Chupacabra Territory Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		2.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.0

Chupacabra Territory Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Stephen Larson April 26, 2017

Director Matthew McWilliams's feature debut Chupacabra Territory adds a fresh perspective and some new material to a subgenre that seems to have reached its limit. On the surface, this latest found-footage film categorically appears to exhaust all of the clichés and trappings of its ilk. It follows four college-age campers who are investigating the urban legend of a mythic creature known as the chupacabra (or chupa, as the they call it). The story brings in an authoritative ranger (Elliot Book) who may act as the foil for them carrying on with their search. He essentially orders them to stay out of the marked "Chupacabra Territory" throughout North Pinewood Forest. McWilliams's work features a lot of shaky handheld camerawork as the foursome begins a long trek into the woods.

While these are familiar tropes, Chupacabra Territory spreads the journey across two days instead of a single evening. Its first act contains a considerable amount of screen time set during the daytime, which is a welcome change. The cinematography captures some of the gorgeous wilderness, foliage, and rivers located in Lake Hughes, California where the film was shot. The audience is introduced to zoologist student Amber (Sarah Nicklin), her possible boyfriend Joe (Michael Reed), and their skeptical friend, Morgan (Alex Hayek). Amber believes in the legend of the chupacabra (or "goat sucker") and carries along an occultist's notebook with sketches. Amber and Joe engage in friendly banter about the prospect of encountering a chupa while Morgan is along for the ride and the chance to drink lots of beer. The casting of Alex Hayek gives the movie an unassuming presence that it needs. Hayek is funny, self-deprecating, and unpredictable. He looks and performs much like a younger version of Leo Rossi. Indeed, Hayek exhibits some of the same character actor traits that Rossi shows as the paramedic Budd in Halloween II (1981). (Horror films need these type of off-beat characters.)

The fourth camp traveler is the unobtrusive Dave (Bryant Jansen), who has the GoPro video camera strapped to his head. Jansen serves as the main camera operator while Matt Read is the first assistant camera. McWilliams prevents Chupacabra Territory from being a long and tedious bore by, for instance, constantly alternating camera angles inside and outside the campers' vehicle as they drive to Pinewood. McWilliams comes up with some oblique angles that are interesting to observe from different optical perspectives. The shifting POV also serves a narrative purpose for the rest of the film. McWilliams constructs a sense of claustrophobia within the confined car space that will also reoccur in the forest. Though the characters may seem "free" to roam the spaces in the woodlands, there is a sense of omnipresent danger as the GoPro follows them from behind in the dark. For example, the hikers begin seeing glowing red eyes in the bushes. McWilliams foreshadows the human attacks with rather grotesque depictions of the chupa ripping out the carcass and genitals of animals (the aftermath, at least). McWilliams also borrows a bit from zombie and vampire films. The plot point of chupas vomiting on people seem to give their prey an infectious disease. Do they simply die or are they carriers so they can pass it on to the next victim?

Although Chupacabra Territory is certainly a fictional film, its storytelling tropes (particularly the first part) situate it as a quasi-documentary. For example, McWilliams inserts a black background with the FBI logo emblazoned along with a computer-like typeface explaining the disappearance of the campers in the North Pinewood area. McWilliams intersperses these cue cards with FBI documents, police photographs, local television news footage and residents talking directly into the camera. This generates a semblance of verisimilitude and I wish that McWilliams would have went back to this style following the climax. One sequence that did not work is a sex scene in a tent (which looks very fake and contains continuity errors) that is crosscut with campers being attacked. It's exploitative and should have ended up on the cutting room floor. McWilliams seems to be imitating the sex/gore conflation of eighties and early nineties slasher films. The gratuitous sex may seem in line, for instance, with earlier scenes involving young busty women that Amber, Joe, and Morgan meet on a trail. Two of the young ladies hearken back to the female camp counselors in the Friday the 13th who are unashamed to go bare-breasted in the woods. McWilliams is clearly trying to have fun with this trope but he should have stopped after the first prank played on the ranger. So there are some scenes in Chupacabra Territory that should have been dropped but overall, it's an effective and creepy found-footage film.

Chupacabra Territory Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Chupacabra Territory makes its Blu-ray debut worldwide courtesy of indie video label Maltauro Entertainment. (In the UK, where it's known as Lair of the Beast, the movie is available on DVD only.) All of the found-footage is presented in the aspect ratio of 1.78:1 on a BD-25. For a very low budgeted title, Chupacabra Territory looks stunning in high-definition. It is also surprising that authoring and compression are so good on this disc. Some indie labels produce cheaply made discs that are rife with artifacts and pixelation but this BD contains no such anomalies. The video streams carry the solid average bitrate of 25191 kbps. Day scenes are extremely bright, which sometime make skin tones appear soft and pale. McWilliams mixes in cue cards, police crime scene photographs, and local news station footage with pseudo graphic bars at the bottom. (See Screenshots 11-14.) There are various moments in which the GoPro cameras buffer, jitter, display transmission lines, etc. but these are all part of the movie's intended realism.

Chupacabra Territory Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Maltauro only supplies one sound track: a Dolby Digital 2.0 mix (encoded at 448 kbps). Dialogue is generally not a problem to pick up, regardless of where the camera is placed. The tracks show good balance but very limited range. It really comes alive during the nighttime scenes where insects are out in full force. There is no score present. At minimum, Maltauro could have at least fit a lossy DTS 5.1 or a LPCM 2.0 track on the disc.

Maltauro has provided optional English subtitles for the main feature.

Chupacabra Territory Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• An Interview with the Cast (10:45, 1080p)

• An Interview with Director, Editor, and Producer (6:24, 1080p)

• CHUPACABRA Trailer (1:44, 1080p)

• Photo Gallery (4:48, 1080p/16x9)

Chupacabra Territory Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Though not on the same plateau as The Blair Witch Project, Chupacabra Territory infuses some needed life into the fairly crowded found-footage subgenre. Maltauro Entertainment delivers a top-notch transfer but could have added a couple optional sound tracks. Bonus materials are of the EPK type and a commentary track by McWilliams would have been appreciated. In addition to other found-footage titles, Chupacabra Territory should also appeal to fans of Stephen Herek's Critters (1986). Please note that McWilliams's work is also available on FlixFling and is forthcoming on iTunes, Amazon Instant Video & Cable VOD platforms. Maltauro has assembled a pretty good package that comes RECOMMENDED.