101ST
A Company (2013/Inception Media DVD)
Picture:
C Sound: C Extras: D Main Program: D
Eli
Dorsey's 101st A Company (2013) is an ambitious (and
outlandish) low budgeted B-movie set in Poland, 1944 about a team of
undercover soldiers (The Captain, The Sniper, and Black Hercules)
that can take a secret mission to infiltrate a Nazi base on enemy
territory to rescue an undercover mole (a beautiful blonde named
Claudia). The Nazis have been tampering with demonic
experimentations in an attempt to create a perverse army of demons in
an attempt at world domination. In order to create this army, a
virgin young woman must be sacrificed and a serum must be made from
her blood to inject into the test subjects. Of course this madness
must stop! Once stuck behind the enemy lines, the trio must shoot
their way through to the Nazi occult science lab and save the day!
This
movie has everything and the kitchen sink: gore, nudity, Nazis,
demons, exorcisms, karate, romance, satanism, racism, torture, and
even brief rear screen projection. The action is terribly
photographed and executed. Sticking to quick cuts and close ups, the
guns never run out of bullets and everybody is a terrible shot.
Seriously, rounds and rounds of ammunition are fired and no signs of
destruction is shown! The few times the main characters do get shot,
they seem only mildly affected and are ready to go for the next
inevitable action scene.
The
film is full of cheap looking special effects (every once in a while
one or two won't look too bad) and a cast of what seem like first
time actors. I will give them props for the costumes, which are
semi-period specific. The Nazi shoulders wear pretty neat looking
masks and the big-baddie demon Nazi in the last act is notably
awesome. Even though he too is a terrible shot with his huge rocket
launcher and gun that can't seem to hit four main characters less
than a yard away.
Another
highlight of the film is the antagonist - an evil Nazi blonde
bombshell who commands with a red right hand and has no problem
killing virgins or sexually harassing women to achieve her dreams of
an unstoppable army of the damned.
The
mole Claudia serves as one form of comic relief and whom at one point
hides a camera between her double Ds and takes pictures of top secret
missions plans in the Science base. Magically, nobody else in the
room hears the sound of a loud camera clicking off photos. Amidst
its problems, the movie still manages to have some heart at its core
and feels overall like a bad '70s movie made thirty years too late.
Sound
and Picture is standard for DVD. The 16 x 9 anamorphic widescreen
transfer has a very digital look. The film suffers from some bad day
for night color correction that is textbook bad. What I'm
referring to are shots that were taken in broad sunlight and then in
post changed to blue to achieve a night time look. This works
in big budget films but not for a film of this caliber.
No
extras on the disc aside from a theatrical trailer.
Overall
this film is truthfully a one-time watch. It has some fun moments and
an ambitious premise, but its production value and lack of memorable
moments diminishes its cult classic goal.
-
James Lockhart
