The Hole / Venom (2001 - 2005)

Movie: 2.5/5
Video: 3.5/5
Audio: 4/5
Extras: 2/5
Overall: 3/5

"Miramax ... Why?"

Movies: 2.5/5

The Hole: 2/5

A group of kids decide to go into an abandoned bunker from World War II while they were supposed to go on a school field trip. Needless to say, something happened and everyone ends up dead. Except for one soul survivor, played by beautiful Thora Birch. While locked up in a hospital, a detective (Embeth Davidtz, Army of Darkness and Europa Report) is trying to help her to understand the situation in which the three others died.

I am going to go into spoiler territory because I need to. If you haven't seen The Hole, please skip this review or scroll down to Venom. I hate movies about characters who have this sort of mental disorder where it has to be about "ME". Take the film I reviewed not too long ago called Roman. Roman disgusted me to no end because I sat through that garbage. I felt that The Hole was going to be ok until we got to the twist and I was like; "NO!"

Thora Birch's character is revealed to be this stalker type character who is obsessing over Desmond Harrington's character in the film. She lies to cover her ass and whenever something doesn't go her way, she kills them. It's this annoying "ME" complex where it has to be about them and not take into consideration the other people involved. It's a wreckless behavoir of someone who is disturbed and mental. Even at the end of the film, she ruins the life of Embeth Davidtz's character and virtually walks away scott free.

I hated it; is the film well made? Sure. I thought the acting was pretty good from Kiera Knightley and Thora Birch. Didn't care that much for Desmond Harrington's acting. I also find it funny how it's marketed around Knightley on the box art, including a quote about her, when she's probably only in the movie for fifteen minutes tops. 2/5.

Venom: 2.5/5

Everyone in town knows Ray Sawyer as the local and creepy tow truck driver in a small Louisiana town. While Eden (Agnes Bruckner) and Eric (Jonathan Jackson) are fighting one night, Ray drives by and has a head on collision with an elderly woman who practiced voodoo. While Ray proceeds to save the old woman, he opens the suitcase she had with her and is soon killed by the snakes living inside it. As soon as the police salvage Ray's corpse, it vanishes and soon a body count starts to rise quickly in the small Louisiana town.

This was a "so-so" slasher flick. The film was based on a video game that never got finished and released to the public. From what I could find on both the bonus material and searching on the net, Ray was originally going to be named Mr. Jangles after the keys that were on his belt loop. This film was also a casualty of Harvey Weinstein leaving Disney and was just dumped into a small run in theaters by Disney.

The acting was cheesy as hell and had a very stereotypical teenage slasher feel. It felt almost as if this was Scream with a supernatural entity instead of Ghost Face. Meagan Good was ok in the five minutes of screen time that she had. Agnes Bruckner was okay in the lead, but I couldn't really care that much. I give the film 2.5/5.

Video: 3.5/5

The Hole: 3.5/5

Presented in open matted in 1.78:1 instead of 2.35:1, Echo Bridge gives The Hole a decent HD presentation. I did notice a glitch in the video in the opening, Thora Birch's character is walking to a pay phone and the video distorts. Other than that, it's got a nice grainy transfer throughout. Would it have been better if it was presented in OAR? Sure. I give the transfer 3.5/5.

Venom: 3.5/5

Echo Bridge has released Venom several times on Blu-ray and every time has released it in this open matted 1.78:1 from the 2.35:1 source. Grain is pretty strong throughout; there was a shot were the image looked real dull in this morgue sequence. I also noticed that the shading covering the camera is visible in a shot when Bijou Philips's character is going around Ray's Happy Time shop. I give the presentation 3.5/5.

Audio: 4/5

Echo Bridge has given The Hole a very typical 2.0 DTS-HD MA English track and it sounds average. Venom on the other hand has a wide variety of audio tracks present; English DTS-HD MA 5.1, French DTS-HD MA 5.1, English DTS-HD MA 2.0, and Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital. Why do we honestly need the English DTS-HD MA 2.0 when we have the DTS-HD MA 5.1 track? That seems like a waste of space if you ask me. I give the audio presentation on both films 4/5.

Extras: 2/5

We have no bonus material for the film The Hole; but, we do have all the extras ported over from the Disney DVD of Venom. We have a Making Of, storyboard to film comparisons, and cast auditions. The making of was only a few minutes which was ok. Storyboard comparisons shows how close everything matched up in the few scenes that were selected. And the casting auditions were so-so, especially when all of the acting was bad. I give the bonus 2/5.

Overall: 3/5

I picked this up and several others for $3.99 plus tax each during Best Buy's Echo Bridge sale. For that price, I can recommend this release. I doubt that we'll ever get these in their proper aspect ratio any time soon. Will these encodes most likely get re-used in another Blu-ray from Echo Bridge? I wouldn't be surprised, 3/5.

Grindhouse #3: Evil Unleashed: The Mummy / The Zombie Chronicles (2002 - 2003)

Evil Unleashed: The Mummy (2003) - The Zombie Chronicles (2002)

Movies: .5/5
Video: .5/5
Audio: .5/5
Extras: 1/5
Overall: 1/5

"Shock and Awe."

Before I start my review on both films, I have seen some bad movies. Read my previous reviews for Other Side of the Game, A Walk in My Shoes, I Spit on Your Grave 2010, etc. I think this might take the cake in terms of horrendous movies that I have ever seen. There will be spoilers, but, I don't think that many people will be seeking this Blu-ray 3D out. You have been warned.

Evil Unleashed: The Mummy (2003): .5/5

In the days of ancient Egypt, Princess Nefertiesia wants to live forever and gives herself to a demon God. Thousands of years later, in Egypt, her remains were found and the poor souls who discovered it were killed by scorpions. The remains of Nefertiesia are somehow transported to America to some school for special needs college kids. At least, that's what I think because our protagonists in this film must of had some sort of mental problems with all the alcohol consumption and stupid answers that are given in their professor's classes. When the Mummy of Princess Nefertiesia is set loose; all kinds of wacky shenanigans and murder is beset on the four kids.

If you noticed that I took a serious approach to the first part of the last paragraph and just went from smart to stupid in one sentence, that's this film in a nut shell. This is one of the worst films that I have ever sat through. I prayed for the seventy-four minutes to come fast and thankfully, it did. However, the acting is atrocious! I couldn't feel any connection to this film and felt brain cells just firing off and dying in my brain. I couldn't recommend this to anyone, .5/5.

The Zombie Chronicles (2002): .5/5

Tara is a writer who is searching for a small town. Upon driving, she hits a man who talks like a loony drunk. She agrees to give the man a ride in return to going to this small town. The old man stops her at a busted and weathered barn to discuss the history of this supposed place. He proceeds to tell the story of a retired soldier and his girlfriend who are haunted by a zombie. Then, he finally tells the story of three college kids who awake a two-hundred year old zombie cowboy and his family. Tara goes off calling the old man crazy and he disappears, making Tara wonder what is really going on.

Just as atrocious as the first film on this disc. The seventy-one minutes went at an ok pace. Other than that, boo hoo. This was crap. I will honestly say that the visual effects used on the one college girl who had her face ripped off by a zombie was pretty good. .5/5

Video: .5/5

Before I start the video portion, I do not have a 3D TV, so these reviews are based off of the 2D versions that are presented on the disc. And besides, how good can these look in 3D anyway?

P.S: I don't know if they tried to shoot these with some sort of 3D equipment at the time, there's some strange things with these transfers.

