Forced Entry Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		1.5
Video		3.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		2.0

Forced Entry Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov March 29, 2023

Jim Sotos' "Forced Entry" (1976) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Dark Force Entertainment. The only bonus feature on the release is an alternate version of the film with rare footage. In English, without optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.

If you want to convince a good friend to watch Jim Sotos’ Forced Entry, with or without you, your best move should be to repeatedly declare that Tanya Roberts made her acting debut in it way back in 1976. You should remind your friend that soon after Forced Entry Roberts would go on to appear in the classic TV show Charlie's Angels and just a couple of years later land her famous part in A View to a Kill. I guarantee your friend will be intrigued and willing to see Forced Entry. However, I cannot guarantee that your friend would reach the final credits of Forced Entry because this film is such an awful amateurish stinker it is hard to imagine how Sotos managed to complete it. Needless to say, your promotional work could very well be the last time your friend listens to anything you have to say about films -- genre films, mainstream films, or any other films.

Before I sat down to view Forced Entry, I was a bit like your friend -- clueless but curious and willing to give it a chance because I noticed that Nancy Allen had a part in it as well. C’mon, Roberts and Allen in a genre film from the 1970s directed by the man who made the silly but quite entertaining comedy Hot Moves a decade later. I would not expect a neglected masterpiece of American cinema, but a decent genre film that could look pretty good if seen in the wee hours of the night? You bet. This is exactly the kind of genre film I expected and was mentally prepared to see.

Instead, I think that I discovered one of the worst genre films to emerge from the 1970s. Yes, I am sure that if you dig a little deeper you may uncover an even bigger stinker that looks bad too, but it could be so because it was likely made to look bad. Forced Entry wants and tries to take itself seriously but produces an incoherent mess of amateurish visuals, which is why it is such an infuriatingly poor film. There are student projects, like Dark Star, whose understanding of basic camera movement and composition makes them look like timeless masterpieces, so how did Sotos keep shooting uninterrupted?

Roberts and Allen appear on the radar of a closeted pervert (Ron Max) whose mind routinely switches into a semi-trance mode that transforms him into an animal. You can guess what happens then, can’t you? The animal goes out hunting, raping, and killing. Roberts is attacked and abused in her posh suburban home while her husband is away, while Allen is a hitchhiker who is given a ride. A couple of other girls have horrific experiences, too. This is it. Forced Entry does not tell a proper story and does not produce proper character arcs, it is just a collection of uneven, badly shot episodes featuring meaningless chatter and plenty of screams.

During the prologue, there is a glimpse of what Forced Entry could have been and perhaps should have been. As the animal drives through the neon-lit streets of a busy city area, he begins a monologue that reveals his prejudices and the powerful nihilism that fuels his anger. But instead of using the monologue to deliver a genuinely dark and unsettling film, Sotos abandons it and begins hanging with the animal, casually observing him until he gathers enough footage for an instantly forgettable film.

The sound design is as poor as the editing. Part of me is not surprised because it makes sense given how random the bulk of the footage is, but part of me thinks that someone tried to do something unique with it and quickly gave up. The monologue from the prologue suggests that the mind of the animal could have been a separate character, but later in the film the scattered lines and noises effectively reject such an advanced possibility.

Forced Entry Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Forced Entry arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Dark Force Entertainment.

The quality of the visuals is acceptable, but you need to keep in mind that it varies and time has very effectively left its mark. Also, I am going to speculate that the party that prepared the current master did some reconstructive work as well because a couple of spots look like upscaled material. So, most nuances and smaller details are not as good as they need to be and plenty of darker areas convey some crushing. Depth varies a lot. In some areas, on top of existing fluctuations, obvious traces of fading have a substantial impact on depth, too. Color balance is acceptable, but it is immediately obvious that in an ideal world saturation should be vastly superior. There are a few very small stability issues, but they are not distracting. You will see plenty of scuffs, blemishes, nicks, dark spots, and large scratches. (Note: This is a Region-Free Blu-ray release. Therefore, you will be able to play it on your player regardless of your geographical location).

Forced Entry Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are not provided for the main feature.

The dialog is not always easy to follow. In a few areas, it sounds too flat, so you will likely have to turn up the volume of your system to hear everything that is said. Some very light hiss and pops can be noticed as well. The good news is that there are no annoying distortions or dropouts. Dynamic intensity is weak, but I was not surprised given the nature of the production.

Forced Entry Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• VHS Version - this version of the film apparently features bits of footage that does not exist on film. In English, not subtitled. (89 min).

• Trailers - trailers for the following titles from Dark Force Entertainment's catalog:
  
  1. Hundra
  2. 2. Holy Wednesday a.k.a. Fangs

Forced Entry Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Only seasoned collectors of American genre films should consider acquiring Jim Sotos' Forced Entry. If you are not one of these collectors and think that the presence of big stars like Tanya Roberts and Nancy Allen in it is a good enough reason to pick it up, I have to warn you that you are going to waste your hard-earned money. Forced Entry is a genuinely bad film that is instantly forgettable. Its technical presentation on Blu-ray is rather underwhelming, too.