The Faculty (1998)

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

"Another Robert Rodriguez Classic."

The Faculty starts off with Robert Patrick (T2, From Dusk Till Dawn 2) as Willis who is the stereotypical brute football coach hounding his players as he vents his rage on a water sprinkler, an unseen person approaches him and we fade out. After a faculty meeting regarding budgeting classes comes to a close, the coach appears and begins to assult one of the school heads. We then introduce our leads Zeke (Josh Hartnett; H20, 30 Days of Night), Casey (Elijah Wood; Lord of the Rings, Maniac), Stokely (Clea DuVall; Identity), Stan (Shawn Hatosy), Delilah (Jordana Brewster; The Fast and the Furious), and Marybeth (Laura Harris). Each student represents all the basic cliques that you would probably encounter in most, if not all, high schools.

While Casey, who is the nerd/reject, is eating alone out on the football field finds a strange fish-like animal. They all gather in the science class, which is taught by Jon Stewart! Remember when he used to act in movies? Once this happens, they realize that this is possibly an alien life form and Casey suspects the coach as being one of them. The six realize that they may be the only humans left in the school as one by one students are being called into the principal's office for testing. Will they be able to kill the aliens or die trying?

Written by Kevin Williamson of the Scream series, he basically recycles the whole "teens in peril at high school" routine. However, what saves the movie is Robert Rodriguez's direction and the special effects of Robert Kurtzman, Greg Nicotero, and Howard Berger who have worked on a lot of other Rodriguez's films. Most of the casting seemed to fit as I can kind of see these actors playing these types of characters. Personally, I thought the alien looked amazing and live action version of it looked a lot better than the CGI variations that we see throughout the film. I give the film a 4/5.

Video: 3/5
Presented in it's original 1.85:1 aspect ratio in 1080p, Filmyard Holdings has given Echo Bridge another problematic transfer. I will gladly assume, like with initial release of The Crow: City of Angels and some of the previous Miramax/Dimension films that I have reviewed, that this is the original high definition transfer that Disney created back in the day. Detail and clarity comes and goes and leaves the image with more to be desired. Grain levels are also weak as well and most times it feels like it's been scrubbed away with DNR. While, it's not a complete disaster, I give the video presentation for The Faculty a 3/5.

Audio: 5/5
Here's a problem that I have with this disc, we have three audio presentations. All are English; we have a 5.1 DTS-HD MA, 5.1 Dolby Digital, and LPCM 2.0. The default audio track that plays is the DTS-HD MA track and it sounds fantastic. The LPCM 2.0 track sounds exactly the same as the DTS-HD MA. And finally, a horrifying and dull 5.1 Dolby Digital track. Why is there a need for this many audio tracks for the film? We would be substantially fine with just the 5.1 DTS-HD MA track. Do not mistake this rant, the audio is fantastic, and I give it a 5/5.

Extras: 0/5
Sadly, nothing.

Overall: 3/5
Despite the rough video, this is one of Echo Bridge's better Miramax releases. I was able to get this for around six dollars when it came out. For the price, I can gladly recommend it. And considering it was written by Kevin Williamson, it is better than all of those Scream sequels. And it also shows me what I miss about what made Robert Rodriguez a great director in the day. Now it feels like broken promises about sequels we'll never get or are delayed and all this other nonsense we get from him. I give this Blu-ray of The Faculty a 3/5.

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.

Horror (2005 - 2011)

Movies: 2.5/5
Video: 3/5
Audio: 4/5
Extras: .5/5
Overall: 2.5/5

Movies:

2:13 (2008): 4/5

2:13 tells the story of a cop (writer and co-producer of the film, Mark Thompson), who is going after a serial killer who leaves a particular type of evidence to the crime scenes. At the same time, the detective is dealing with his own problems after his ex (Teri Polo, The Arrival and Meet the Parents) tries to re-connect with him. As the group gets closer to discovering the identity of the killer, they might have all ready know who it is...

If you have watched this film. does it play kind of like a Saw film? Does it also seem to have that same style of color saturation to a Saw film? Well, the film was co-produced and shot by David A. Armstrong who has worked on the first six Saw films. It appeared fairly evident as soon as the film starts. I really liked that they were able to capture that look and feel, especially since it's been a good three years since we've had a Saw film. I give the film a 4/5.

Gingerdead Man 3 (2011): 2.5/5

For what it was, a parody of numerous films ranging from Saturday Night Live, Carrie, and Silence of the Lambs; Gingerdead Man 3 is a slow paced horror film with a few laughs. Gingerdead Man 3 starts with a Silence of the Lambs parody with Gingerdead Man basically being like Hannibal Lector. Animal rights activists break in and think that all of the captive killer foods are animals. One thing leads to another and Gingerdead Man is now freed and is on the lamb. As he runs through the prison, he hears two scientists talking about a time machine that can send food back through time. He escapes and finds himself in 1976. Gingerdead Man then finds himself in between a parody of Saturday Night Live and Carrie.

The movie has a few laughs but the pacing is slow. When there is laughs, it is funny. One of the biggest flaws in the film, and slight spoilers, is that people are able to use this food time machine. Two kids finds the remote as soon as the Gingerdead Man drops it and are then sucked through time. The women were nice to look at it. I have a strong suspicion that there was a porn star present on set. She's in the background and her face is barely visible and whenever it cuts to a dance scene, whenever she's about to come into the shot, it cuts to another shot. And to point her out, she's wearing like a green jump/bodysuit; not the girl in the green dress, but suit. I give the movie a 2.5/5.

Hoboken Hollow (2005) : 2.5/5

Based on the true story of the so-called "Texas Slave Ranch" which went down in the 80's, the story deals with a group of people wrangling up hitchhikers across Texas and turning them into slaves. If you try to leave, you will be executed. In this modern day telling, Travis (Jason Connery, Alone in the Dark II) is a soldier who's lost everything after being deployed to Afghanistan. While out fighting the war, one of his best friends is killed by insurgents and returns home and soon heads out across the country after his wife leaves him. At the same time he is out, three other poor souls are taken into the ranch where they might never get out.

