Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		2.5

Kolobos Blu-ray Movie Review

The unreal world.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman February 23, 2019

How do you feel about so-called “reality television”? I’ve known some of the people involved in the “backstage” arena of some of these shows, and let’s just say that in their unguarded moments they may have shared that at least some aspects of some of these shows are not exactly “spontaneous”, and can actually have producers and directors involved, helping to “shape” the supposed “reality”. That said, even with the knowledge that not everything in any given show may in fact be “real”, I personally love Survivor, while I pretty much can’t stand Big Brother, despite some of their surface similarities. Kolobos pre-dated the first (American) season of Big Brother by a year, give or take, and according to some of the supplements included on this Blu-ray as bonus features may actually owe more of its genesis to MTV’s also similar The Real World. Kind of humorously, one of the creatives behind Kolobos evidently felt about The Real World the way I tend to do about Big Brother, finding the participants so instantly annoying that he actually started dreaming up ways to “off” them, which in turn led to the idea behind Kolobos: a bunch of “Big Brother” or “The Real World” wannabes who are recruited via a classified ad to try out for a “fly on the wall” experiment where strangers are forced to live together with cameras documenting their every move. Suffice it to say that being “banished” from this particular house doesn’t mean leaving the show, at least not while still alive.

As is also kind of humorously detailed in the supplementary material on this disc, after co-directors Daniel Liatowitsch and David Todd Ocvirk completed initial filming, they were kind of horrified when their editor's first rough cut of the footage ran only about an hour, realizing that they simply didn't have enough material for a standard length feature film. That led to additions via reshoots, and some may argue that the "padding" is more than evident, including with some framing devices that introduce a number of the characters, with a main focus on Kyra (Amy Weber), who is found pretty horribly disfigured as the film opens.

Even with the changes, there are some elisions here that don't make a whale of a lot of sense, though the film kind of intentionally basks in a bit of ambiguity, especially in an ending that may leave even diehard horror fans scratching their heads. But what does work in this film are some spectacularly gory death scenes, ones that co-directors Liatowitsch and Ocvirk freely and kind of appreciatively mention were obviously sparked by some of the giallo efforts of Dario Argento ( Suspiria is overtly mentioned as an inspiration, perhaps as much for some of the lurid colors employed as for any memorable kill scenes). Liatowitsch and Ocvirk also do a commendable job of offering up an array of folks that you kind of want to get killed, at least in some cases, something that adds to the almost giddy adrenaline rushes of some of the death sequences.

While the back cover of this release states that Kolobos was “released in the midst of the post-Scream slasher revival”, as the supplementary material kind of humorously covers, it was actually a “non slasher” horror film that may have put the kibosh on many people seeing Kolobos when it was initially released. As is comically mentioned, 1999’s The Blair Witch Project kind of singlehandedly terminated the popularity of slashers, at least for a while. But there are both structural and frankly some performance issues at play in Kolobos that may have contributed to its lack of audience support as well. If you can overlook some of those issues, and “enjoy” some goofily over the top kill scenes, Kolobos may still provide a jolt of energy or two, despite some of its more peculiar touches.

Kolobos Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Kolobos is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. Arrow's insert booklet contains the following information on the restoration:

Kobos has been exclusively restored by Arrow Films and is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 with stereo and 5.1 audio.

The original 35mm camera negative element was scanned in 2K resolution on a Lasergraphics Director at EFilm, Burbank. The film was graded and restored at Dragon DI, Wales. Picture grading was completed on a Pablo Rio system and restoration was completed using PFClean and Revival software.

The original audio mixes were produced by the filmmakers.

All materials for this restoration were made available by filmmakers Daniel Liatowitsch and David Todd Ocvirk, who have approved this restoration.

As can probably be fairly easily discerned from many of the screenshots accompanying this review, this is a very grainy looking offering, one that can almost look more like 16mm than 35mm at times, and so those who may still have "issues" with such a look even this far into the high definition era may want to carefully peruse the screenshots. The grain is so chunky at times, especially when darker objects are on the screen, that it assumes a slightly purplish hue that can look like pixellation or chroma anomalies. Some examples of this very grainy look can be seen in screenshots 14 through 19. When lighter objects are on screen, the grain field diminishes perceptibly, but still maintains an organic quality. At individual moments, the palette can pop quite impressively in an "Argento-esque" way (take a gander at the bloody hand on the brick wall in screenshot 5 for one example), but on the whole, things look a bit pallid, with somewhat anemic flesh tones and colors that can look a bit blanched. Detail levels are quite good throughout the presentation, and some of the practical effects work in the death scenes is effective enough that more squeamish types may be wanting to avoid their eyes. As with most Arrow releases, there are no issues with any major compression artifacts.

Kolobos Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Kolobos features DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and LPCM 2.0 mixes. As is readily admitted in some of the supplements, William Kidd's score intentionally apes some of the Goblin scores in Argento films, and the music spreads quite appealingly through the surround channels in the 5.1 mix. There are also some kind of funny (one assumes intentionally so) sound effects in some of the kill scenes which attain some nice panning activity in the surround mix. All of this said, dialogue sounds a bit "hollow" (for want of a better term) in both the surround and stereo mixes. I'm assuming this must be inherent and due to whatever recording techniques were utilized during the shoot, but there's just a slightly unnatural ambience to some of the dialogue (notably some of the hospital scenes, which I'm assuming from what I understand in the supplementary material were part of the "second round" of shooting, which may account for some of the difference in ambience and overall sound).

Kolobos Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Real World Massacre: The Making of Kolobos (1080p; 22:10) features some very engaging interviews with co-writers and co-directors Daniel Liatowitsch and David Todd Ocvirk, along with co-writer and producer Nne Ebong.


• Face to Faceless (1080p; 9:44) is an interview with actor Ilia Volok.


• Slice and Dice: The Music of Kolobos (1080p; 8:37) is an interview with composer William Kidd.


• Behind the Scenes Image Gallery (1080p)


• Superhelden (1080p; 10:06) is a Super 8 short film by Daniel Liatowitsch that he made at the age of 12. This also features an optional commentary by Liatowitsch.


• Rediscovering Kolobos (1080p; 5:52) features a bunch of kind of weird snippets from the UK theatrical exhibition of the film last year.


• Original Trailer (1080p; 1:14)


• 15th Anniversary Trailer (1080p; 2:09) comes replete with a kind of cheeky (actually necky) "rating" that may amuse some.


• Audio Commentary with Daniel Liatowitsch and David Todd Ocvirk

Per usual Arrow methods, this release also contains a nicely appointed insert booklet.

Kolobos Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

There some very effective material in Kolobos, especially in some of the more hyperbolically staged kill scenes, but the entire film never really holds together very well, a perhaps inevitable outcome of the "bifurcated" shooting process that is documented in some of the supplements. This is another commendable Arrow release of a cult item that may not have hugely wide appeal, but which Arrow has gone to the trouble to provide some really interesting supplements for. Technical merits are generally solid, with a few passing issues, for those considering a purchase.