. Newman. Duprell explains that Palinov bears a striking physical resemblance to Newman's only known contact in the Hemisphere, Mr. Jensen.