Bad Reputation Movie Review

Written by Steve " This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it " Pattee

DVD Released by Maverick Entertainment

I'm keeping my dog Snoopy away from you, you fucking whore. You better not try to fuck him. – Voicemail

Written and directed by Jim Hemphill
2005, Region 1, 90 minutes, Rated R
DVD released August 7th, 2007

Starring:
Angelique Hennessy as Michelle
Jerad Anderson as Aaron
Danielle Noble as Wendy
Chris Basler as Steve
Dakota Ferreiro as Debbie
Mark Kunzman as Jake
Kristina Lauren as Heather
Jennifer Holloway as Carol

The Movie:

Self-imposed outcast Michelle (Angelique Hennessy) is a pretty, bright young lady who spends her school lunches reading under a tree and wishing she were part of the cool clique.

One day, she seems to get at least part of her wish, when the school jock, Aaron (Jerad Anderson), invites her to a party he's throwing.

Being untrusting, Michelle warily accepts his invitation, buys a new dress and goes to the party. Where she is soon drugged, raped by Aaron and his friend and duct taped to a tree for ridicule from her follow classmates and partygoers.

To make matters worse, when she arrives at school the next day, Michelle is crushed to learn she has been labeled a slut by Debbie (Dakota Ferreiro), Aaron's jealous girlfriend. Who happens to be the most popular girl in school. Soon enough, the entire school has jumped on Debbie's bandwagon, thus making Michelle's life more of a living hell.

Eventually tiring of the ridicule and meanness of her classmates, Michelle decides to dress the part, and let people think she really is a slut. But she has another reason for tramping it up — to pay back those who were responsible for both her rape and her reputation.

Review:

Take the characters from Carrie, add the rape from I Spit on Your Grave and throw in a smidgeon of She's All That, and you have Bad Reputation.

Frustratingly unoriginal, Reputation is predictable from go — right down to you knowing who's going to get it, and in what order. As mentioned, Reputation has Carrie's characters. Hell, it has more than the characters, it has a very similar plot — sans telekinesis. Both have shy girls who are outcasts for no reason, both have said shy girls asked to a big event (the prom for Carrie, the party for Michelle), both have horrible things happen to the girls (pigs' blood, rape) and both have exciting endings (the infamous prom, Michelle's second-party finale). Hell, both even have overbearing mothers and the popular girl with the heart of gold who just quite doesn't manage to make things right (Sue Snell in Carrie, Wendy in Reputation).

The rape scene is reminiscent of I Spit on Your Grave. Not quite as brutal as Grave (thank God), it's still unflinching and well directed. For not seeing much, you feel the pain Michelle is feeling. The scene is so…dirty. And cringe inducing. It feels completely different than any other scene in the film because it's the most realistic and, to a degree, exploitive. If writer/director Jim Hemphill ever decided to dip into the exploitive genre, I don't think he's have much trouble. And this is by no means a bad thing.

The She's All That smidgeon is just that, a smidgeon. It's one of those things where Michelle is too damn pretty to be an outcast (before the rape). At least the film acknowledges the fact by mentioning something along the lines of Michelle being in a Freddie Prinze movie.

What truly hurts Reputation, though, is not its lack of originality, but rather its lack of a longer script. Clocking in at 90 minutes, Reputation feels longer. Some scenes drag on entirely too long, and others — like a scene where Michelle confronts the school's guidance counselor — seem somewhat out of place. Although the guidance counselor scene did have the best delivered line in the film, so, ironically, I'm glad it was there to see. But it would do much better as a deleted scene.

Often, I say a good script will make an otherwise mediocre movie good. Reputation, however, is one of the exceptions. While the script is a novice effort, it does have moments. Yet what saves Reputation from fumbling below mediocrity is its above (B-movie) average directing and performances. Even though it's overlong due to an overshort script and its story is really, completely unoriginal, it still managed to entertain me or, rather, keep me entertained for the duration. I easily credit Hemphill's direction for this. While the story is blah, he was still able to hold my attention.

