Lucky Bastard (DVD Review) - Revolver

USA/2014
Directed By: Robert Nathan
Written By: Lukas Kendall, Robert Nathan
Starring: Don McManus, Jay Paulson, Betsy Rue
Color/94 Minutes/NC-17
Region 1
Release Date: July 1, 2014

The Film
Lucky Bastard is a porn website that hosts contests for fans and subscribers of the site to win a night with one of their stars. This scene is filmed and used for their site with a bit of mocking the amateur guy involved. Mike(Don McManus), the owner of Lucky Bastard convinces his number one girl Ashley Saint (Betsy Rue) to break her rule of no amateurs, and be the prize for this episode. Ashley is reluctant and her introduction to the winner, an awkward and somewhat creepy redhead named Dave, doesn't help things. After several awkward exchanges and a few dramatic episodes of Ashley calling the shoot off, they eventually get the two into the bedroom. Dave's premature climax puts a damper on the whole thing when he shoves Ashley and Mike has one of his assistants bring Dave home. Dave has other plans as he is the Lucky Bastard and was promised he would get to fuck Ashley Saint and is willing to kill for his prize.

LUCKY BASTARD is a found footage style horror thriller filmed through the eye of the production cameras. It is one of the few instances where the style not only makes sense for the film but actually works in the film's favor. The cast is quite good, from the leads down to Nico (Lanny Joon) the cool, but somewhat nervous cameraman. LUCKY BASTARD makes us look at the sometimes unhealthy relationship between fame and fan and the lengths some people will go to touch that fame. It also works as just a pretty decent movie about a man with a broken mind losing it for the last time and going on a nasty little rampage. It does get a bit awkward when the porn scenes are being filmed and the genitals are blurred. It just sort of cheapens the entire movie. I think it was a gamble to either make the scenes less realistic or to have to censor part of them. It really ends up being a lose-lose situation there for the director.

The Audio & Video
Revolver brings LUCKY BASTARD to DVD with a nice looking anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1) transfer. The image is sharp, clean and very crisp. The 5.1 surround track sounds great and has a quality mix. There's never any need to reach for the remote as levels are steady. A nice technical presentation overall.

The Extras
-Audio commentary with the director
-3 trailers
-Promo Reel
-TV commercial

The Bottom Line
LUCKY BASTARD is better than expected and worth a look.

LUCKY BASTARD is available HERE

The Addicted (DVD Review) - Revolver

UK/2013
Directed By: Sean J. Vincent
Written By: Sean J. Vincent
Starring: Jenny Gayner, Sean J. Vincent, Thea Knight
Color/90 Minutes/Not Rated
Region 1
Release Date: June 24, 2014

The Film
A quarter century after an apparent suicide in a drug rehabilitation clinic a group decides to break in to the now abandoned facility to try and capture some of the reported paranormal goings on on film. Then, another group does the same. It doesn't take long for the evil with in to appear, along with a masked killer who seems to enjoy nothing more than strapping his victim to a table, shooting them up with needles and using a nail gun to kill them. The dark truth behind the clinic's history is exposed but will they ever be able to leave?

Let me just say that I probably couldn't tell you half of the details about THE ADDICTED because the audio recording is so fucking bad that it just sounds like very quiet mumbling. This gets even worse when the masked killer talks because apparently the director thought it was a better choice to have his dialogue recorded live through a thick mask which makes the already poor audio recording sound even more incomprehensible. Imagine trying to hear someone talk through a thick rubber halloween mask after eating an entire peanut butter sandwich sans milk. That may give you the idea.

What I was able to make out of THE ADDICTED didn't have me all that upset that I was struggling to understand the dialogue. The effects were corny and nothing exactly surprising or new and inventive happened. I did like the killer's mask as it looked like some kind of comic book version of a killer crackhead.

The Audio & Video
Revolver gives THE ADDICTED a home on DVD. The transfer looks okay, probably as good as it could ever look given the photography of the film. There's constant compression and artifacting in darker scenes. Brighter scenes fare a bit better but still don't look amazing. As I mentioned, the audio is so damn muffled thatit's near impossible to make out most of the dialogue, especially from the masked killer. I don't fault the audio issues, or really the video issues on the transfer work done as they can only work with the material they were given.

