Small Town Folk / Vanguard / Zombie Diaries (2006 - 2009)

Movie: 3.5/5
Video: 1/5
Audio: 5/5
Extra: 2.5/5
Overall: 3/5

"Standard Definition British Horror Invades France."

Small Town Folk: 3/5

A couple out on the English country side are lost and stop and ask a man and his companion (Warwick Davis, Leprechaun) for directions. They are told to stay away from a place called "Grockleton". The couple don't heed the warning and go to the quiet, empty residence. Once there, they discover that sinister beings run the place and slavery and murder are a way of life.

I'm guessing that the budget is close to nothing, or all of it went to Warwick Davis for his two minutes of screen time. The biggest problem which all will catch is that it will switch from filming on location to green screen. And the green screen work is pretty bad. The acting on the main couple was ok, I've seen better. I think Chris R. Wright as the main villain was probably the best out of all the actors. The story was not that bad either, but the green screen work will stand out. 3/5.

Vanguard: 4.5/5

Max is a deaf man who lives in the forest in a post-apocalyptic 2015. Max struggles to survive on a day to day basis in the forest with zombie-like creatures called Biosyns. Jamaal is a hunter who is searching for Max and quickly finds him when Max is attacked by a Biosyn. Max and Jamaal form an alliance and try to make their way through the forest. The duo find two other survivors and soon they all realize that the Biosyns may not be the only killers in the forest.

I really enjoyed the film. The silence in the atmosphere as we follow Max is a very nice touch to the zombie genre. The color spectrum that the film has is also a very nice touch as well. Almost like how the film Hobo with a Shotgun played with different hues. The acting was very good too. I can recommend Vanguard as a must for zombie fans. 4.5/5.

Zombie Diaries: 3.5/5

The Zombie Diaries is an eighty minute horror films from the perspective of three different groups of people during various points of the zombie outbreak. In the first portion, we have a group of journalists who are going out to the English countryside to interview a farmer. While waiting on his property, the farmer is nowhere to be found and the first zombie is found inside his house. We cut to the second story which deals with a couple looking for supplies to survive. The third group is holed up in a house who try to survive day by day.

For a horror film that is not as long, it wasn't that bad. I think it would have worked better if it was eighty minutes of just one group instead of three and kept a decent span of time throughout. The acting was very good and believable. The visual effects were good on the zombies too. I give The Zombie Diaries 3.5/5.

Video:

Small Town Folk: .5/5

At the end of the film, the film states that it was filmed on Canon XL1S and Canon XL2 cameras. I worked with XL2 cameras in my film classes in Germany and they're all SD cameras. Obviously, it means that this film is upscaled. But, I think this was shot in 4:3 or 640x480 and then cropped from 4:3 to 16:9, which is 640x360. Despite the fact that this film will never look good, it's visual presentation is better than say The Zombie Chronicles. .5/5

Vanguard: 1.5/5

I don't know if this was mastered in SD or if Emylia messed up on the transfer for this film. You can tell that portions of this film were shot on celluloid and then some was shot on digital. Whenever you do see scenes that were shot on film, you can see the print damage. However, there's scenes where you can see text on the screen and it's horrible looking! I give the visual presentation for Vanguard a 1.5/5.

Zombie Diaries: 1/5

Emylia has given Zombie Diaries a 1.78:1 presentation. In the making of documentary of the film, it shows the director with an old school 4:3 television behind him with the film playing. It seems as if this film was shot in 4:3 and cropped to 16:9 for the mastering process. The presentation looks better than Small Town Folk, but not as good as Vanguard. And there is a lot of post-production tinkering with the video to simulate damage to video source. 1/5.

Audio: 5/5

Emylia has given all of the films a DTS-HD HR 5.1 track for the English audio and French dubbing in DTS-HD MA 5.1. I think all of the audio sounds good for these films. No real complaints all around. Too bad none of these films were shot in HD to match the nice audio. 5/5.

