Osombie (2012)

Movie: 3/5

Video: 4.5/5

Audio: 5/5

Extras: 0/5

Overall: 3/5

"A Somewhat Original Idea Killed By it's Niche."

Osombie is a big what if! When Seal Team IV went into kill Bin Laden, they had to fight their way through the undead just to find Bin Laden dead ... or so it seems. Bin Laden wakes up as an undead ghoul while being flown out. The helicopter crashes in the Arabic Sea and Bin Laden makes his way back to his homeland while laying waste to everyone in sight. While believing that he is dead; a group of special ops in Afghanistan come across a woman named Dusty (Eve Mauro) who is searching for her brother Derek (Jasen Wade). Derek believes that the cover up is all a lie and soon the truth comes out.

I found the film to be somewhat entertaining; it feels as if this film won't find it's real target audience because of what the film is. The film is CGI heavy and could have used a lot more blood; even though the effects didn't look that bad. Whenever the female soldier in the group is hacking through zombies with a sword, you'd expect her to be somewhat covered in blood. The acting was surprisingly better than I thought it would be. I was mainly expecting something along the lines of a bad Sci-Fi channel movie. I give Osombie a 3/5.

Video: 4.5/5

British studio Signature Entertainment has given Osombie a nice 1080/50i presentation. The film looks like it was shot with a basic HD camera. Quality is pretty good, however there seems to be a shot or two of bad interlacing. Not entirely sure what that is all about. Detail is nice and crisp. Even with the visual effects added into the image at times, it doesn't bring the quality down. I give the video source 4.5/5.

Audio: 5/5

Signature Entertainment has given the film two audio options, PCM stereo and DTS-HD MA 5.1. While I viewed the film in DTS-HD MA, it sounded it pretty great. Then, I went back through the film and viewed it in the PCM and it blows the DTS-HD MA out of the water. It's loud and clear with the stereo track. You can't go wrong with it. 5/5.

Extras: 0/5

No extras on the disc.

Overall: 3/5

The disc is region free, however, a 1080/50i presentation kills it. I do not know how the U.S. disc compares this release. I know when the film came out last year on Blu-ray here in the States, it was going for $13; I managed to score this British release for $3 used. I would say don't pay more than $10 for it. I give this release a 3/5.

Ca$h (2010)

Movie: 2.5/5
Video: 4/5
Audio: 5/5
Extras: 1/5
Overall: 3/5

"This is Thor, Before Thor?"

I will say this, Chris Hemsworth has came a long way from his earlier films in comparison to how great his role is as Thor. I managed to get this Blu-ray off of Grooves Inc for $10 and boy was I in for a surprise. Sean Bean plays Kubic, a man who has traveled from England to Chicago to see his imprisoned brother (also Sean Bean). His brother informed him that he threw his heist money out the window while being chased by the police.

The suitcase full of money lands on Sam's (Hemsworth) car. Sam, in anger, throws the suitcase to reveal money sticking out of it. He takes it home to his wife and they believe it to a blessing from God, until Kubic comes knocking at their door. The couple blew through $75,000 out of the $625,000. While visiting his brother in prison, Kubic is told to ignore it and the money they spent is fine. Kubic ignores his brother's plea and wants all of the money back. Kubic then puts the couple into a journey of hell trying to get the cash back.

For 110 minutes, I felt that the film dragged on and on at times. If twenty minutes would have been cut, I might have enjoyed it more. Obviously, with how it ends, sets it up for a sequel that we will never get. I've seen better performances from Sean Bean and Chris Hemsworth doesn't remotely look like how he does in Thor in this movie. He's all babyface and no muscle. I give Ca$h 2.5/5.

Video: 4/5

This looks like it was shot with a basic 1080p camera judging from how looks in movement. A lot of early HD shot films have this speed problem where it moves a bit faster than it should. The video looks a bit soft at times, but, it is pretty detailed. It's not perfect, but, I can award it 4/5 for the video.

Audio: 5/5

Ascot Elite gives us two audio tracks on the disc, English and German DTS-HD MA 5.1 tracks. The English audio fares better than the video presentation. Hearing the guns lock whenever Kubic puts the clip into the gun sounds nice and crystal clear. Hearing the sound of a plane landing as Kubic comes to Chicago in the opening sounds nice and loud. I have no complaints regarding the audio tracks. 5/5.