The Extras
None.

The Bottom Line
There's nothing here I can honestly recommend spending your time on. Take a pass this one.

THE ADDICTED is available HERE

Favor (DVD Review) - Horizon Movies

USA/2013
Directed By: Paul Osborne
Written By: Paul Osborne
Starring: Blayne Weaver, Patrick Day, Cheryl Nichols
Color/102 Minutes/Not Rated
Region 1
Release Date: July 8, 2014

The Film
Old time friends Kip and Marvin have gone down different roads in life. Kip is handsome, has a beautiful wife, a nice house, a high paying job and their first baby on the way. Marvin looks years older than he is, has been out of work for months and is falling behind on his bills. The pair hasn't seen much of each other in recent times until one night Kip shows up at Marvin's house in the middle of the night needing help from his old friend. Kip has accidentally killed the woman he's having an affair with and asks Marvin for help hiding the body. Believing in being loyal to your friends no matter what, Marvin handles the situation for his friend. In the ensuing days Marvin begins to ask some favors of Kip, little things like a loan to pay the bills, being set up on a date with one of his wife's friends and so on.

The guilt weighs on Marvin and he starts showing up at Kip's house and work every day, acting stranger and asking for more and more. Kip tries to stay away from Marvin but eventually agrees to give him a job and shortly after has to fire him. Marvin and Kip have a final encounter in Marvin's house that has deadly consequences as the "do anything for a friend" mentality has completely destroyed both of their lives and ended it for one of them.

FAVOR works because Blayne Weaver and Patrick Day are great as Kip and Marvin and carry Paul Osborne's script. The idea of FAVOR is a simple one but the independent production is a success with the twists it takes in the third act. You may know where it's going or you may be surprised but it is an engaging thriller from start to finish. FAVOR isn't perfect, I found the female cop particularly annoying but it rises above its modest production budget to be a solid thriller. 

The Audio & Video
Horizon Movies gives FAVOR the DVD treatment with a 1.78:1 widescreen transfer that looks okay. The image is softer and grainier than is preferred. This has to do with the original photography of the film itself. It doesn't look bad but it isn't very sharp either. The stereo audio track is mixed well and is clear. Levels are stable and there's no background noise.

The Extras
-Audio commentary with director Paul Osborne and stars Patrick Day and Blayne Weaver
-"Party Favor": A behind-the-scenes look at the making of FAVOR
-Phoenix Film Festival "Life Of An Indie Actor" Panel
-Q&A with cast and crew
-Scoring FAVOR featurette
-"Midnight" music video
-Deleted and extended scenes
-Trailer

The Bottom Line
FAVOR was unexpectedly entertaining and competent. I definitely recommend giving it a viewing

FAVOR is available HERE

Joy Ride 3: Roadkill (Blu-ray Review) - Fox

USA/2014
Directed By: Declan O'Brien
Written By: Declan O'Brien
Starring: Ken Kirzinger, Jesse Hutch, Ben Hollingsworth
Color/96 Minutes/Not Rated
Region A
Release Date: June 17, 2014

The Film
 A group of street racers on their way to a race in Canada act like dickheads to the wrong trucker along an isolated stretch of highway known as "Slaughter Alley". The stretch of highway earned its ominous nickname after a serious of particularly brutal murders happened and the lack of police presence to stop it. The trucker, known only by his CB handle "Rusty Nails" immediately shows that he is not one to be fucked with when he runs one of their cars off the road. Unfortunately for the racing team their troubles with Rusty are just getting started as he has some rather nasty plans for them including kidnapping and murdering them.