Evil Unleashed: The Mummy (2003) - .5/5

Presented with an MPEG4 AVC transfer in 1.33:1. The video quality is horrendous! I cannot distinguish whether or not if this movie was shot on VHS or miniDV or something else or an overall combination of multiple formats. The quality is all over the place, even with some of the footage looking like blown up VCD footage. .5/5

The Zombie Chronicles (2002): .5/5

Could the transfer get worse than the previous film? Yes! It can and it does with The Zombie Chronicles. I am calling it that this was shot on VHS or that this master used was a VHS tape blown up to HD. One of the things that shows off the horrendous quality is that oddly the color yellow is completely shifted to the right of the screen. Not sure if was some sort of 3D conversion that went wrong or not. .5/5.

Audio: .5/5

Both films on this disc are presented in English with a plain Dolby Digital 2.0 track. It's pretty rough by my standards and if you go through my reviews, I am pretty lean on audio. You'll hear glitching and clicks here and there. Other than that, sounds like audio from a VHS tape. You'd be surprised how the horrible audio compliments the horrible video. .5/5.

Extras: 1/5

We have trailers for the other "Grindhouse" films which this is disc is marketed as. It's funny that the titles for several of these films has the same cheesy video generated titles that you would see on porn from the 80's and 90's. Other than that, nothing else. 1/5.

Overall: 1/5

I managed to pick this up used for $6. I honestly cannot recommend this Blu-ray at all unless you like bad movies. I love a bad movie like the rest of us, but, I don't know anymore. I honestly don't. Is this the worst thing to grace Blu-ray 3D? Let's wait until I get Traumatic Possession 3D: The Tape comes out to judge. 1/5.

Lilo & Stitch (2002) / Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch (2005)

Movies: 3.5/5
Video: 5/5
Audio: 5/5
Extra: 2.5/5
Overall: 4/5

"An Example of Disney Dropping the Ball!"

Last month, I paid sixty dollars for both Disney releases of My Neighbor Totoro and Howl's Moving Castle. Two quality releases by Disney and now over a month later, I purchased the Lilo and Stitch double feature release. Upon popping the disc into my PS3, I was quite horrified with how Disney properly handled this release. It's a shame.

In Lilo & Stitch, an alien escapes and crashlands on Hawaii and is soon adopted by a little girl named Lilo (voiced by Daveigh Chase, The Ring and Donnie Darko). Lilo is a troubled little girl who is on the verge of being taken away from her sister, Nani (Tia Carrere, Wayne's World and Showdown in Little Tokyo). The more Lilo tries to teach Stitch about manners, it all backfires and draws social worker Cobra Bubbles (voiced by Ving Rhames, Pulp Fiction and 2012: Zombie Apocalypse) from taking Lilo away from Nani.

I find the film to very enjoyable. I think the voice cast is very well done; and to be honest, having Daveigh Chase playing the sweet and innocent child Lilo to playing the evil and sinister child Samara in The Ring in the same year is quite a feat and shows range. Also, with Rhames as Bubbles makes it feel as if Marcellus Wallace was brought into the world of animation as in the first few scenes we have him walking around with the briefcase. And with director Chris Sanders doing the voice of Stitch is another fine tuning to the film. I give Lilo & Stitch a 5/5.

Sadly, Lilo & Stitch fell victim to the curse of the early to mid-2000's straight to video sequel craze over at Disney. This end result has given us three cheaply animated straight to video sequels from 2003 to 2006. And instead of giving us the first straight to video sequel, Stitch: the Movie; we're given the 2005 sequel, Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch.

In Stitch Has a Glitch, it is discovered that Stitch was not completely finished when his creator, Jumba, was arrested by the Grand Council. Stitch now has these sort of panic attacks where his evil side comes out and he must destroy anything in his path. This comes at the time where Lilo is entering a hula festival that her mother once did in the early 1970's.

The problem that I have with the film is that it caters too much to children that the over all message is watered down. In the finale where it's supposed to be this emotional scene, is wasted because this sequel is marketed to a very younger crowd and would probably give them nightmares. The charm of the original film is lost in this sequel as well. Another strike to this film is that they recasted the voice of Lilo with Dakota Fanning which took me out of the film almost the whole time. I know that Daveigh Chase was getting older at this point, but, it was no problem for Disney to have her voice Lilo for every other incarnation of the character except for this film. Because the following year, she did the voice for Lilo in Leroy & Stitch. I give this film a 2/5.

Video: 5/5

Lilo & Stitch is presented in a 1.66:1 transfer in MPEG4 and in 1080p; Lilo & Stitch 2 is presented in 1.78:1 and in 1080p with an MPEG4 transfer. Regarding the first film; I think that this is the best that the film has ever looked. I cannot find any real complaints regarding the transfer of the film. It is amazingly done by Disney. I give Lilo & Stitch a 5/5. The sequel, only thing was that it had an odd dead grain floating at the top of the screen in the opening title sequence. Other than that, I couldn't find many other problems with it. I give it a 4.5/5.

Audio: 5/5

Both films contain quite a few audio tracks for the film. We have both films in English DTS-HD MA 5.1 and Dolby Digital 2.0. The dub tracks included is French, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish dubs in Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks. The DTS-HD MA 5.1 track is pretty strong on both films. No real complaints towards it. 5/5.

Extras: 2.5/5

This is where Disney dropped the ball on this Blu-ray release. ALL OF THE BONUS MATERIAL IS ON THE DVD DISCS! Do you know how infuriating this is? Even the director's commentary for the first film is left off the Blu-ray, how do you miss that? I stopped buying DVD in 2008 and for the fact that Disney screwed the films on this release is beyond dumb. 2.5/5

Overall: 4/5

Despite the fact that Disney just threw this out there to the public with no real work put into it is a joke. This looks like something that Mill Creek would do with the Disney/Touchstone and Sony films that they release. The pop up menu is a joke too. It's only options are "Continue" and "Menus". That's it! Nothing else. No buttons to change audio or subs or chapter points.

Lilo & Stitch got an individual release in Japan and I'm considering importing it to see what that looks like. Bashing aside on the U.S. release; Disney did give us solid presentations on both films. I can recommend the release for that reason alone, but, if you're a person who craves bonus material, you're going to be disappointed. I give this release a questionable 4/5.

Anatomy & Anatomy 2 (2000 - 2003)

Movie: 4.5/5
Video: 4/5
Audio: 4/5
Extra: 0/5
Overall: 3/5

"Can We Get a Recall?"

It's a shame that Sony, creator of the Blu-ray format, has given up on releasing their movies on Blu-ray! Well, it's a good thing that Mill Creek decided to step in and release titles for them. I managed to order this Blu-ray from one of my favorite webstores and scored it for under $6. This Blu-ray would be perfect, if it wasn't for one small, but large flaw.

Anatomy: 5/5

Paula Henning (Franka Potente, Princess and the Warrior) is accepted into one of Germany's best medical schools. As she arrives to Heidelberg, we learn that there is a secret underground society that is conducting illegal dissections on people. As Paula discovers the mystery, her friends are dying off one by one.

I thought this was a great German horror film. Franka Potente does a great job as does Benno Furman. Which is a great duo as they are foes in this film and lovers in Princess and the Warrior. And it's really nice that we have a different kind of horror movie; it's a slasher, but the methods are unique as the killers are obsessed with the human body. 5/5.

Anatomy 2: 3.5/5

Jo is a young med student who is trying to find a cure for his brother's muscular disease. While at the same time, the same group of medical madmen are operating at his university. This time, this branch of the Anti-Hippocratics are focusing on improving the human condition. Jo is soon accepted into the group and realizes he is in over his head.