For what this film was, I thought it was average. If you want to watch something around the lines of this and enjoy it, go for House of 1,000 Corpses or it's sequel, The Devil's Rejects. This movie was also made around the same time C. Thomas Howell made his come back after being hospitalized and coming close to dying because of his appendix. I think for this being one of his comeback films, I think he really did good as a neutral character in the film. Michael Madsen also pops up in this for a good five minutes and his this horribly taped on mustache, but just disappears halfway through the film. And Dennis Hopper shows up for a good five minutes throughout the film as the local deputy. Hoboken Hollow tries, but at the end of the day, I give the film a 2.5/5.

Keepsake (2008): 1/5

Janine's car breaks down. She calls for a tow truck to come and get her. The man, named Earl, arrives but cannot speak because his tongue is gone. While searching for a pen in his truck, she comes across the driver's license for the real Earl and tries to make a run for it. Earl captures her and handcuffs her to a bathroom stall while a police officer comes across the empty tow truck. Earl kills the officer and takes her to a barn and keeps Janine there as his prisoner.

In my honest opinion, if I could sum this film up in one word; awful. The pacing is slow as hell and the film has these dream sequences like it's an episode of the television show Lost. And these dream sequences are pointless to the plot because of this plot twist that takes the film on a sharp left turn. I hated it. This movie was 105 minutes too long. If this would have been about 80 minutes, I would have probably liked it more. 1/5.

Killjoy 3 (2010): 3.5/5

In this third installment of the Killjoy franchise by Full Moon; Killjoy is brought back to life by a professor who bails on the ritual process. A group of college kids are house sitting for the professor when a magical mirror to Killjoy's world is brought to his household. The kids place the mirror on his wall and are soon sucked into his world of hell.

For a 76 minute horror-comedy, it works. The comedic aspects of the film worked really well for me. It's a horror film that doesn't play for the safe gags. There's blood and guts and nudity, especially with one of Killjoy's minions being just an actress, naked, and covered in paint. For a movie with a shorter time length, I give Killjoy 3 a 3.5/5.

Roman (2006): .5/5

Roman tells the story of man who is mentally unstable who falls for a girl (Kristen Bell). Once Roman (writer of the film, Lucky McKee) gets her attention, he takes her back to his place and ultimately ends up killing her. While keeping her body in his bathroom, Roman falls for another tenant in his apartment building named Eva (Nectar Rose). Eva's obsession is talking about death. Is Roman able to keep his love for Eva going with her obsession or let her go?

This film is GOD AWFUL! I do not think that I have ever sat through something that I really wanted to truly turn off. But, for reviewing this release, I had to sit through it. This and Tree of Life and Crazy/Beautiful are the worst damn movies that I have ever sat through. Lucky McKee as Roman is an uninteresting sad piece of crap that I couldn't care for. Kristen Bell must have done this movie as a favor for someone because I don't think that she would have really done something like this. Angela Bettis should stick to acting instead of directing.

Just everything about this film, I downright loathe. This film is filled with examples of filmmaking  dos and don'ts. If your film has shots that go on for far too long, that's a no-no. If your shot composition has your actress with tons of dead space above their heads, that's a big no-no. When Roman is strangling Kristen Bell's character, there's so much dead space as he's killing her at the bottom right hand corner of the screen. It's just atrocious. .5/5

Video:

2:13 (2008): 4/5

Shot on 35mm and presented in 1.78:1, 2:13 has a very beautiful HD presentation. Grain is present throughout with an instance or two of print damage that you will not really catch unless you have your eyes glued to the screen. There was some weird macro with the black levels present whenever the group of detectives go to Dwight Yoakam's sex shop in the film. Other than that, I wouldn't be surprised if this was the same transfer on the German Blu-ray release. 4/5.

Gingerdead Man 3 (2011): 2.5/5

Considering this was shot in High Definition, Gingerdead Man 3 has an average looking transfer. Whenever looking at the bitrates, the video stays in the mid-10's in the Mbps; which means that the datarate is slightly higher than a DVD. I don't know if that's just how the transfer was handled by Full Moon whenever they handed the transfer off to Echo Bridge. Towards the end of the film in the final fifteen minutes whenever the massacre happens, there's some interlacing which occurs in a few shots that's makes the video look a little rough. I give the transfer a 2.5/5.

Hoboken Hollow (2005): 3/5

Shot in the early days of High Definition, this film must have had a nice budget. Picture is nice and clear pretty much throughout. There is an exception to this as I spotted a few shots in the film, possibly re-shoots, that looked like standard definition footage blown up to HD. This was mainly in the opening chase sequence in the film where two men escaping. You'll be able to notice the shots when it switches from HD to SD. And then there's a shot where someone is looking through a hole in wood shed where you can tell that as well looked like SD footage. Also, throughout the last half hour or so when Travis is freed and it takes place at night, there's this nice sized white vertical line on the right side of the image. It is pretty distracting and it is present until the last five minutes of the film. But, the image is nice to look at, I give the visual presentation a 3/5.

Keepsake (2008): 3.5/5

Keepsake sports a very nice high definition transfer. I wonder if Echo Bridge compressed this video transfer down any as the bitrate kept around 21 kbps throughout the film. Only problems I have is that the dream sequences have a very drab and a little too much grain to the image. There was an outdoor sequence towards the end when Janine is outside and the image looked like it could have used some sort of color correction to it. Other than that, I give the transfer a 3.5/5.

Killjoy 3 (2010): 4/5

You would think by the opening studio logo shot of Full Moon Pictures that this would have a horrible transfer, but, Full Moon proved me wrong. The transfer is pretty flawless for an HD transfer. There is a few slight things here and there with the effects shots not being completely cleaned up which brings the video transfer down. A character gets decapitated, as he stands there and falls, there's a white box that falls with the body. Other than that, I give the visual performance 4/5.

Roman (2006): .5/5

Roman is a film that will never look beautiful in Hi-Def. The film was shot with a basic DV camera and it shows. When we have the first shots of Roman who is sitting in his apartment, you see how God awful the video presentation is in HD. The flaws of blowing up a Standard Definition source to High Definition show throughout the whole entire film. When Roman is out burying parts of Kristen Bell's character in a swamp like environment, the color is vibrant, but the definition is horrid! .5/5.

