
Abruptio
(2024*/**)/Block
Island Sound 4K
(2020/Synapse 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray w/Blu-ray**)/Crust
(2024/*both Anchor Bay Blu-ray/**all MVD)/Seire
(2021/Film Movement DVD)
4K
Ultra HD Picture: B+ Picture: B/B/C/B- Sound: B/B+/B-/B-
Extras: C+/B/C+/D Films: C/C+/C/C+
Now
for some odd and supernatural releases...
Abruptio
(2024)
is an semi-serious drama played out entirety by puppets. Hoping to
reel in an audience on this premise alone, Abruptio
is a nightmarish experience that you should only wish on your
greatest of enemies or friends who are deep down the horror rabbit
hole.
The
film features the voice talents of Robert Englund (Freddy Krueger
from A
Nightmare on Elm Street),
Jordan Peele (Get
Out,
Us),
and the late Sid Haig (The
Devil's Rejects.)
The puppets are grotesquely designed but expertly performed by the
puppeteers behind the lens. I would definitely say that Abruptio
will likely only be enjoyed by cult film enthusiasts or those who
really like to go over the deep end. It will most certainly be
deemed repulsive by average movie goers, but I think that's the whole
point of what its going for. Shock value.
A
man wakes up with a bomb injected in his neck. In order to survive,
he has to commit horrible crimes in order to stay alive, all the
while figured out who implanted him with the device to begin with.
Abruptio
is presented in 1080p high definition on Blu-ray disc with an MPEG-4
AVC codec, a widescreen aspect ratio of 1.78:1 and a lossy, English
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround with Optional English Subtitles. The
transfer is fine for the 1080p format.
Special
Features: ''A
New Kind of Horror''
featurette and two Feature Length Audio Commentaries.
Abruptio
is skillfully made but crude in execution, limiting its audience to
mainly those who seek out extreme cinema.
An
interesting independent thriller that's worth checking out on 4K UHD
is The
Block Island Sound
(2020). Great locations and a convincing cast help propel the film
directed by the McManus Brothers - who also are writers/producers on
Cobra
Kai
and American
Vandal.
The
film stars Chris Sheffield, Michaela McManus, Neville Archambault,
Robyn Payne, Ryan O'Flanagan, and Matilda Lawler.
Set
in an eerie small town near a large body of water, a fisherman's
family succumbs to an odd anomaly when out to sea - a creepy sound
belonging to an alien entity that penetrates their minds and
influences them to do its bidding. Not once does the sound make its
victim a threat to those around him but eventually they even resort
to ''feeding'' them things when at sea. Which results in a short of
vacuum that sucks up whatever is brought to the source of the sound.
The sensation first affects the father in the family and then passes
onto his son - who gradually disconnects from reality and succumbs to
the wishing of this voice.
The
film in essence views our world as to that of a creature in the
water. An unknown voice brings the fish (or person) up into another
realm of being. To study and to better understand it, much as we
take creatures from the ocean and study (or maybe eat) them.
The
Block Island Sound
looks pretty exceptional for it being an independent production with
a smooth transfer that clearly indicates a high end camera (likely an
Arri Alexa) was used. The film is presented in 2160p on 4K UHD disc
with HDR10, an HEVC / H.265 codec, a widescreen aspect ratio of
2.39:1 and an audio track in lossless, English DTS-HD Master Audio
5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit) and lossy (192 kbps) Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo for
older systems. Synapse has done a great job with translating the
filmmaking elements to disc.
Special
Features:
Original
Theatrical Trailer
A
Practical Apocalypse
featurette
Finding
the Cast
featurette
Filming
on the Water
featurette
Special
Effects on a Shoestring
featurette
Los
Angeles Behind-the-Scenes (Super 8mm) featurette
McManus
Family Home Movies
and
a Special Limited Edition slipcover featuring new art from Joel
Robinson, while supplies last.
The
Block Island Sound
has a vibe that is a bit Lovecraftian in nature and uses minimal
locations and characters effectively to tell its macabre story.