For a sequel, it was good. Franka Potente has a cameo in the film and is in it for about five minutes and that's it. The cast is ok. Just the plot of this film does not compare to the first film. Considering that these people are not preserving, but, essentially destroying the human body as they want to replace everyting with synthetic muscles and everything else under the sun. I give the film a 3.5/5

Video: 4/5

Anatomy: 4/5

Mill Creek's transfer of the film Anatomy is pretty good as it is in 2.35:1, 1080p, and MPEG4/AVC. This is a different source which was not used on the Sony DVD. The credits on the DVD were in English whereas all of the credits on Mill Creek's Blu-ray are in German. Grain is pretty strong in most spots. There was only three instances of print damage that I could spot while viewing the film; 56 minutes, 67 minutes, and in the final scene during the end credits. There might be some dirt here and there, but it's not as bad as the transfer was on the DVD. Sony and Mill Creek give Anatomy a quality debut on Blu-ray. 4/5.

Anatomy 2: 4/5

NOTE: I would give this a zero out of five stars, but, I don't feel it's entirely fair.

The biggest problem with the transfer on Anatomy 2 is that English subtitles are hardcoded into the video transfer of the film. So, if you decide to watch the film with French or Spanish subtitles, you have to watch it with English subtitles on top of that. This is something that you expect with a DVD. I cannot recall any Blu-rays that I have seen where the subtitles are actually hardcoded into the video itself.

While setting this aside, the video quality is pretty good for a film that is now ten years old. Presented in 1080p, in 2.35:1, and in MPEG4/AVC. I never saw Anatomy 2 on DVD, so, I cannot comment on the quality differences between both formats. Grain is present throughout. I give the video presentation, despite the hardcoded subtitles, a 4/5.

Audio: 4/5

Anatomy: 4/5

This is another oddity, the original German audio is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 and the English dub is presented in Dolby Digital DTS-HD MA 5.1. Why Sony handed off the original audio in an inferior soundtrack is questionable. English is the default audio track on the film. But, are most people going to listen to the film in it's English dub? We also have the film with a French Dolby Digital 2.0 track. I give the audio presentations a 4/5.

Anatomy 2: 4/5

Unlike Anatomy, we do not have an English dub track for the second film and we now have the German audio in DTS-HD MA 5.1. Then we have a Spanish dub in Dolby Digital 5.1 for the film, which the first film didn't have. And on top of that, French Dolby Digital 2.0. I'd say the sound levels all sound even in comparison to the first film. But, I think the English subtitles are more of a distraction compared to listening to the audio. I give the audio presentation a 4/5.

Extras: 0/5

Can't say if there was any extras on the second film, but all of the bonus material from the first film is non-existant on this Blu-ray. I can't think of any Mill Creek Blu-rays, with the exception of the Gamera trilogy, that had extra features. 0/5.

Overall: 3/5

I got this for under $6; if the problem of hardcoded English subtitles on the second film doesn't bother you, then go for it. I think I'll wait until Sony Germany releases Anatomy 2 on Blu-ray over there and see if it has English subs. I just think it's such a doozy that this happened; was there any quality control done on this Blu-ray? Setting that problem aside, 3/5.

Mirrors 2 (2010) / Into the Mirror (2003)

Movies: 3.5/5
Video: 3/5
Audio: 4.5/5
Extras: 3/5
Overall: 3.5/5


Before I begin my review, I would like to state that I am counting this as a double feature. Despite the fact that the original South Korean film, "Into the Mirror" is presented in Standard Definition on the DVD. Scores for "Movie", "Video", and "Audio"; all represent ratings for both films combined.

Movies: 3.5/5

Into the Mirrors (2003): 4/5

What possess a studio to remake a foreign film? While I lived in Germany during 2003 to 2006, I would frequent the German movie theaters usually on Sunday mornings to see what film would be playing in it's original English language. However, when I would go there, I saw posters for films that would be from South Korea, France, Italy, US, UK, etc. In this day and age where celluloid has gone the way of the dodo in theaters, why can't we have foreign films more accessable for viewing?

Well, "Into the Mirrors" was remade by French director Alexandre Aja. The difference is vast between the original and remake. The ending to the Aja film was downright hysterical. I remember busting out in laughter along with the rest of the audience when I caught the remake upon arriving for my year of college in Hilo.

"Into the Mirrors" is a South Korean supernatural mystery film. No real horror at all in this film. There was only one moment where I seriously jumped and it was where the first victim died. Story revolves around a security guard working for his uncle when all these murders start occuring. We learn that a girl who's sister died in the mall and a fire broke out. However, her sister's still out there, alive... in the mirror!

This film makes you think. You have the natural and the supernatural causing confusing between the people investigating and trying to get to the truth of the mystery. I liked the film and I think that in comparison to the remake, I like that they wanted to reopen the mall after the fire.

The remake was like; "Eh, it burned down. We're not going to rebuild and reopen. It's just there! Watch over it!" I think it's as powerful of a film as the original Japanese film of "The Ring". I think it's worth a watch, despite it being in this Blu-ray set, only on the DVD! I give it a 4/5.

Mirrors 2 (2010): 2.5/5

What possess a studio to do a straight to video sequel? The first time I was ever aware of a straight to video sequel was back in the late 90's when they did From Dusk Till Dawn 2. I was like; "Huh?" The whole concept was alien to me as a child that they could sequels, or movies in general, and they'd go straight to video.

Mirrors 2, despite being labelled as "Unrated" on the box art feels more like it was intended to be a straight to television sequel that plays on the Lifetime channel. Even though there's gore, it could be easily be cut because it's all very short. It's a horror film that plays it too safe.

This film is more or less a remake of the original South Korean film; mall chain, the Mayflower, which Kiefer Sutherland worked for in the original remake is relocating to Louisiana. The only real mention of the events of the first film is just in the opening credits as newspaper articles drift in and out of frame. Max (Nick Stahl; Terminator 3, Sin City), is depressed over the death of his fiancee. Max's father is the owner of the Mayflower chain and offers him a job as a night watchman.

As Max starts working, people who high up on the Mayflower chain are slowly dying off. Max learns that the ghost in the mirror is a young girl who was killed by a Mayflower employee. Max must figure out who killed her before it's too late.

As stated in a previous paragraph, this feels more like a remake of the original South Korean film. There's even an homage to the original pizza cutter as the ghost tries to kill off Max's father after he tells him he quits. William Katt as Max's father should have been in the film more, at least in the final moments of the film. He should be relieved that the terror caused by the mirrors that's been haunting his stores over the years is over. I give this film a 2.5/5

Video: 3/5

Into the Mirror (2003): 1/5

Even though the film is presented in 480i, Standard Definition, the presentation is awful. You would not think that this film is ten years old. The video presentation makes it look like this movie was made atleast twenty to thirty years ago. Honestly, this felt like a VHS copied to a DVD. Did Fox honestly think this transfer was acceptable from the South Korean studio? 1/5

Mirrors 2 (2010): 4.5/5

In 1080p, Mirrors 2 is presented in 1.78:1. It seems that all straight to video sequels are always 1.78, whereas the original is 2.35:1. Shot in HD, the film is pretty much flawless in terms of detail. Only time when CGI stands out is whenever you see Elenore the ghost in the mirror. Colors and saturation look great in the daytime and dark and drab in the night time shots when Max is in the mall. I give the video quality a 4.5/5.

