Sx_Tape Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		1.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		2.0

Sx_Tape Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman July 24, 2014

Not even a week after its “wide” debut, Sex Tape is being called one of the biggest critical flops of the year (the jury is still out on total box office, but preliminary reports do not look very promising). Maybe the filmmakers could have taken a lesson from a previous film whose title bears a striking similarity to the Cameron Diaz comedy, even if its scope and intent are manifestly different. SX_Tape is yet another “found footage” outing that tries to inject a little titillation into the horror subgenre by giving it a homemade porn subtext. Unfortunately, this film suffers from the cinematic equivalent of erectile dysfunction, offering a pretty flaccid assemblage of rote genre chills and gore as a pair of amorous young folks decide to break into an abandoned hospital to film their latest sexual escapades.

Horror films set in abandoned hospitals or institutions have become such a hoary cliché by this time that SX_Tape starts with a built in deficit. That said, the salacious aspects are obviously meant to at least partially overcome any “been there, seen that” ambience, and yet they add little to nothing to the film (save perhaps for the wince inducing final shot of the film). With a complete lack of coherent character motivation, the film is left to coast along on tried and true shock moments involving jump cuts and thudding sound effects. Maybe someone should make a found footage film of an audience member sleeping through drivel like this.

Sx_Tape Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

SX_Tape is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Well Go USA with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. As with many (maybe most) found footage outings, there's a deliberately lo-fi aspect to the filming style and look here that almost deliberately undercuts any attempt at a totally satisfying high definition viewing experience. Brightly lit scenes fare best here, with at least decent sharpness and clarity, though once the film segues to the hospital, bright lighting is pretty much tossed out the window, leaving murky imagery that suffers from noise, and which is further exacerbated by a lot of tweaking that was obviously done in post. Those who like this subgenre will find none of this too startling or annoying, but there's simply nothing here that screams high definition.

Sx_Tape Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Audio fares a good deal better than the video in SX_Tape, with a nicely immersive DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track that provides ample LFE and good, spooky placement of foley effects. The echoing halls of the hospital offer good ambient reverb levels, but dialogue is always clear and easy to understand.

Sx_Tape Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Making Of (1080p; 15:03)


• Trailer (1080p; 1:52)


• Uncensored Trailer (1080p; 2:06)

Sx_Tape Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

(Sub?)genre enthusiasts may want to check out this unsatisfying mashup of soft core porn and found footage, but this is one of the more ridiculous horror films in recent memory. Despite coming with an above average imprimatur (director Bernard Rose made genre stalwart Candyman years ago), SX_Tape is simply too rote and predictable to ever generate much fear.