Tag Archives: Commando

EVIL’s Counterfeit Products are the Bomb! “Knock Off” reviewed! (MVD Rewind Collection / 4K UHD and Blu-ray)

Posted by Steven Lewis on

When confronted with product forgeries by Hong Kong police and company representative, Ray, a longtime Hong Kong counterfeiter trying to go legit by partnering up with Tommy to be a distributing fashion designer of V-Six Jeans, becomes embroiled in a Russian smuggling operation of hiding powerful micro explosives in counterfeit goods being sent around the globe.  With their ability to be activated by satellite waves, the devices can be hidden in all types of products.  The CIA, using Ray to track down another notorious counterfeiter, becomes involved and exploit Rays connection to Hong Kong’s criminal underbelly but double-crossing twist and turns has Ray struggling to trust an ally in his mission to not only find out who is counterfeiting his denim goods but also save the world from infiltrating Russia explosives.  He’ll have to rely on his fighting skills as well as hesitantly trust those who’ve deceived him to unearth the person responsible to clear his name and stop the deadly outbound shipments. 

To start this review with a personal anecdote, I recently sold Air Jordans to an eBay customer and come to my surprise and dismay, eBay’s authentication process determines the shoes a forgery.  I’ve sold many Air Jordan and Nike shoes in the past, successfully through the authentication process, and pride myself on knowing what to for when determining fake product.  This one had me fooled.  An exact lookalike of the Air Jordans that passed my authenticity examination with the company tag that has all the production information including the product identity number, had the correct Air Jordan logo, and the material passed the visual and feel test with substantial promise to confidently market.  Now, what eBay found is completely without reason as I don’t know what they saw or found but what I found in the 1998 campy-action-thriller “Knock Off” surely reminded me that there is always more than what meets the eye.  “Once Upon a Time in China” and “Twin Dragons” action film director Hark Tsui works with western actors to achieve a nonstop, impractical, and fun to watch film that doesn’t letup or provide any downtime.  The script is penned by Philadelphia born screenwriter Steven E. de Souza, the same de Souza behind “Commando,” “Die Hard,” and “Street Fighter,” orders another supersized helping of action on a Hong Kong reality-defying scale and is produced into an extremely 90’s-laden existence by Raymond Fung, Kamel Krifa (“Universal Soldier”), Moshe Diamant (“I, Madman”), and Nonsun Shi (“Double Team”).  “Knock Off” is a production of Film Workshop and MDP Worldwide. 

At the tail end height of his career, the Muscles from Brussels, Jean-Claude Van Damme (“Bloodsport,” “Universal Soldier”), finds himself in a self-deprecating lead role that’s campy toward showcasing his own physique but in a slapstick way.  His character Ray is a likeable, affable, cool type with a tragic past, only touched upon ever so briefly and delicately in conversation, who has resorted to selling counterfeit items to make a living.  Yet, Ray’s trying to pull himself into a straightened arrow by jumping at the opportunity to partner with Tommy (Rob Schneider, “Deuce Bigalow:  Male Jiggalo”) for legit business.  Van Damme and Schneider become a buddy action duo with Van Damme knocking around bad guys with jump kicks and parkour while Schneider provides the comic relief with very few, and pale in comparison, combative fighting moments in what is also the same kind of role from Sylvester Stallone’s “Judge Dredd.”  To Van Damme’s credit, the usually unintentionally funny action star arises some comedic chops in a devil-may-care persona that eventually hammers down to a determined save lives ambition, but not before Van Damme egregiously has to thematically remove his shirt for nearly every action scene or strip down to his boxer-briefs so all can good a good view of his athletic, muscular physique.  The whole course is an objectifying tragicomic, especially when he starts to rip through Tommy’s Hawaiian shirts simply by turning his body or being whipped in the rear by Tommy during a rickshaw race with Schneider commenting about his big, beautiful ass.  Yes, men do get objectified as well.  Van Damme and Schneider are eventually joined early on by Lela Rochon (“The Meteor Man”) as a V-Six Jeans Representative from North America with a covert agenda and the iconic Paul Sorvino (“Dick Tracey”) as a CIA operations supervisor taking on counterfeiting, both Rochon and Sorvino subdue their performances initially for twisted knots in the storylines later on that makes his evolving ensemble that much more entertaining.  Moses Chan, Wyman Wong, and Glen Chin, Carmen Lee costar.