Audio: 4/5

Echo Bridge has given all six of the films a nice DTS-HD MA 2.0 audio track. Couldn't really find a problem with these audio presentations. I had no problems regarding turning up my sound on my television. They all sounded great. 4/5.

Extras: .5/5

Only extras included is a digital copy of all six films via Vudu. I love how Echo Bridge is pandering to Wal-Mart with all of their recent Blu-ray releases because it's printed on the artwork itself that these are "Blu-ray + Vudu Combo Pack". Maybe Wal-Mart can license out their films to Echo Bridge and we can have all of those crappy "FAMILY MOVIE NIGHT IS BACK" crap shoved onto one disc. Despicable. I give the extras a .5/5.

Overall: 2.5/5

You can pick this up for $8 at Wal-Mart. Considering that I am giving this set a 2.5/5, I can recommend it if you love indie horror films. 2:13 and Killjoy 3 are probably the best films in this set. If you're a Kristen Bell fan, go else where, these are not the droids that you are looking for. 2.5/5.

The Hanged Man (2008) / A Lure: Teen Fight Club (2009) / All God's Creatures (2011) / Visible Scars (2012)

Movies: 3/5
Video: 2.5/5
Audio: 4/5
Extras: .5/5
Overall: 2.5/5

Movies:

Visible Scars (2012): 3/5

Visible Scars tells the story of a woman (Jillian Murray) who wants to escape her abusive boyfriend in the mountains. While staying at her uncle's cabin, the woman hears strange noises which sounds like little girls calling for their mother. Things start to spiral out of control while an undercover cop is investigating a twenty year old cold case file in which a junkie and her twin daughters went missing.

I had first hear about the film around the time that it was hitting festivals in November 2012, mainly because Tom Sizemore was involved with the film. It's a typical slasher, horror film but with a twist. This twist was something that I was not expecting. With the overall scheme of how the film plays out and how the film just kind of ends, I felt left wanting more. Maybe if they shot another twenty minutes or so to the film. I give the movie a 3/5.

A Lure: Teen Fight Club (2009): 2/5

What a title, "A Lure: Teen Fight Club". Sounds like we're getting into some real classy horror here. Film starts out with a detective, played by the writer and co-producer Jessica Sonneborn, who goes undercover into a high school in which three cheerleaders went missing. While there, the detective gets in with a clique and soon goes out to a party where sinister things are going down.

I felt that this film was pretty bad. The writing almost felt that it was a wannabe tomboy writing a film from the mind of a male perspective. Nudity left and right, which isn't a bad thing; and stereotypical high school language that most of us have heard. Acting was ok, but, the acting couldn't save the story and plot, which was a rip off of Eli Roth's Hostel. Probably the worst film in this set. 2/5.

All God's Creatures (2011): 4/5

Jon is a serial killer, taking prostitutes into his apartment and having them meet their maker. He does it almost every night. He talks about how he praises serial killer Ted Bundy while doing his ritual murders. While working his day job as a barista, Delia comes into his life and everything changes and Jon grows a heart. But when the truth comes out about both of them, will Jon make her another victim in his long list of killings or will he and Delia have a happily ever after?

For what it was, I really enjoyed it. At first, it felt like a cheap knock off of American Psycho. Jon, played by writer and co-producer Josh Folan, does give a good performance. I felt Jessica Kaye did a great job with her performance as the disturbingly broken Delia. I think this film will get replay value here and there, especially around Halloween time. I give the film a 4/5.

The Hanged Man (2008): 2.5/5

Six strangers on the internet talk about gathering for a mass suicide; only five show up to a barn on one of the stranger's property. While the group waits for the lead internet user who promised to bring the poison that would end their lives, a cop shows up and ruins their plans. The five have their sanity tested throughout the night and hope to make it until sunrise.

The film was decent; I don't know what the point of the film was? We see that these five people are somewhat not sane. When we get to the final twist at the end of the film, how does it make sense? I felt that more could have been done to make this entertaining, but, it wasn't a complete wreck. 2.5/5.

Video: 2.5/5

Visible Scars (2012): 3.5/5

Visible Scars has a decent high definition transfer. Looking up close, there is some compression and there's a shot towards the end where the image has some rough compression that is strongly visible. Considering this was shot last year, it's completely what I expect it to be. I have read that the presentation on the individual release was almost flawless, not here. I give the visual presentation on Visible Scars a 3.5/5.

A Lure: Teen Fight Club (2009): 2/5

The visual presentation for A Lure is a tough one. When the film takes place in the daylight, which is just during the first fifteen minutes, the visual presentation looks good. However, the last hour of the film which takes place at night looks atrocious. There's a shot of the antagonist and he's backlit and you can see the black being macro and it's really strong. Even when there's strong light in the fight scenes, it feels subdued. I am not entirely sure if that was a creative choice during the color correction, but, it doesn't help the film at all. 2/5.

All God's Creatures (2011): 4/5

While the presentation was not perfect. I felt that the visual presentation for All God's Creatures was the best out of this set. With the exception of a few interlacing in some shots, it's pretty good. Whenever the scenes are in the middle of the night and it's pitch black, it's still strong, at least to my eyes anyway. Color and balance is pretty strong for this film. I give it a 4/5.

The Hanged Man (2008): 1/5

For the oldest film in the group, I honestly do not believe that this was shot in high definition. Even if you're not looking closely at the image, you can tell is has this blurry look to it. Looking up closely, even at characters' facial features, it's all jagged and blocky which screams that it's a standard definition master blown up to HD. Considering that this was shot in 2007 and it's a very low budget horror film, it's possible that they didn't have access to an HD camera. I give The Hanged Man a 1/5 for it's visual presentation.

Audio: 4/5

Like the previous newer double/triple/quad Blu-ray releases by Echo Bridge that have basic Dolby Digital 2.0, we only have English DTS-HD MA 2.0 for all four films. For Visible Scars, it's individual release had both English Dolby Digital 2.0 and a DTS-HD MA 5.1 track. That DTS-HD MA 5.1 is not present on this disc. Echo Bridge is obviously focusing more on the video aspect of their Blu-rays. For what these audio presentations are, I feel that it's ok. I couldn't find no real complaints with it, all though it would have been nice if the DTS-HD MA 5.1 track would have been present on Visible Scars. I give the audio presentation a 4/5.

