Project X (2012)

Movie: 2.5/5
Video: 4/5
Audio: 4.5/5
Extras: .5/5
Overall: 3/5

"This is an Asylum Film."

Movie: 2.5/5

It's hard to believe that Superbad came out over five years ago. The story of three high schoolers who set out to party and get laid. Oh, wait... Project X... This review is for Project X. The story of three high schooler who set out to party and get laid. This feels like The Asylum pulling a mockbuster and ripping off Superbad, over five years too late. The plot is almost similar. Main character is an awkward nerdy type who is setting out to lose his virginity. Then you have the annoying type, but wait, they switched it around! The fat annoying character in Superbad is the somewhat chubby kid from New York! It's the perfect switch! And on top of that, they'll have the fat kid be more like the McLovin' character!

I'm being harsh on the film. But, there is some laughs. The film was not as funny as the trailers made it out to be. You can only push the same footage so many times before it becomes flat. I know that, because I did that. The few laughs here and there gave me some enjoyment, but, if you're looking for a better movie, watch Superbad. Movie gets a 2.5/5.

Video: 4/5

Presented in 1.85 along with some various other aspect ratios to make it feel like it's from multiple cameras, Project X sports an almost flawless HD transfer. However, when we go to a different aspect ratio, quality drops drastically. Police car cameras, cellphone cameras, and various other B-roll shots bring the quality down, like how B-roll footage brought down the video in Piranha 3DD. That's probably about two to five minutes total of the ninety minutes. I cannot complain with how the majority of the film looks. Video gets a 4/5.

Audio: 4.5/5

Project X has the film in English DTS-HD MA 5.1. With the English audio, it's pretty good and vibrant, whenever it's the main HD footage that was shot from the group's camera operator. Whenever it changes cameras, the quality changes. Just like with the video. Audio gets a 4.5/5.

Extras: .5/5

Only feature on here is "The Pasadena Three". A small behind the scenes the featurette where it talks about the casting and how Todd Phillips and the crew set up a website to find the actors for the film. Not really that great. Extra gets a .5/5.

Overall: 3/5

If it wasn't for the few laughs that I had here and there throughout the film, the rating would be much lower. This feels like a recent Asylum film where it's a found footage film. You'd think that if you had a film produced from Todd Phillips who directed The Hangover, you'd get a better film. I only paid $4 for this on Black Friday. Don't pay more than that for this film. 3/5.

Other Side of the Game (2009)

Movie: .5/5
Video: 3.5/5
Audio: 3.5/5
Extras: .5/5
Overall: 2/5

"Were They Trying to One Up 'The Room' ?"

Movie: .5/5

I sat through this movie hoping for something coherent. Characters come and go and the plot is all over the place. Seriously, actors show up for one scene and are pretty much never seen again. Tony's best bud, Stephen, steals a bunch of drugs and is then murdered. Before the murder, Tony and Stephen fight and Tony tells him that he wants nothing to do with these drugs. Tony is then forced to sell the drugs to make the money back from the man who's drugs were stolen.

That's the movie. An hour and twenty-seven minutes of nothing. I don't know what the filmmakers were trying to do with this movie. I think they were trying to do a British version of Tommy Wiseau's The Room. Acting is bad and the characters are not interesting at all. Stephen's girlfriend is possibly cheating on him; two minutes later, it's nothing. Tony might have his business up and running; two minutes later, what business? Movie gets a .5/5.

Video: 3.5/5

This movie was sourced from a film transfer. In 1.85:1 with an AVC encode; It's not perfect and film damage pops up here and there. There is a nice layer of grain all throughout the film. It is a very nice layer of grain. However, some shots appear to be a bit soft; especially at around seven minutes into the film. Video scores a 3.5/5.

Audio: 3.5/5

Despite the fact that the cover advertises DTS-HD MA, the film contains a simple Dolby Digital 2.0 audio track. It sounds ok. Considering how quiet this film gets throughout, it's a good audio track. I had to pop this movie into my PS3 to get the audio information. There's no set up menu on this disc at all. Audio gets a 3.5/5.

Extras: .5/5

Just a trailer that is two minutes and ten seconds. And for that, the opening thirty seconds is two studio logos. You could cut that down to ten seconds total for those logos. Why waste that much time? Extras get a .5/5.

Overall: 2/5

I've seen some bad movies and this one is one for the books for me. It was hard to stomach. I paid $6 for this. I had never heard of this movie until last week while I was web searching on Amazon and found it. I looked it up on Blu-ray.com and saw that only one person had this in their database collection. I am sadly the second person. I wouldn't recommend this film unless you like bad movies. Honestly, Transmorphers is a better film than this. And that's saying something. This release gets a 2/5.

Contract Killers (2008)

Movie: 3/5
Video: 4.5/5
Audio: 5/5
Extras: 3/5
Overall: 4/5

"Almost an Asylum Film."