“Knock Off” isn’t your typical Jean-Claude Van Damme beat’em up action-thriller though it follows the same principles as one.  Hark Tsui puts forth a kinetic ball of continuous energy, ever evolving and dynamic to keep scenes from getting stale.  From the opening illegal rickshaw race through the streets of Hong Kong city to the massive Budha temple explosion to the cargo ship container toppling scenes, there’s plenty to behold in Tsui stunt and special effects juggernaut.  A less serious Van Damme with Rob Schneider joined at the hip is the peculiar buddy action-comedy we never knew we wanted, brush stroked with late 1990’s superimposed fireballs and the legendary pushed to the limit Hong Kong stunt effects that look quite expensive and detailed beyond belief.  Some of Van Damme’s swift movements are aided by a stunt wire that’s briefly visible in hi-def and a few of Tsui’s stylistic edits, ones that zoom in, try to seamless transition, and give an interior view of a sniper’s scope or a barrel of a gun is heavy handed in it’s editing.  While Tsui gets his filmic credit as the one-and-only director, it’s stunt supervisor Sammo Kam-Bo Hung (“Ip Man”) who should receive recognition for helming the camera for the stunt scenes.  You can see the different styles being pushed together between Tsui’s unconventional down shot angles and Hung’s more straightforward impact in an action shot, creating an eclectic design that adds to the intrigue, especially in Tsui’s downtime moments of conversation that’s not only witty and fast but at an off centered framing that’s more vertically skewed while keeping the concentration on the actors in a wider anamorphic lens in an environment that seemingly wraps around them. 

They say imitation is a form of flattery but this legit MVD Rewind Collection release of “Knock Off” fawns clear adulation with a 2-Disc, 4K UHD and Standard Blu-ray release.  Coming in as the 6th title on the company’s 4K LaserVision Collection, cojoined with the Rewind Collection label, the HEVC encoded, BD66 4K UHD, presented in 2160p in a widescreen 2.35:1 aspect ratio, is noted having a hi-def restoration with a 16-bit scan of the original camera negative that provides more a dynamic color range and saturated depth.  There’s definitely an improvement and a difference in contrast to the standard Blu-ray with a vivid offering of a multihued Hong Kong cityscape from the HDR10 that’s not offered in 8-bit or even 10-bit color depth.  Interiors are subjected concreated warehouses of the colorless and dark variety but no banding to note and no block distortions.  Textures are surprising not there at the level we’d expect but likely due to Tsui’s heavy use of superimposition effects with green fireballs and other types of overlayed explosions, and the action scenes often retract a good amount of detail too.  The 1080p Blu-ray is an AVC encoded BD50 with the same aspect ratio as the 4K.  It too offers a solid presentation but not to the extent of the 4K and still suffers from the same wishy-washy texturing, but the overall presentation is solid and worth the value.  The English language tracks available on both formats are a DTS-HD 5.1 Surround Sound Mix and an uncompressed LPCM 2.0 Stereo.  For any action film with lots of range, depth, and conversation, you certainly want to go with the surround sound option that harnesses every direction and that’s the clear choice with “Knock Off” as it opens the lines of directional communication with the back and side channels, leaving all the dialogue and heavy LFE lifting with explosions primary in the front and clear immersive resonation.  Dialogue has no issues with the original audio track albeit being ADR but used with the original cast’s voices.  English subtitles are available for selection.  The 4K special features include only an archival commentary from action film experts Mike Leeder and Arne Venema.  The Blu-ray contains te same in tandem audio commentary plus a new interview with producer Moshe Diamant, an archived interview with screenwriter Steve E. de Souza, the original making-of featurette, and the original theatrical trailer.  MVD’s Rewind and LaserVision Collection set comes with a thin, cardboard O-ring slipcover that has faux crinkled front image, the original cover art of the highly original Van Damme with a gun (my hint at sarcasm) like a laserdisc paper sleeve would have.  Inside is the black Amaray with the same primary image for the sleeve art sans crinkling but if you reverse the sleep, you’ll see the classic Rewind Classic design with the same Van Damme image.  The Amaray has snaplocks on each side of the case on the inside – 4K UHD on the right and Standard Blu-ray on the left – with an insert containing a mini-folded poster of the LaserVision Collection artwork.  “Knock Off” is rated R, has a runtime of 94 minutes, and is A region locked.

Last Rites: “Knock Off” is no cheap…knockoff. The Hong Kong production is action-packed, outrageous, and campy fun with Van Damme in taking a step back from being the stoic hero and charismatic hero to be the anti-hero caught in the middle who just knows how to roundhouse his way out of an nefarious Russian plot involving nano-explosives.

You Better Damme Believe It! “Knock Off” on 4K UHD and Blu-ray from MVD Rewind Collection!

Midnight Showing of the Lost EVIL Tape Will Be the Last Thing You’ll Ever See! “Transmission” reveiwed! (Jinga Films, Danse Macabre, MVDVisual / DVD)

Posted by Steven Lewis on

“Transmission” Transmitting to Your Television on DVD!

A Santa Mira elderly man sits in a dark room with a glowing television illuminating his silhouette.  As he channels surfs through the night, amongst what’s being broadcast over the airwaves is a bible-thumping televangelist, a children’s puppet show, an 80’s teen romance comedy, a live local news broadcast of a hostage situation and a documentary on the investigation of the disappearance of notorious cult horror film director Frank Tadross Roth pursued by his granddaughter Rachel and her boyfriend.  Going deeper into Ross’s disappearance through archived interviews with the director and crew, on set raw behind-the-scenes footage, and the examination of Ross’s quest for an obscurely treasured videotape by an occult group, the director’s pursuit of, and his eventual unearthing, of the tape become the push for his last and recently discovered film Transmission, thought to have been lost in a building fire after his suspected involvement of the film’s lead actress murder.  Going back and forth between the channel programs builds a sinister, terrible dread that will soon be revealed to terrorize all those glued to the set. 