Extras: .5/5

Again, like all of these newer Echo Bridge titles, pandering to Wal-Mart. Vudu digital copies for all four films. What a waste of my time. Visible Scars does not contain any of the bonus material which was present on it's individual release. Considering how I felt about the film, I don't think I will honestly seek out the individual Blu-ray release. .5/5.

Overall: 2.5/5

Considering that you can get this for under eight dollars at Wal-Mart; I feel that this is worth picking up, despite the score that I am giving it. All God's Creatures and Visible Scars are worth it in this set while The Hanged Man and A Lure could have been so much more. I award this release a 2.5/5. Get it if you like indie horror films.

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.

Mega Piranha (2010)

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

"Mega Whatever"

What makes a celebrity do an Asylum film? Traci Lords did Princess of Mars for daycare money. And The Asylum has royally bashed her for bashing them over this incident. Mark Dacascos knows one of the people who was running I Am Omega. What could have possessed Tiffany to do not one, but two Asylum films?

Tiffany plays a scientist who creates a genetically enhanced species of piranha. After a U.S. representative is eaten by the piranha, a specialist is brought in to figure who killed the diplomat. After the specialist comes face to face with the killer fish, he brings it up to the corrupt general and shrugs it off. Now, the fish are growing bigger and hungry with every passing minute.

I am giving this film a 2/5. I was annoyed at the inconsistancies in the size of the killer fish. Whenever they talk about the size, they'll say it's as big as a car. Then it shows it as big as a car, in one shot. Then, it'll cut to another shot and it's about a quarter of the size whenever they are jumping about in the water. Acting is pretty rough in this too and not believeable. Tiffany looks rough as hell in this movie, in comparison to Mega Python Vs Gatoroid.

Video: 4/5

Shot digitally like all Asylum films, if you've seen my reviews on past titles, then there is nothing new to report. With the exception that the PQ is slightly better this time around. Details are fair and there's a nice level of grain that pops up. I give Echo Bridge's video presentation a 4/5.

Audio: 5/5

Considering that Echo Bridge released this film right off the bat that it got it's general DVD release from The Asylum, we have an English DTS-HD MA 2.0 track for the film. Sound is really good for a 2.0 track. Generally, with Asylum DVDs, you'll have a 5.1 Dolby Digital track. It's a shame that we couldn't have the 5.1 DD over the DTS-HD MA 2.0 track, but, it'll do. 5/5 for the audio.

Extras: 0/5

Like all these Echo Bridge/Asylum Blu-rays, no extras.

Overall: 3/5

You can get this for $5. If you can't find it airing on the Sci-Fi channel or Starz, I'd say it's worth the $5 plus tax. Considering that you can get other Echo Bridge/Asylum Blu-rays for the same price, I'd suggest getting "I Am Omega" or "Mega Shark Vs Giant Octopus". 3/5 for this Blu-ray.

Dragon Lord (1983)

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

Dragon Lord is one of Jackie Chan's earlier films where he really shows off his abilities as a stunt actor. Jackie plays Dragon, a young man who ends up fighting his best bud Cowboy but is called Mars throughout the film. Through their fighting, we realize that Mars isn't exactly the sharpest tool in the shed as they clown around and Mars comes close to killing him numerous times. After putting their differences aside, the duo go quail hunting and end up discovering a sinister plot by a crime lord who wants to steals China's classic treasures.

While story and plot might be minimum for an hour and a half, what makes up for this film is the fact that Jackie is kicking butt. A lot of stunt scenes. Especially in the grand final fight in which Dragon and Cowboy fight the Big Boss. That fight was brutal and hilarious at the same time. Jackie really shines as he shows his abilities. And for that, I give the film a 5/5.

Video: 3/5

Presented in 1080p with a 2.35:1 transfer, Echo Bridge has given this film a good transfer. It's not perfect and it shows. Is it high definition? Yes and it is not a crappy upscale of an SD master that Fortune Star has provided to Jackie Chan with their releases. Print damage is constant, however, it is not totally distracting. Colors also go off here and there, but, it's more or less towards the end whenever it cuts to different angles and shots in scenes. Overall, I give this a 3/5.

Audio: 5/5

Despite only being the English dub presented in DTS-HD MA 2.0, the track is nice. It's sad that the original Chinese audio is not present on the disc, let alone the full cut of the film. The audio is nice and clear. I cannot complain about this presentation, even if it's just an English dub track. 5/5.

Extras: .5/5

Despite being listed as a "Theatrical Trailer", it's a thirty-two second video spot that you would see on a Miramax/Dimension/Touchstone/Disney/etc VHS from back in the day. Extras get a dismal .5/5.

Overall: 3.5/5

Despite this is SOB abomination edit conducted by Harvey Weinstein, I can recommend it for the price. Echo Bridge did a good job on this release. It's just a shame that they couldn't secure the original Chinese version. You can get this for $6 at Best Buy. For that price, you cannot beat it. 3.5/5.

Godzilla Vs Biollante (1989)

Movie: 5/5
Video: 4/5
Audio: 5/5
Extras: 3.5/5
Overall: 4.5/5

"Godzilla's 17th Outing."

Godzilla Vs Biollante, the seventeenth outing of Japan's biggest monster, makes it's way to the U.S. on Blu-ray for the first time since it's original VHS release in 1992 by HBO Video for Miramax, pre-Disney buyout. After the events in the 1984 reboot, Godzilla (or Godzilla 1985 to us in the States); Godzilla is reawakened after a Middle Eastern terror cell and a group known as "Bio-Major" blow up Mt. Mihara. Which is where he was sucked into at the end of the last film. At the same time, a mad scientist takes Godzilla cells and mixes them with the DNA of a rose and accidentally creates a giant monster named Biollante. The first incarnation of Biollante is in the form of a beautiful rose but with some nasty vines with Godzilla-esque jaws. Biollante is quickly defeated and burned up by Godzilla's heat ray. Biollante returns in a deadlier form ready to take on Godzilla and save Japan.

