Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.0

Venom Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman July 30, 2021

No, this is not the big-budget Marvel film of the same name or even a film about the same character. This is a 2005 Horror film that happens to share the name, and it shares just about everything it has to offer in some way or another with so many of its genre brethren. There's a very real dearth of creativity at work in Director Jim Gillespie's (I Know What You Did Last Summer) picture. It's beholden to formula nearly to a fault, but Gillespie's obvious technical know-how, some passable performances, and a whole lot of blood lift the movie to a place of being fully passable, even mostly enjoyable, albeit within the context of a vacuous, unoriginal, but technically solid example of its kind.

Small town girl Eden (Agnes Bruckner) is going to go to med school at Columbia, leaving her boyfriend Eric (Jonathan Jackson) behind. He’s not happy with the decision; he was left out of the decision making process and feels like she’s moving away from him, not going away towards her (and their) future. The two argue on a bridge at night. On that same bridge and at the same time, a tow truck, driven by a local creepy, tattooed, and facially scarred mechanic named Ray (Rick Cramer), nearly hits another vehicle which winds up teetering perilously at bridge’s edge. Ray attempts to retrieve a suitcase from the back which turns out to be full of snakes, and Ray is bitten by one of them. The car plummets into the river, Ray’s body is retrieved, and the event seems to be destined to simply be remembered as an unfortunate late night auto accident. But a resurrected Ray, imbued with great powers and with bloodlust driving his new existence, pursues a band of local teenagers and will fight to kill to the very end.

The film's proclivity towards the genre midline, which may ultimately be seen as its very essence, is both its greatest weakness and its greatest strength. It's wholly uninspired as an original work. Sure the nuts and bolts superficialities might be "unique" to Venom but in most any Slasher-type picture the superficialities are just a means to an end, and that is true here. Ray becomes a generic stalker who, like Jason Voorhees before him, simply hunts random teenagers -- none of them given even a slightly interesting story -- and kills with a plethora of weapons at his disposal, from simple handheld tools to a high powered paint stripper. The most gruesome kills are left to the imagination, but the film leaves a substantial blood trail in its wake, certainly enough to entice any gore fiend looking for, like Ray, fresh meat in disposable packaging.

Characters are not even thinly developed. They're barely developed at all. Ray is the local "creep" because...he has a scar on his face, apparently. The girls and guys are all cut from the same cloth, in the movie because of their bodies and good looks. There's not a "bad" actor in the movie to be sure but it's clear that between the looks-first focus and the lack of in-depth narrative and screenwriting there's little opportunity for the characters to stretch beyond the basics. Each does his or her thing to satisfaction within this movie's vacuous needs, and to that end their performances are fine, but don't expect anything more than "essential" from this typical looks-first cast.

To its credit, Venom is pretty well done, at least technically. Director Gillespie certainly knows how to make a pretty good Horror film from a purely aesthetic perspective, and, even if, like everything else, it seems made by genre technical manual rather than born of a uniquely creative vision, Gillespie and Cinematographer Steve Mason have the atmosphere, camera movements, and angles down to a science. It might be repetitive drivel, but at least it looks good along the way.

Venom Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Venom slithers onto Blu-ray with a fine 1080p transfer. This is a surprisingly good, robust, healthy image. It holds to a naturally filmic appearance, maintaining a satisfying and light grain structure. Details are sharp and accurate, revealing well rounded facial, clothing, and environmental details with ease. The picture delivers fine color balance, particularly red blood but also holding to some robust clothing and natural tones along with deep and accurate blacks and natural skin tones. The picture is free of any significant source faults or encode anomalies; there's no macroblocking of any real severity in play. Well done.

Venom Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Venom bites into Blu-ray with a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack. This is a good, full track. The opening sequence blends stringy music, lingering background thunder (with some closer, more prominent cracks), and immersive insect din to good, chilling, if not a little generic, effect, but the net sonic result is a clean, full soundstage, detailed and well balanced. The scene adds some eerie screaming effects here and there and some ritualistic beats, all of which set the stage for a dynamic track to follow. While not perfectly polished in engineering or delivery, there's something to be said for this track's relentless energy, commitment to using the entire listening area, and raw aggression that emphasizes action delights, squishy gore, and high power music. Surrounds are never wanting for more information. Dialogue is grounded in the center and perfectly clear. This is a good, intense, active track that compliments the movie very well.

Venom Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This Blu-ray release of Venom contains a featurette, storyboard comparisons, and audition footage. A digital copy code is included with purchase. A DVD copy is not. This release does not ship with a slipcover.

• Voodoo Nightmare: The Making of Venom (1080i, 8:43): A standard fare overview that looks at the project's origins, plot specifics, character details, voodoo, and more.
• Storyboard to Film Comparison (1080i, 7:24): Final clips from the film juxtaposed with hand-drawn storyboards.
• Cast Auditions (1080i, 6:44): Raw footage showing the actors trying out for their parts.

Venom Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Venom is unquestionably, and unabashedly, generic. Consider its plot, its atmosphere, its filmmaking tenor and technique, the characters and performances, and on and on. There's not a smidgen of originality to be found. But it holds so well to the heavily trodden formula that it makes for a perfectly serviceable little Horror time waster, particularly given Gillespie's firm technical know-how. Genre fans should enjoy it insofar as it's almost a textbook example of its kind, with everything in order to build a competent, if not wholly disposable, bloody chiller. Paramount's Blu-ray looks to be identical to past Miramax/Echo Bridge releases (at least judging by the Echo Bridge menu screen), and it's actually a very good Blu-ray, delivering quality video and audio presentations and even throwing a few extras into the mix as well. Worth a look.