Extra: 2.5/5

Small Town Folk and Vanguard do not contain any special features as they are on one disc. Disc two which contains The Zombie Diaries and has a collection of deleted scenes and an almost hour long documentary called When the Lights Go Out. The documentary had a decent amount of input from everyone who worked on it. Does it have much of a re-watch value to it after the first time? No. The deleted scenes do not have enjoyment to them either. You can see why they are cut. I give the bonus material 2.5/5.

Overall: 3/5

I managed to trade a sealed Canadian Alliance Blu-ray of Dracula 2000 from a nice person off the Blu-ray website. Considering it was about $10, it's worth it. I don't believe Amazon France is selling this anymore and you'll have to pick up the individual Blu-rays. It's region free, however, 1080/50i will stop you from getting past the Emylia studio screen. 3/5.

Driven to Kill (2009) / Supercop (1992) / Bravo Two Zero (1999)

Movie: 3.5/5
Video: 4/5
Audio: 3/5
Extras: 1/5
Overall: 3/5

"Supercop is Finally in it's Original Aspect Ratio!"

Movies: 3.5/5
Driven to Kill (2009):

I have not had the pleasure of seeing much of these straight to video Steven Seagal films that he's been cranking out these past ten years or so. I was genuinely interested in seeing Against the Dark and felt that it was an average Vampire (or Zombie) film. This film, Driven to Kill, was initially released by 20th Century Fox in 2009 and has somehow made it's way into Echo Bridge's hands. I haven't seen the original Fox release and I don't really plan on seeking it out, but Echo Bridge is credited in the opening titles. So, I don't know if they were behind this film from the beginning or what.

Steven Seagal is Ruslan, a Russian gangster who is flying from California to New York to attend his daughter's wedding. Once there, Ruslan, meets his soon to be son-in-law and discovers that he's a wanna-be Russian mobster. Ruslan confronts him and he spills the beans that his father wants him to stay in the family business. Ruslan leaves to get ready for the wedding and then all hell breaks loose. Ruslan's ex-wife is murdered and his daughter is now in a coma. Ruslan seeks out the people who are responsible and will make them pay.

This film is all over the place and the acting is bad. Steven Seagal and most of the other actors are dubbed and the dubbing job is horrendous. In some scenes, it does sound like Seagal, but he is just bumbling and you can barely understand anything that comes out of his mouth. In the opening scene where Ruslan is talking to some bimbo, you can barely understand what he is saying. If this was me, I would have gone back and reshot this. I know that Seagal works his butt off and cranks these movies out, but seriously, you got have some integrity on these. But, overall, if you got time to kill; I'd give it a shot. 2.5/5.

Supercop (1992):
This is my fourth copy of Supercop and third review of it. I need to finish my review on the High-Powered Action Pack. To get my views on Supercop, please visit my review for it's individual release. 5/5.

Bravo Two Zero (1999):
Sean Bean is Andy, a British soldier behind enemy lines and is a P.O.W. in Bravo Two Zero. Based on the brutal true story where a group of British soldiers are sent in to stop SCUD missiles. After they're spotted by child herding sheep, Andy his other seven comrades are running for their lives from the Iraqi forces. After Andy is captured, he is put to the test of not spilling the beans of the mission and pays greatly for his country.

The film moves slowly in the first forty-five minutes. But it picks up once they are on the run from the Iraqi troops. I was pretty much hooked after that. I think it's two hour run time is a bit too long, like I said, it was slow for almost an hour. I give the film a 3.5/5.

Video: 4/5
The video presentation on Driven to Kill is a decent one. I have not seen the Fox Blu-ray, but saw screen captures of it. I am not sure this is the same transfer or not. It is pretty good. Presented in 1.85:1 in 1080p with an AVC encode. Bitrate is pretty high and there's a nice layer of grain present. I have no real complaints with the video on this. It's not that bad, but it's a little far from perfection. 4/5.