I remember being about four years old whenever I saw this, probably around 1993. This was the first Godzilla film I saw in it's original aspect ratio as HBO presented all VHS copies of this film in 1.85:1. A rarity as most Godzilla films were presented in their hacked up 1.33:1 crops. What I love about this film is that this is like Godzilla Vs Mechagodzilla in a way, we have a monster that is Godzilla-esque. Especially when we have the final form of Biollante going up against Godzilla, it's DNA really makes it close to Godzilla. I give the film a 5/5.

Video: 4/5
The video source is the Toho remaster from 2008. Which is amazing that both Echo Bridge and the horrible Media Blasters can get their hands on the Japanese prints as opposed to being handed the international prints by Toho. My biggest complaint about this restoration is that since this is the Japanese remasters, it has Japanese subtitles burned into the video for whenever the film has English dialogue. The overall image is soft; it doesn't hurt the detail at all in the image. There is some slight compression that is noticeable when there's smoke, but only if you are looking for it. 4/5.

Audio: 5/5
We have three audio tracks present on the disc; Japanese 5.1 DTS-HD MA; Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0; and English Mono Dolby Digital 1.0. For an old English Mono track that seems that it's sourced from a VHS tape, it's passable. The Japanese DTS-HD MA track is beautiful. I believe this is the remixed audio created back in the early 2000's. The 2.0 Japanese track sounds ok. I give it a 5/5.

Extras: 3.5/5
We have about an hour of bonus material, presented in SD. This making of was presented on the Thai DVD that I own, so I have seen it before. It contains behind the scenes footage as well as deleted scenes. Then we have concept models made for what Biollante was originally supposed to look like. There was like three or so designs that we had on it. It's pretty amazing. I give the extras a 3.5/5.

Overall: 4.5/5
For us Godzilla fans, this is a no brainer, considering that it's going for $7.99. This Blu-ray is amazing and is a must own. We got the same restoration as Japan got and for a fraction of the price that it goes for over in Japan. I give this release a 4.5/5.

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.

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.

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.

High-Powered Action Pack: "Equilibrium" (2002)

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

Equilibrium, a tasteful futuristic sci-fi action flick. This is a pretty solid feature in which in the future we take drugs to hold in our emotions; to show your emotions is punishable upon death. It's a pretty straight forward film and very entertaining. Preston (Christian Bale) is a top soldier in the future; discovers his assigned patrol partner, played by Sean Bean, is not taking the drug. Preston kills him and then with a stroke of chance, he drops his vile containing the drug and is quickly seeing the world in a whole new way.

After arresting a woman who is been founding hoarding "illegal" items is awaiting death row, she slowly gets to him to help him see the path. Upon going out of the borders of their utopia, they found a group of dogs which are set to be slaughtered when a puppy runs to Preston and soon he cannot see it die and takes it off to "tested for disease". Preston soon joins the resistance to bring down the utopia so that mankind can possibly learn how to feel again.

Kurt Wimmer wrote and directed a very good film and all of the actors involved gave great performances. One of the problems I have is that there should have been more focus on the psychological aspect of Preston's struggle once he decides to quit taking the drug. If they gave another five to ten minutes to focus on that, it would have been a better movie. The action is pretty sweet too with Bale's character kicking butt left and right. Emily Watson gave a great sensual performance in her role. And Sean Bean, well, he's in his usual Sean Bean role and we know what happens to him most of the time. The film gets a 4/5.

Equilibrium is, without a doubt, the main reason to buy the High-Powered Action Pack. Echo Bridge has finally gotten an HD master for the film that is finally in it's original 2.35:1 aspect ratio. The initial individual release of the film was presented in an open matted, yet cropped VFX scenes, presentation. Normally, if it was open matted, I wouldn't mind because what the director intended is still there, but the cropped VFX scenes of the "gun-kata" and other scenes kills it for me. And the original release was very tempting for me, but I kept passing on it.

The video presentation for Equilibrium is not the best, but, for a ten year old film it does the job. The film shares the disc on a BD50 with two other films, being The Lookout and Supercop. The colors are pretty vibrant; there's clear and sharp definition. If you look closely at the film; there is a lot of dirt and specs and print damage on the film. Compression is noticeable in a few scenes and there's a bit of pulsing towards the end of the film. I know that might scare potential buyers away, but overall, it's still a solid transfer and the only alternate is a very expensive Japanese release. I think this master was probably made back in 2002 whenever the film was made. I doubt we'll get a remaster, but, Equilibrium scores a 4/5.

The DTS-HD MA 5.1 audio presentation is pretty good on this release. There's good range in hearing harp noises in the music and helps get the tone across and then you jump to the next scene where the action is booming. Echo Bridge did a great job on this portion of the disc. The audio gets 5/5.

Without any extras; the film on this portion of the disc scores a 3.5/5. We have a very nice master provided to us by Filmyard and Echo Bridge. This should have been how it was when it was originally released in May 2011. If you buy this six film set, this title's new master in OAR makes it worth it alone. Recommended.

High-Powered Action Pack: "The Yards" (2000)

Movie: 3.5/5
Video: 1/5
Audio: 2.5/5
Extras: 0/0
Overall: 1.5/5

The Yards, a great crime drama from director and co-writer James Gray (We Own the Night and Two Lovers) and co-writer Matt Reeves (Director of Cloverfield and Let Me In) about a family and it's downward spiral. Leo, played by Mark Wahlberg, returns home from his prison sentence and is met with celebration by his mother and aunt and her family. His buddy Willie and new uncle Frank give him a job offer and soon Leo is off with Willie to pay off a night guard and destroy the train parts. When the guard declines and police are called; Leo's world comes crashing down and is on the run.

I felt that this was a pretty good crime drama. It seemed that everyone put in a good performance and I feel it helps the overall emotional tone of the film. Wahlberg's quiet presence he has mostly throughout the film is different from most of the films he does now. James Caan is always great and as Leo's uncle, you see him in a tough spot and his acting is great as it shows his conflict in trying to handle the situation. Charlize's character confused me a bit in terms of how old she is supposed to be; maybe the early twenties. Also, the plot twist was easily predictable in the opening film and a bit later on before it's spilled out. The film scores a 3.5/5.