Audio: 4.5/5

Into the Mirror (2003): 4/5

Presented in a Korean Dolby Digital 2.0 track, the audio is miles above the video presentation on "Into the Mirror".. I had no real complaints towards the audio. Just the video. 4/5

Mirrors 2 (2010): 5/5

We have a nice and solid DTS-HD MA 5.1 track presented on "Mirrors 2". The movie is very quiet as we have Max trolling the halls most of the movie and trying to find Elenore's ghost. Considering that, the audio is very good. 5/5.

Extras: 3/5

We have deleted scenes, a making of, and VFX process. There's also a PIP function for the film. And a DVD copy of the film along with the original South Korean film on the other side of the disc. The bonus materials are all right. We do see that Christy Carlson Romano wasn't naked when she pulls her head off in the mirror. You see that whole green screen process. It was pretty cool. I give the extras a 3/5.

Overall: 3.5/5

I got this for $8 about a year and a half ago. I think for the price and that it's two movies, despite the fact that the original South Korean is on the DVD. It would have been so much better that the original film was presented in HD. I'd say give it a shot. 3.5/5.

Dragonquest (2009) / Merlin and the War of the Wizards (2008)

Movie: 3/5
Video: 3.5/5
Audio: 3.5/5
Extras: 0/5
Overall: 2.5/5

"The Asylum Goes to the Dark Ages!"

Movies: 3/5

Dragonquest: 2.5/5

I guess "Pebblequest" was too much of a boring title? Plot of this film is that a young boy who likes to smoke weed is "the chosen one" and must quest to save the world from a fiend (Brian Thompson; Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, Joe Dirt) who unleashes a dragon to destroy the world. While questing to find all the pebbles, our protagonists likes to pull the pipe out and give a few puffs here and there to get some clarity. He'll smoke while even in the belly of a sea monster while questing.

This movie was funny. Brian Thompson plays a good villain. And to basically sum it up, it's a Medieval Star Wars. Brian Thompson is Emperor Palpatine and has holograms of himself popping up and uses the force to choke kill people for fun. The female protagonist is dressed almost exactly like Aya Ueto from Ryuhei Kitamura's Azumi. And Mark Singer is essentially Yoda mixed with Nick Nolte. I give this a 2.5/5.

Merlin and the War of the Dragons: 3.5/5

The Asylum went to England and shot a Dark Ages knight and swords action film. The title is misleading; "Merlin and the War of the Dragons" with the emphasis on "War of the Dragons". Merlin is an orphan being trained by a powerful wizard (Jurgen Prochnow). While his best friend convinces him to take the wizard's book to learn who his father is, tables are turned and his best friend becomes England's biggest enemy. As Merlin tries to put a stop to his sorcery, his rival is now turning people into dragons.

Dragons are probably seen for about five minutes tops throughout the film. It would probably be suiting to call the film; "Merlin Saves Humanity". The CGI for the dragons is hit and miss and Jurgen Prochnow does a great job and is in it for about half of the film. The two sirens/nymphs are cute to look at too. This Asylum film isn't that bad for ninety minutes. Also, the ending gives it the look that it's set up for a sequel/trilogy, but I guess the critics hated it enough for The Asylum to leave it unfinished. However, I give it a 3.5/5.

Video: 3.5/5

Dragonquest: 2.5/5

The transfer provided for "Dragonquest" on this Blu-ray release is problematic. After the fifty-three minute mark, things go downhill. After you have the low resolution-rendered CGI spider show up, the image starts to ghost as the young hero gets out of the cave. Almost as if they shot in the wrong frame rate. Also, shots are slowed down for dramatic effect which also shows problems with the video quality. Other than that, shots are mostly detailed and grain is decent. 2.5/5.

Merlin and the War of the Dragons: 4/5

Echo Bridge has been given a great HD transfer for the film. However, in some of the green screened and CGI renders in the film, the quality is kinda degraded. Also, some of the dragons are chopped off at the top and left hand side of the image whereas they are supposed to be flying off. Someone at The Asylum should have checked that before giving the "All Clear" on the transfer. Contrast in the colors and grain looks fantastic! I wonder if The Asylum used different equipment than the usual fare that we've seen for "I Am Omega" and "War of the Worlds 2" for example. Video on this portion of the disc gets a 4/5.

Audio: 3.5/5

Dragonquest: 3.5/5

Audio presentation on "Dragonquest" is English Dolby Digital 2.0. It's soft. I had to turn up the sound as I played it back. Action is decent, sound wise. I give it a 3.5/5.

Merlin and the War of the Dragons: 3.5/5

Echo Bridge has given us a nice English Dolby Digital 5.1 track. I think this must have been the same 5.1 track on the Asylum's DVD release of the film. The track is good, however, it did feel a bit subdued at times. I did have to turn it up a bit during the first few minutes of the film. However, after the first half hour, the sound is decent. I give the audio on "Merlin and the War of the Dragons" a 3.5/5.

Extras: 0/5

Like most early Echo Bridge Blu-ray releases, no extras.

Overall: 2.5/5

I picked this up for about $7 after taxes at Best Buy during Summer 2012. I would say this is a decent double feature from The Asylum. If you're looking into giving any Asylum Blu-rays a chance, go for my favorite Asylum film "I Am Omega". That double feature was good with "The Haunting of Winchester House". If The Asylum films aren't for you, skip this. I give this release a 2.5/5.

Crime Story (1993) / The Protector (1985)

Movie: 5/5
Video: 2/5
Audio: 4.5/5
Extras: 5/5
Overall: 4/5

"This is an Insult to Jackie Chan's Legacy."

Movie: 5/5

The Protector (1985) - 5/5

Jackie Chan is Billy Wong in his first leading, English speaking role. While celebrating his tenth anniversary of living in America, Billy and his partner are partying at a bar when robbers come in and start shooting the place up. Billy's partner is killed in cold blood and Billy guns down all of the killers involved, even as going as far as chasing the lead gunman down by boat to kill them all. While morning the loss of his partner and friend, Billy goes to a party where a crime boss's daughter is kidnapped by henchmen who work for Harold Ko. Billy, a Chinese immigrant takes on a new partner and go to Hong Kong to save the kidnapped woman.

We have both American cuts and the Hong Kong version which has additional scenes written and directed by Jackie Chan. In the Hong Kong version, Jackie's character, Billy has a side story with a female character who is new to the film. For his first English speaking role, Jackie does a good job. And I find it really funny yet awkward when Billy says; "Give me the fu**ing keys!"

I cannot remember off the top of my head, but I think that's honestly the only time I have ever heard Jackie say that word in any of the English speaking films that I have seen him in. I think James Glickenhaus did a good job directing him in this movie. I did enjoy both cuts of the film. Do I think Jackie's new scenes were needed? Not really. But, including both cuts, I do give this a 5/5.

Crime Story (1993) - 5/5

This is one of my all time favorite Jackie Chan films. Whenever Jackie does his police dramas, he always shines. In "Crime Story", a gang of thieves go after a crooked business tycoon named Wong Yat-Fei.

Video: 2/5

The Protector - 1/5 - Rating of Both Cuts Combined

James Glickenhaus' cut of the film is presented in 1080p and Jackie Chan's cut of the film is presented in 480p, which is in Standard Definition. Not that it matters, the Glickenhaus' cut is an SD upscale. This is an insult to Jackie Chan's legacy! I know Echo Bridge got crap for using a cropped version of Supercop, that's bad. This is worse in my opinion. Fortune Star, which owns the Golden Harvest's library, has chosen to let all of these films fall to the way side! These need remastered! Jackie Chan is one of China's biggest stars, if not the biggest, and this is how the Chinese studio chooses to treat his films?