The video presentation for Supercop is magnificent! Third time was the charm for Equilibrium; fourth time is the charm for Supercop! Presented in AVC and 1080p with it's original aspect ratio of 2.35:1. Let's give Filmyard Holdings and Echo Bridge a hand here for this presentation. Oddly, it seems to come from Italy as an Italian language title card pops up at the end of the film after the blooper-credits. The film has print damage and the right side gets a tad blurry here and there, but it's nothing major. While looking over it on my PS3, the Mbps is right around the low to mid-20's in terms of video bitrate. It is a nice and beautiful presentation. While it isn't perfect, I award Supercop a nice 4/5.

Bravo Two Zero will never look good in HD. A lot of the stock footage of the Gulf War is sourced from very poor quality VHS tapes. The interlacing on those transferred tapes is pretty God-awful. The footage that was actually shot by the director and crew is decent but probably filmed with low end film stock. I haven't had a chance to compare this copy of Bravo Two Zero with the double feature that has Men of War. It does get pretty rough in a few minutes during the last twenty minutes of the film when the men are in the Military Prison in Baghdad. I give the video for this film a 3/5.

Audio: 3/5
The audio on all three films is Dolby Digital 2.0. Yes, that is correct; no DTS-HD MA like most of their other releases, this time we get the old school DD2.0 audio. The audio on Driven to Kill is pretty good for a 2.0 track. We can clearly hear the sounds of gun cartridges being swapped out and explosions sounds good. It's not perfect, but I am guessing this is what the director had done in post as there's some scenes where you can barely hear Seagal's mumbling. I award a 3.5/5 for the audio on Driven to Kill.

With the audio on Supercop, it is a bummer. We have been downgraded from the DTS-HD MA 2.0 that we had on the initial Supercop and double feature release with Twin Dragons; then with the DTS-HD MA 5.1 on the High-Powered Action Pack, then harshly downgraded to Dolby Digital 2.0! That's rough, we finally get it in the original aspect ratio. The audio is bit low in first few minutes of the film. However, it does seem to pick up when they break Panther out of prison. I give the audio a 3/5, it's a little more than average for a twenty year old film.

Finally in our final film on this disc, the audio presentation of Bravo Two Zero is tame. I found myself having to turn up the audio on my television a few time to hear what was being said. Like the two previous films, Echo Bridge has given us just Dolby Digital 2.0 audio. Considering this a war film, we could hear things like tanks running around the desert pretty good, but just some of the dialogue was real low. I give the audio a 2.5/5.

Extas: 1/5
While most might not consider this an extra, we get a DVD triple feature packaged with this Blu-ray. It's a Jackie Chan triple feature containing Dragon Lord, Project A, and Project A 2. While I award this only a 1 out of 5 stars; it would be nice if this was a Blu-ray instead of a DVD. We all ready have Project A and Project A 2 on Blu-ray from Echo Bridge. DVD does not mean anything to me anymore, but I don't want to give this a straight zero stars, I'll give it a 1/5.

Overall: 3/5
Considering I got this for $7.99 + tax at Best Buy, I can recommend it at least for Supercop since it's finally available in it's original aspect ratio. Not too big on the fact that they threw in a bonus DVD of Jackie Chan films since, you know, this is Blu-ray that we're talking about here. Bravo Two Zero, I can recommend because of Sean Bean. We all love Sean Bean. What's not to love about Sean Bean? And well, Driven to Kill is ok if you want to see a crappy straight to video Steven Seagal film. I give this Blu-ray release a 3/5.

2012: Doomsday (2008) / Countdown: Armageddon (2009) / Mega Fault (2009)

Movie: 1/5
Video: 2/5
Audio: 3/5
Extras: 0/5
Overall: 1.5/5

A Laughly Horrible Triple Feature From The Asylum.

*Reposting due to miscalculation of Overall Score*

This triple feature by The Asylum, distributed by Echo Bridge, contains three films on two BD25 discs with the first disc containing 2012: Doomsday and Countdown: Armageddon with the second disc containing the third and final film Mega Fault.