Before I go on about the video presentation, whenever a film is cropped from it's original aspect ratio, I cut the score in half and go on lower from 2.5/5. I am not sure if this is the same encode from the individual release but the video presentation is a complete nightmare as it is cropped from 2.35:1 to 1.78:1. The framing is ok, but it would help if this film was presented in it's intended scope. The grain is overblown to the max. It is frustrating as hell whenever the grain is as white as snow and it's a scene that takes place at night. And the film has a jitter and it does not stop; it goes on throughout the whole entire film. Also, I am not sure if this is really 1080p as there is some interlacing in some scenes; especially in the opening when Leo is on the train. Video scores a horrifying 1/5.

The audio presentation is DTS-HD MA 2.0 despite being listed as 5.1 DTS on the back cover. I feel that this audio is adequate. It's not a "high-powered action film" and the audio gives an overall calm when it needs to be, but it is average. The audio scores a 2.5/5. Overall, this movie is a miss on the disc; we still have Hidden Assassin and No Code of Conduct on this disc of the set to go through as well as the three films on the other disc. With no extras included for this film; this portion of the disc's content for The Yards, I give it 1.5/5.

Roadracers (1994)

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

Roadracers AKA What the Hell is Wrong With Disney?

Ok, I managed to find this at Best Buy today and it's not due out until the 17th of April. So, having it a month before street date is pretty sweet. This was the second feature length film by Robert Rodriguez and it was a television movie for Showtime back in 1994. One thing that went through my mind while watching this film was; "What the hell is wrong with Disney?"

They sat on this film for all those years when they owned Miramax and did nothing; absolutely nothing. This movie was pretty damn enjoyable. This is probably one of my more favorite Rodriguez films now since I just finished it. I'm pleased that Echo Bridge got this and gave it a good release.

The film is about a rebel named Dude who has a problem with authority. And one night while he's out with his girlfriend and best bud, a rival challenges him to a race and with a flick of a cigarette, all hell breaks loose. Dude is now wanted dead for what he did. That's pretty much the gist of it; I really enjoyed the humor that was put into it and John Hawkes' always gives a great performance whenever I see him in something. The film, with it's comedic tones, gets really dark in the third act; just, "Wow". Movie gets a 4/5.

The video presentation is pretty good, and in the commentary, Robert Rodriguez stated that he remastered it for this release. However, there are some minor problems. At about fifty-four minutes, in a scene in which Salma Hayek's character is talking with her parents, the video gets blurry in several shots. This also happens again a few minutes later when they are sitting in a movie theater. However, the presentation is pretty amazing for an eighteen year movie. There's a nice level of grain pretty much present throughout the film which is very beautiful. With those minor issues factored in, I give the video a 4/5.

The audio is on the weak side. I found myself having to turn up the remote when listening to the DTS-HD MA 5.1 track. There is a Dolby Digital 2.0 track. They are ok, but, I think this is all boiled down to the original source material since I'm sure Robert Rodriguez remastered the audio as well. Audio gets a 3/5.

Extras included are an audio commentary by Robert Rodriguez and a "10 Minute Film School". The commentary is enjoyable and gives insight about the shooting process and fixing up the film for this release. The "Film School" is enjoyable because it shows how they did some of the scenes with David Arquette roller skating and some of the other stuff. I give the extras a 3/5; I feel there could have been more because usually a Rodriguez film usually has a ton of bonus material to kill time on.

Overall, this is a pretty sweet release and Echo Bridge did a good job. I can recommend it for the $7.99 price alone that I paid for it. Other than price, as I stated in the beginning of the review, this film is enjoyable. I see myself probably popping this in from time to time whenever I nothing going on. I give this Blu-ray a 3.5/5.

Hellraiser: Bloodline (1996) / Hellraiser: Inferno (2000) / Hellraiser: Hellseeker (2002) / Hellraiser: Hellworld (2005)

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

One, Two, Skip a Few; Screw the Seventh Film in the Series!

I've never really subjected myself to the straight to video Hellraiser films because it seemed like there was always a new one coming out in the early 2000's. Sure, Bloodline was a theatrical film and the final nail in the theatrical coffin for Pinhead and the Cenobites. Upon seeing this release by Echo Bridge hitting the stores, I searched out and found this release for $10 and figured; "Eh, why not?"

This Blu-ray release contains the fourth, fifth, sixth, and eighth film in the Hellraiser series. One question that has been on my mind is why they didn't either include the third or seventh film in the Hellraiser series since Echo Bridge has the rights to these films from the Filmyard/Miramax library. Again, another thing that puzzles me is that why didn't Lionsgate take interest in getting the rights to Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth? Surely, if Echo Bridge was going to put together an four-in-one Blu-ray, surely they would take full advantage and the interest of Pinhead fans and putting Hell On Earth on the disc to make this disc really worth the $10. And it also makes no sense that they skipped the seventh film, Hellraiser: Deader, for the eighth entry; Hellraiser: Hellworld.

Hellraiser: Bloodline is an origin story dealing with the creation of Lament Configuration and the span of three generations of the family who created the puzzle. The first generation spans around the time frame of 1600 to 1800's. And we essentially see who Pinhead was and another one of his Cenobites origins. The second generation spans in modern time with descent of the Lament Configuration's creator. We see some neat Cenobites come into play which will finally be in the final act which is the future and Pinhead in space.

Ultimately, the film is probably my least favorite in this collection. Always putting a super-natural/villain into space has always been a downfall; like "Jason X". With the same actor portraying his generations takes it a bit on the cheesy side of the film. If we were going to have an actor to do this portrayal, they should have gotten a much better actor for the role. Film scores a 2.5/5.

Bloodline is presented in an okay 1080p transfer. I want to say that this probably another compressed down transfer that's different from the Single and Double feature release containing this film. There's print damage that pops up here and there and the video feels pretty weak. Considering that this film was shot on film, we couldn't possibly get a remaster with this? Video scores a 2.5/5. The audio presentation on this disc is most likely the same on others since they didn't change the audio on From Dusk Till Dawn's different releases. The audio is fair and I feel it deserves a 3/5.

Hellraiser: Inferno. To sum this film, if this weren't a Hellraiser film, it would be a lot better. I'm sure most fans of Pinhead know that the lead Cenobite is barely in this film. A child has gone missing and a crooked detective puts himself on the case only to get more than he bargained for as a person known as "The Engineer" is the one who has taken the child.