Late night television has never been so bodingly evil!  Channel surfing transmits an anthological approach between mockumentary and found footage in this uniquely crafted scrolling of boob tube terror entitled “Transmission.”  The 2023 horror is from writer-director Michael Hurst, the English director behind a pair of franchise sequels in “House of the Dead 2” and “Pumpkinhead 4:  Blood Feud.”  His latest venture takes twist to a whole new level different from his repertoire of linear independent horror with backlot dark legend surrounding an occult obsessed horror filmmaker.  Hurst also produced the film, his first in over a decade since 2017 with Andy Hurst’s (“Are You Scared?,” “Wild Things: Foursome”), alongside other self-employed filmmakers with the How to Kill Your Roommates and Get Away with It” producing duo Robbie Dias and Pat Kusnadi.  New Blood Productions serves as the production studio.

“Transmission” traverses in guile under TV guide pretenses of local channels, channeling the horror through the back and forth of unsettling, televised channels that have a familiarity of broadcast shows – sponsor subsidized children shows, perfunctory local news, and black and white sitcoms – but there’s more than what meets the eye.  The film uses recognizable genre names to get the message across with “Sleepaway Camp’s” Felicia Rose in her most vanilla action news reporter role, “Scary Movie’s” Dave Sheridan as an over-the-top protective father caricature in a teen romance comedy, and “The Road Warrior’s” Vernon Wells at the center of the amassing occult suspense as the missing notorious horror director Frank Tadross Roth.  Over the years, Wells’ performance has tapered to a subtle crawl of expression as if the veteran actor is now just running through the motions of the everyday hired gig that’ll headline his name, unlike his former wide-eyed and eccentrically villainous roles in “Commando” and “Innerspace,” but “Transmission” suits his stern act portrayed in video flashback as an occult maniac and peculiar director gripped by the search of an arcane, dark sect’s perniciously videotape.   Spearheading the effort to track down the filmmaker is his granddaughter Rachel, played by Nicole Cinaglia (“Death House”) with an inexplicable character shifting of gears from curiosity and intrigue from the documentary to the frantic and fearful ramblings of a paranoid hostage taker in the new story stemmed by her findings surrounding her grandfather’s disappearance.  There’s potential gap there in the lack of development, or rather the lack of acknowledgement overall, with Rachel’s parents as it’s just a grandfather and granddaughter affair without the recognition of those in between.  There’s also a gap in Rachel’s attained information about the sect, the videotape, and her grandfather’s endgame as she seemingly has more knowledge about the insurmountable otherworld evil on the horizon but how she got there is a few clicks short to fully bridge.  Sadi Katz, Del Howison, Marcella Di Pasquale, Ben Kaplan, Hunter Johnson, Raymond Vinsik Williams, Jennifer Nangle, McKensie Lane, Jessica Cameron, Charles Chudabala, Michael Glenny, Christopher Bryan Gomez, Ruby Reynolds, Ben Stobber, Mark Schaefer, and Robin Hill fill out the channel surfin’ cast of characters.

“Transmission” has a neat story structure built upon components with the premise being a movie inside a documentary while amongst a flipping through the broadcast waves that coincide with another movie as well as television shows, podium preaching, puppet skits, etc., to which is then wrapped up inside and latched onto another movie, a metanarrative with a preamble setup.  The Roth directed Transmission, presented for the first time on Malvolia’s spooky late night show (an Elvira rip) is a space horror off-brand for the filmmaker that mirrors vaguely the reality outside the boob tube but told through the Rachel Roth investigative documentary that builds the timeline pieces while flipping back and forth between the late night movie and the documentary as well as the scroll through every other broadcastings of paralleling programming in what feels like an antiquated prelude to the cable guide button on a tube television with depicted content that resembles much like what programmed over-the-air decades ago down to the very staticky outlines of porn stars expertly doing their fleshy vocational craft in snowy pixelations.  The edited series of a varietal shows creates an erratic unsettlement with an atmosphere churning over the idiosyncrasy content of what’s eventually to spoil or come to chaos by Transmission’s, or rather ”Transmission’s,” twist ending and what a fairly good twist ending it is, even with the slightly ham-fisted acting, by pulling off misdirection as you think you know where the finale is heading but the forces of evil seep through with a backup plan. 

