DVD review: Le bagman - Profession: Meurtrier (Video 2004)

Le bagman - Profession: Meurtrier is a canadian short film made by a group of friends on a micro-budget, it shows but they make it up with buckets of blood and gore, enthusiasm and comedy. A couple of gangsters are out driving and out of nowhere a girl runs right out on the road. The four gangsters get a minor panic and think they killed her. They surround her and thinking of what to do when the girl wakes up to life again. She's completely mad and yells at them that they must help her, she explains that a man with a bag on his head chasing her. Suddenly a man with bloody paper bag on his head appears, it´s killed o be killed.
It´s directed by Jonathan Prévost, François Simard and Anouk Whissell who also acts as producers, edited the film and created the special fx. The film is fast paced, the special fx isn´t very good but it´s hard to deny the energy and enthusiasm on display. It reminds me of Peter Jackson´s Bad Taste and that´s a good thing,
I have a german DVD release from I-On New Media, there is only the original french sound och german voice over/subtitles but who cares. Just relax and enjoy 20 minutes of hilarious splatter.
Rating: 6 out of 7. Le bagman - Profession: Meurtrier is a splatter fest and hysterically funny! This is more parody than horror.

/JL

DVD review: Violent Shit 4.0 Karl The Butcher vs Axe (2010)

Yes, for good or bad (the choice is yours) Karl the Butcher is back once again. Timo Rose joins Andreas Schnass in the directors chair. In a war torn post-apocalyptic future, Karl the Butcher (Andreas Schnass) faces off against a new ultra-violent serial killer, dubbed Axe (Timo Rose).
It´s a mix of splatter and comedy (mostly intentional but some is unintentional). Even though the pacing is high the film is boring. We get cheap settings and a lot of atrociously bad acting. On the plus side is the clear improvement regarding special fx, there is lot blood and gore but strangely there is not as much as you might think. Timo Rose and Andreas Schnass have made this much more action oriented than the previous films, the fights quickly becomes a bit repetitive and the choreography leaves a lot to be desired.
The DVD that I bought is part of a limited release of 999 copies distributed by Shock DVD.
Rating: 1 out of 7. A disappointment even if I had low expectations. The Violent Shit films has gotten better with each film but that really doesn´t mean that much as they are veeery bad.

/JL

DVD review: Codename: Yin/Yang (Video 2006)

Codename: Yin/Yang is a danish independent flick that combines comedy, action and horror and if you have visited this blog before you know that I´m not particulary fond of that combination. The film is directed by Henrik Andersen and Bo Mørch Penstoft who also plays a major part in the film as Bobo Moreno a black ops operative. In the pentagon the CIA is planning a new route of conquest and the tiny State of Denmark is where the first field testing of a new military genetic serum. As Denmark is torn apart from the inside by the serum-infected population, now frothing flesh -tearing zombies, the remnants of the government has only one choice left; to unleash the most deadly assassination team in human history, known only as Codename: Yin/Yang. The fate of a nation lies on the edge of a razorsharp Katana and down the barrels of a high powered assault rifle.
The acting is bad, Yin (Line Penstoft) and Yang (Sabine Louring) are certainly easy on the eye but their acting ability is very limited. The pacing is unexpectedly low and the film sometimes becomes downright boring. The special fx are for the most part of low quality but some of the zombies look really nice which is a bit surprising as the film looks very cheap. The action scenes are badly made/edited and the martial arts sequences are badly choreographed.
A quick note for you bloodhounds out there, for a zombiefilm Codename: Yin/Yang isn´t very gory and the gore is badly done. And for all of you hoping for nudity and sex (considering the good looking Line and Sabine) I´ll have to tell you that there is zero nudity in the film...
Codename: Yin/Yang was released by Booble Productions on DVD (region 0) a couple of years ago and you should be able to find it if you´re interested.
Rating: 0½ out of 7.  Codename: Yin/Yang gets a ½ point for effort and a few good moments but it´s mostly a dull little little film which never catches my interest. Thankfully it´s running time is only 81 minutes.

/JL

DVD review: Red Velvet (2008)

Aaron (Henry Thomas) and Linda (Kelli Garner) have a chance encounter at a laundry mat. Aaron informs Linda that he is a storyteller and then she wants to hear a story. The first one he tells ends up being disappointing. Not ready to give up, he promises her something more disturbing. Using details that she supplies about a birthday party at an isolated cabin she never made it to, Aaron weaves a slasher story featuring a masked killer in a painter’s jumpsuit killing all of Linda's friends. I usually try to stay away from horror/comedy as I do have a problem with mixing the two genres but I´ve been wanting to see Red Velvet ever since I read about it online. The film is directed by Bruce Dickinson and produced by Sean Fernland. Plotwise it´s a interesting and unique concept, I won´t comment further on the look of the killer or the kills as I personally hate spoilers and try my best to keep my blog free from them but the special fx are well made and there is a good dose of the red stuff for you bloodhounds out there.. ;)

It´s a good looking film with very nice visuals, good acting from the ensemble and there is good chemistry between Henry Thomas and Kelli Garner.

