Le Pacte Des Loups (2001)

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

"Bonjour, je voudrais le loup dans le Gevudan!"

Christophe Gans, the little filmmaker who can. While he has directed only a few films which you can count with the fingers on one hand, he truly is a great director who gets the shaft whenever he wants to make movies. He wanted to do an adaption of Silent Hill 2 after he did Onimusha and was also going to do Rahan; Captain Nemo and the Nautilus; Fantomas; Swedish Knight; and countless other films that died a horrible death. While Onimusha was only a few months shy of filming, Heath Ledger died while filming Dr. Parnassus. This caused the producer, Samuel Hadida, to scramble and shut down every film that was not rolling.

It's a real shame, as French filmmaker Christophe Gans is a master at his craft. With his second, out of three, full length feature; Le Pacte Des Loups, it's based on the true story of the Beast of Gevudan. The beast, which is claimed to be a monstrous wolf or even a werewolf; stalked the French countryside in the 1700's. The beast killed and disfigured countless, unsuspecting women and children; but oddly few men were attacked.

In this film adaption of the true story, a knight named Fronsac (Samuel Le Bihan, Frontiere(s)) and his Native American friend (Mark Dacascos, I Am Omega) go to Gevudan to kill the beast by orders of the king of France. They meet the royal family and Fronsac falls for both the daughter, Marianne (Emilie Dequenne); and the mysterious prostitute, played by Monica Bellucci. As Fronsac draws in closer to the lair of the beast, things are not as it seems in this community and the tables soon turn with Fronsac and Mani fighting for their lives.

Vincent Cassell makes an awesome villain in this movie and does a tremendous job. Most of the actors are great and go above and beyond in this film and it puzzles me that we can see Mark Dacascos in this and then see him in other films like, Cradle 2 the Grave and I Am Omega. Monica Bellucci naked is nothing new and is a great treat whenever she shows up on screen. And Samuel Le Bihan is great as the lead protagonist in this film.

I remember being twelve years old whenever this hit DVD, I remember being disappointed that I missed this in theaters. The cut of the film on this Blu-ray is the director's cut which runs almost two-and-a-half-hours long. I feel that the restored scenes in this cut makes Christophe Gans' vision a stronger movie. As we have scenes in which Marianne and Sylvia (Bellucci) interacting in this cut, whereas they have no real knowledge of each other's existance in the American theatrical cut of the film. This movie is one in my top ten films of all time. I give the film 5/5.

Video: 4/5

Presented in 1080p and in 2.35:1; Studio Canal's transfer of Le Pacte Des Loups might seem a bit dated, but, the video is pretty strong. Grain is pretty strong, however in some spots it seems weak. In darker scenes, especially towards the end of the film, the grain is bright white and it does wash out the image a bit. For the most part, the transfer is good on the eyes. Very beautiful, but, not close to perfection as I wish it could be. I give the video transfer a 4/5.

Note: To access the film with English subtitles, you have to select "UNITED KINGDOM" on the first screen.

Audio: 5/5

Studio Canal presents the film in a DTS-HD MA 5.1 French audio track. Even though this is the only track on the disc, it's booming whenever there's action. And then it's quiet and somber whenever the scenery gets drap or depressing. I'm sure if I had a proper set up, this would be demo audio. I give this audio a 5/5.

Extras: .5/5

Only bonus material on this disc is quite pathetic and brings the disc down. We have a video and audio calibration on the disc. That's it. No trailers or anything. Such a shame. .5/5

Overall: 3.5/5

While I haven't seen and don't really plan on getting the UK disc, I can recommend the French Blu-ray if you can play Region B locked discs. If not, go for the German Blu-ray which is Region Free, despite the fact it has English dubbing and not English subs if you really want this film. This disc is worth a spin. 3.5/5.

High-Powered Action Pack: "No Code of Conduct" (1998)

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

No Code of Conduct, you know, if you told me that Bret Michaels directed a movie I would laugh. But apparently in the 90's he made two films and then we now see him as a wreck trying to find love or something. Not to say that Charlie "Charles" Sheen is doing any better with his "winning"! However, with this film, it is an interesting mix. I feel Bret did a good job with the film but at the end of the day this is still an average police drama.

After an undercover cop, played by Bret Michaels who looks like he stumbled across a drug deal gone wrong in a back alley, get killed. His superior, played by Charlie's father Martin Sheen, is asked to come along to track a drug trafficking ring as back up. His son Jake, played by Charlie Sheen, stumbles across the drug trafficking while hanging out with his ex-partner (Mark Dacascos) who is out busting men looking for prostitutes. His ex-partner's partner gets killed and the vehicle the drug runners are using gets shot out. Once they get it in their possession, they learn what's so important about the van.

I am sure in the 90's when this was released, it was probably considered junk or something made for a quick buck. I honestly do not remember this film at all and seeing it came out in the late 90's, I should have knew about this but didn't. I had only learned about it last year while Charlie was going on his whole; "Tiger Blood-Winning-Mumbo-Jumbo"! And also learned that Bret Michaels had directed and co-wrote the film with Sheen and several others. Considering the twelve years that have passed since it's release, I will say that it is bit above average. Mark Dacascos always gives a great performance; especially going from the European great Le Pacte Des Loups to the Asylum's mockbuster cash-in I Am Omega. Seeing this film makes me miss Sheen's serious acting roles from Platoon and The Arrival to seeing him do a sitcom like Two and a Half Men and appearing in crappy comedies like Scary Movie 3. I'll give the film a 3/5.

The transfer is overall conflicting; the compression is horrifying on this transfer. If I still had my BD-Rom drive, I could see how much space this film took up, but I am going to guess it was probably around 12GB. The transfer is comparable to the Echo Bridge release of The Prophecy. The pro of this release is that it is in the original 1.85:1 aspect ratio. There is detail, but it has to settle a bit due to the compression. I do not feel that this is a straight up SD upscale, but I can see some arguments on it, especially in the opening of the film. The video transfer is on par with an earlier Echo Bridge/Miramax release, it scores a 2.5/5.

The audio present on this portion of the disc is DTS-HD MA 2.0; it sounds great but I felt that it could be better. The techno music cues sound pretty pleasant while listening. I give the audio a 3/5. There are no extras at all; 0/5. Overall, the disc's portion of No Code of Conduct scores a 2/5. It enjoyable, but the video transfer could have been better. I would say it is worth the watch though.

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.