His direction, though, wouldn't mean squat if he didn't have capable actors. Fortunately, he had that with his main characters. While each was equally competent in getting it done, Danielle Noble as the popular-girl-trying-to-do-good Wendy stole the show. Not only was she the most believable of the bunch, but Hemphill was smart enough to add a little depth to her character by explaining why she wasn't so quick to jump on her friends' bandwagon (something I don't recall Snell's character from Carrie having). Her character definitely benefited from this, and, in turn, Hemphill's film benefited from her performance.

I can only see myself going back to Reputation should Hemphill make more films. But, even with its flaws, you can see a budding talent in the director and, all things considered, Reputation is a pretty damn decent start.

Audio, video and special features will not be graded, as this is a screener.

Conclusion:

Bad Reputation isn't something you haven't seen before, but it isn't a complete waste of time, either. There's a lot of talent both behind and in front of the camera, and it's worth a gander to see some future stars should you catch it on the tube.

(Review equipment consists of a Mitsubishi WS-48613 48” HDTV, OPPO DV-970HD DVD player and Onkyo HTS-770 Home Theater System and, in some towns, a Sony 27” WEGA TV and a Sony DVP-NS50P DVD player.)

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 Arang DVD Review

Review written by Steve " This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it " Pattee

DVD released by Tartan Video

Directed by Sang-hoon Ahn
Written by Sang-hoon Ahn, Seon-ju Jeong, Jeong-seob Lee and Yun-kyung Sin
2006, Region 1, 98 minutes, Not rated

Starring:
Yoon-ah Song as So-young
Dong-wook Lee as Hyun-ki

Movie:

Immediately after coming off a suspension, Detective So-yung (Yoon-ah Song — Face) is thrust into one doozy of a case. Seems the victim died from acid. An acid released from inside his body. And this isn't the type of acid those crazy kids are fond of — the only trip these cats are taking is to the morgue.

To make matters worse, there are a couple more men dying off the same way. There appears to be a serial killer on the loose, and the last thing the victims are seeing is a long-haired woman in black (with some freaky blood-shot eyes).

Throw in a new partner and some crazy dreams and So-young has her work cut out for her.

Review:

Did you have that thought when you read the summary? The one that said, "Oh, no. Not another long-haired girl ghost"? It's understandable if you did. I'm with you, because the long-haired girl seems to be losing her power over me. Let's face it, though, she is a traditional part of Asian culture, and if the film is done right, it will still be good. Like Arang. Sort of.

The haunting aspect hurts Arang a tad, because in some movies, suspense is better than fear, and this is one of those movies. Yet, fortunately, the ghost wasn't overused, and there are some great, effective scenes with the haunt. In a way, it's a Catch-22. The ghost scenes work, while not being necessary. Because they work, they help the movie. Because they aren't necessary, they hurt it

At its core, Arang is a murder mystery more than a ghost story because, while the ghost does play a part in the movie (and effectively brings some scares), at the end of the day, it really isn't needed. The movie really works more as a mystery than a ghost story, and by the time the credits roll, you kind of wonder why the ghost was there in the first place.

The thing that impressed me the most is Yoon-ah Song's performance as So-yung, the detective. She manages to be tough without being butch. Many times in movies, if the female lead is a detective, there seems to be an unwritten rule where she has to be over-the-top badass, or have some sort of chip on her shoulder. But Song's So-yung is badass and sweet as pie. Even when she's beating down a suspect — the reason for her suspension — she never crosses the line of becoming Cagney or Lacey. And the best part is, she has a reason to have a chip on her shoulder (which plays into the movie, in a roundabout way), but it's handled extremely well in both her performance and the script. She really is fantastic.

According to IMDB, aside from a short, Arang is director Sang-hoon Ahn's first movie, and I am eager to see more from him. It's obvious he knows how to work fear, suspense and drama into a flick, so no matter what he chooses to tackle, I'm sure it will be great, especially if he focuses a little more on just one genre.

Video and Audio:

Arang's anamorphic presentation is very, very nice. The color spectrum is all over the place, from bright, vivid days to the cold bluish ghost to warm orangish scenes. The picture is crisp throughout, and colors always seem natural.