Movie: 3/5

A beautiful woman is having a nice dinner with her husband. As popping open a bottle of wine, things spiral. The woman, Jane, wakes up and her husband is dead. She pulls out a hidden cellphone to make a phone call to the CIA to try to find out who did this to her and plot thickens. Police scramble at the door and she flees the scene of the crime. She makes her way to Trinidad where she makes a final stand.

The movie is decent for ninety minutes. I say that this is almost an Asylum film because one of the assassins tracking Jane down is played by Rhett Giles who starred in a lot of the Asylum during the days Leigh Scott directed for them. The cast all around pretty much does a good job. Acting is not that bad, then again, this isn't a classic by any means. It's good if you got time to kill. 3/5

Video: 4.5/5

Presented in 1.78:1 and shot with HD cameras, Contract Killers has a nice and clean image. German studio KSM has given the film a pretty good transfer. There is no real complaints to the image quality in itself. I cannot find anything problematic with this film. 4.5/5.

Audio: 5/5

KSM has given us two audio options; English DTS-HD MA 5.1 and a German Dub in DTS-HD MA 5.1; with additional removable German subtitles. I have watched the film with both audio tracks and again, no real complaints. Dialogue is nice and clear and sound effects are vibrant. Audio gets a 5/5.

Extras: 3/5

There is a 25 minute making of which is presented in English with removable German subtitles. It's an ok making of. I wasn't too big on it while watching. A photo gallery; why are studios still doing these? These are the most pointless feature I have ever seen. Then finally we have German dubbed trailers of; Contract Killers, Kill Theory, Warlords, Babysitter Wanted, Hide - Love is Hell, and Diary of a Serial Killer. Even though some of these trailers are in the wrong aspect ratio and are stretched from 4:3 to 16:9, some of them look interesting. I give the extras a 3/5.

Overall: 4/5

This disc is Region B locked. If you can play Region B discs and if you got about $7 to kill on Grooves, I'd recommend it. Asylum regular Rhett Giles does a great job as an antagonist tracking down the heroine of the film. It is a great disc by KSM for a movie that is a decent action movie. I give this release a 4/5.

When Women Had Tails (1970)

Movie: 3/5
Video: .5/5
Audio: 2.5/5
Extras: 2/5
Overall: 2/5

"Who Thought Upscaling a VHS Tape Was a Good Idea?"

When Women Had Tails is a pre-historic Italian comedy from 1970. A group of brothers are abandoned as children as their mother is beaten and taken away by cavemen. We cut to several years later as they are all grown up and living on an island with an abundant food source. One stormy night, lightning hits a tree and the boys have fire. While they decide who gets to take care of the flame, one of the brothers proceeds to burn down all of the vegitation on the island. They swim off to a new land and soon come across a strange "animal". A beautiful cavewoman, Filli, played by Senta Berger.

Ulli, played by Giuliano Gema, takes an interest in Filli and spares her from being dinner. Soon after, she teaches him about sex and this sparks the brothers into a frenzy as they all begin to fight each other in order to be the dominant male. Ulli and Filli go on the run to save themselves from the others.

The movie was ok. But, before I continue, this is the German cut which is about fifteen minutes shorter than the Italian version. Nothing seemed incomprehensible, as opposed to watching the German cut version of A Serbian Film. Some of the slap-stick comedy made me laugh, but at the end of the day; the film was just slightly above average. Senta Berger was a fine thing back in the day. And Giuliano Gema is awesome as a caveman. I give the film a 3/5.

Video: .5/5

This Blu-ray is from "Best Entertainment", the same studio that did the Night of the Living Dead Blu-ray, which I reviewed a while back. And like that release, this one too has horrible video. This looks like it was sourced from a VHS tape. And a worn out one too. Was it really that hard to contact the Italian studio to get their hands on a print of this film? We could have gotten the film uncut, because I don't see what could have been so bad for them to cut fifteen minutes. Colors are bland as hell. Even when we have close ups of faces, not even close to HD. Such a shame. Video gets a .5/5.

Audio: 2.5/5

While the audio is decent, it's not that great. Only audio track is a German Dolby Digital 5.1 track. We couldn't get Best Entertainment to try and sync up an Italian audio track to the film? Or perhaps an English track since the print from the VHS source is all in English except for the title screen. Audio gets a 2.5/5.

Extras: 2/5

While Best Entertainment could care to make a "Special Features" section on the disc, all of the bonus material is scattered through the main menu. There is a group of trailers which are oddly all trailers for movies from Troma. We have "Cannibal: The Musical", "Monster in the Closet", and "Sizzle Beach, USA". Then we have a slide show of German press material for the film. And finally, in German, bios for Senta Berger and Giuliano Gema. Too bad there wasn't any trailers for the film itself included in the extras. That would have been nice. Extras get a 2/5.

Overall: 2/5

Am I being fair by giving this release a 2/5? Well, the copy I did get was Metal Pak, however it was dinged to hell. I picked this up from Grooves Inc for a little over $5. If you speak German, then, I'd only recommend it if you got time to kill. It's not something that everyone should search out unless they're into Italian films from that era of filmmaking. 2/5.