2012: Doomsday
Movie: 1/5
Video: 2.5/5
Audio: 3/5

The Asylum goes religious! The created the sub-studio Faith Films to cater to the religious themed films, hence we have the film about the biblical rapture mixed with the Mayan culture in this horrible "so bad, it's good" film. This film feels like it's about four years too late for The Asylum to cash in on Roland Emmerich's "The Day After Tomorrow". The film takes place in Mexico where a young woman helps a village and in LA where a paramedic has a spiritual awareness. After a man dies in the street, the paramedic's mother goes on a religious rant about the final days. Then all of the sudden people start vanishing due to the rapture. It gets confusing and hilarious at the same time by the acting. People can't deliver lines to save their lives in this disaster-piece. 1/5.

The video is really average. Presented in 1.78:1, there's a good amount of grain but at times it looks like there's been DNR applied to scenes. It's really an odd transfer. The video scores a 2.5/5. The only audio track is an English Dolby Digital 2.0 track. It sounds ok but at times comes across a little weak. The audio scores 3/5.

Countdown: Armageddon aka Countdown: Jerusalem
Movie: .5/5
Video: 2.5/5
Audio: 3/5

Another one of The Asylum's Faith Films productions. This movie drove me to tears. This movie is so boring it's not even funny. The movie is another biblical rapture mumbojumbo where a woman's daughter has vanished or "raptured" in LA. She is then looking for her husband who she believes kidnapped their daughter and has taken her to Israel. Then once in Israel, all hell breaks loose with local politics and the country becomes a war zone. The woman is racing against time to find her daughter. This movie has one of the worst endings that I have ever seen. It tries to be artistic but you know what happened it and it's pointless that they've tacked on that ending. It's sloppy.

The video presentation is another average to poor presentation like "2012: Doomsday". Presented in 1.78:1, the video scores a 2.5/5. The audio is only an English Dolby Digital 2.0 track, scores a 3/5.

Megafault
Movie: 2/5
Video: 1.5/5
Audio: 3/5

One of Brittany Murphy's last features was "Megafault", in this film you can tell she has lost a lot of weight and it's sad to see her go. The film is ok, it kept me more interested than the other two films in the set. In it, a giant earthquake triggers a global catastrophe. Best movie in the set, but not saying much.

The video is really poor. 1.5/5 because some scenes look okay and then others just look downright horrible. Especially in the opening of the film and it's just like, there's big aliases around Brittany. The audio is good, again like the other two Dolby Digital 2.0 - 3/5.

Overall:
Movie: 1+.5+2 = 3.5/3 = 1.25 which I'll round down to 1/5.
Video: 2.5+2.5+1.5 = 6.5/3 = 2.17 which I'll round to 2/5.
Audio: 3+3+3= 9/3 = 3/5
Extras: 0/5
Overall: 1+2+3+0= 6/4 = 1.5/5.

Mortuary (2005) / Salem Witch Trials (2002) / Salvage (2006)

Movie: 3/5
Video: 2.5/5
Audio: 4.5/5
Extras: 2/5
Overall: 4/5

Echo Bridge the Best of the Worst.

Let's break down all three movies that are listed here.

Mortuary:

Movie: 3/5. I found this to be an entertaining little low budget horror film. However, the ending brings it down. And I mean at the last possible minute of the film before the credits kick in, it was going pretty good and then it's like; "WHY?"
Video: 3/5. The PQ is not the best, but not the worst as far as I can tell. When we see the Echo Bridge Entertainment logo on the film, I was a little worried it looked like an SD upscale until we see the establishing shot of the little girl in the backseat. I was relieved.
Sound: 5/5. The PCM audio is pretty good. Why Echo Bridge had to throw in all those extra audio tracks in beyond me. The Uncompressed PCM is great.
Extras: 4/5. There's an hour long documentary on the film and it's great to see Tobe Hooper at work. There's also a trailer in the bonus and both of these are SD upscales. And last but not least, audio commentary.