A
few familiar supporting actors take the stage in Crust
(2024), a black and white modern day killer sock movie that takes
place entirely within a laundromat. Written by, starring and
directed by Sean Whalen (Twister),
the film centers on a lonely has-been TV star who lives in and
operates a laundromat and lives a dull life after his brush with fame
at an early age. When he's not dealing with his drunk landlord
(Daniel Roebuck), he's pleasuring himself into a sock and creating a
pile of ''crusty'' socks in a corner of the grotesque back office
that he lives in. One day after getting humiliated by some punks, he
cries into the sock pile, magically creating a murderous sock monster
that becomes known as Crust. Mixed with an awkward love story and an
attempt at themes of jealousy, loneliness, and rejection, Crust
attempts to be funny and dramatic with an outrageous and gross
premise that doesn't really make a shred of sense.
Borrowing
more than a little from the plot of Little
Shop of Horrors,
the dim-witted actor gets involved with random customers in one
bumbling situation after another, which is resolved by the Sock
Monster eating the perpetrator.
The
Sock Monster Puppet is okay for what it is trying to be, but it
stretches the realms of realism as it just absorbs its victims with
no sign of blood stains or puddles even left behind. If the film
went in the direction of Basket
Case,
which it also mimics in some regards, it could have been a gorier and
much different film than what it is. I guess the answer is who is
this film really for? It's a bit too adult and gross to be suitable
for a younger audience and not really gory or insane enough outside
of its premise for a horror crowd. So it's kind of stuck in the
middle of being an odd indie dark comedy that's really 50/50 in its
execution.
The
film also stars Daniel Roebuck (The
Munsters),
Felissa Rose (Sleepaway
Camp),
Alan Ruck (Ferris
Bueller's Day Off,
Twister),
and Rebekah Kennedy (Two
Witches)
to name a few.
Crust
is presented in 1080p high definition on Blu-ray disc with an MPEG-4
AVC codec, a widescreen aspect ratio of 1.78:1 and an audio mix in
lossy English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround with optional English
Subtitles. The black and white HD presentation on the disc is
needless to say underwhelming. There is a large amount of
compression in the image that's very evident in certain sequences.
Crunchy pixelation is notable more than once and the TV segments have
a noisy line that runs at the bottom of the screen, which is the
result of lackluster post production work. The film is shot well
enough for being an independent but the focus drifts on characters
here and there, resulting in a troubled presentation overall. Some
of the audio levels seem a little off with some scenes a bit harder
to hear than others. Overall, the presentation is average and
lackluster even for Blu-ray.
Special
Features include:
Commentary
with Sean Whalen
DOROTHY:
50 Years Later
DOROTHY:
The Bump and Run
and
CRUST
Los Angeles Premiere.
Crust
is a mix of Little
Shop of Horrors
and Clerks
with a splash of Basket
Case,
but doesn't really do anything that those films didn't already do
better. It's a nice acting exercise for the underused actors
involved, but isn't zany or creative enough to really stand out.
Park
Kang's Seire
(2021) is a South Korean horror film that centers on a delicate time
after a newborn's birth where supernatural elements can influence the
child in evil ways. One family lives out the curse as their innocent
child is subjected to unnatural forces partly due to their
irresponsible actions as adults. The film is well crafted and plays
on the urban legends style narrative of the Seire.
The
film stars Ryu Abel, Seo Hyeon-woo, Shim Eun-woo, Kim Woo-kyum, and
Ko Eun-min.
Seire
is presented in standard definition (480i) on DVD with an
anamorphically enhanced
2.39:1 widescreen aspect ratio and a lossy Korean Dolby Digital 2.0
Stereo mix with English subtitles. The standard definition
presentation is up to par with the aging format, but the film is shot
and presented well enough.
No
extras.
Seire
has a creepy premise and operates on a suspense level similar to The
Conjuring
or The
Grudge.
-
James Lockhart
https://letterboxd.com/jhl5films/