The Jackie Chan cut presented in SD, is horrendous. Print damage and macroblocking is present throughout the whole entire film! Brightness is blown out. Just like in my review for the Canadian Blu-ray for "The Killer" and "Hard Boiled", the brightness is blown out and the white bleeds through the whole image like a poor quality VHS tape. It is infuriating how bad the quality is on this. I give the Jackie Chan cut a .5/5 in terms of quality.

James Glickenhaus' cut of the film is presented in 1080p and is not a high definition transfer, color is decent, if that's the only pro about both cuts of the film. Detail is void in most shots and there's even points where the image gets this blocky/line haze to it. Like there's a scene where they're on a boat in Hong Kong and whenever one of the characters on the boat moved their head, you can kinda tell it's some sort of interlacing problem. I can honestly tell you if there's any print damage because it's an upscale transfer, void of any detail. I give the Glickenhaus' cut of the film a 1.5/5. Which gives us an overall 1/5 for both cuts combined.

Crime Story - 2.5/5

Another SD master upscaled to HD. For an upscaled transfer, it is watchable and it's not as bad as both transfers for The Protector. Color and saturation and contrast is strong while detail and sharpness is flat. Why can't you muster the money to properly restore all of Jackie Chan's films? At least Echo Bridge gave us HD transfers in OAR for Twin Dragons, Supercop, and Dragon Lord. Such a shame. 2.5/5

This gives us an overall of 2/5 for the transfers. Why?

Audio: 4.5/5

The Protector - 3.5/5

The American cut of the film has both an English DTS-HD MA 5.1 and a DD 2.0 track. I've brought this up before, I am sure; but why would you include a DD track when you have a DTS-HD MA track for the film? It's a waste of space. I know it's not much, just a few hundred MB of space, but still. The DTS-HD MA track sounds good. It's a shame Fortune Star would focus on audio over video and not both together. 5/5.

The Jackie Chan version only has a DD 2.0 Chinese track. It's bad quality like the video. The dubbing sounds muffled and subdued. Overall it sounds subdued. I give the audio on this version of the film a 2/5. This gives us an overall 3.5/5 for the audio portion of "The Protector".

Crime Story - 5/5

For Crime Story, the story is the same as we have English and Chinese DTS-HD MA 5.1 tracks and English and Chinese DD 2.0 tracks. The English dub is okay in DTS-HD MA and the Chinese is great. I give the audio a 5/5.

Overall for the audio portion, 4.5/5.

Extras: 5/5

The Protector - 5/5

"From New York to Hong Kong", an interview with James Glickenhaus discussing working with Jackie and how he was surprised that Jackie was not pleased with the film and creating another cut and calling himself the director. "Locations: Then and Now", which shows the differences between 1985 and 2012. "Behind the Scenes", a Chinese making of. Contains no subtitles. And finally U.S. and Chinese trailers for the film. 5/5 for the extras.

Crime Story - 5/5

"Interview with Kirk Wong", director talks about the production process and explains how he filmed at the real locations in which the story is based on. Like the road where the kidnapping takes place, it's kinda surreal. "Deleted Scenes" that cut out the love interest aspect of the film where Jackie's character is in love with his therapist. And finally the trailers. Considering it's not as much as The Protector's material, the deleted scenes do kinda give some emotional side to Jackie's character. 5/5.

Overall: 4/5

Does this release deserve the overall score of 4/5? Hell no! This is an embarassement to Jackie Chan's legacy. Why Shout! wouldn't just give this a regular DVD release like the double feature featuring Killer Meteors is beyond me. I would never do that as a studio, unless it was shot on video. Never! 4/5, this is a disgrace.

The Killer (1989) / Hard Boiled (1992)

Movie: 5/5
Video: 3/5
Audio: 4/5
Extras: 0/5
Overall: 3/5

"It's Not a Party if You Don't Have a Gun in Both Hands!"

Movies:

The Killer (1989): 5/5

Chow Yun-Fat is "Mickey Mouse", a professional killer for hire. After having a shootout in a bar, he leaves a beautiful singer blind. He secretly follows her around and begins to know her after she is being mugged one night after leaving the bar. The police are following in on him and his whereabouts. Soon, the Triads and police are all closing in on him.

It's a pretty sweet action film. I remember seeing this film in the winter of 1999. I was ten years old and was pretty blown away at the action in this. Chow Yun-Fat does a great job in this movie. And the ending is pretty spectacular. I give the film a 5/5.

Hard Boiled (1992): 5/5

Chow Yun-Fat is on the law's side in John Woo's follow up. This time Chow is Tequlia, a cop is down and out after his partner gets killed in a tea house. Tequlia vows to get all of those responsible and that leads him onto the trail of Alan. Alan, played by Tony Leung, is an informant who is way over his head and it has come to the point where he has no way out. It all leads to a massive, all out war at a hospital where police and Triads collide.

This film is nothing short of a masterpiece. Chow Yun-Fat and Tony Leung are a great duo who constantly bicker and kick ass throughout the movie. The whole warehouse raid is amazing as we have nothing but gunfire and explosions left and right. And the whole hospital sequence at the end just tops it. This is the essential action movie. 5/5.

Video: 3/5
Before I start going into the video for both films, I am not sure if the original individual releases by Dragon Dynasty/The Weinstein Company/Vivendi Visual/Whatever has this, but Alliance put a warning screen before we get to the menu that says:

"The quality of the audio and video on this Blu-ray may reflect the age of the source material."

That is because there is some bad quality control problems with the transfers. Starting with The Killer; I question when this HD master was created, because no way was it in 2010 when this was released on the format. Horrible is an under statement for this film. In the opening when we see Chow Yun-Fat leaving the church, you think you'd be able to see his face as he walks towards the camera in this shot, but you can't even make out his face at all. Was that him? The details were so blocky and blurry that I'm unable to tell.

The grain is faked out like crazy to try to make this pass off as a decent film transfer. But the grain can't hide the macro-blocks that popped up on Chow Yun-Fat's face several times. If this was a real HD sourced transfer, it must have been made in the late 1990's, maybe around the time the film itself had turned ten years old. There's no way this was made in the 2000's. It's bad. There should be clarity; instead, white bleeds through the image like crazy and daytime scenes look disastrous to the eyes. 2/5

Hard Boiled is not as disastrous of a transfer. While this one is far from perfect, the action scenes are mostly preserved, especially most of the epic hospital shootout at the end. However, the image constantly wobbles in places. We also have a lot of print damage present throughout the film. Saturation and contrast is pretty strong.

When the presentation of Hard Boiled is nice and crystal clear, it's amazing. It's just a shame that Hard Boiled and The Killer could not get that five star treatment like they did when they were released by Criterion. These would have been excellent releases. But, at the end of the day, I give the transfer for Hard Boiled a 3.5/5.

Audio: 4/5
Oddly, The Killer is presented in English and Cantonese Dolby Digital 2.0. When you select the Chinese audio, the English subtitles are forced, and you cannot turn them on if you select English audio. The audio tracks are average. I prefered the sound of the Cantonese audio more than the English dubbing. Why we couldn't get this in DTS-HD MA is beyond me. 2.5/5.

Hard Boiled,unlike The Killer, is presented with English and Cantonese DTS-HD MA 5.1 tracks on this disc. Just like the previous film, subtitles are forced on the Cantonese audio. Why you would force subtitles is idiotic to me. The audio is pretty sweet on this one. The music of the saxophone playing when Tony Leung enters the film and various explosions boom throughout; it's a shame The Killer couldn't get this treatment audio wise. 5/5.

Extras: 0/5
This Blu-ray contains no extras.