Rating: 6½ out of 7. Henry Thomas is great as Aaron and Red Velvet  accomplishes alot with it's low budget. It´s a surprisingly good mix of gore, suspense and comedy so check it out!

/JL

DVD review: The Ninja Mission (1984)

The plot here, which takes place during the cold war,  is that the soviet nuclear scientist Markov (Curt Broberg) wants to defect to Sweden. But his plans are ruined by the KGB who kidnaps him and tell him that he has arrived in Sweden. This trickery is their way of seeing to that Markov continues his work in nuclear physics that will revolutionize the energy supply for the whole planet. As a backup, KGB kidnaps Markov's estranged daughter Nadia. The CIA however is bent on getting Markov to the west and send their team of ninjas led by Mason (Krzysztof Kolberger) and Hansen (Bo F. Munthe) to liberate him.
The Ninja Mission is a swedish action flick directed by the profilic Mats Helge Olsson, it isn´t very well made or directed. For a ninja film there is a strange lack of of martial arts and the few fight scenes are badly choreographed. The ninjas soon forget their swords and throwing stars and instead use sub machineguns with deadly effect as they take on the soviet army with a seemingly endless supply of ammunition. We get several slow motion shoot outs with lots of people being riddled with big gory squibs but that´s not all, the ninjas have a special weapon that fires poison darts which are used to gruesome effect against people's heads and abdomens (they explode). 
The acting is hilarously bad, the choice of having swedish actors speaking english is a really bad move and the cause for unintentional humour. Sirka Sander who plays the professor assistant Natassia is possibly one of the worst actresses I´ve seen. The pacing is good, but beware that the major actionscenes take place in the beginning and towards the end and between these the film is a bit boring...
There is uncut DVD releases of The Ninja Mission in Germany and Sweden.
Rating: 3½ out of 7. There is really only one good reason to watch this movie and that is for the incredibly violent actionscenes.

/JL

DVD review: Death List (2006)

A professional assassin named Night is double crossed and left for dead. Only to be saved by a mysterious crime fighting organization. They send him to a fabled martial arts master in Hong Kong. There he learns Kung Fu and embarks on his new mission - cleaning up the mean streets.
Death List is produced, directed and edited by Ara Paiaya who also plays Night. If you have seen any of the other flicks made by Ara you will recognize some of the actors and settings.
We get swords, some gore, a lot martial arts and large dose of comedy. Oh, did I mention martial arts? This is first and foremost a martial arts flick with almost non stop action, it´s only 63 minutes long, and the fights are well done and are choreographed by Ara who does all is own stunts, there are no tricks or wires. The plot is very simple and the pacing is very high, keep in mind it´s barely an hour long. The acting is average, Ara is best in the film and gets to showcase his martial arts abilities and displays a talent for doing comedy.
Rating: 4 out of 7. Death List is entertaining and the fightscenes are good. Ara is a very talented filmmaker and given a better budget he should be able to reach a wider audience. Note that he later made The Suppressor which is a much darker, violent but also better film which I highly recommend.

/JL

DVD review: Dino Wolf (2009)

This flick is directed by Fred Olen Ray was originally titled Dire Wolf but thankfully they decided to change the title. The plot is pretty simple, the US Military conducts top secret experiments mixing human DNA with a prehistoric Dino Wolf skeleton which results in a terrifying hybrid monster. The Dino Wolf escapes and terrorize a small mountain village. Federal agents Read (Kristen Howe) and Connors (John L. Curtis) join the local sheriff (Maxwell Caulfield) in the hunt for the creature while attempting to cover up the quickly mounting body count. The flick has a good pacing as the Dino Wolf kills his way through the towns population. The acting is ok, actually better than expected and Maxwell Caulfield is good as local sheriff Parker. There is a a couple CGI shots but the creature, the Dino Wolf, is the classic "man in a suit" effect and most of the gore is practical special fx and looks quite good. And we do get a couple of nice and bloody kills.
Rating: 5 ouf of 7. This one was much better than I expected, a nice little monster movie well worth seeing..  :)

/JL

DVD review: Murder Island (Video 2006)

A swedish slasher made on a micro-budget. It's summer. A group of teenagers decide to go on a camping trip. They drive far up in the country until they find a small place were they rent canoe's for a cheap price. The group paddle for a long time before they find the perfect island to set up camp on. They have sex, do drugs and drink alcohol. But the next morning they notice that one of them has disappeared. They split up to go looking for her...
Murder Island is directed by Joakim S. Hammond who also co wrote the script and you can se that the film has potential. The soundtrack isn´t very fitting, it mainly consists of death metal (which included on a bonus cd) which is a poor choice, a instrumental and creepy soundtrack would have been nice and added to creating a suitable atmosphere.
The pacing is pretty high and there are very few dead spots in the film but keep in mind that it is only 46 minutes long. A nice bonus is that the teenagers look like teenagers. The acting isn´t very good but this is low budget so I didn´t have too high expectations.
There is sadly almost no special fx or gore which is important in slashers in my opinion. Almost all the violence happens off screen which is a big misstake, Murder Island needs some blood and guts. I guess the lack of special fx might be because of the low budget. 
Rating: 1½ out of 7. Murder Island has potential to be a really nice slasher, it would have benefitted from more gore, some nudity and a better and more fitting soundtrack.

