6.3 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 2.5 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
Three teenage thieves infiltrate a dinner party at a mansion where a serial killer support group has gathered for its annual meeting.
Starring: Julian McMahon, Robin Tunney, Sam Strike, Virginia Gardner, Brandon Micheal HallHorror | 100% |
Thriller | Insignificant |
Mystery | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English SDH, French, Spanish
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 2.5 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 0.0 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
Writer-director Chris von Hoffmann must be a big fan of the Dexter series (novels or TV), because he's borrowed its essential premise that psychopathic killers may be able to control their urges, with the right counseling. Of course, when "treatment" fails, the result is likely to be a bloodbath, which is what happens in Monster Party, the latest horror comedy from RLJ Entertainment.
Monster Party appears to be yet another digital production; the credited cinematographer is Tobias Deml (Hangman). RLJ Entertainment's 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray reflects all the usual virtues of digital capture, with superior clarity, sharpness and detail, and any digital harshness has been softened by the now-familiar technique of shooting through anamorphic lenses. The palette is appropriately surreal, with a cheerful SoCal brightness that contrasts sharply with the darkness of the characters' behavior. RLJ has given the film an overly tight encode with an average bitrate of 20.96 Mbps and about 6 GB of space left unused on the BD-25. Fleeting instances of noise are probably a result of unnecessarily aggressive compression, but overall it's a serviceable image.
The film's lossless DTS-HD MA 5.1 track is loud and boisterous, assisted by a heavy rap-flavored score from Felix Erskine and Nao Sato. The surrounds are aggressively used, although it's most often to expand the ominous musical beats. Dialogue is clearly rendered and accurately prioritized.
The disc has no extras. At startup, it plays trailers for Mayhem, Mandy and All Cheerleaders Die, all three of which could be considered horror comedies, though Mandy is unintentionally so.
Monster Party is a clever premise but a slight film with a fair amount of blood and a few laughs. Horror fans should be
diverted for 90 minutes, but the disc is worth a rental (or streaming) at best.
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