Evil Bong High-5! Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		1.5
Video		4.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		1.0
Overall		1.5

Evil Bong High-5! Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman November 1, 2021

Note: This film is available as part of The Evil Bong Stash Box.

Marijuana continues to be legalized or at least decriminalized in any number of states (including in Oregon, where I live), so the need for a "stash box" may be a relic of the past, but leave it to the venerable Charles Band to recycle his Evil Bong series with just such a packaging conceit, which does in fact contain two side "vestibules" to hold any, um, extras, with a center section given over to nine Blu-ray discs. Some of the Evil Bong series either have had or are about to have standalone releases, but those wanting the "whole joint" (to paraphrase Spike Lee's use of that term) may want to spring for this admittedly pricey set, if only to also get the stash box itself. The films themselves are a mixed lot, and some may feel that a generous supply of whatever is stored in those side compartments might need to be consumed in order to enjoy things appropriately.

If you manage to get to the sixth installment of a low rent enterprise like the Evil Bong movies, chances are you have either submitted to the often laughably inept production values, less than hilarious joke construction, and generous heapings of half naked women, or have simply ceased caring altogether, but in terms of this franchise, Evil Bong High 5 at least kinda sorta returns to the whole concept of an evil bong. Band perhaps made an unwise decision in the first several installments of this series by offering an Eebee (that's Evil Bong's name, in case you weren't aware) snarky, to be sure, but also surprisingly useful at various junctures (and not just for taking a toke).

The usual gang of idiots (to purloin a turn of phrase from a publication that probably would have skewered this franchise) returns, with Larnell (John Patrick Jordan) and Rabbit (Sonny Carl Davis) tasked with marketing Eebee's ganja in the hopes that Sarah (Robin Sydney) and Velicity (Amy Paffrath) can make it out of Bong World alive. It's another resolutely silly attempt at extracting a bit of juvenile humor out of an increasingly tiresome premise, though as much as it pains me to admit it, I did get a chuckle or two out of the Gingerdead Man's antics in this one.

Evil Bong High-5! Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Evil Bong High 5! is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Full Moon Features with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. This presentation offers another generally competent digital capture that is perhaps muddied just a bit by a prevalence of somewhat dark scenes that tend to feature a surplus of greens and browns. That said, detail levels on things like the kind of funny knit sweater the Gingerdead Man wears can be quite good (see screenshot 3). The green screen work in this film is not exactly state of the art, and so "seams" can definitely be spotted at times. Some of the "real world" footage in the shop can look a tad murky, with a slight deficit in detail levels.

Evil Bong High-5! Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Evil Bong High 5! features Dolby Digital 2.0 and 5.1 tracks, as is the case with many of the other films in this set. The surround track marginally opens up the soundstage in the Bong World material, but really doesn't have a huge impact otherwise. As such, the stereo track may serve listeners' needs well enough, with dialogue, effects and score rendered without any problems (other than the problem of no lossless track being available). There are no subtitles available on any of the films in this set.

Evil Bong High-5! Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Behind the Scenes (SD; 1:24)


• High-5 Promo Videos (HD; 3:49)


• Trailers includes Evil Bong: High-5! (HD; 1:32), along with trailers for other releases from Full Moon Pictures.

Evil Bong High-5! Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

A number of seemingly genial actors have managed to have repeated jobs courtesy of the Evil Bong series, so maybe that's something to be celebrated, but the film itself is a kind of ragtag mishmash of things you've seen in all of the other Evil Bong films. Video is generally solid, but audio is lossy, and there really isn't much in the supplements department on this disc, for anyone who may be considering making a purchase.