Overall: 3/5
Despite the horrible visual presentations, I felt this was worth the $17 I got it for. I am sure you can get the individual, domestic U.S. releases for about the same price I got this Canadian release for. These two films are classics. Just hope and pray that Criterion can get the rights back and do these films proper, especially The Killer. 3/5.

The Crow: City of Angels (1996) & The Crow: Wicked Prayer (2005)

Movie: 2.5/5
Video: 4/5
Audio: 5/5
Extras: 2/5
Overall: 3.5/5

Lionsgate Has the First and Third Entries of "The Crow".

"The Crow: City of Angels" (1996)

I have reviewed the original Blu-ray release in 2011 when it was part of the initial roll out of Miramax titles at Echo Bridge. I gave that Blu-ray an overall 2.5/5; it contained a 1080i video presentation along with DTS-HD MA 2.0 audio and no bonus material at all. How does The Crow: City of Angels compare in this double feature? Well, it is the 91 minute "Director's Cut" of the film.

The story centers around father who, along with his child, is killed by a gang of drug dealers. A year later, he is brought back to life by a crow to take revenge upon the people who wronged him. The film is a true sequel to first film as the character Sara, played by Mia Kirshner, is back guiding Ashe on his journey of revenge. In my opinion, I prefer The Crow: City of Angels over the first film with Brandon Lee; the whole coming back premise seems to work better with a father than a boyfriend avenging the death of his soon to be wife. The film is not perfect at all and the only thing that helps this is the casting. Vincent Perez as the lead and Iggy Bop and an unknown Thomas Jane as some of the villains made for a fun ninety minutes of time. Movie gets a 4/5.

Video: 4/5
After going back and forth and checking both discs, the director's cut on this disc is presented in 1.85:1 MPEG-4 AVC in 1080p; whereas the "theatrical cut" release was 1080i. These two transfers are night and day, however this new transfer is not perfect, it's far from it. While playing the original on my PS3, I noticed how rough the playback was compared to the new release. Even though this new transfer is 1080p, there is three instances of interlacing that I caught. Some slight spoliers, a flashback scene has one second at the 19 minute mart. Towards the end when the birds are flying around Ashe. And then once more when Ashe says he's going to "A better place." Other than that, the print is riddled with print damage, but it's not that bad. This is the best it will get until there is a full blown frame by frame restoration. Do I feel that I am being generous with this rating? Yes; considering the last release, this is much better. 4/5.

Audio: 5/5
Presented on this disc is two audio tracks; 2.0 and 5.1 DTS-HD MA. There's no real complaints on the audio. Why they decided to put a 2.0 track along with the 5.1 makes no real sense to me. It's unwanted space hogging data. But, hearing the SFX and cawing of the crows, it's really good. 5/5.

Extras: 2.5/5
Echo Bridge is starting to venture out into putting more extras on their Miramax releases. However, they put a piece of bonus material on the disc for the wrong film. There is a twenty minute interview with Brandon Lee. If this were the first film, I wouldn't have a problem with this. Then finally, a seven minute featurette with screenwriter David Goyer discussing how they tackled the sequel. Other people from the film pop up like Mia Kirshner and Tim Pope. I give the extras a 2.5/5.

Overall: 4/5
Echo Bridge should have gave us this the first time around. It seems it's more trial and error than just quality control. Now, it would have been nice if they put both the 86 minute theatrical cut and the 91 minute director's cut on the initial disc, in 1080p. If you want to get The Crow: City of Angels, this double feature is the copy to get. I paid $10 online for my copy; I know Wal-Mart had copies of this for $5 and sadly the Wal-Mart in my area never freakin' carries new releases. I give this portion of the disc a 4/5.

"The Crow: Wicked Prayer" (2005)

This film is a farce. Mostly whenever a series hits the fourth entry, it's downhill. Seeing a film with a cast like this, you can't possibly think this is going to be a bad film. We have Danny Trejo, Dennis Hopper, and David Boreanaz; on top of that Tito Ortiz, Tara Reid, and Edward Furlung as the hero! There are so many other actors who could have possibly played this lead; hell David Boreanaz should have been the lead. That would have been a much interesting take on the character, but, no. We have this abomination that's kinda like The Crow: Salvation which is essentially just a remake of the first film starring Brandon Lee. Seriously, boyfriend and girlfriend die and boyfriend is brought back to life to seek revenge. That's it. Except, this time, we have the four losers of the apocalypse who think that they can bring hell on Earth.

The acting is atrocious; who honestly thought that this line up of "actors" like Tito Ortiz and Edward Furlung would make a good combination? Edward Furlung looks like an emo teenage girl who went shopping at a Hot Topic; that whole get up screams Hot Topic. I hope people got fired over this film, I know it's wrong, but have you seen this film? It makes me angry just thinking about who honestly thought this was a good idea to make. Film scores a .5/5.

Video: 4/5
Echo Bridge has given The Crow: Wicked Prayer almost a perfect transfer. It's always strange to see a bad film get a good transfer. Presented in 1.78 with an MPEG4 AVC transfer; there is print damage here and there and a shot or two that look a little too soft. But, upon watching the commentary, some of these soft looking shots were explained, so I cannot really point that out as Echo Bridge's fault. Grain is mostly present throughout. Other than what I mentioned, there's no real complaints; video gets a 4/5.

Audio: 5/5
The film has two audio tracks present; a DTS-HD MA 2.0 & 5.1 tracks. Upon sampling the two tracks, the 2.0 track sounds loud. Voices and effects have a boost to them and the 5.1 track sounds weak in comparison. I don't know why that is. Usually the 5.1 is the track of choice, but if you watch this, give it a spin in the DTS-HD MA 2.0. Audio gets a 5/5.

Extras: 1/5
The extra features in this portion of the disc contains two deleted scenes; a discussion called "El Pinto"; watching the composer work in "Jaime's Attic"; and finally a commentary track. Commentary is nothing but ramblings and pointing out faults; again, this whole film is a farce! The extras are lame for a farce of a film like this. If this was like the second film and it had bonus material like this, I wouldn't find it to be so bad. None of this is worth your time. Extras score a 1/5.

Overall: 2.5/5
A bad film gets a good transfer. That seems to be all the rage these days. With this and Piranha 3DD, I don't get it. It's also a shame that Echo Bridge didn't get the rights to the third film, The Crow: Salvation. The whole Lionsgate taking first grabs at titles; they picked some of the crappy-girly romance stuff like Bridget Jones and the Mimic sequels over From Dusk Till Dawn; Hellraiser; and Halloween films. They take The Crow and The Crow: Salvation yet say; "Screw the second film, we want the first and third!" And now this is the result of that choice; City of Angels on a double feature Blu-ray with Wicked Prayer.

Final Verdict: 3.5/5
Rounding up the initial votes:

Film: 4 + .5 = 4.5/2 = 2.25. I'll round to 2.5/5.
Video: 4/5
Audio: 5/5
Extras: 2.5 + 1 = 3.5/2 = 1.75. I'll round that to 2/5.

Those added up and divided equals 3.375/5 which I will round to 3.5. If you don't own the initial release of The Crow: City of Angels, this is the copy to get. The Crow: Wicked Prayer is a POS film and is honestly not worth your time viewing. Despite that, I felt like this was $10 well spent. 3.5/5.

From Dusk Till Dawn (1996) / From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money (1999)

Movie: 4/5
Video: 2/5
Audio: 3/5
Extras: 0/5
Overall: 2.5/5

From Dusk Till Dawn Has a Different Encode.

Ok, let me begin by stating that I have compared both the individual release of From Dusk Till Dawn and the double feature containing the first film. The individual release has a video encode of 19.63GB whereas the first film on the double feature is compressed down to 14.70GB in size.