I give this film a 3/5 and if this wasn't a Hellraiser film, I'd give it a higher recommendation. In a Hellraiser film, we want Pinhead, Pinhead, and more Pinhead. With Pinhead barely in the film, it feels like you're being ripped off.

Presented in a rough and inconsistent 1080i transfer and again, probably an HDTV master for the film, which is what all these Echo Bridge releases seem like. Upon comparing screenshots of the Multi-Feature and the Double Feature, this version is a compressed down version of that transfer. Due to the compression, I have to give this a dismal 1.5/5. And again, I am sure the audio presentation is the same from the Double Feature. I give the audio a 2.5/5.

Hellraiser: Hellseeker. The sixth entry of the series stars Ashley Laurence from the original Hellraiser trilogy. In this entry, her husband (Dean Winters, of the "All State" Commercials) is believes that his wife didn't drown in the car crash they were in. When he discovers the Lament Configuration, his world turns upside down as he reaches his way closer to the truth.

I feel this one deserves a 3/5. At times it feels slow, but at the same time, I also feel that this is a somewhat recycled version of Hellraiser: Inferno. It seems to have that same theme going for it with trying to uncover the truth. But Pinhead is in it a lot more than he was in the fifth entry, but at the same time, I wish he was in it more than he was.

Presented in it's OAR of 1.85:1, Hellraiser: Hellseeker debuts with a somewhat all right transfer. It doesn't seem as bad as Inferno, but I think it's probably a tad better than the Hellworld transfer. I feel that Hellseeker deserves a 3/5. Audio again, decent, 2.5/5.

Hellraiser: Hellworld, the final chapter until Harvey Weinstein produced the newest latest Hellraiser that was is Doug Bradley-less. Bradley's final outing as Pinhead is somewhat a satisfying farewell to the actor's departing of the series. In this entry, Hellraiser goes online with a World of Warcraft-esque game where gamers take their love a little far when a player is found dead. Upon going to the funeral, the player's friends are invited to a "Hellworld Party" where players can meet and have their own "Pleasures". One by one, each of them meet their end by Pinhead and his Cenobites.

Sure, what I just wrote above sounds interesting, but once we hit the twist at the end; the film crashes and burns. I came real close to just shutting the film off and just writing it off and leaving the last fifteen minutes alone. However, those final moments, did bring it back up for me and I was pleasantly surprised how they could rebound from that horrible plot twist. Movie scores a 3/5.

This 1080p transfer is inconsistent like the Hellraiser: Inferno transfer and I am sure this is more or less something that the DP had in mind with shooting the film. Shots switch back and forth from bright to freakin' dark. And this is a strong contrast between the shots. Also, the soft bright shots also become to overwhelming. Video scores a 2/5. And again, the audio is average, 2.5/5.

Movies: 2.5 + 3 + 3 + 3 = 2.875 = 3/5.
Video: 2.5 + 1.5 + 3 + 2 = 2.25 = 2.5/5.
Audio: 3 + 2.5 + 2.5 + 2.5 = 2.625 = 2.5/5
Extra: 0/5
Overall: 3 + 2.5 + 2.5 = 8/4 = 2/5

With this release scoring a 2/5, for the price, I can recommend it. The debut of Hellseeker is pretty good; in comparison to the release of Full Tilt Boogie in that Multi-Feature. For $10, pick it up. It probably won't be worth it to track down the other releases with these titles in it.

From Dusk Till Dawn (1996) / From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money (1999) / From Dusk Till Dawn 3: The Hangman's Daughter (2000) / Full Tilt Boogie (1997)

Movie: 4/5
Video: 2.5/5
Audio: 3.5/5
Extras: 0/5
Overall: 2.5/5

From Dusk Till Dawn - Round 3.

Upon scanning the files on my laptop, the encodes on From Dusk Till Dawn 1 & 2 are the same encodes as the double feature release. I will be skipping straight to The Hangman's Daughter and Full Tilt Boogie. Scores are still of all four films together. To see my opinions on the double feature, please read my review over there.

From Dusk Till Dawn 3: The Hangman's Daughter; the third and supposed last entry in the series until these past few months when Harvey Weinstein stated that he wanted to work with Miramax's new owners and make sequels to past projects he's produced at Miramax when it was once owned by Disney. I think this is an open and closed book with these three films and the documentary. As a step up from the second film, I still felt somewhat disappointed by the film.

The film is based around the character Esmeralda who is played by Ara Celi in this film since it's obvious that they couldn't get Selma Hayek back for the role. We learn that she was once a girl who was "The Hangman's Daughter". This is a very basic cash in sequel to milk the series dry. Sure, we got Michael Parks and Danny Trejo back, but the material feels very recycled. The acting is average to poor in a lot of scenes; the actor who plays Johnny Madrid could have done better. Orlando Jones' performance was campy and he's one of my favorite comedic actors, so it's always great to see him whenever he does a movie. Movie barely scores a 3 out of 5 in my book.

One big problem with this encode is that Echo Bridge cut the film off during the end credits which effectively removes a scene past the credits with Michael Parks sitting in a bar. It's such a shame that they would mess that up. I feel that this also effects my opinion towards this disc. The movie is presented in 1080p and it's OAR, but it's still a mess. A proper restoration should have been done on the film as some shots have a complete difference in color tone. A lot of the film has a brownish tone to the film, but even some shots of the sky in the opening minutes of the film has this purplish hue in the blue which shows that this film's master print has not been handled properly.

Another big problem I have with this film's presentation is the computerized effects in which they were rendered and it hurts the visual presentation for the film. In a shot on the professional review for the individual release, there's a shot of Temuera Morrison fighting a snake and the picture has the lowest resolution I believe I have ever seen; even possibly lower than VCD resolution. Maybe it's because this was a straight to video flick and they possibly never thought about high definition at the time this film was released in the year 2000. These low resolution shots mainly happen towards the end half hour of the film. With these problems aside, the transfer feels soft and just a real average transfer; but with these problems factored in, video scores a 2/5.

The audio presentation on the disc is DTS-HD MA 5.1, even though it seems like Echo Bridge is stepping it up with audio the audio on their releases, this track could have been better. The first film's audio presentation was pretty decent whereas with this, we have the audio from a straight to video flick where I don't think the care was really given to it in the first place. Audio scores an average 2.5/5.