Extras: 1/5

Not much in terms of extras. We have an English and German trailer for Cash. Then we have German dubbed trailers for What Doesn't Kill You aka Boston Streets; Cargo; and Nothing But the Truth. And English language trailers with German subtitles for a British film called the Firm and a movie starring Melissa George called Triangle. Quality on all these trailers all look like poorly ripped Youtube videos. It reminds of all the trailers on the Blu-ray for Evil Angel. I give the bonus 1/5.

Overall: 3/5

I went into Cash with high hopes. I was somewhat let down. I don't think it was that bad, nor that great. It all felt that Sean Bean dialed it in and Chris Hemsworth was a new and upcoming actor who hadn't yet landed the role as the God of Thunder. Even Bean's performance in the remake of the Hitcher was better; even in Silent Hill: Revelation 3D where he kept flipping back and forth from his English accent to his American accent. Maybe if you're looking to see it, I can recommend it for the $10 if you can play Region B discs. Will it get a replay in my book? Down the road, one day. 3/5.

Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964)

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

"Germany's First Godzilla Blu-ray!"

Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster was a turning point for the Godzilla series. This is where Godzilla changes from being the destroyer that he is to Earth's savior. After a meteorite crashes to Earth, a group of scientists go to investigate. At the same time, a princess is heading to Japan when her plane explodes during it's flight. Believing that the princess is dead, a mysterious prophet claiming to be from Venus looks exactly like the dead princess. The prophet claims that the monsters are going to be awoken and it all begins to hit the fan.

The meteorite turns out to be King Ghidorah and soon he begins laying waste to Japan. Rodan, Mothra (in larva form), and Godzilla gather. Mothra tries to stop Godzilla and Rodan from killing each other and begs them to stop and to save the world from the wrath of King Ghidorah. After the monsters ignore her pleas, Mothra goes to fight King Ghidorah by herself. Godzilla and Rodan sees Mothra's sacrifice to save the planet and soon the three unlikely monsters begin the battle for the Earth and duke it out against King Ghidorah.

I remember being six years old when I first saw this film, in 1996. I had recorded it off of the Disney channel along with Son of Godzilla. Yes, Disney channel back in the day would actually play Godzilla films. Would you see something like that now a days? No. You would get the crap you see on there today.

What I love about this film is how hysterical it gets when the monsters fight and the sarcasm that they have. You can tell that Rodan is laughing at Godzilla when Mothra is spraying him down and then Rodan shuts up as soon as he gets sprayed himself. This is a film where the suits look amazing and well done. I can't recommend this film enough, 5/5.

Video: 4.5/5

Ascot Elite presents the film in 1080p and uses the Toho remaster from 2008. How does the film fare in comparison to Destroy All Monsters and Godzilla Vs Biollante? It's spectacular. It blows the HD remaster away for Destroy All Monsters. However, there's some scratches on the lens which they couldn't remove. The picture is pretty flawless for an almost fifty year old film. I give the visual presentation 4.5/5.

Audio: 5/5

We have two audio presentations of Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster; Japanese and German DTS-HD MA 5.1. Both tracks sound glorious. Hearing Godzilla's roar and the other monsters roaring and fighting all sounds amazing. Both audio tracks sound great. All around 5/5.

Extras: 4.5/5

We have some great extras, however, most of them are PAL encoded which means it won't work in your Region 1 players unless your player is compatible. We have a 40 minute score version which is in HD. And we have a German commentary track; I have some issues with it. They claimed that Shusuke Kaneko liked Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster so much that he remade it as GMK. Unless I translated it wrong, I honestly don't believe that is correct. I know that Kaneko loved this film and made Shiro Sano and Chiharu Niiyama watch the film. Also, they claimed that the American title for the film was the literal Japanese translation for the film; Giant Monsters Decisive Battle.

We have an interview with Shusuke Kaneko, which is fine and good fun, but; we have scrolling German subtitles from the right side to the left side of the screen. It honestly hurt my eyes trying to read it as moved way too fast. And these subtitles are burned into the video itself. And finally, we have the trailer in Japanese and German. Basically, it's just German audio over the Japanese trailer. I do like the bonus material; however since it's all in German, it won't help all of you. 4.5/5.