Jinga Films, Danse Macabre, and MVDVisual present “Transmission” onto a MPEG-2 encoded, upscaled 720p (but upconverted on my player but since this title is shot digitally the image appears fairly good to begin with), DVD5 and presented in a widescreen 1.78:1 aspect ratio.  As stated, imagine quality has a fair amount of detail and intended panache interference amongst a broad range of different aesthetic styles and gels through the varied televised broadcasts from static and grain filters to colorless sepia, to filming scenes on television screens, and to other mock-electrical afflictions inside a digitally shot story truck to intermittently snap normality and cause a rising fear of curiosity amongst the TV goers.  Throughout the picture, there were no noticeable true compression issues with the picture.  Some scenes felt slightly stretched by that I chalked that up to filmmaker style when rendering various programming for the narrative.  Though not listed which format is used, the player registers an English Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo.  With imitating the perspective of someone watching television, audio tracks are distinguished with a flat concave that elevates the pitch but disperse through a single channel.  Emitting through a dual channel stereo, the audio can discern potently through, providing clarity.  When looking at the perspective, we’re either the old man watching the television or when inside the show itself watching from the fourth wall in and subsequently the strength and tone change often quite a bit, creating a rich depth when done correctly.  English subtitles are optionally available through the moving menu.  The DVD is essentially a feature release but there are other Jinga Film trailers that include, “Iconic,” “Tonight She Comes,” “The Protos Experiment,” and this film, “Transmission.”  The DVD comes in a standard single, push-lock, black DVD case with single-side cove art that I personally found gratifying when considering the film as it speaks to the abnormal and drawing glow of a brightly illuminated television in place of a head on top of the shoulders of an opened-armed cultist with a pleasingly red and black contrast.  The DVD is pressed with the same yet cropped image.  “Transmission” has a R rating (no singled-out rationales but there is some language and nudity), has a runtime of 74 minutes, and is region free for all players.

Last Rites: There are no mixed signals from “Transmission’s” gradual rise to impending cosmic doom with an exceptional Lovecraftian twist to nightcap this Michael Hurst channel-hopping and ominous occult production.

“Transmission” Transmitting to Your Television on DVD!

A Little Blow Evokes the Curse! “Cocaine Werewolf” reviewed! (Cleopatra Entertainment / Blu-ray)

Posted by Steven Lewis on

Snort “Cocaine Werewolf” Up! Purchase Here!

A haughty and unpleasant stock trader taking an Uber to a late-night business meeting stumbles upon a drug deal gone bad.  Monstrously bad.  A werewolf intrudes into the exchange, killing three people and biting the trader on the shoulder.  Stumbling into the nearby woods disoriented and with a pocketful of cocaine, his desire to relieve the pain from his shoulder as well as to escape the nightmare of being lost and confused in the woods lies within the white as snow narcotic housed on his person, but every time he takes a nasal hit, his addiction curses him into becoming like the wolf that attacked him.  Happening across a film crew shooting a microbudget horror film and having no clue what’s happening to him, he partakes with the director’s cocaine habit that fuels his inner beast to come out and hunt them down one-by-one to rip them to shreds high on nose candy. 

Much the same way the farcical “Sharknado” gave birth to a few analogous action-horror spoofs with similar ridiculously punned titles, such as “Clownado” or “Lavantula,” that combines a vilified thing with one of the many wraths of mother nature, 2023’s “Cocaine Bear” too began the same conceptual nonsense that spewed out “Attack of the Meth Gator,” “Cocaine Shark,” and now, we’re treated to the next level of hopped-up creatures with “Cocaine Werewolf.”  Helmed by longtime microbudget horror filmmaker Mark Polonia, under the Polonia Bros. Production banner, and penned by first time screenwriter Tyger Torrez, the 2024 horror-comedy cuts the werewolf’s bane with powdery coke, spiraling the legendary lycanthrope into a stimulated frenzy of blow.  “Camp Blood’s” David S. Sterling of Sterling Entertainment funds the in-and-around Wellsboro, Pennsylvania-shot project with fellow producers Ford Austin (“Dahmer vs. Gacy) and Cleopatra Entertainment’s Tim Yasuni and Brian Perera (“Frost,” “The Black Mass”) serving as producer and executive producer. 

Returning to the schlocky world of penny-made horror is Brice Kennedy who has reconnected with Mark Polonia since “Razorteeth” and “Splatter Beach” from 2007.  Shortly after Mark’s brother, John Polonia, unexpectantly died in 2008, Kennedy returns to the in front of the camera scene in 2024 after a lengthy hiatus of 17 years.  Kenney takes the lead role of the cocaine addicted stock trader bitten to become a rampaging werewolf with a proclivity for nose blow.  The West Virginia native never lost a step in those 24 years of off camera with a smooth slip into an obnoxiously crass stock trader jostled to wander the woods and to be anxious to get to the next snort of his pocket narcotic.  Kenney plays on a fraction of the rubber masked werewolf, with Mark Polonia and others donning the snarling molded and faux hair stitched latex, but we don’t know or can’t tell which portion of the man-wolf Kenney portrays.  Brice carries much of the story until he meets the film crew halfway, through the muck of drug deals gone sour between actors James Carolus and Titus Himmelberger of “Sharkula,” a pair of unlucky drivers behind the wheel of their cars in Michael Korotitsch (“Motorboat”) and Marie DeLorenzo (“Sister Krampus”), and two hunters, from James Kelly (“Sharkula”) and Jeff Kirkendall (“Motorboat”) suspicious of the recent mauling deaths of their neighbors and find themselves way over their head with the animal that’s causing all the carnage.  Principal position shifts from being solo to a shared introduction of the film crew, exploring satire of making a low-budget, independent horror movie about a hackneyed clown slasher (Noyes J. Lawton, “Virus Shark”) chasing two girls through the forest.  Those two females leads, Jamie Morgan (“Motorboat”) and Greta Volkova (“The Last Frankenstein”), get put through the trope wringer with lesbianism tendencies and gratuitous shower nudity, not to also neglect mentioning being damsels in distress from a killer clown, and become centrically the focus toward heroine, aka the final girl, as the cocaine werewolf infiltrates their small band of filmmakers.  Hot on the savage beast’s trail is Ken Van Sant (“Virus Shark”) as the local sheriff baffled by what’s tearing people apart.  If you couldn’t tell already, the cast is comprised of Mark Polonia regulars, those who have worked together on numerous projects, and have a kind of inner circle rapport with each other from the various Mark Polonia Bros. productions and this also includes Cody Losinger, Tim Hatch, Yolie Canales, and Alyssa Paige that rounds out “Cocaine Werewolf.”

