Forced To Fight (2011/Image Blu-ray)/Mark Of
The Devil (1970/MVD/Cheezy Flicks DVD w/Barf Bag!)/Ozombie (2012/E1 Blu-ray)
Picture:
B-/C-/B- Sound: B/C-/B- Extras: C-/C-/D Films: C-/C-/D
Here are
some recent exploitation releases.
Jonas Quastel’s
Forced To Fight (2011) is the most
watchable here by default with original Robocop Peter Weller running yet
another clichéd, illegal, underground fighting operation for profit and yes, he
is a mean, sadistic guy who loves power and money. When one of his fighters turns on him, he
goes after the guy and his brother (Gary Daniels) is (add title here) to
protect his brother and avenge his beating.
It is a lame exercise in bad storytelling, Weller is a little over-the-top
with nowhere to go and the fighting is at least decent. Too bad someone beat up the script.
We have
just seen too many of these stories of late and to say the least, this one
offers nothing new. It will be a curio
thanks to Weller and the fighting we gather, but is forgettable. Maybe we should rename it “forget to fight”?
Extras
include two making of featurettes, including one with Weller interviewed.
Cheezy
Flicks has reissued its DVD of the infamous exploitation film Mark Of The Devil (1970) and included a
collectible Barf Bag!
Recapping
what I said on it before, it is “an explicit torture film (nearly torture porn)
that was banned for years (in some places still is) and gave itself a ‘V’ for
violence rating (it would still get an NC-17 today) with some very graphic ads
promising much more. It wastes the talents of the great Herbert Low and
underrated Udo Kier, is out to shock and continues to have a reputation for
being gross. Too bad the script is very weak and the idea was to be on
the documentary/practically snuff film bandwagon. It was a hit and still
has a following, but we cannot see why.
Extras only
include trailers, though some of the Cheezy discs add Intermission shorts.
Finally
we get to John Lyde’s Ozombie (2012),
a purposely tasteless, dumb, stupid, idiotic, lame and pathetic work about how
once Osama Bin Laden (who kept and unleashed zombies in his compound as SEAL
Team Six got him) became a zombie once he was dumped at sea. He walks out of it and goes on a new murder campaign. Yes, it is offensive, but its sheer stupidity
is as awful as anything, the makers are as cynical as they are clueless about
what they are doing and it doesn’t even have any curio interest. Skip it!
The 1080p
1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image transfers on the two Blu-rays both have
motion blur, detail issues, style choices that do not help (like darkening the
frame so often) and tie as the best-looking releases here by default. Just don’t expect any great shots, great look
or demo moments. Devil is letterboxed 1.85 X 1 and looks poor per Cheezy’s usual
cheesy quality as expected and has PCM 2.0 16/48 Mono.
The
Blu-rays both offer DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mixes, but Ozombie is badly recorded often and
tends to have its sound towards the front speakers, while Fight can have its rough patches, but has a more consistent
soundfield throughout to my surprise and is actually not badly edited and has
decent overall sonics.
- Nicholas Sheffo