Overall: 5/5

This Blu-ray is region free and is a cheaper alternative to the Japanese Blu-ray which costs about $80. I managed to get the German Blu-ray for $17 off of Grooves Inc. Like the Japanese Blu-ray, this German Blu-ray is not English friendly. However, if you've watched this film as many times as I have, you get used to watching the film despite the fact there's no English subtitles. Much like how i can watch the German Blu-ray Casshern and don't really need subtitles whenever it's playing in Japanese or German. This is classic Godzilla, remastered, and very stunning for an almost fifty year old film. I give this Blu-ray 5/5.

Plaguers (2008)

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

"An Homage or Rip-off?"

Plaguers is a film that I cannot figure out. I cannot tell if it's paying homage to space horror films of the 70's or 80's or if it's one big rip-off. A space shuttle returning to Earth gets a distress call from a nearby vessel. Once the crew goes on board, they find four somewhat attractive women and rescue them. All is not as it seems as they turn out to be space pirates. At the same time, the crew are carrying a deadly power source that is broken while fighting with the pirates. Now, the power source's fuel is turning people into blood thirsty monsters. Now the crew and pirates fight to make sure that the ship doesn't make it to Earth or else...

The monsters are not exactly zombies, but, some sort of monsters. Are re-animated corpses coming back from the dead? Yes. It felt more like Lamberto Bava's Demons set in space. It even has some effects shots that reminded me of Demons; like finger nails growing out and teeth popping out of the jaws, etc. I really like how the film wasn't that big on CGI with the exception of what was used for gun shots and bullet effects. I give the film 3/5.

Video: 3.5/5

Presented in 1080/50i, the disc is region free, however, you will need a Blu-ray player that can support this type of video format. Interlacing is seen in a few shots, but other than that; it's got a nice visual presentation. This was shot digitally, probably with an HD camera as opposed to RED. The color pallet is mostly grey as the backdrop of the sets since this is set on a spaceship, but, the green and red are strong whenever we see the Thanatos orb and the blood from the monsters. I give the video 3.5/5.

Audio: 3.5/5

We have two audio tracks on the disc, 5.1 DTS-HD MA English and German. The English audio seems to have some bad ADR work done on it. When one of the crewman starts yelling, clearly, he is yelling something quite different. I've noticed this several times throughout the film. The German dub does sync up somewhat nice to the video. However, if you do get this disc and you speak English, I doubt you'll turn over to the German dub. I give the audio element of Plaguers 3.5/5.

Extras: .5/5
The only extras on the disc are trailers for Pontypool and Delta Farce. Too bad there was nothing in terms of extras on the film itself. .5/5.

Overall: 2.5/5

I managed to buy this off a user who I have bought from in the past off of Blu-ray.com. It is region free, but the PAL menu and the film being encoded at 1080i makes it difficult for me to recommend it unless you have the capabilities to play this on you player. For what the film was, if you got time to kill, I can recommend it. 2.5/5.

From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)

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

Really? FROM DUSK TILL DAWN: ROUND 4!

This marks the fourth review that I have done on the Robert Rodriguez film From Dusk Till Dawn. I have reviewed this film in the individual release by Echo Bridge followed by the double feature which contained Texas Blood Money and then finally in the series release that had all four films crammed onto one disc. To get my views on the film, please visit my review of the double feature from 2011. How does the initial 2008 disc from Alliance (now Entertainment One) stack up in comparison?

Video: 3.5/5

I initially gave the video presentation on the Echo Bridge version 3.5/5. I am giving this version a 3.5/5 as well. The EB release was actually a remastered version produced sometime after or during this Canadian release. The visual presentation is opened up slightly from 1.85 to 1.78; but it's miniscule to worry about having an opened matted presentation since these two aspects are almost the same thing. The visual presentation on both releases of the film has been a debate for some time now; after watching both, I am leaning towards the Echo Bridge release.

I will be giving spoilers in these following descriptions of shots; when Jimmy is now a vampire, the blood on his white shirt in the Canadian release is almost orange. At the almost 1:23 into the film, Kate is thrown by Sex Machine; in this version, you can clearly make out the wires attached to Juliette Lewis. In the Echo Bridge version that's been remastered, wires were completely removed from the shot. Despite the somewhat orange skintones on people in the remaster, the color scheme seems more natural on blood and other things.

