My theory of the movie.

The parts of the movie that seem to confuse or make the viewer wonder what was real or just a game were the scenes with the dog carrying a foot in its mouth, both in the beginning of the movie and the end of the movie. Also, at the ending of the movie, where we see Trickster in real life.

What I wonder is if it's possible that he's still playing the game at the end, but thinking that he's actually back in regular "reality". Sort of like how when he's playing the game and he's thinking it's reality, but it's really the game he's still in, sort of like another trick in the game to make him think it's all real. If the game was interfacing with his subconscious to somehow put that theme of murder crimes into the game from when he first came across the crime scene earlier in his "reality", how would the dog with the foot in his mouth walking in the ending credits, and the beginning credits make sense?...because if Michael didn't see the dog walking with the severed foot in the beginning, then why would the same dog with the foot be in the games reality, but then be back in regular reality after he had finished the game? I would assume then, that it's still because he's in the game reality. But that doesn't necessarily make sense either, because the movie starts out with the dog running with the foot in his mouth, and we are to assume that this is the real "reality" that Michael is in before he has ever played Brainscan before. But how is it possible for the exact same dog with the foot in his mouth from the game to be in reality AND to be in the game as well, especially if Michael had never seen the dog with the foot in real life (this would mean that his subconscious mind couldn't have fed that to the game). It's basically like, which dog is real? The beginning dog or the ending dog? They try to make one seem like it existed in reality and the other was just in the game. But how is it possible for the exact dog with a severed foot in it's mouth to be in both places, without any connection or reason to be? And also, if he had finished playing the game, why would he be seeing Trickster in regular reality? Was it just his own projection or imagination? Was Trickster somehow real? Was he still in the game, but duped into thinking the game was over? Was any of it real? Or is the game just making people delusional to where they don't know or can't tell what is real or not? Or, could the game be spilling over into reality, via the hypnotic techniques it uses on the gamer's subconscious and using real life people to do it's own maniacal deeds and give the Trickster his own life (in people's minds)? In essence, who's being played? The game or the gamer?

So, my theory is this. The whole movie IS the game, Brainscan. WE the viewers are in essence, Michael. We are playing the "game" by watching the movie, just like he does when he puts the game Brainscan in and thinks that it's real life, but it's just the game. The clue would be the dog with the foot in the beginning. If we presume that the dog from the brainscan game in the beginning of the movie was really from the game "reality", NOT real reality (in the movie's reality) then the whole thing was a game and that's how the movie let's us know that. It also tells us that at the end credits, where it stops and the dog comes up to the screen with the foot and Trickster's voice says "you forgot something", which is directed at the viewer, so this would imply that we just played the game brainscan by watching the movie. If you only look at the movie in the context of is the reality in the movie real, or is the game reality real, then this theory probably may not apply. Unless you step further back and look at it as if you were the gamer putting in this movie and it's a simulation where we are like Michael's character, viewing it from his point of view, sort of how he does while playing Brainscan.

So, next time you watch this movie, pretend that YOU ARE Michael, and playing Brainscan the game, not just watching the movie. It may make more sense.