CLOWN - Anchor Bay (Blu-ray Review)

USA/2014
Directed By: Jon Watts
Written By: Christopher Ford, Jon Watts
Starring: Andy Powers, Laura Allen, Peter Stormare
Color/99 Minutes/R
Region A
Release Date: August 23, 2016

The Film
Kent (Andy Powers) has to fill in as the clown at his son's birthday party after the entertainment they hired didn't show up and the only suit he can find is from an old trunk in a house his real estate company has been hired to sell but after the party he finds that the suit won't come off. Kent quickly finds out the trouble he has put himself in as the suit contains an evil Icelandic curse that has Kent turning into a vicious monster with a thirst for the blood of children.

CLOWN has a somewhat interesting story behind it's production- It started as an original short film by Jon Watts and Christopher Ford who released the film online with the tag that the film was coming soon from Eli Roth. The short film created a buzz which caught Roth off guard as he was being contacted about his new film that he had no idea about. Curious, Roth watched the film, liked what he saw enough to contact Watt and Ford about adapting the film in to a feature that he would produce and the duo could write with Watt directing. And since you're reading this review you know that they jumped at the chance. The film was made announced and pulled and then sat around for a while until a limited edition to only 500 Blu-ray was released in the UK in early 2015. The film was finally released in the US in June of 2016, and is now available on Blu-ray. Was it worth the wait?

CLOWN will feel familiar as it follows a typical horror movie formula and has many of the tropes we're used to seeing but it doesn't let familiarity hold it back. First and foremost the cast is great. Andy Powers is excellent as Kent, showing some great comedic ability early on in the film while his dramatic side shows panic and dismay as the reality of his turn into a monster begins to become more apparent. Laura Allen owns the role of the distraught mother tasked with protecting her son from the monster her husband is changing into while fighting for the survival of the man she loves. It's a straight forward performance but she owns it. Peter Stormare's Karlsson is effectively cold and creepy but in a necessary way. These three make sure the film is believable.

Second the formulaic approach simply lets you sit back and enjoy. You may be able to predict a chain of events but watching the movie is just plain entertaining. The setup is well done and gives us an emotional link to hold on to and a reason to care about the fate of these characters. The middle drags a bit but it's all a set up for the excellent third act that is incredibly bloody and surprisingly suspenseful at times. The third act ended up being make or break for CLOWN and I'm happy to say it  was a success. CLOWN is also a success in its details. From the Karlsson's back story with the costume that is far from a storybook and is far closer to the dark side of fairy tales legends to the costume itself that has a genuine old world look to the design and finally the effects used with the clown including the rainbow blood he bleeds and the effects used whenever the clown monster is defeated. Those may seem like minor things but I think it adds an artistic level and production value that give CLOWN a leg up on other recent horror films.

There was a bit of a wait in seeing CLOWN and that can really hurt the anticipation for a film and leave many people feeling like they got the cold shoulder and lose interest in seeing the movie. CLOWN could have suffered that fate but luckily better late than never never became too late because this movie is quite good. Flawed and a bit slow in the middle but otherwise quite good.

The Audio & Video
As you'd expect from a modern production filmed in digital HD, the Blu-ray looks great. Anchor Bay gives CLOWN a sharp and crisp looking 2.40:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer that features a warm color palette and healthy skin tones. Black levels are deep and inky with no blocking. The English audio comes through a 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio mix that is very clear and well balanced. Dialogue comes through perfectly with the score being complimentary and balanced nicely. The audio is free of any imperfections.

The Extras
Unfortunately the original short film is not included as an extra which doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. There is a short Making-of featurette featuring some interview footage with Eli Roth and other key cast and crew members.

The Bottom Line
It's great that this film is finally getting released without any further delay because it really is a solid horror film with an original mythos, great performances and plenty of fun special effects.