Like the picture, the Korean DTS track rocks, too. It's full and robust, with each speaker doing its job appropriately.

Korean Dolby Digital 2.0 and 5.1 and English and Spanish subtitles are also offered.

Special Features:

• Commentary by Director and Cast
• The Making of Arang
• Behind the Scenes
• Interview With Cast
• Interview With Music Director
• Deleted Scenes
• Original Theatrical Trailer

As you can see, Tartan Films really packed on the features for this "Asia Extreme" release.

The commentary with producer Min-ho Lee, director Ahn and actors Song and Dong-wook Lee is extremely well done. When they introduced themselves at the beginning of the track, I immediately became concerned. Three men and one woman on a subtitled commentary track. This wasn't going to be fun. But, fortunately, no one talked over one another, and it was very easy to keep up with. The talk is a mix of some funny anecdotes, the typical "he did great here," a little of telling the viewer what's going on onscreen and why some scenes were cut. Overall, it's a decent commentary — one I'm sure I would have enjoyed more if it weren't for the language barrier.

One thing I wish companies would do with foreign language tracks is differentiate the speakers — be it with different colored text on who's speaking, or printing of the name on the screen as they are speaking. It would be extremely helpful.

Both "The Making of Arang" and "Behind the Scenes" featurettes are about a half an hour each of behind-the-scenes material. While there are some fairly quick interviews mixed in, the majority of the featurettes are the filming of the filming of the movie. I enjoy these types of features, but I was wishing for some sort of commentary at points.

The "Interview With Cast" featurette is exactly that — interviews with the cast. It's rather short, compared to the other featurettes, as it only runs about three minutes.

Of the special features, the "Interview With Music Director" is my favorite. Dong-in Jung only talks for about five minutes of this 14-minute featurette, but what he says is pretty interesting (especially when he talks about a music choice he made that the director didn't agree with). The rest of the time is shots from the movie using his score. Seeing that the score is pretty damn awesome, it's a nice watch, and listen. It made me wish for a score-only track on the disc.

The ten deleted scenes consist of both extended scenes and scenes cut altogether, and, after listening to the commentary, I know (and agree with) why some were cut. But I still have to wonder why they cut a scene explaining the lack of teeth in a dead dog.

There are trailers for The Ghost, Cinderella, Shutter, The Maid and Cello, in addition to the trailer for Arang.

Grades:

Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Features:
Overall:

Conclusion:

While Arang might have a little bit of an identity crisis, it still manages to be a pretty damn good flick, easily worth a rental, and a purchase for fans of Korean horror.

(Viewed on a Mitsubishi WS-48613 48” HDTV, OPPO DV-970HD DVD player and Onkyo HTS-770 Home Theater System and, in some towns, a Sony 27” WEGA TV and a Sony DVP-NS50P DVD player.)

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A Thousand Words: Bloodline Movie Review

Written by Steve " This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it " Pattee

Official Site

You know I would do anything to protect you...to keep you safe. Anything. – Ian

Written and directed by Justin Lewis and Jerod Brennen
2007, 26 minutes, Not rated

Starring:
Louie Cowan as Ian
Jason Morris as Steven
Bryan Arnold as Jack
Suzanne Camilli as Jennifer
Hannah Wegmann as Anne
Todd Marquis as Shaun

Movie:

Young Steven is a budding amateur photographer. Dorky, introverted and a little strange, Steven has been warned on more than one occasion to stay away from Jack's girlfriend, Jennifer.

Being the jealous high-school football player he is, his reaction to beat Steven's ass when he catches him taking a picture of his girlfriend is natural.

But while Dick and his Cro-Magnon friend think Steven is creepy, they have know idea the really small the distance the apple falls from the tree in Steven's family.

Because Ian, Steven's father, is not just creepy, he's frightening. And very protective.

After Jack and his boy pummel Steven for the last time, Daddy decides to pay those mean kids a visit and set them straight. For good.