And for the final film in this set, we have "Full Tilt Boogie". A documentary catching behind the scenes of Robert Rodriguez's film, "From Dusk Till Dawn". And that's the gist of it. We see that they had problems during production of the film and that we see how some of the people work behind the cameras. The documentary is pretty solid in my opinion, but there's some sluggishness to it in a spot or two, mainly when we have some women talking about on set crushes and stuff like that. I could care less about it. Movie scores a 4.5/5.

The video presentation is surprising to say the least. It looks as if this was remastered in the process over the years as we have a very nice image from the 16mm and VHS sourced material. Obviously the film footage of "From Dusk Till Dawn" is the newly remastered footage thrown in. One thing that I question is the OAR. I think it would be safe to assume that this was presented open matted on VHS and DVD throughout the years by Disney as this new HD master gives a cropped 16:9 version of the shot footage. Usually when the OAR is really effected, I would really lower my score; but I think this is the best the documentary has ever looked, 3.5/5.

The audio presentation is a DTS-HD MA 2.0 track. Considering this a documentary, I think the audio works well for this. I really don't have any real complaints towards it. I know I might be giving it an advantage by giving it 5/5.

Let's total up:
Movies: 5 + 2.5 + 3 + 4.5 = 15/4 = 3.75 = 4/5
Video: 2.5 + 1.5 + 2 + 3.5 = 9.5/4 = 2.375 = 2.5/5
Audio: 3.5 + 2.5 + 2.5 + 5 = 13.5/4 = 3.375 = 3.5/5
Extas: 0x4 = 0/5
Over all: 4 + 2.5 + 3.5 = 10/4 = 2.5/5

This disc is average with it's 2.5/5 rating. Considering that you can pick this up currently at $8 to $10, I can say that I can recommend it to you even though "From Dusk Till Dawn" is the same compressed encode from the double feature. Also, this is the only Blu-ray release Echo Bridge has given us for "Full Tilt Boogie". A 2.5/5 doesn't seem that bad really. Maybe the score could have been higher if it would have been just the first film and the documentary.

Dracula 2000 (2000) / Dracula II: Ascension (2003) / Dracula III: Legacy (2005) / They (2002)

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

If Interested in Dracula 2000, Seek Out the Canadian Release.

First Film: Dracula 2000, Wes Craven's produced Dracula flick taking place in London to New Orleans. Van Helsing is protecting Dracula's tomb in which gets stolen and soon the king of the undead will rise. Dracula is awaken and hungry and feeds off the grave robbers turning them into vampires. As Dracula makes his way to the U.S, he starts feeding off on beautiful women and searching for a woman who unknowingly is related to Dracula.

The movie scores a four out of five. I found the film to enjoyable considering how old the film is. The video presentation by Echo Bridge will come off as either average or poor to A/V enthusiasts. The film is in 1080i and is presented in 1.78:1 from it's 2.35:1 presentation. I was so disappointed to see the image fill the screen after the opening credits which were presented in 2.35:1. Video scores a 2.5/5. Audio is just average, audio scores a 2.5/5.

Second Film: Dracula II: Ascension, in a continuation of Dracula 2000, a charred corpse appears in a morgue which appears to be a vampire. At the same this discovery is made, a mean vampire slayin' priest shows up to try to bless the corpse. The med students who take the corpse bathe it in blood and Dracula is born again but not looking anything like Gerard Butler from the first film. They contain Dracula in a burned out factory where they try to uncover the secret of his eternal life.

Movie scores a three out of five. It's all right but it seems to pale in comparison of Dracula 2000. Jason Scott Lee is pretty awesome as the vampire slayin' priest. The video scores a 3/5 and Echo Bridge has provided us with a 1.78:1 1080p transfer of the film. I cannot comment if this is cropped or matted from the 2.35:1 transfer. It looks a lot better than the 1080i transfer of Dracula 2000. The audio is again average and it scores a 2.5/5.

Third Film: Dracula III: Legacy, the priest and lone med student are tracking down Dracula in the Eastern Europe. Dracula again changes his form and looks nothing like the vampire from the previous installment and is now portrayed by Rutger Hauer. Soon the priest and Dracula duke it out to save the fate of mankind.

The film scores a three out of five. I feel a little let down that we go from Dracula 2000 to Dracula II: Ascension and then finally to Dracula III: Legacy; I mean, what was one of the key points of Dracula 2000? That Dracula's blood line kept on and then after that, they just ignored it and focused on these med school kids. The video again was presented in 1.78:1 1080p by Echo Bridge. Not sure if it's cropped or open matted because the last time I saw this movie was when it came out in 2005 on DVD; video gets a 2.5/5. I have a problem with the audio presented on this disc; the dialogue sounds echo-y and the music is way too loud. Audio scores a 1/5.

Fourth Film: They. A college med student gets a message from a childhood friend who's been having trouble sleeping. It turns out that there's something evil and sinister hiding in the dark. These creatures are coming to take them to hell or whatever.

As you can tell by my last sentence, I couldn't care about this film at all. I found it to be downright horrible. The ending was one of the biggest pieces of BS I have ever seen. It was like; "Why don't they do that from the get-go?" Movie scores a .5/5. The video scores a 3.5/5 as Echo Bridge gives us a 2.35:1, OAR, 1080p transfer. The video has print damage that pops up here and there throughout the film; it's not that bad but it could have been a better transfer. The audio is just average again, like every other film on this disc.

Overall:
Film: 4 + 3 + 3 + .5 = 10.5/4 = 2.625 = 2.5/5
Video: 2.5 + 3 + 2.5 + 3.5 = 11.5/4 = 2.875 = 3/5.
Audio: 2.5/5
Extras: 0/5
Overall: 2.5 + 3 + 2.5 = 8/4 = 2/5

Even though it gets a two out of five, I can recommend this if you need the Dracula sequels in HD. I cannot stress it enough that if you're just buying this for Dracula 2000, skip it and get the Canadian release by Alliance because it's presented in it's original 2.35:1 and has an amazing transfer. They, which sucked in my opinion, was the only film they presented in it's original aspect ratio. Don't pay more than $10 for this release.

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.