CLOWN is available HERE

MARTYRS (2016)

USA/2016
Directed By: Kevin Goetz, Michael Goetz
Written By: Mark L. Smith
Starring: Trojan Bellisario, Caitlin Carmichael, Kate Burton
In Theaters and Digital HD: January 22, 2016
VOD Release Date: February 2, 2016

The original French production of Martyrs from 2008 was part of a wave of films from the country that bombarded audiences with extreme violence and a metric shit ton of gore. Along with Frontier(s) and Inside Martyrs helped launch France into the forefront of horror fandom. For better or worse. Frontier(s) was a passable horror film with a lot of half realized ideas it is worth a watch. Inside fares far worse being nothing more than gore for the sake of gore without any real thought put into a cohesive and believable story. This film panders to the lowest common denominator of gore hound. Martyrs on the other hand offered up something a bit more serious, deeper and certainly colder. It featured all of the shock and gore that the wave of French films had been known for but the film had depth and levels to it that it's blood soaked predecessors of a year earlier did not. Martyrs gained plenty of positive reviews and acclaim from fans and like plenty of films before and since, the remake was quickly planned. As immediate as the year it was originally released, the remake rights to Martyrs were being negotiated but it would take another seven years to have the film fully realized and produced.

2015 saw the quiet production and announcement of completion of the US remake, MARTYRS. With little fanfare or coverage the film was shot and awaited its release date, surprising fans with the news. Now that film is here it is finally time to see if the more than half decade of fuss and back and forth was worth it. And I can firmly sit here and answer that with a resounding - sort of. It was sort of worth it. I'm sure it will be worth it for the producers who stand to make money on the film as the budget had been cut numerous times over the years but that didn't affect the film. Audiences who are familiar with the original will find little new ground covered here despite it being a completely watchable and enjoyable film but new audiences have the most to gain as it will be something entirely new to them.

MARTYRS centers around a pair of girls who become best friends at a young age at a Catholic orphanage. Years later one of the girls shows up at a secluded house and opens fire on the family inside with a shotgun claiming she knows it was the father who had kidnapped and tortured her years prior. The girls quickly find out about the depraved experiments being run out of the house by a secret group and they're thrown headfirst into a living nightmare that will quite literally bring them to the brink of death.

The budget cuts this remake went through may have played in its favor as the film doesn't try to be bigger than it needed to. The secluded house setting and underground laboratory type setting are more than enough to carry the majority of the picture. It keeps the film a bit tighter and doesn't let it wander. The Goetz Brothers offer up rock solid direction that occasionally shows a bit of flair with the camera. Our two lead girls have a natural connection on screen giving the audience a true set of protagonists to care about.

I could spend plenty of time talking of the characters but the majority of people interested in this film whether as a remake of the original or totally on its own merits will be mostly showing up for the violence, which is plentiful. And not only plentiful but it is graphic, rarely shying away from showing your the dripping and the pulling and the cutting. Flesh may as well be pizza dough and blood the sauce because you see so much of it that it almost becomes second nature.

MARTYRS ended up surprising me that it wasn't more of a mess given how long it took to actually come to fruition. The movie is entertaining and competently made without being the cold day ruiner that the original ends up being.

NORTHMEN: A VIKING SAGA (DVD Review) - Anchor Bay

Germany/2014
Directed By: Claudio Fah
Written By: Bastian Zach, Matthias Bauer
Starring: Ed Skrein, Ryan Kwanten, James Norton
Color/97 Minutes/R
Region 1
Release Date: August 11, 2015

The Film
A group of vikings wash ashore in Scotland after their longship sinks in rough waters. Immediately having to fight the group is able to capture the king's daughter and plans to hold her ransom to buy their freedom. After learning that the warriors the king sent out to retrieve his daughter may have other motives than retrieving his daughter, the vikings, a christian monk and the princess have to fight their way across the land for their escape and survival.

I'm a sucker for any sort of viking or middle ages knight and king fantasy adventure and NORTHMEN: A VIKING SAGA is one of the better ones I've seen in recent years. Director Claudio Fah really captures the intensely violent and beautifully choreographed action with skill and without a heavy hand towards annoying slow motion. The movie was filmed on location in South Africa and Ireland and the settings are expansive and gorgeous. I never once questioned that this was Scotland around the time of the Dark Ages.