I had promised myself after reviewing “Motorboat” dismally, I would stay away from another Mark Polonia production but because of my personal philosophy and prejudge avoidance policy of not researching and previewing films before watching them for critical analysis, I burned myself into Mark Polonia’s world once again.  I was duped in part of Cleopatra Entertainment being partnering producers and the distributing label as they’re becoming well known for release moderately subpar horror product and have their own entourage line of actors, actresses, and filmmakers, such as Devanny Pinn and Brandon Slagle, with notable B-movie guest stars like William Shatner (“Star Trek”), Vernon Wells (“Commando”), and Udo Kier (“Blood for Dracula”) in some of their releases.  Additionally, I absolutely enjoyed “Gun Woman’s” Kurando Mitsutake from print-to-film manga adapted “Lion Girl” that recently saw the physical media light.  Unfortunately, I did not get the same pleasure out of “Cocaine Werewolf” under Polonia’s formulaic filmmaking and while Polonia does apply some effects techniques, mostly off-kilter visual f/x such as the added cold breath, the blood spurts, or the swirling faces that indicate human-to-wolf transition, but there isn’t a consistency to them and doesn’t blend into “Cocaine Werewolf’s” whole tone in what is more of a convenience choice rather than a unifying or connective element.  “Dead Ant” and “Psycho Goreman’s” Josh Wasylink’s werewolf mask design would be any kid’s Halloween wet dream in what has pretty remarkable detail contrasted against the microbudget.  Granted, there are not pneumatic or hydraulic components to the constant mask but a little blood here, a little blood there, and some glowing red eyes and you got yourself a damn good-looking, classic-feeling werewolf. 

From Cleopatra Entertainment, the film division of music label Cleopatra Records, comes “Cocaine Werewolf” onto an AVC encoded, 1080p high-definition, BD25 Blu-ray. Frequently lacquered in a CIG haze, the ungraded image manages to retain a solid definition of sharp detail presented in an anamorphic 1.85:1 aspect rato. This can be good and bad for the image quality that while really creates delineation around textural clothing and the ample foliage it can also really expose to a fault and emphasize the rubbery inanimate mask along with the large cut out eyes, blackened with dark makeup to try and make the mask and the actor seamless. Depth is fine and medlied across multiple locations and the color range has natural, varied pop, diffused into the smokey trope atmospherics and angled up and key lit cinematography by Paul Alan Steele. Blacks are slight washed but not crushed or with significant banding. Like most Cleopatra Entertainment releases, the soundtrack overwhelms enough of the other audio layers in this English language LCPM Stereo 2.0 that it slightly takes of the edge of the impact, but the lossless quality awakens the snarling, growling werewolf noises and the dialogue is amply consistent throughout that even the Gothic rockabilly score from The 69 Cats doesn’t fully immerse viewers solely in the band’s dark melodiousness. Bonus content includes a Mark Polonia commentary, which the director is usually pretty good about supplying and supporting for most of his work, an image slideshow, and the trailer plus trailers for other Cleopatra Entertainment releases. Physical attributes of the conventional encased Blu-ray include an uncredited but insane Red Riding Hood inspired illustration on the front cover. There is no reverse side of the cover nor are there any inserts included in his release and the disc is pressed with the same front cover image. The unrated Blu-ray comes region free and has a runtime of 80 minutes.

Last Rites: “Cocaine Werewolf” is better than most of the contemporary Mark Polonia body of work, but the heart-pounded effects of his laced comedy-horror is not addictive enough to produce the euphoria to warrant another line hit, leaving this derived werewolf indie in withdrawals.

Snort “Cocaine Werewolf” Up! Purchase Here!

Punk Rock EVIL For All the “Wrong Reasons” reviewed! (MVD Visual / Blu-ray)

Posted by Steven Lewis on

“Wrong Reasons” is this Year’s Punk Rock Film!  