Review:

Short movies are a tough breed to master. You can get the spectacular — like Oculus or most any given "Tales from the Crypt" episode. You can get the pretty damn bad — like a few of the "Masters of Horror" episodes. And you can get the mediocre — like A Thousand Words: Bloodline.

Bloodline's biggest problem, by far, is its story. There's no hook. It's a by-the-numbers story, with stereotypical characters and a predictable ending. One of the things that made Oculus so damn good was its story. What made many "Tales from the Crypt" episodes so damn good were their stories. But, here, there's nothing new. Nothing gripping. Nothing shocking. And when you are a low-budget filmmaker, this is inexcusable, as you already have the odds stacked against you. It's hard enough to get people to sit through an indie horror movie, and when you don't offer anything new, they'd rather sit through a million-dollar mediocre movie than a thousand-dollar one.

Another thing that hurt the film is some of the scenes are poorly executed. In one scene, one of Jennifer's friends is getting hacked up in front of her. She is right by the door watching. Right. By. The. Door. So when does she make a break for it? After the killer gets more-than-a-few licks in on her friend, and looks up at Jennifer. And, goddammit, do we really need the person coming up from the back seat of the car? Does this scare anyone anymore? It's predictable as hell and doesn't work. No, it didn't work in the big budget TCM: The Beginning, either. But while the scare sucks in Beginning, too, that movie can get away with more. Why? Budget. It has better gore, better shots and better actors.

That's not to say the acting is bad in Bloodline. It's actually quite capable across the board. Jason Morris, who plays Steven, is effectively creepy, while Suzanne Camilli, as Jennifer, is believable as the girl of his affections.

The gore (and sometimes lack of), too, is effective. As much as the weaker scenes in the short pissed me off, I have to applaud directors Justin Lewis and Jerod Brennen for the edit. Lewis and Brennen did a damn decent job showing what they had and hiding what they didn't. Many times, low-budget films will go overboard, attempting to show every effects shot, regardless of how it looks. And, many times, they hurt their films because the effects aren't that good. But Bloodline only shows the effective scenes, and is smart enough to let the audience's imagination decipher what the filmmakers couldn't afford to do. One particular scene — the aforementioned scene where Jennifer is watching her friend get hacked — is one of the most uncomfortable in the film's short running time. And you don't see a damn thing.

Bloodline's pace also benefits from its edit. Even at a short 26 minutes, the film moves along just fine. It doesn't get dull, even in its predictability. Something should be said for that.

Audio, video and special features will not be graded, as this is a screener.

Grades:

Movie:

Conclusion:

Ironically, because of its same-old-same-old story, A Thousand Words: Bloodline would be a much better feature-length film because it would give the filmmakers a chance to delve into Ian and Steven's life a little more. As well as upping the body count. But, as it is right now, it's "been there, seen that."

(Equipment includes a Mitsubishi WS-48613 48” HDTV, OPPO DV-970HD DVD player and Onkyo HTS-770 Home Theater System and, in some cases, a Sony 27” WEGA TV and a Sony DVP-NS50P DVD player.)

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The Wedding Party DVD Review

Written by Eric "The Hitman" Strauss

DVD released by TLA Releasing

The Target:

Just the thing for a fellow who got engaged this weekend to watch, The Wedding Party tells the story of what happens when an egotistical, gun-toting father of the groom matches wills — and firepower — with a desperate chef he embarrasses at the reception.

The latest international film TLA has picked up for its "Danger After Dark" line, The Wedding Party might be the most straightforward, and best.

And I'm not just saying that because my father is a pleasant academic with nary a violent bone in his body.

I'm saying that because The Wedding Party has everything you want in a black comedy: Excellent acting, clever writing, a few pretty women and guns, guns, guns.

On Mark and Sophie's happy day, every other couple that travels with them to an isolated, struggling hotel has some kind of dysfunction. Mark's father, Hermann, is an overbearing jackass who stops the caravan to dinner to shoot some pheasants he sees in a field. Mark's older brother, Andy, is almost as bad, but without the pomp and pompousness — "This is just like 'Medal of Honor,'" he gleefully says at one point.