Lets begin:

From Dusk Till Dawn:

From Dusk Till Dawn is a film almost everyone is familiar with, George Clooney and Quentin Tarantino are the Gecko Brothers who are on the run from the law and kidnap a family and head to Mexico to meet some gangster friends at a bar known as the "Titty Twister". Once they enter the bar, all hell breaks loose as they discover that everyone is a vampire and must fight to stay alive. The film is a classic 90's horror film. Movie gets a 5/5.

The video does have some compression, but it is watchable. My biggest question is why didn't Echo Bridge just release From Dusk Till Dawn 2 and 3 as the double feature instead of 1 and 2. It's the same color wise and still has that annoying discoloration on the right hand side of the screen. Since it's compressed, my original 3.5/5 score on the individual release goes down to a 2.5/5 on this release. The audio is also the same English DTS-HD MA 5.1 audio from the individual release, thus the score is still 3.5/5.

From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money:

From Dusk Till Dawn 2 is a cash in straight to video sequel of the 1996 horror classic. The only returning actor in this film is Danny Trejo who appears in the film for about five minutes and then just vanishes. The story is that an escaped convict and his group of friends are planning a bank heist in Mexico. Once the convict makes his way into Mexico, he has car trouble and finds that a bat has gotten under his hood. He shoots the bat and makes his way to the "Titty Twister" and finds Razor working the bar. Razor offers him a ride and then takes the convict out to his car to find a man shot up and bloodied, uh-oh, it's a VAMPIRE. Then the convict is bit and makes his way back to his friends and slowly turns them all one by one.

From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money is nowhere as good as the original, but I do find Robert Patrick's performance as the anti-hero entertaining. The cameos in the film were also entertaining as we see Bruce Campbell in the opening and Danny Trejo for a few minutes. The film scores a 2.5/5. The acting is all over the place and the story is just a lame attempt to be like the first film but instead of going to a bar, they go to a bank.

The video, oh my God, the video. From Dusk Till Dawn 2 makes it's way to Blu-ray with a dismal 8.21GB video presentation. The transfer is DVD sized. But, I will say that it's HD and not an upscale. There's definition whenever there is close up shots and there's a nice level of grain, but it's just a dull image. 1.5/5 for the video.

The audio is an average English DTS-HD MA 2.0 track. The audio scores a 2.5/5.

To break it down:
Movie: 5+2.5 = 7.5/2 = 3.75 which I will round to 4/5.
Video: 2.5+1.5=4/2 = 2/5
Audio: 3.5+2.5 = 6/2 =3/5
Extras: 0
Overall: 4+2+3 = 9/4 = 2.25 which I will round to 2.5/5.

If you do want to buy the From Dusk Till Dawn films, I suggest that you buy the individual From Dusk Till Dawn release or import the Canadian. Then get the double feature for Texas Blood Money. Then, finally, purchase The Hangman's Daughter. Why didn't Echo Bridge just release Texas Blood Money and The Hangman's Daughter together? It would have been a lot easier!

Supercop / Twin Dragons (1992)

Movie: 5/5
Video: 3.5/5
Audio: 3/5
Extras: 0/5
Overall: 3/5

If Interested in the US Supercop Blu-ray, Buy the Double Feature!

Before I start reviewing, I am giving everyone a heads up on both the individual release of Supercop and the
double feature of Supercop and Twin Dragons. I popped both the individual release of Supercop and the double feature on my Blu-ray drive and surprisingly, the disc title on Supercop reads as "Jackie Chan Double" which is also what the double feature reads as for the disc title in my comp. Inspecting the size of the movies, Supercop is the same size on both discs, 11.26GB. The only difference between the two discs is that the individual has an interview with Michelle Yeoh which isn't present on the double feature. If you are wanting to buy the US Blu-ray of Supercop, get the double feature which can be found for the same price as the individual release, $8 + Tax.

To the review, I am basically writing the scores from the individual Supercop release. To find my thoughts on it, visit the database page for the US release of Supercop.

Movie: 5/5
Video: 3/5
Audio: 3/5

Twin Dragons:

Twin Dragons is the story of twins, both played by Jackie Chan, who were separated at birth. Years pass and one has become a well known pianist and the other has become a thug on the streets of Hong Kong. When the pianist comes to Hong Kong to perform, he comes face to face with his long lost twin. The craziness begins as everyone thinks they are the opposite and the thug is left to perform while the pianist is left trying to break a mob boss from prison. Twin Dragons is the typical zany 90's Chan film. It's entertaining watching Jackie play dual roles and seeing him show off his impressive stunts. The film scores a 5/5.

Before I begin discussing the video transfer, the last time I had seen the film was at a local drive in theater in
1999. I never saw Twin Dragons on VHS or DVD, so I do not know how the Blu-ray transfer compares to the previous home video releases by Disney. The film is presented in it's original aspect ratio of 2.35:1, which is a big plus for this title. What hurts the film is that it's plagued with scratches and dirt and also presented in 1080i whereas Supercop is 1080p. It is an HD image, but it's just not clean. It has a nice level of grain and sharpness, and I know I am cutting Twin Dragons slack, but the video gets a 4/5 considering it might be a while before a possible proper HK release comes along.

Onto the audio, like with Supercop, the disc only contains English (dub) DTS-HD MA 2.0. I give the audio a 3/5. What I feel is a big plus is that Jackie Chan did dub his characters voices in this film. If it wasn't Jackie's voice, this score might have gone lower.

Overall:

Movie: 5+5 = 10/2 = 5/5
Video: 3+4 = 7/2 = 3.5/5
Audio: 3+3 = 6/2 = 3/5
Extras: 0/5
Overall: 5+3.5+3 = 11.5/4 = 2.875 which will be rounded up to 3/5.

Considering that this double feature is currently going for $8 + Tax at Best Buy, this would be the copy to get over the individual releases. It's a shame that Supercop is cropped while Twin Dragons is presented OAR. I would like to see more Jackie Chan titles come out on the Blu-ray format sooner or later. If you are like me, these will tide you over while you wait.

The Day the Earth Stopped / War of the Worlds 2: The Next Wave (2008)

Movie: 3/5
Video: 3/5
Audio: 3/5
Extras: 0/5
Overall: 2.5/5

A "C. Thomas Howell" Double Feature.

The Asylum gave C. Thomas Howell (The Hitcher) full reign for a while at directing and starring in a few movies. The double feature on this disc contains "War of the Worlds 2: The Next Wave" and "The Day the Earth Stopped", both directed and starring Howell. In "WotW2:TNW", the aliens return for a final fight and C. Thomas Howell's character is forced to take the aliens head on when his son abducted by the aliens. Howell's character and an ex-soldier played Christopher Reid of "House Party" fame, find themselves in an abandoned city trying to figure out how to stop the aliens. In "TDTES", Howell's character is a soldier who is forced to endure a woman from another world when she tells them that the world will end unless he can prove that humanity has a purpose.

"War of the Worlds 2: The Next Wave"
Movie: 3/5
Video: 3/5
Audio: 3/5

The movie was entertaining and I fell it is better than the original film that The Asylum made in 2005. It looks and feels like it has a smaller budget compared to the first film in 2005. One of my biggest problems is the "actress" who pops up in almost all of The Asylum films, Kim Little. She plays a scientist who is supposedly "southern". Her accent is atrocious on every level. It is cringe worthy every time she speaks. And the thing is, she breaks the accents on several occasions and they used these takes as opposed to doing another take. I guess The Asylum wanted to cheese it up on purpose. I think Howell and Reid carried film pretty well, and if you've seen the film, you can tell that time hasn't been pleasant to Reid. Also, to anyone who noticed, the house that Howell's character lives in is also the same house that was used in "I Am Omega"; I give the 3/5.