NORTHMEN is filled with all of the pre-requisites in a viking movie- talk of Valhalla, debates with Christians over religion, burning their fallen comrade and so on. There's no raping or pillaging here. Our protagonists' valor and honor is never in question and it is a refreshing change to see the vikings presented in a positive light instead of the typical story of a Christian army battling the invading viking savages.

I can't overstate how violent and purely brutal this film is. It never enters the realm of corny or cheesy which plagues many fantasy films of the ilk. There's a bit of CGI used for bigger scale moments but it is rendered decently and doesn't stick out too bad. There's also a decent story here but not one that we haven't seen a hundred times and not one that needs digging into too deeply.

NORTHMEN is credits to credits fantasy action not for the faint of heart and is more entertaining and better made than many similar films.

The Audio & Video
Anchor Bay gives NORTHMEN its home video release in the USA with a 2.40:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer that looks quite good. The film has an intentional cold look and tone and the color palette backs that up. You won't see lush greens and bright vibrant yellows here, instead you get cold hard grays and dirty browns. The film has a great look and the disc represents that nicely. The English audio is handled with 5.1 Dolby Digital track and sounds very good. There's no damage or background noise and the track is crisp and clear.

The Extras
-Northmen: A Look Inside A Viking Saga - A 12 minute behind the scenes featurette

The Bottom Line
Awesome, entertaining fantasy adventure packed with epic violence and good performances top to bottom. Get the popcorn and the beer stein out, blow your viking horn to call your friends over and have fun with this one.

NORTHMEN: A VIKING SAGA is available HERE

The Atticus Institute (Blu-ray Review) - Anchor Bay

USA/2015
Directed By: Chris Sparling
Written By: Chris Sparling
Starring: Rya Kihlstedt, William Mapother, Harry Groener
Color/83 Minutes/Not Rated
Region A
Release Date: January 20, 2015

The Film
Dr. Henry West opened The Atticus Institute to test and discover people who may have psychic abilities such as E.S.P. and Telekinesis. While some subjects displayed traits that showed they may possibly have the abilities nothing would prepare Dr. West or his team for Judith Winstead. Ms. Winstead showed exceptional abilities in all of the categories tested that blew any previous subject's results out of the water. Eventually her abilities became too much to handle and the United States government stepped in. When their tests showed signs of demonic possession that they could not deny, the Department of Defense took control of the facility in an attempt to weaponize Judith Winstead. The events that followed are now being documented in this documentary.

THE ATTICUS INSTITUTE uses a faux documentary style of film making to add to the realism factor that drives the film. Director Chris Sparling relies on that realism to unsettle the viewer instead of going for wild makeup or special effects and never comes close to anything like what you saw young Regan do with a crucifix on her bed. The cast is great from top to bottom which is critical to keeping the film realistic and unsettling. 

Split between sit down interviews with those involved in the case and archival footage from the institute, THE ATTICUS INSTITUTE is mostly a success in what it attempts to do and create which is a documentary that a viewer may mistake for a true documentary that would be just as unsettling as the movie created. The only downfall is a few hamfisted moments of poorly done CGI towards the end of the movie.

The Audio & Video
Anchor Bay delivers a very attractive looking disc with an anamorphic widescreen (16x9) transfer that is very sharp with strong detail in textures, surfaces and close-ups. Colors are vivid and there's no sign of DNR or edge enhancement. The English audio is handled by a Dolby TrueHD 5.1  track that sounds pretty perfect. It's crisp and clean without and distortions. Optional English and Spanish subtitles are available.

The Extras
-"Making Of" Featurette
-Deleted Scenes

The Bottom Line
An interesting take on demonic possession based horror films, THE ATTICUS INSTITUTE probably won't become a classic but it is worth a viewing for fans of the genre.

THE ATTICUS INSTITUTE is available HERE