Australian punk rocker Kat Oden has fame in her home country and is steadily trending in the U.S. but when a masked man kidnaps while she lays unconsciously high in a drugged-out stupor, she wakes up being chained to a bed far away from where she was abducted.  Her mild-mannered kidnapper’s intentions revolve around getting Kat clean of narcotic impurities while the media circus explores wild theories, interviews her self-centered parents, reveals ugly secrets of her American rocker boyfriend, and follows the browbeaten investigation of an actor-turned-detective handling the Kat Oden case.  When the detective goes rogue, burned out by constant belittlement from his chief and being blamed for the inadequacies of his clownish subordinate officers, he makes a deal with an eager news reporter to give them the exclusive solving of the case for his own news show.  As he inches closer to finding Kat, the kidnapper and Kat dynamic undergoes significant strides to understand one another’s wayward reasons. 

The one major difference between major studio productions and the micro independent features shooting during peak COVID weeks, months, or years was the indies made use of the time whereas the bigger budgeted and the hundreds of cast and crew employed were virtually on furlough, hiatus, or just plain scrapped future movie ideas altogether.  Independent films had structural concept advantages, such as a smaller cast and crew to lessen the changes of infection, locations were typically limited so travel was not necessary, and indies sometimes would shoot guerilla style anyway to capture the scenes required for the story.  Writer-director Josh Roush, who lived and breathed producing Kevin Smith documentaries for the “Clerks” and “Dogma” director’s more contemporary credits, decided to pivot into the fictional route and just as soon as his dark comedy script for “Wrong Reasons” was about to start principal photography fruition, the world shut down in a pandemic lockdown.  However, a global emergency didn’t hinder Roush’s ambition and scaled down his crew and cast on set to get the job done. Executively produced by Landon Thorne, Kim Leadford, and Kevin Smith doing his version of Cameo appearances as well as David Shapiro contributing the other half of the funds, “Wrong Reasons” is a production of Rousch’s AntiCurrent Media, with Liv Roush and Matthew Rowbottom producing, and Shaprio’s Semkhor Studios.

In the role of Kat Oden, a real life Australian making her full-length feature film debut, is none other than director Josh Roush’s wife, Liv Roush.  Co-producing the numerous Kevin Smith making-of featurettes and other independent productions, including her husband’s music videos, Liv Roush has always been a face behind the camera and now she’s stepping Infront of the camera, mainstage as the center of a kidnapping ordeal being a promising up-and-coming punk rocker who has lost her way by sinking into drugs and an objectifying relationship with an egotistical American rocker.  While Roush can obviously handle her own being chained to bed in fishnet stockings and dip into a range of rage, fear, hurt, and acceptance, “Wrong Reasons” splits the story with another centric character in Detective Dobson.  Kevin Smith film regular Ralph Garman has a grip on the competent yet pent up case detective Charles Dobson but the detective goes through a series of case mishaps to scheming his own rogue operation that pulls away from the Kate Oden kidnaping ordeal perpetrated by James Winandi, an ambiguously misunderstood role by James Parks (“Red State,” “The Hateful Eight”), son of the legendary actor Michael Parks (“Nightmare Beach,” “From Dusk Till Dawn 3”).  The connection made between Winandi and Oden faces challenges in fully fleshing out what Winandi is trying to accomplish in by removing the lyrically strong and influential rocker toward a path of permanency for other listeners to experience the epiphany that befell Winandi.  It’s a motivation that couldn’t be grasped fully because we’re more invested in this parallel plot of Dobson’s working of an advantageous angle for himself that the message or the theme becomes lost in the superficiality for one’s own sake.  The cast rounds out with perfectly suitable supporting cast including Teresa Ruiz, Daniel Roebuck (“Final Destination,” “31”), David Koechner (“Cheap Thrills,” “Snakes on a Plane”), Matt Passmore (“Jigsaw,” “Come Back to Me”), John Enick (“Project Eve”), Harley Quinn Smith (“Once Upon A Time in Hollywood”), Kym Wilson (“Deadly Cheer”), true to form punk rocker Donita Sparks of L7, Darren Hayes of duo band Savage Garden, as well as a relatively quiet genre icon Vernon Wells (“Commando”) as Kat Oden’s dad and Kevin Smith as the a news cameraman in cargo shorts.

The divided narrative limps unbalanced between the two parallel storylines soon to collide in eventual finality.  We don’t really receive much wisdom, clarity, or even any kind of progressive dynamic between Oden and Winandi who quickly and quirkily come to a sensible understanding with Winandi’s masked kidnapping and Oden being chained to the bed. There’s also piped in televised news reporters covering the kidnapping case or verbally attacking the president or something enthusiastically bias and gospel from the news channels in what becomes a motif of media circus frenzy, corresponding also with the live news coverage that vultures around the Oden case. What Roush is attempting to convey through the unlikely kidnapper and kidnappee pairing doesn’t strum the right chords and flutters in place to where we’re not exactly sure how Kat Oden’s music affects her kidnapper given little-to-no backstory on him and not foreseeing a future outcome of his act in what is almost an akin to winging the situation.  Instead, we’re more engrossed into Detective Dobson’s downtrodden investigation.  A seemingly capable detective with good instincts, negotiating with suspects, and even has a new woman in his bed every night, the luck he has with his professional counterparts, subordinates, and report-to doesn’t necessarily reflect his personality.  When Dobson starts scheming to finally be the one top, the audiences’ attention shifts from the fluttering wrong reason to kidnap your idol to the wrong reason for turning into a self-serving public servant.

