Movie Substrate · Film
Total Recall (1990)
★ 7.3 · 6,426 ratings on TMDB
They stole his mind. Now, he wants it back.
Construction worker Douglas Quaid's obsession with the planet Mars leads him to visit Rekall, a virtual vacation company that manufactures memories. When something goes wrong during Quaid's memory implant procedure, his life turns upside down, leading him to question what is reality and what isn't.
DirectorPaul Verhoeven
The emergence reading
Total Recall keeps every mind human — it fights its subject at zero distance. The story fights on E8/E11 of the E0–E14 reality ladder.
zero-distanceUS
⇄ Parameter shift — the dial this world turnsrigor: loose
E8memorymemory can be commercially implanted and erased as realistic false memories (technology · personal)
Same rung, same subject
Films fighting at the same level of reality, about the same things.
Same subject, different rung
The same preoccupations examined at another scale — one mind versus a nation.
X-Men: The Last Stand (2006)E9/E10 · Action, Adventure
Avatar: The Way of Water (2022)E9/E13 · Action, Adventure
Independence Day (1996)E12/E13 · Action, Adventure
The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)E4/E10 · Action, Adventure
2012 (2009)E12/E14 · Action, Adventure
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (2024)E6/E9 · Action, AdventureAlso bends a rule of reality
Other films that change a standing rule of their world — ranked first by those bending it at the same rung.
Inception (2010)alters at E8 · same rung · loose
Avatar (2009)alters at E8 · same rung · loose
Inside Out (2015)alters at E8 · same rung · rigorous
Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)alters at E8 · same rung · loose
Oblivion (2013)alters at E8 · same rung · loose
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010)alters at E8 · same rung · rigorous