Declan O'Brien who is probably best known for his work writing and directing crappy sequels such as Wrong Turn 4 and 5 and The Marine 3. Okay, to be honest I've never seen The Marine 3 (or 1 or 2 for that matter) but anything starring Mike "The Miz" Mizanin is bound to be a complete and utter waste of time, money and energy so I called it out. While O'Brien's direction on JOY RIDE 3 is nothing outstanding he at least took a minor step forward in being part of a movie that isn't complete dreck. JOY RIDE 3 is part of a series that started off mediocre, apparently got piss poor immediately with part 2 and came back to be more mediocrity with this most recent chapter. The story is something you've seen a million times- the bad guy gets harrassed by a bunch of totally unlikeable douche bags and kills them off in various violent ways. That is one thing JOY RIDE 3 has going for it, it is a very gory affair. Gore hounds will eat this shit up for no other reason than the blood and guts that fly around in spades.

The problem with JOY RIDE 3, and it is a problem that I've seen becoming more and more prominent in recent horror films is that there is nobody to cheer for. The throw away characters at the beginning are meth head trash and the racing team is full of assholes. Yeah, there's one or two of them who try not to be but they're nothing less than the guy who carries through with a murder while saying "we shouldn't do this". Maybe their heart is in the right place but they're still associating themselves with assholes. Rusty Nails is played by Ken Kirzinger (Freddy vs Jason) who is about as exciting as watching paint dry and isn't all that creepy on the CB radio which is one thing the original had going for it. If you're a fan of the earlier entries in the series or if you watch horror for the gore factor JOY RIDE 3 is worth checking out.

The Audio & Video
The Blu-ray from Fox looks very nice. The 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer is very sharp and clean. Detail level is high and colors are vibrant and strong. Skin tones are natural and fleshy without the waxy look that overuse of DNR causes. There was no edge enhancement noticeable. The DTS-HD audio sounds great. The mix is excellent and levels are stable. There were no hiccups or background noise.

The Extras
-Audio commentary 
-"Road Rage": The Blood, Sweat, And Tears of JOY RIDE 3
-Riding Shotgun With Declan: Director's Die-aries
-Finding Large Marge
-Deleted Scenes
-Pre-vis Sequences

The Bottom Line
 JOY RIDE 3 is an okay time waster that gore hounds will eat up. Rent before you buy.

JOY RIDE 3 is available HERE

The Twilight Zone: Essential Episodes Collection

What can be said about the Twilight Zone that hasn't been said a thousand times before? Rod Serling's creation changed science fiction and TV forever in 1959. The original run went until 1964 and features strange, frightening and sometimes funny tales of the weird and fantastic. Influencing genre film makers and writers for decades, it spawned a reboot series, several "knock off" series and even a feature film and remains popular for how damn good it really was.

CBS DVD and RLJ/Image Entertainment have released this 2-disc DVD set in celebration of the 55th anniversary of the series and in preparation for a re-release of the complete series box set. Without running down every episode on this set (believe me, it is far better to see these without knowing their twists and turns for the first time) I will say that this is a perfect starter set to get you introduced and interested in the Twilight Zone. A/V quality is quite good and lets the vintage black and white photography to shine.

17 episodes are included with a few of my personal favorites such as "Nick of Time" "The Eye Of The Beholde" and "To Serve Man". I can't recommend this set highly enough if you're looking for a high quality and inexpensive way to test the waters on The Twilight Zone before you inevitably fall in love and want the whole series!

The Twilight Zone: Essential Episodes Collection is available HERE

Wolf Creek 2 (DVD Review) - Image

Australia/2013
Directed By; Greg McLean
Written By: Greg McLean, Aaron Sterns
Starring: John Jarratt, Ryan Corr, Phillippe Klaus
Color/106 Minutes/Not Rated
Region 1
Release Date: June 24, 2014

The Film
Almost a decade ago the horror world was introduced to Mick Taylor, the wild pig hunter from the Outback who also happens to be one of the most vicious serial killers we've ever seen. In a time of incredibly shitty horror films Wolf Creek rose above the rest to be a pretty damn solid film. Now Mick is back in the sequel where he's up to his old ways, taking out anybody who tests him or disrespects him or his beloved land. Mick happens upon a couple of German backpackers who have been hitchhiking their way across the Outback. When the girl escapes while Mick is busy dismembering who boyfriend she is able to hitch a ride with a local who is passing by named Paul Hammersmith. Hammersmith is thrown into Mick's wild game of cat and mouse across the Australian wilderness because he simply stopped. And as Mick says, the first rule of the Outback is "You never stop."

