Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		2.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		2.5

Jungle Trap Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman April 13, 2021

According to the frequently (probably unintentionally) hilarious Wikipedia, there have been any number of notable men bearing the name James Bryan, including a Missouri mining entrepreneur, a member of the United States House of Representatives from Washington, a lieutenant governor of Kentucky, a librarian, a religious figure (who evidently went by the moniker Brother Bryan), and an American racecar driver. Sadly, Wikipedia has not (yet) seen fit to include the James Bryan who was the guiding light (?) behind Jungle Trap (and its “sibling” Run Coyote Run, also featured on the Blu-ray disc under review). For those unacquainted with Mr. Bryan or his sometime muse Renee Harmon, there’s a bit of information included in my Lady Street Fighter Blu-ray review, a previous Bryan-Harmon entry also released on Blu-ray by the typically gonzo gang at the American Genre Film Archive. Jungle Trap actually harkens back to what I assume in some way or other may have led to the creation of the American Genre Film Archive, namely Bleeding Skull!, since several of the “usual suspects” on the AGFA team, including Joseph Ziemba and Annie Choi, then evidently part of Bleeding Skull!, were deeply involved in getting Jungle Trap actually released, after it languished in Bryan’s barn (!) for decades. Bryan is on hand in both an appealing featurette as well as an equally enjoyable commentary, and his long history in the trenches of micro budgeted indie filmmaking provide him with plenty of opportunity to display his skill as a raconteur (he certainly caught this Utah boy's attention when he mentioned working in Salt Lake City and then the porn industry in rapid succession, though I don't think the two were necessarily related).

Bryan talks about his desire to recreate the often laugh out loud ambience of what Bryan calls old RKO jungle features, where studio bound actors would, as Bryan puts it, "point at the stock footage" of various jungle beasts and/or locations. Something very similar is at play in Jungle Trap, a film which offers Renee Harmon as crusading anthropologist and journalist Chris Carpenter, who is mounting a return safari to the wilds of the South America, after having headed a botched outing to the location years earlier where not all of her expedition had made it out alive. Tagging along this time is Chris' ex-husband Josh (Frank Neuhaus), as well as, to quote the theme from the first season of Gilligan's Island, "(and) the rest", which includes a character played by then newcomer Heidi Ahn, who is on hand in some of the supplements included on this disc, and who evidently only relatively recently discovered that Jungle Trap had finally been released. (As Bryan details in some of his comments, Harmon had an acting school and would frequently tailor projects to offer her students roles, though the students evidently paid for the privilege of being cast, if I'm understanding things correctly.)

The main part of the "plot" pertains to this new expedition, which is located somewhat hilariously in a supposed luxury hotel in the middle of the Amazon (replete with redcap wearing bellhop), which has unwisely been built on a sacred burial ground. You can probably guess the rest, though Bryan does try to inject a few "special effects" (which he describes in the interview featurette included on this disc), since the hotel is supposedly "haunted" on top of everything else.

As is gotten into in some of the supplements, Bleeding Skull! kind of stumbled on this film after another unexpected "find" came to them, and one of the fun aspects of them finishing and releasing Jungle Trap is an enjoyable score by Ziemba and Choi, evidently done on vintage synthesizers. From a technical standpoint, it's decidedly higher grade than the actual production, but it adds its own intentionally cheesy charm to the proceedings.

Jungle Trap Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Jungle Trap is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of the American Genre Film Archive and Bleeding Skull! with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.33:1. The back cover of this release offers a "notice" stating:

These films were shot and edited on tape. Please approach the technical quality of the transfers with empathy.

It probably goes without saying that empathy is not my strong suit, but that said, there are two ways to look at this presentation: on one hand, it is perfectly representative of an extremely low grade video source. On the other hand, it undeniably looks pretty shoddy a lot of the time, and there are even occasional "video" anomalies like tracking problems, along with intermittent ghosting and similar vestiges of a bygone era, but for some (and I assume many fans of AGFA and/or Bleeding Skull!), that will only further endear the presentation to them. In brighter lighting, the palette can look reasonably vivid, while some of the darker material can be pretty hard to make out at times. The use of "people pointing to stock footage", to quote the inimitable Bryan, does offer some clear differences in texture and quality, though frankly even the stock footage can look pretty rough.

Note: Screenshots 1 through 14 are from Jungle Trap. Per typical AGFA tradition, this disc also includes a second feature film Run Coyote Run, represented by screenshots 15 through 19.

Jungle Trap Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Jungle Trap features a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track that is actually quite a bit of fun, courtesy of the new score done by Joseph Ziemba and Annie Choi. The actual stretches of dialogue don't have any huge fidelity issues, but the lo-fi aspects of the shoot don't provide much opportunity for dynamic range or even many sound effects, given the "jungle" setting. Optional English subtitles are available.

Jungle Trap Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary Track with director James Bryan, star Heidi Ahn, and the Bleeding Skull! team (which includes Joseph Ziemba and Annie Choi)


• It Wasn't My Fault: The Making of Jungle Trap (HD; 11:39) is a really fun interview-ish thing with James Bryan, seen out in and around his farm where Jungle Trap resided for decades. If you don't know the reference for the first part of this featurette's title, it's an inimitable piece of dialogue in the film which the commentary also mentions.


• Jungle Trap Outtakes (HD; 4:14)


• Horror Con (1989) (HD; 27:46) features surviving (silent) footage from James Bryan's unreleased horror project, advertised as having been scanned in 2K from the original camera negative. There's a brief bit of history from James Bryan before the presentation courtesy of a text card.


• Run Coyote Run (1987) (HD; 1:11:59) continues AGFA's tradition of offering a second "bonus" film on many of their releases. In this case the menu describes it as an "otherworldy transmission from Renee Harmon and James Bryan", but its genesis is really rather interesting and is disussed in some of the other supplements. Screenshots 16 through 19 are from that film.

Jungle Trap Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Some may see my 2.5 score for this film and either think I'm crazy or I'm crazy, depending on which end of the scoring system they're coming from. For those who think this is half a star material at best, there's actually goofy enjoyment to be had that keeps this lowest of lo-fi offerings kind of insanely enjoyable. And for those who think this is five star material of a very certain type, are you frigging kidding me? (Both of these hypotheses are offered in jest, of course.) Jungle Trap "is what it is", and for those attuned to the frequently out there offerings from AGFA, this will be well appreciated. Video also "is what it is", and is in fact pretty ragged as can be seen in the screenshots accompanying this review, but AGFA features a fun soundtrack and some appealing supplements, for those who are considering a purchase.