The bride's parents are no happier together than the groom's, and her brother is shamelessly flirting with his sister — who harbors a relationship with one of her father's, um, hired guns that she keeps a secret. Once the bullets — and grenades! — start flying and the booze starts flowing, the problems with those relationships and more pop up, a future of married life in stark contrast to what should be the optimism of such a day.

Everything goes to hell because the wealthy Hermann Walzer has had his eye on the hotel property for some time, but its owner/chef, Franz Berger, refuses to sell despite his struggles. When a "final offer" is followed by a disastrous shrimp cocktail, the wedding party storms out, led by Hermann.

Berger locks them out, citing the unpaid bill, which wouldn't be so bad, except… Sophie and her mother-in-law are locked in the ladies' room.

That leads to a kind of German Mexican standoff, with the Walzers — armed Hermann and Andy and pacifist Mark — outside, and Berger, his staff and guests inside.

If Armin Rhode is forced to play one note as Hermann, he plays it like a virtuoso, complete with tics and twitches and a mix of the charm that's made Hermann rich and the tyranny that's made him such a bastard. Uwe Ochsenknecht gives Berger the right notes of shock, despair and anger, and Arne Lenk and Imogen Kogge do "tormented" well as Mark Walzer and his trapped mother, Hannelore.

The supporting cast is likewise terrific — the script by Jean Van Hamme and director Dominique Deruddere, based on a comic, gives most of the characters at least two sides, and the actors stretch their ranges to match: A happy-go-lucky guy turns violent, a wounded man struggles to stay conscious, a sassy woman turns scared and a quiet one gets drunk and has some fun.

Of course, there are accidents and incidents, and pretty soon everything is so far out of hand, even Hermann and Berger are thinking about backing down.

But a final, awful, accidental shooting leads to what promises to be a violent climax — which leads to an ending that is oddly underwhelming, yet entirely appropriate.

This isn't a horror movie, after all — not every "Danger" after dark is a vampire — but a satire, albeit one with lots of blood and a few beasts wearing the guise of men.

Through the Scope and Earpiece:

The 1.85:1 anamorphic video is mediocre, but serviceable. The picture as a whole is grainy, soft and washed out, but that could be the fault of the source elements. The digital noise during some moving scenes — watching one wounded man twitch could make you seasick — must be the fault of the disc.

The German Dolby 5.1 track is better, with solid bass and some use of the surrounds in a front-heavy mix. There is plenty of shouting and gunshots, and the high end never tops out; the effects also never drown out the dialogue.

English subtitles are optional, as is a German 2.0 mix.

Ammunition:

The only extras are the excellent trailer for The Wedding Party and a series of other TLA Releasing trailers (Strange Circus, Next Door, Evil and the "Danger After Dark" Collection).

Pulling the Trigger:

Movie –
Video –
Audio –
Features –

The Kill Shot:

The Wedding Party is a tightly paced film that still leaves room for characters that keep your attention, and has the fortune to have a strong cast that makes them work. It's a movie in which half the time you don't know whether to laugh or cry — a hysterical scene with an old man and a hand grenade leads to another man's revelations of infidelity and realization that he truly loves the wife he's cheating. Yes, the climax fizzles, and it's almost the only predictable part of the film. But that also means The Wedding Party stays true to its characters, and that's commendable. Not to mention, entertaining.

Overall –

(Weapons of Choice: Mitsubishi 1080 series 42" TV, Sony DVP-CX995V DVD player, Bose Lifestyle 25 Series II speakers, Apple iBook G4 and, in certain situations, Panasonic 27" TV, Panasonic A110 DVD player and Bose TriPort headphones.)

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The Ghost (aka Ryeong) DVD Review

Written by Steve " This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it " Pattee

DVD released by Tartan Video

The ghost is here. – Young girl.