When horror films take eight or nine years between the original and the sequel it usually doesn't end well. That simply isn't the case with WOLF CREEK 2. John Jarratt is simply fantastic once again as the menacing and somewhat sarcastically funny Mick Taylor. His heavy Australian accent and hardened face lends itself to his credibility and director Greg McLean really can direct an exciting sequence. The game Mick plays with Hammersmith of Australian History manages to be tense and amusing at the same time. WOLF CREEK 2 has no shortage of the gore that helped make the first film so popular and even manages to up it. This film gets messy. I think the last act is a bit of a risk as it definitely could be looked at as cliche but it manages to be effective enough that I can overlook how mid-2000s "torture porn" it felt. In fact the only thing I completely hated was the Kangaroo sequence which made me want to slam my head in a wall repeatedly.

WOLF CREEK 2 isn't a perfect film nor is it even a perfect horror film but it is entertaining and every bit as good as the first and features one of the most interesting horror villains we've seen in a long time.

The Audio & Video
Image Entertainment's DVD of WOLF CREEK 2 looks very good. Details are very strong and overall picture quality is quite sharp in this anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1) transfer. The only upgrade I could see is if this were the Blu-ray version. The Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track is great. The track is perfectly mixed and crystal clear.

The Extras
Extras include a "Making Of" featurette and well over 20 minutes of deleted scenes.

The Bottom Line
If you're a fan of the first film or are just looking for a modern horror film that doesn't totally fucking suck, WOLF CREEK 2 is definitely worth checking out.

WOLF CREEK 2 is available HERE

Hunting The Legend (DVD Review) - Image

USA/2014
Directed By: Justin Steeley
Written By: Justin Steeley
Starring: Hannah Wallace, Jeff Causey, Justin Steeley
Color/95 Minutes/Not Rated
Region 1
Release Date: July 8, 2014

The Film
Five years ago on a hunting trip Chris' dad was killed by an unknown beast. The police investigation turned up nothing. Chris knows the beast that killed his father was Bigfoot and he has organized a group to hunt the beast down and a film crew to document it. The group consists of his girlfriend, his best friend, and a cameraman and sound man. The investigation begins with interviews of various locals who have stories of Bigfoot, including a guitar shop owner who has a plaster casting of a footprint. He tells the group of a local hermit who lives in the woods and has more knowledge of the beast than anyone else. After buying a couple guns and acquiring a hunting/security dog the group finds the hermit's cabin to interview him. He shows them pictures he's captured of the beast and informs them that there's an entire population of sasquatches. The hermit goes missing after his cabin is seemingly attacked and the group runs for cover in their cars to start their investigation in the woods. Days go by with limited evidence until the last night when the group is starting to fall apart and the group is attacked by the beasts.

HUNTING THE LEGEND is your typical found footage style horror film. One of the pre-requisites of found footage films is incessant bitching among the group and there is plenty of that here. It begins quickly and doesn't stop for the duration. When it comes down to it there is very little going on in HUNTING THE LEGEND.  We get but a single shadowy glimpse of the Bigfoot, the dog and a crew member go missing for a night and the hermit pulls a gun on the group. That's about it before the climax which is entirely predictable and doesn't try to set itself apart from anything we've seen in found footage films before.

The Audio & Video
Image Entertainment did a nice job on the DVD of HUNTING THE LEGEND. All of the cameras used look good and the dark scenes are handled quite well both in night vision and standard lighting. The 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen presentation probably couldn't get any better on DVD. The 5.1 Dolby track sounds great too, where we're able to pick up on subtle noises in the woods along with having a nice mix and clear dialogue.

The Extras
None.

The Bottom Line
I wish I could recommend HUNTING THE LEGEND to those interested in the Bigfoot legend or fans of Bigfoot films but there's really no sasquatch on display here. If you're a lover of the found footage style then it's worth a look but otherwise I'd skip it.n

HUNTING THE LEGEND is available HERE