“Wrong Reasons” has all the right A/V and bonus content moves on MVDVisual’s Blu-ray release.  The AVC encoded, high-definition 1080p package is presented in a widescreen 2.85:1 aspect ratio.  Cinematography by Josh Roush and Matthew Rowbottom ensure the look Roush wants to obtain for his first feature length fiction, a clean less-is-more, truth-in-practicality visual that often echoes Kevin Smith’s earlier body of work on the indie scale.  The Blu-ray’s BD50 storage capacity handles compression well to thwart any artefact popups and the limited variety of color range, aka a more natural grading, doesn’t pressure the digitally shot film to crumble under the compression.  Details are sharp and textural in what is a solid visual presentation.  The English DTS-HD 5.1 surround sound is equally comparable with a dialogue first clarity.  There’s slight continuous feedback on the underlay, perhaps equipment interference picked up by the mic as it becomes a constant throughout.  Range is also limited to what is essentially a talk head picture with bits of action here and there with “Wrong Reasons” driven by the performances rather than by action.  “Wrong Reasons” is made for and presented by punk rockers with a film that’s very much dedicated to the music genre.  The soundtrack highlights a faction of the punk rock with bands such as Tim Armstrong, L7, The Wipers, Channel 3, The Unseen, Black Flag, and Bi-Product having tracks on the production.  Optional English subtitles are available.  Special features include an lengthy but informative Kevin Smith introduction in his very animated and enthusiastic Kevin Smith style, an audio commentary with director Josh Roush, producer Kevin Smith as well as another a second audio commentary with the director alongside co-producer Matthew Rowbottom, composer Cam Mosvaian, and wife/star Liv Roush, a Q&A session with the Roushes, Kevin Smith, Ralph Garman, and James Parks, deleted scenes and outtakes, Josh Roush’s short film “Idiot Cops,” and the original theatrical trailer.  The exclusive MVD release comes with a cardboard O-slip of a generically staged, or promo-esque, Liv Roush ankle-chained to a chair with a masked man standing next to her in non-menacing positions.  Inside is a reversible front cover of the same image, but I prefer the reverse side of the black and red illustrated silhouettes of the same character inside the clear Blu-ray snapper as it invokes more intrigue and suspense.  The disc art misleads with a horror composite of Kate Oden screaming, looking afraid, and the kidnappers mask hard lit to look more dramatic.  There are no insert materials.  The not rated film has a runtime of 97 minutes and has region free playback.  Josh Roush’s debut dark comedy has transference troubles, perhaps I’m not too punk enough to fully absorb how the music should move me, but we see acting veterans and greenhorns mix it up fitly for this COVID era picture.  

“Wrong Reasons” is this Year’s Punk Rock Film!  

Vengeance Knows No Price on EVIL’s Head Alive. “L.A. Bounty” reviewed! (Scorpion Releasing / Blu-ray)

Posted by Steven Lewis on

“L.A. Bounty” on Blu-ray and Available to Purchase at Amazon.com

When a Los Angeles mayor candidate is kidnapped from his home at gunpoint, suspicions immediately turn to the incumbent mayor in what seems cheap move to remove a rival, but the abduction is no snatch and grab for a quick buck and political advantage.  All-around prevailing bad guy Tim Cavanaugh is the spiritually unhinged mastermind orchestrating the scheme behind the scenes.  When the police don’t have a clue what to do next other than to wait for kidnapper demands, bounty hunter Ruger steps into the fold with a coerced hot tip about the kidnapping plan.  With a score to settle in the death of her ex-partner, Ruger is hot on Cavanaugh’s tail, foiling multiple assassination attempts on a witness, the mayor candidate’s wife, by Cavanaugh’s men, and determined to put an end to Cavanaugh once and for all.

If you’re a Sybil Danning fan whose had enough of seeing the blonde genre film icon in skimpy, or even sans, clothing, then “L.A. Bounty” should be your next upcoming feature with a leather-cladded Danning, in a nearly dialogue silent performance, blasting away henchmen left-and-right with a pump action shotgun.  The 1989 action thriller is penned by Michael W. Leighton (“Rush Week”), based off a story from the “Chained Heat” and “Howling II …. Your Sister is a Werewolf” cult actress and directed by “Power Ranger” franchise director Worth Keeter.  Before made-for-TV round house kicks, Zordon, and Kaiju monsters and machines that has become the mega “Power Ranger” franchise, Keeter had made a modest life out of obscure indie horror with “Dogs of Hell,” worked with buxom blondes such as Pamela Anderson in the thriller “Snapdragon,” and even dabbled in the exploitation ventures of Earl Owensby productions with “Chain Gang.”  Filmed in and around the Los Angeles area, “L.A. Bounty” is the ex-con gone vigilante with a vendetta from the production team of the Danny, Robert Palazzo, and S.C. Dacy founded Adventuress Productions International as well as a production of Leighton & Hilpert Productions, with Michael Leighton producing, and presented by the Noble Entertainment Group.