Written and directed by Tae-kyung Kim
2004, Region 1, 94 minutes, Not rated
DVD released on April 24th, 2007

Starring:
Ha-neul Kim as Ji-won Min
Jin Ryu as Ju-ho Park
Sang-mi Nam as Su-in

Movie:

Ji-won has a bright future in front of her. She's about to graduate from college and skip town to greener pastures.

It's her past that's the problem. She can't remember any of it. Poor Ji-won suffers from amnesia.

So when one of her friends from before she had amnesia contacts her, Ji-won's intrigued. Until her friend explains that one of the girls who used to be in their tight-knit group when they were in high school has died mysteriously. After seeing something strange.

If she wasn't digging up her past before, Ji-won dives head first into finding out who she was, and why her old friends are dying.

But the more she finds out, the more she learns she wasn't a very nice person. And there's a reason why her friends are being murdered. Just wait until Ji-won finds out she is the reason.

Review:

When I was a lad, I used to love doing those paint-by-number sets. I was pretty good at painting between the lines, but I lacked the talent my sister had of drawing something from scratch.

Writer/director Tae-kyung Kim must have been a big fan of those sets, too. Because The Ghost is sure as hell a by-the-numbers movie. It's painted really pretty, as there are some great shots, and there are certainly some great scares. But the story is the same you've seen from many popular Asian horror films. Hell, one of the last scenes is dangerously close to ripping off Ringu.

Yet, that's not to say it's bad. Because it really isn't. It just isn't original. Watching it, I was reminded of when Scream first came out, and the leagues of copycats after it. Not all of them were bad, by any means. And there were some that were quite enjoyable. Ghost falls somewhere in between. Kind of like Scream 3. Same old story, but definitely watchable.

But one thing Ghost does, like many Asian horror films, is create fantastic atmosphere. There are some fantastic scenes — scenes that sometimes nothing happens in — that really do a great job bringing the dread. In particular, the pool scenes. Water plays a pretty important part in the film, and Ji-won likes taking frequent dips in what seems to be the world's deepest swimming pool. Having an unnatural fear of water myself (thanks, Jaws!), it's the pool scenes that got to me the most.

Ha-nuel Kim is extremely good as the young Ji-won. At first I thought she was too emotionless, but as the film went on, I realized she was playing it perfectly. She is a very lonely girl, who knows nothing about her past, has a questionable future and has just had death dropped on her lap. What really solidified her performance was a scene where she just breaks down. Up to that point, she seemed to be under control, if not a little too indifferent. But when things finally get to her, I sat up and watched because not only was it out of her character, it was a very convincing performance.

Sadly, though, the ambiance and Kim's performance just aren't enough to make Ghost any more than a middle-of-the-road horror film.

Video and Audio:

The Ghost's overall presentation is fantastic. Its anamorphic presentation is crisp and clean throughout, with deep, solid blacks and completely natural colors.

Ghost's video is well complemented by its audio. The Korean DTS is full and spacious. No audio quirks were heard, and there is a great use of sides and rears.

Korean Dolby Digital 2.0 and 5.1 and English and Spanish subtitles are also offered.

Special Features:

• Cast Interviews
• Behind the Scenes
• Original Theatrical Trailer
• TV Spots
• Tartan Asia Extreme New Releases

The "Cast Interviews" and "Behind the Scenes" featurettes have a combined running time of about eight minutes, and are really nothing more than promotional pieces for the film. The aren't in-depth at all — two minutes for a behind-the-scenes featurette isn't enough to scratch the surface — and the interview "questions" are nothing more than brief descriptions of what the movie is about and what character the interviewee played.

In addition to tv spots and a trailer for The Ghost, there are also trailers for Shutter, The Red Shoes, Cinderella, A Tale of Two Sisters and Heirloom.

Grades:
Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Features:
Overall:

Conclusion:

The Ghost is a run-of-the-mill Asian horror film, but it does have enough moments to make it easily worth a Saturday night rental.

(Equipment includes a Mitsubishi WS-48613 48” HDTV, OPPO DV-970HD DVD player and Onkyo HTS-770 Home Theater System and, in some cases, a Sony 27” WEGA TV and a Sony DVP-NS50P DVD player.)

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