Effects Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		3.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		3.5
Overall		2.5

Effects Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman August 4, 2017

The recent sad passing of George A. Romero has led to some commendable analysis of his contributions to the horror genre, including those of his now legendary Night of the Living Dead, as well as a number of other well remembered films (Dawn of the Dead, Knightriders, Creepshow), some of which admittedly may not have had the cultural impact of Night of the Living Dead, but which still typically offered both humor and horror in what almost became a patented Romero fashion. Perhaps lost in all the memories that surfaced after Romero’s death is his connection to the then still fairly nascent Pittsburgh film industry, something that Romero was part of at least partially due to the fact that he was a student at Carnegie Mellon. As has been amply documented in many of the supplements adorning various Blu-ray releases of Romero’s work, Romero’s connection to Pittsburgh always remained strong, and he can further be credited with hiring and perhaps even mentoring a number of Pittsburgh based folks who went on to (at least fairly) notable careers of their own. Three of those acolytes worked on one of Romero’s lesser remembered efforts, Martin, and, schooled in what one of them calls “guerrilla filmmaking”, decided to set out on their own. The result was Effects, filmed in the late seventies, afforded a couple of brief festival screenings, and then promptly never heard from again for several decades. The American Genre Film Archive, a non-profit aggregation hailing from Austin, Texas, who promotes their mission as “[preserving] the legacy of genre movies through collection, conservation and distribution”, has now released this rare item on Blu-ray (Synapse released a DVD several years ago, and this release ports over some of the supplements from that old Synapse release).

The three Pittsburgh denizens who partnered to make Effects were writer-director Dusty Nelson, and producers Pasquale Buba and John Harrison (Harrison also co-stars as morality challenged director Lacey Bickel). There are some other Romero connections, for those interested, including star Joseph Pilato and bit player Tom Savini, who also did some of the special effects work. The film was financed by friends and family to the grand tune of around 55K, and Effects certainly has the lo- fi ambience that many associate with indie operations. Effects kind of wants to play with “what’s really going on” in an Inception-esque way, albeit with considerably less moolah to throw at effects and in a context of a group of filmmakers wondering if the “fake” snuff movie they’re working on isn’t so fake after all.

The basic concept behind Effects is sound, but perhaps due to inexperience the execution here is haphazard at best, spending far too much time in the early going with ultimately unnecessary plot points, including a nascent romance between two crew members, Dominic (Joseph Pilato) and Celeste (Susan Chapek). The first half of the film details the shooting of a film, but is it the film that’s actually being shot? Unfortunately Efffects’ screenplay only alludes to this ambiguity, never really exploiting it fully until way past the halfway point, at which point there really isn’t any ambiguity anyway, since it’s become patently obvious that a “shadow crew” is out to make an actual snuff film. That leaves the final section of the film (arguably its most effective sequences) to play out as a kind of self referential version of The Most Dangerous Game.

Effects might have had more impact had the snuff film aspect been introduced earlier and then followed up more vigorously. The second half of the film does tend to generate more suspense than the first half, but the overall torpor that’s already set in by that time tends to deplete momentum before it’s really gotten going. This is one of those films that’s probably more interesting as an historical curio than as an actual viewing experience.

Effects Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Effects is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of AGFA with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. The insert booklet included with this release has the following information on the transfer:

Effects is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1. [Note: As detailed above, the transfer is actually in 1.78:1.] This new digital transfer was created in 4K resolution on a Lasergraphics film scanner from the only 35mm theatrical print in existence. The print was made from the original 16mm camera negative, which is currently lost.

Color grading was performed with DaVinci Resolve. Hundreds of instances of dust and dirt were removed by hand. Every effort has been made to retain the original theatrical experience of the film. The stereo soundtrack was remastered using Pro Tools HD. [Note: While this is a 2.0 soundtrack, it's 2.0 mono.] The digital transfers were performed by the American Genre Film Archive in Austin, TX.

My 3.0 score is a probably inadequate attempt to split the difference between a badly damaged source element and a generally fine transfer with no real compression issues. The 35mm blow up has the typically swarthy looking grain one should expect from a 16mm negative, and while extremely heavy at times, it tends to resolve naturally most of the time. There are a few isolated instances where grain resolution verges on noise territory, perhaps oddly not always relegated to dark moments. The palette looks a little anemic and skewed toward yellow-brown, especially in some of the interior sequences, though (again in an attempt to be fair) it pops at least somewhat better in some of the outdoor scenes (see screenshots 2, 5, 12 and 13 for two typical examples). Clarity and sharpness are both pretty variable, as can be seen by perusing all of the screenshots accompanying this review. There's persistent damage that includes lots of scratches (both vertical and horizontal, as can be seen in many of the screenshots), as well as what looks like additional fading at times along the right side of the frame. There are probably going to be some who feel this doesn't merit better than a 2.0 or 2.5, but those who saw bootlegs of this film or the old Synapse DVD may feel it warrants a 3.5 or more.

Effects Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Effects' DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mix doesn't encounter the same level of source damage that the video presentation does, though it has a somewhat anemic lower midrange, keeping some of the sound effects from resonating as fully as some might expect. The film is pretty talky for a horror outing and dialogue comes through mostly cleanly and clearly, though there are some amplitude peaks and valleys along the way.

Effects Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• After Effects (1080p; 59:38) is an excellent retrospective by Michael Felsher and his Red Shirt Productions. Lots of background information is imparted courtesy of a number of good interviews. Felsher also provides an Optional Commentary where he discusses the making of the documentary, one of his first long form pieces.


• Ubu (1080p; 12:11) is a short film by John Harrison.


• Beastie (1080p; 15:39) is a short film by Dusty Nelson.


• Archival Commentary Track featuring John Harrison, Pasquale Buba, and Dusty Nelson.

Effects Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

This is another one of those releases where the actual film may be less interesting than its history and some of the supplements on the Blu-ray release. Effects has a fascinating genesis and its (tangential) link to Romero may afford it an audience it wouldn't otherwise have, but the film never really builds to any significant levels of suspense. AGFA is to be commended for bringing a cult item like this out, especially considering the one and only print in existence is not exactly in great shape. While I can't recommend the film, the supplemental material is quite good, and AGFA has done what it can in terms of the technical presentation.