As one of renowned queens of scream, Sybil Danning, is a recognizable icon amongst low-budget horror fans as well as cheap thrill actioners and sexy thrillers.  So much so, that her fame has granted her the opportunity to work on a passion project where she can be the Sylvester Stallone or Chuck Norris shoot’em up action hero that was a popular juggernauting ilk in the 80’s.  Cladded in leather and denim, Danning plays the silent, strong type with emphasis on the silent. Her character, an ex-cop named Ruger now a bounty hunter looking to even the score with Cavanaugh who ruthlessly wasted her partner, has roughly three lines in the entire 1 hour and 25-minute runtime, but Ruger is in full blown view of being badass with a large gun and unafraid to use it on mindless grunts. Danning coldness compliments the contrary with Wings Hauser’s babbling, manic psychopath. The “Mutant” and “The Wind” actor’s sordid bad guy Tim Cavanaugh has a special relationship with God, warped by his twisted nature for organized chaos, but is unable to keep trusted entourage due to the fact he keeps killing them for not being able to nix Ruger. Hauser is fantastic to watch as the unconventional villain of unpredictability. For instance, Cavanaugh never leaves home base, a storage warehouse full of crates and containers and apparently inside those crates and containers are mechanism and gadgets to thwart off unwelcomed guests. As Hauser improves dancing through the hallways and displays erratic behavior while painting, we’re starting to realize Cavanaugh’s mindset is one we’ve seen before but without the Joker face paint and the act is entertaining and pairs well with Danning’s stoicism. While Ruger and Cavanaugh are obviously the main course, veteran TV actor Henry Darrow (“Tequila Body Shots”) and a slightly younger veteran TV actress Lenore Kasdorf (“Amityville Dollhouse”) appetize in between with sticking to the script of a routine kidnapper scenario, offering little to motivate the direction the story itself works toward itself. Robert Hanley, Van Quattro (“Agnes”), Bob Minor (“Commando”), Frank Doubleday (“Escape from New York”), Robert Quarry (“Count Yorga, Vampire”) and Maxine Wassa (“No Strings 2: Playtime is Hell”) as Cavanaugh’s nude muse for his art.

“L.A. Bounty” is about a bounty hunter tracking down an old adversary for retribution but other than a few pieces of wanted paper notices, there’s really no other indication that Ruger is like Dog Chapman the Bounty Hunter although the platinum blonde hair would suggest otherwise.  Sybil Danning is definitely sexier in leather and denim than Dog and sure does talk a whole lot less but as a part of general audience pool and with a title that suggest such a profession, wouldn’t it make more sense to build up Ruger’s caseload with a few introductory chases before we’re chin deep in the Cavanaugh obsession?  Also, that motivational drive that sends Ruger down a path of payback lacks substance and is sullied by a script snafu of Ruger having a flashback of Cavanaugh executed her partner despite not being present.  Fortunately, “L.A. Bounty” is not a feeble farce of an action flick.  Danning is a striking, statuesque presence, the squibs exhibit a bloody gun blazing firefight, and if you’re a disappointed perv in Danning keeping her clothes on this time around, there are a handful of brief nudity scenes from other actresses sprinkled throughout.  One of the other highlights is the eclectic score arrangement by then “Heart” guitarist Howard Leese and John Sterling of “Revenge of the Cheerleaders.”  With a Jan Hammer-esque synth-tense wave, a cop melodrama guitar riff, presumably provided by Leese, and a contemporary tribal beat, “L.A. Bounty” has immense range for every scenario with its own personal composition that’s high energy, catchy, and fits the action.

“L.A. Bounty” differs from any other role in the Sybil Danning canon that’s mostly action and barely any talk and is dead set on broadening the cult actress into the popular rogue cop role of the late 80’s-early 90’s. Scorpion Releasing presents the original MGM vault material of “L.A. Bounty” on a high definition, 1080p, AVC encoded Blu-ray release with an anamorphic widescreen 1.85:1 aspect ratio. The 35mm stock has retained its blue-ribbon quality from over the years and the transfer really accentuates the near timeless picture with a brilliant, well-balanced, color palette, an even contrast for production lighting to properly illuminate around the faint and dense shadows, and no noticeable meddling against a natural grain with a pleasant texture scheme. The English DTS-HD stereo mix is mighty donkey that might be lite but packs a punch when it kicks. The release could benefit from a multi-channel surround sound output to give a tumultuous sense of melee gun battles. Dialogue is clean, clear, and ample with good depth definition and plentiful range in ambience. Optional English SDH subtitles are available. What’s essentially a bare bones release, the Blu-ray only comes with chapter selection and setup options. The physical attributes echo the supplementary material with a traditional Blu-ray snapper with outer latch and cover art based off the film’s original one sheet. The film is rated R, is region A hard coded, and has a runtime of 85 minutes. “L.A. Bounty” remains a step or two above the Andy Sidaris guns, girls, and giant explosions fare with gilt-edge performances and stylistic avenues representing the best of the originating decade in what is the most divergent film of Sybil Danning’s typically typecasted career.

 

Hunt down “L.A. Bounty” into Your Sybil Danning Collection! Purchase here!