Salem Witch Trials:

Movie: 2.5/5. VERY LONG. This TV movie is about three and a half hours long and for it's time length, it's no Lord of the Rings. The Salem Witch Trials sounds great when you hear the idea of a film based on the witch trials, but this movie is nowhere as great as it seems in theory.
Video: 2.5/5. For a movie that's as longer than Lord of the Rings, it's a shame it's compressed down to a BD25 disc. The compression is visible in some scenes, but you won't notice the majority of it unless you're right in front of the TV.
Audio: 3.5/5. For having a Dolby Digital and PCM, it's pretty weak even with the PCM. When a majority of the scenes are in the church and the preacher is shouting, I'd expect more from it. It feels hushed.
Extras: 0/5. Nothing.

Salvage:
Movie: 3/5. Salvage is an interesting and a very short horror film. The movie clocks in at 79 minutes long. The twist is somewhat interesting but I feel there's potential that wasn't met, at least completely. It does keep you intrigued most of the time, but it will drag in some instances.
Video: 2.5/5. I feel that this presentation is somewhat soft and lacking real definition. I wouldn't say that is a 480 upscale, but maybe a 720 upscale to 1080. It just doesn't look like it's a real 1080 presentation. But, it's not as bad as something like The Howling Trilogy. It is better than the video presentation on Salem Witch Trials.
Audio: 5/5. There's a PCM and Dolby Digital audio track and the PCM sounds great. Probably the best audio presentation out of this triple feature.
Extras: 2.5/5. A trailer and a commentary.

Total:
Movie: 3 + 2.5 + 3 = 8.5/3 = 2.83. I'll round up to a 3.
Video: 3 + 2.5 + 2.5 = 8/3 = 2.67. I'll round down to a 2.5.
Audio: 5 + 3.5 + 5 = 13.5/3 = 4.5.
Extras: 4 + 2.5 = 6.5/3 = 2.17. Round down to 2.
Overall: 3 + 2.5 + 4.5 + 2 = 12 / 3 = 4.

The Howling Trilogy: The Marsupials: The Howling III (1987) / The Howling V: Rebirth (1989) / The Howling VI: The Freaks (1991)

Movie: 3/5
Video: 1.5/5
Audio: 3/5
Extras: 0/5
Overall: 2/5

Not A Trilogy!

I am going to be breaking these down individually.

The Masupials: The Howling 3:

The story revolves around a scientist who uncovers footage from the early 1900's of a werewolf and insists that they do exist. Then, a group of individuals who live in the town of "Flow" are a secret race of "Marsupial-Humans". The beautiful Imogen Annesley plays Jerboa who meets a local and soon all hell breaks loose as she has an offspring.

This movie is horribly bad, yet funny at the same time. 2.5/5. The biggest and I mean BIGGEST problem with this video is that it's cropped from 1.85 to 1.33. YOU DO NOT DO THAT! THAT IS A BIG NO-NO! The video gets a 0.5/5. The audio is all right for 2 Channel. 3/5.

Movie - 2.5/5
Video - 0.5/5
Audio - 3.0/5

The Howling V: The Rebirth:

A group of people are gathered in a castle in Hungary. What seems like an innocent getaway turns into murder as someone or something is killing them off.

I thought it was good supernatural murder mystery, 4/5. Video is slightly better, but that's nothing, but at least it's OAR; 1.5/5. Audio again is a 3/5.

Movie - 4.0/5
Video - 1.5/5
Audio - 3.0/5

The Howling VI: The Freaks:

A drifter by the name of Ian comes to a small town that's close to becoming a ghost town until he arrives and helps bring back the local church. Then, the traveling carnival comes to town where Ian comes face to face with the dangerous carnival owner.

Probably my least favorite out of the set, 2/5. The video is in OAR, 1.5/5. Audio, 3/5.

Movie - 2.0/5
Video - 1.5/5
Audio - 3.0/5

Overall:
Movie - 2.5+4+2= 8.5/3 = 2.84 which will be rounded to 3/5.
Video - .5 + 1.5 + 1.5 = 3.5/3 = 1.167 which will be rounded to 1.5/5.
Audio - 3/5

The final overall is 3+1.5+3 = 7.5/4 = 1.875 which will be rounded to 2/5. I spent $11 on this, if you want to get this, don't pay more than that.