You might ponder why am I giving this the same score? The detail is still pretty strong in this transfer and that is a big pro for this. The biggest con on this transfer, and I assume this is why it was remastered, is that the print damage is all over the place. Another pro against the EB release is that the right side of the screen doesn't show any sort of distress which was noticeable after the gang leaves the stock room of junk for weapons. One other thing and this minor, the end credits look like it has finger prints visable throughout on the Canadian transfer. I give this transfer a 3.5/5 along with the remaster, it's all about that concept called the power of suggestion which I will leave for you to decide which version is best.

Audio: 5/5

Alliance (Entertainment One) has given this initial transfer a pretty powerful English DTS-HD MA 5.1 track along with a Dolby Digital 5.1 and French DTS-HD MA 5.1 and DD 5.1 tracks. I think they might have gone overboard on the audio tracks if you ask. To compare audio on both releases, I would give it to this disc. The sound has a more raw and gritty feel to it, whereas the DTS-HD MA 5.1 on the Echo Bridge sounds more subdued. The French dub sounds average in my opinion. I award the audio on this disc 5/5.

Extras: 0/5

Just like the Echo Bridge Blu-ray, this Canadian release has no extra features.

Overall: 3.5/5

As far as I know, this disc is out of print now. After the Echo Bridge Blu-ray came out, Alliance put out a combo pack and a steelbook and from what I read, those two releases contained the remastered version that Echo Bridge used. One of the big cons on the Echo Bridge Blu-ray is that English subtitles are rarely applied to releases and this one falls in that category. If you're a person who relies on subtitles to help you enjoy the film, this Canadian release has English subtitles. I give Alliance (Entertainment One) initial release a 3.5/5.

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.

White Vengeance (2011)

Movie: 2.5/5
Video: 4.5/5
Audio: 5/5
Extra: 1/5
Overall: 3.5/5

"Worth the $5. I guess..."

Two soldiers form a bond to take down the Qin empire in ancient China. Liu Bang (Leon Lai, Seven Swords) is asked by Xiang Yu (Feng Shaofeng) to take back his love Yuji (Liu Yufei, Forbidden Kingdom and The Assassins) to their home. Liu agrees but sees that he's being denied from raiding the Qin empire and taking the throne; this is something Liu's comrades cry foul over. Liu agrees with them and secretly go to raid the Qin empire so Liu can take the throne. Xiang Yu is angered and seeks advice from Fen Zhang (Anthony Wong, Hard Boiled and Black Mask) and learns that this will not end well.

I managed to pick up this UK Blu-ray of White Vengeance along with A Tale of Two Sisters and Evil Angel at Grooves Inc. It has an impressive cast with Anthony Wong, Liu Yufei, and Andy On appearing in it; ultimately, the film is too long. If Daniel Lee (director of Black Mask) could have shortened this by a half hour, I would probably liked it more. Also, I noticed Chinese copyright infringement with the opening studio logos; the first uses the audio from the Sony Home Entertainment credits and the second studio logo has an altered Godzilla roar. Not making it up. I give the movie 2.5/5.

Video: 4.5/5

G2 gives White Vengeance a beautiful 2.35:1 transfer. This transfer is top notch however, I did notice some sort of stutter in the image in some spots. I do not know if that was intentional or not. Cannot complain with how it looks over all. The contrast and color scheme of the overall image is stunning. I give the visual presentation a 4.5/5.

Audio: 5/5

G2 has only given us one audio track for the film; Mandarin DTS-HD MA 5.1. Accompanying the audio is a nice variety of subtitles; English, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, and Swedish. The audio presentation is nice and loud. Audio is demo worthy during the fighting scenes. 5/5.

Extra: 1/5

Before we get to the main menu, we have trailers for Detachment and Transit. Then when we get to the main menu, we only have a trailer for White Vengeance. Kind of a bummer that there's nothing else. 1/5.

Overall: 3.5/5

For $5, it wasn't bad. I think if I had to choose, I'd re-watch Daniel Lee's Black Mask over White Vengeance. It is nice to see Anthony Wong popping up in both of Daniel's films. However, this film is far too long, as it clocks in at 132 minutes. This disc is Region B locked, you have been warned. 3.5/5.