The video presentation is pretty good overall, there's grain present and some digital altering in post-production that kills the grain levels. It seems that The Asylum does this all the time because I've noticed this on all of the films that they've done that have gotten Blu-ray releases, even the German "Transmorphers" release. Video gets a 3/5.

The only audio track on the disc is an English Dolby Digital 2.0 track. It is average at best, in some spots it sounds weak, but in other spots, it sounds good. The added in ADR really stands out in several scenes which bothers me a bit. The audio scores 3/5.

"The Day the Earth Stopped"
Movie: 2.5/5
Video: 3/5
Audio: 3/5

"The Day the Earth Stopped" is lesser of both films on this release. The movie drags in a lot of scenes and is also laughable in some spots for how bad the film is. I think this also the first time that The Asylum threw in nudity in the film from the lead actress who plays "Sky". Also, for an alien, she sure has a nice outline of a bikini; didn't anyone on the production team think that they should have covered that up with make up? The movie scores a 2.5/5.

The video, is like all the other titles I've seen from The Asylum; there will be a nice level of grain and then some digital effect will kill the grain. It's just like all the other video PQ from all the other movies. It gets a 3/5. The audio, again, English Dolby Digital 2.0. It too scores a 3/5.

Overall:
Movie: 3+2.5 = 5.5/10 = 2.75 which I'll round to a 3/5.
Video: 3+3 = 6/10 = 3/5
Audio: 3+3 = 6/10 = 3/5
Extras: 0+0 = 0/5
Overall: 3+3+3+0 = 9/4 = 2.25 which I'll round to 2.5/5.

Haunting of Winchester House (2009) / I Am Omega (2007)

Movie: 3/5
Video: 3/5
Audio: 3/5
Extras: 0/5
Overall: 2.5/5

A Decent Double Feature.

I knew what I was getting myself into with "I Am Omega". I owned the Thai Region 3 DVD of the film and decided to upgrade it to the glorious Blu-ray format. However, I didn't know what I was getting myself into with "The Haunting of Winchester House", I only knew that it was a cash in on "The Haunting in Connecticut". I was fairly pleased with it, but it was far too predictable. Let us break down each film individually:

"The Haunting of Winchester House"
Movie: 3/5
Video: 3/5
Audio: 3/5

The movie starts off with a family being paid to watch the Winchester Mansion for a few months (a la "The Shining"). Once they move into the house, strange things start to occur and their daughter goes missing. Soon, vengeful spirits make their presence known and the family now fight to their souls and to find their daughter. The movie is entertaining, I wasn't bored to death with it like I was with The Asylum's "Countdown: Armageddon". It was really predictable on how it would end. I could see it from a mile away. It's gets a sold 3/5.

The video presentation is really good considering that the film only takes up almost 10 GB of space on the disc. There's a nice amount of grain present on the video. However, some scenes look over saturated, either too much lighting or done in post production in some of the daylight scenes. 3/5 for the video. The audio is just a tad bit above average for a mere Dolby Digital 2.0 track. The audio gets a 3/5.

"I Am Omega"
Movie: 3/5
Video: 3/5
Audio: 3/5

The Asylum's cash in on "I Am Legend". I feel "I Am Omega" is more interesting, mainly because of the star of the film is; Mark Decascos of "Le Pacte Des Loups" and the television series "The Crow: Stairway to Heaven". Decascos is the supposed last man on Earth after a plague has turned everyone into zombies. However one night, he receives a video call from a woman in the city he's trying to blow up. After he gets the call, two men from a colony show up and force him to track down the girl to save humanity, or so it seems. The movie could be better, but for a fairly low budget, it's pretty good. 3/5.

The video starts off rough, again, with the lighting. I think this time it's post-production adding of contrast and brightness. After the first five minutes, when we first see Mark on screen, the video has a nice level of grain present pretty much throughout the film. It's not the greatest video presentation, but it does well; 3/5. The audio, again is a Dolby Digital 2.0 track, 3/5.

Overall:
Movie: 3+3 = 6/10 = 3/5
Video: 3+3 = 6/10 = 3/5
Audio: 3+3 = 6/10 = 3/5
Overall: 3+3+3 = 9/4 = 2.25 = I'll round up to a 2.5/5.

Gamera: Guardian of the Universe (1995) / Attack of the Legion (1996)

Movie: 5/5
Video: 4/5
Audio: 4/5
Extras: 0/5
Overall: 3.5/5

Two Great Kaiju Flicks, ONE LOW PRICE!!!

Picked it up for around $9 after shipping from Amazon. Really pleased with how the quality turned out on this. Plus, it's great that I don't have to shell out a ton of money to import these from Japan. I will probably be picking up the Japanese release of Gamera 3 if a U.S. release doesn't come out within the next six months or so. Even though there is no extras, the overall comes to 3.25 and I'll round that up to 3.5.

Total Terror: A Brush with Death (2007) / Harvest of Fear (2005)

Movie: 0.5/5
Video: 2.5/5
Audio: 2.5/5
Extras: 0/5
Overall: 1/5

It Only Got Worse!

Ok... where should I start? Should I even call A Brush With Death a movie? I know in the thread for Total Terror Vol 1 that I bashed the hell out of Demonic, but I admit, I was wrong. Uninvited had my hopes up for Total Terror Vol 2. I am going to give A Brush With Death 0 out of 5. This film was an insult to my intelligence and I've never really been the one to call a movie THE WORST FILM EVER, but for me, this is it. Now, Harvest of Fear is just dull as hell and not really that interesting. I give it a 1 out of 5.

Let's break it down:

Movies - 0 + 1 = 1/2 = 0.5 total.

Video - 2 + 2 = 4/2 = 2.0 total.

Audio - 2 + 2 = 4/2 = 2.0 total.

Extras - 0 + 0 = 0/2 = 0.0 total.

Overall - 4.5/4 = 1.125 and let's round that down to 1.0 for the total.

If you want to see a film with ZERO PLOT AND ZERO ACTING SKILLS, see A BRUSH WITH DEATH!!! Don't pay more than $5 for this junk.

Total Terror: Demonic (2005) / Uninvited (1993)

Movie: 1.5/5
Video: 2/5
Audio: 2.5/5
Extras: 0/5
Overall: 0.5/5

You Get What You Pay For.

Ok, let's break the films down: Demonic - 0.5/5. Uninvited - 2/5. Demonic has no real plot and is just pointless T&A for 84 minutes. Uninvited fares a bit better, but not that much. It's structured but is just not that interesting to boot.

Video: Demonic - 1.5/5. It honestly looks like a PAL DVD at 576i up-converted to 1080p. It looks rough. And there's these weird vertical lines that pop up constantly in shots. Uninvited - 2.5/5. It is a bit stronger but it is also really dull too.

Audio: Demonic - 2.5/5. Audio isn't my strong suit. If I can hear it, then I hear it. I'll just come out and say this; "If you think my reviews on the audio are really wrong, I'll gladly agree. I could hear the audio find on both movies. Sure, the audio was bit low on Demonic and then the music would be loud, but I think it's because they didn't do any ADR in post. Uninvited - 3/5. It's better than Demonic, but not by that much.

EXTRAS: NADA!

Overall - 0.5/5. You really do get what you pay for with this release. If you can get it for $6 total like I did and you love watching really crappy horror films, then go for it.