BLU-RAY SPECS
Release Date: November 29, 2011
Rating: Unrated (not suitable for children under 18)
Running Time: 120 minutes
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Audio: English 5.1 DTS HD-MA
Subtitles: English for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Spanish
Special Features: Wadzilla Deleted Scenes and trailer; The Making of The Diary of Anne Frankenstein featurette; I was a Teenage Werebear Trailer, Behind-the-scenes featurette, and deleted scenes; Zom-B-Movie deleted scenes; Famous Monsters interview with the directors; Comic Con director interviews; Theatrical Trailer.
Video Commentary: By the four directors of the film.
THE SET-UP
For the final night at a drive-in theater, four rare horror films are shown, but the real terror is reserved for the attendees in the cars.
Directed by: Adam Green, Joe Lynch, Adam Rifkin, and Tim Sullivan.
THE SET-UP
Chillerama was supposed to be an homage to the campy B-movies of the drive-in era. It presents four stories from four directors (Green, Lynch, Rifkin, and Sullivan) that manage to touch on just about every theme and cliche in the book. Unfortunately, Chillerama is just like many of those B-movie films: it is a great idea gone terribly wrong.
At least many B-movies tried to use some imagination and clever filmmaking to make up for the lack of budget. While Chillerama does suffer from a low budget, it does have over 100 years of learned Hollywood knowledge, modern techniques and CGI to help level the playing field. Yet, Chillerama manages to look and feel completely inept, unaware that no one watching is being entertained. It gets so caught up in celebrating itself that it fails to realize there's nothing here worth celebrating.
The unrated film is heavy on offensive material and has no problem shocking the viewer at every turn. In most cases, they do not push the envelope: they destroy it. Personally, I do not have a problem with the content, if it is done for a reason. Even if it is shocking just to make you laugh or advance the plot in an obscene way, it at least serves a purpose.
Here, Chillerama rarely manages to entertain or do anything but to shock you just for the hell of it. That amateur approach to the movie gets old very quick, and by the end, which has dissolved into a zombie orgy of sorts, the only people having fun are apparently the cast and crew. I literally threw my hands up at an ending that seems like it was made up as they were filming it.
Only two of the film's segments, "Wadzilla" and "Anne Frankenstein," show any sort of attempt at originality. Each managed to get me to laugh a few times, despite the over-the-top subject matter. "Wadzilla" was at its best at its end, when it aped monster movies and used techniques usually seen in viral videos to portray the battle with a giant killer sperm (yeah, you read that right). In "Anne Frankenstein," Joel David Moore (Avatar) was fantastic as he portrayed Adolf Hitler as a tortured mad scientist who hated kitty puzzles. Unfortunately the fun ends there.
Even the few bright spots were quickly extinguished by the inept filmmaking. When the film goes over the line or "goes there," it better be funny or entertaining. It isn't. Considering how this film has been talked up online and at places like Comic Con, I expected so much more. This is not anything here that hasn't been done better by movies like Grindhouse or anything on the SyFy Channel.
VIDEO AND AUDIO
The quality of the film image varies throughout the film, from excellent to fair. With segments of the film shot on digital video often showcased the sharpness, especially in high definition, but it also showed some of the limitations, as some scenes seemed to struggle with motion and darkness. Of course, some of the film was purposely manipulated to look old, which is fine, but other scenes seemed to have trouble looking good. Audio is effective, presenting a DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack with good clarity.
SPECIAL FEATURES
The disc is packed with extras, from behind-the-scenes featurettes to deleted scenes. They are fairly interesting, but the fact that the film is not that good does not help. Famous Monsters features a Q&A with the directors, and another Q&A from Comic Con is included as well. The video commentary, which shows all four directors in a picture-within-a-picture during the feature, is interesting and provides some funny moments.
THE BOTTOM LINE: BUY IT OR REDBOX IT?
Ratings
Movie: C-
Video: B+
Audio: B+
Extras: A
Overall grade: B
Chillerama is a poor imitation of the cheesy B-movies it tries to emulate. You see the jokes and gags coming a mile away, and the film shows no attempt at originality. It's too bad, because some of the segments show promise, but they are delivered like they are made by a 14 year old. Dedicated horror fans may want to give it a rent, but everyone else should just skip it.
Chillerama is now available on Blu-ray from Image Entertainment.
Click here to order Chillerama on Blu-ray from Amazon!
