New Wal-Mart Exclusive Echo Bridge Titles - June 2013
Ok, I was in Wal-Mart the other day and found some of these in the $7.88 bin. There was three new ones that were out there, and all three were Blu-ray & Vudu combo packs. We have a 6 film horror set, a 4 film horror set with Visible Scars, and a triple feature. The triple feature is Driven to Kill, Too Young to Die?, and a Chuck Norris film. I was bummed about the Chuck Norris film because I've all ready bought the two previous films. It's annoying as hell that I have rebuy a film a thousand times to get a different movie in the set.
I checked out Gingerdead Man 3 on the six film set and the video was decent. Bitrates according to my PS3 was in the mid to high 10's throughout. Video got a little rough towards the end of the film.
I want the 6 Horror film collection for Roman, I don't own the DVD anymore, but would love it on Blu-Ray. I thought it was decent for what its worth, but I would like an Angela Bettis/Lucky McKee film on BD since May isn't releasing anytime soon.
I want the 6 Horror film collection for Roman, I don't own the DVD anymore, but would love it on Blu-Ray. I thought it was decent for what its worth, but I would like an Angela Bettis/Lucky McKee film on BD since May isn't releasing anytime soon.
I'm wrapping up the 4 Horror Features set and it's not that bad. I've still got to watch The Hanged Man. I personally thought All God's Creatures was best so far. Visible Scars left more to be desired. Worst one is A Lure: Teen Fight Club. My God, man.
I'm almost done with the six film set called Horror. Roman and Keepsake are so far the worst in this set. I still have to watch 2:13. Here's my review on the 4 Horror Features set...
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.
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.
Ok, I was in Wal-Mart the other day and found some of these in the $7.88 bin. There was three new ones that were out there, and all three were Blu-ray & Vudu combo packs. We have a 6 film horror set, a 4 film horror set with Visible Scars, and a triple feature. The triple feature is Driven to Kill, Too Young to Die?, and a Chuck Norris film. I was bummed about the Chuck Norris film because I've all ready bought the two previous films. It's annoying as hell that I have rebuy a film a thousand times to get a different movie in the set.
I checked out Gingerdead Man 3 on the six film set and the video was decent. Bitrates according to my PS3 was in the mid to high 10's throughout. Video got a little rough towards the end of the film.
I'm almost done with the six film set called Horror. Roman and Keepsake are so far the worst in this set. I still have to watch 2:13. Here's my review on the 4 Horror Features set...
I strongly disagree on your assessment of Roman. It's not a brilliant movie or anything, but I found it oddly compelling at times.
I strongly disagree on your assessment of Roman. It's not a brilliant movie or anything, but I found it oddly compelling at times.
I know, some people were strongly praising it. I just don't care much for movies where the main character has a severe mental disorder and this whole "Me, me, me" complex. I found it fairly evident when Roman meets Kristen Bell's character and they have the beers on the roof and then takes her back to his place and does her in.
Yeah, and if people aren't aware that Roman was shot in SD on a basic miniDV cam, they're going to be in for a rude awakening when they watch the Blu-ray.
Even though I'm not a fan of these types of collections typically, I do want both of these sets. 1 for Visible Scars and 2 for Roman. Not sure if either are good, but I'd like to check them out.
Even though I'm not a fan of these types of collections typically, I do want both of these sets. 1 for Visible Scars and 2 for Roman. Not sure if either are good, but I'd like to check them out.
On it's individual release, Visible Scars was given a 4.5/5 in the review for the film. I didn't think it was that great. I gave it a 3. In that set, All God's Creatures was the one I liked the most.
On it's individual release, Visible Scars was given a 4.5/5 in the review for the film. I didn't think it was that great. I gave it a 3. In that set, All God's Creatures was the one I liked the most.
Thanks OrlandoEastwood! I'm looking forward to checking them out!
Thanks OrlandoEastwood! I'm looking forward to checking them out!
I like indie horror films, no matter how good or bad that they are. So, if Echo Bridge keeps churning them out, I'll probably buy them.
Quote:
Originally Posted by redrunner97
I hate when echobridge adds in random sequels.
I hope they release Roman, GDM, and KJ separately.
I wouldn't expect Roman to get an individual release, considering it was shot in Standard Definition on a DV camera. The quality is really horrendous.
Full Moon can chose to release Gingerdead Man and Killjoy if they want. It might be a while though, they're still just on their Puppet Master films. Killjoy Goes to Hell only got a DVD release last year from Full Moon.
Just a heads up......I recently bought the combo pack that I found at my local Wal-Mart $7.88 bin. There were 2 blu-rays wrapped together. The first was a 3 horror feature (Salvage, Memory, Mortuary) and the cover said Blu-ray+DVD+Vudu Digital Copy, the second was a 4 horror feature (Visible Scars, A Lure, All God's Creatures, The Hanged Man) and the cover said Blu-ray+Vudu Combo Pack. When I opened both of them up, there was NO VUDU included in either one. No paper, codes, nothing!! I contacted Vudu and sent them pictures of my receipt and covers and got this response "I hope this email finds you well.
Unfortunately, we are unable to add any content directly to your account. The redemption codes for movies are issued by the movie studios, not by VUDU. If you are missing the codes, we recommend contacting Walmart for a possible exchange, or contacting the studios themselves. I apologize for the inconvenience.
Thank for contacting VUDU customer care, and have a wonderful day."
I loved how Vudu says that if I return them to Walmart I might get a "possible exchange" which translates to "they ain't taking them back after you've opened them."
So I contacted Echo Bridge through there website email and have yet to get any response.
I only bought this set so I could add them to my Vudu. I figured I'd post it online so others could see that if you buy these so-called Vudu combo packs from Echo Bridge, you may not get what your paying for. I'm not buying Echo Bridge anymore.
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New Wal-Mart Exclusive Echo Bridge Titles - June 2013
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