/JL

DVD review: Violent Shit 3 - Infantry of Doom (1999)

We have come to Violent Shit 3 - Infantry of Doom, the third film in the Violent Shit series. Once again Andreas Schnass writes, directs and plays Karl The Butcher. Karl and his father leads a sect/ a small army on an island. Three guys gets stranded on the island and are captured, one of them gets killed whereas the others and a young asian guy, an outcast of Karls troops, become the subject of a manhunt. They decide to fight back.
Yet again it´s made on micro-budget and I guess most of the budget was spent on the special fx.
In this film we get war, zombies, ninjas, martial arts and a lot of over the top gore.
The quality of picture and sound varies throughout the film, they seem to have used different equipment or it´s perhaps a intentional move by Andreas Schnass but either way it looks really weird as the flick shifts between video quality and Super 8..  The acting is very bad as in the previous films, the plot is very thin but the pacing is ok as the film thankfully moves along at good speed. The sets and props look incredibly fake..
The scene where the three asian men fight a group of ninjas is hilarously badly choreographed but quite enjoyable... :)
Overall the quality of the special fx, this time handled by Sven Petersen and Andrea Pollak, has improved since the earlier films.
Rating: 1 out of 7. Violent Shit 3 is bad but it´s better than it´s predecessors but that doesn´t mean very much..

/JL

DVD review: War Dog (1987)

War Dog is a independently produced actionfilm from Sweden, it´s directed by Björn Carlström and Daniel Hübenbecher who also wrote the screenplay. It´s suppoesed to take place in the USA but it doesn't look at all like the US, for instance all the cars are Volvos. Charles Stewart (Timothy Earle) is a Vietnam vet who wants answers about his brother Rick who disappeared in Vietnam and recently has been declared dead. With the help of a friend  he comes in contact with Dean Daniels (Ernblad), a reporter interested in missing Vietnam soldiers. Charles gets a hold of a videotape documenting a massacre where several people are killed, and amongst the killers Charles recognizes his brother and his former commanding officer, Spacek. Rick is now part of a group of super soldiers that are brainwashed, emotionless and unstoppable killing machines led by Spacek.
I like the plot, Charles is a unlikely action hero and the super soldiers are totally ruthless. Now before any of you yell Universal Soldier I should remind you that War Dog came several years before the Roland Emmerich flick and is´s not to hard to imagine that Emmerich might have seen this flick and been inspired by it. The acting is pretty good and is actually a little better than can be expected but beware that that they use voice over for all the actors which sometimes feels a little weird.
It´s well made, you can tell that its limited budget is used the fullest and the pacing is good. Make no misstake about it, this is a very violent film. There is a lot of big juicy squibs in this movie and no one is safe, not even children are spared.

Beware that the DVD released in the UK is cut, you should try to get hold of the german DVD release which is uncut with all the shoot outs, blood and gore intact.

Rating: 6 out of 7. This piece of swedish ultra violence is very highly recommend,
This is an old favorite of mine, I´ve owned different editions through the years. First the swedish VHS ex rental (which was cut), then a danish VHS ex rental (uncut), after that I bought the DVD released in the UK and now I have the german DVD release.

/JL

DVD review: Violent Shit II (1992)

Andreas Schnass is back, he writes, produces, directs, handles the special fx and plays Karl "The Butcher" Junior in Violent Shit II.  Like it´s predecessor this film is made on a micro-budget. Karl "The Butcher" junior is out to take revenge for his father and kill anyone who enters the forest. What we get is a exercise in splatter and bad taste with a splice of absurd comedy, for instance there is a long training montage where Karl is preparing himself.
The film is incredibly violent, the special fx is a little better but the camera-work, editing and lighting is bad. Schnass has zero sense of creating atmosphere, we simply go from one graphic murder to the next (most of the violence appear on screen), there are no characters to relate to as they simply serve one purpose and that´s to die gruesomely on screen a minute or two after they appear. The acting is very poor, the pacing is too slow and the use of freeze frames is as annoying as earlier.
Rating: 0½ out of 7. It´s improvement over the first film but Violent Shit II is still pure shit.

/JL

DVD review: K3: Prison of Hell (Video 2009)

Three women are incarcerated at the notorious prison K3. One of them acts as a "sex toy" to the female head of guard whenever she is affected by her crazed lesbians urges. The second is used by the prison doctor and a middle manager as an actress in the porn movies they make. The third of the women's prison psychiatrist Jennifer Walters who herself becomes a prisoner when she have had enough of the abuses prison staff exposing prisoners to and complains. During a recording of a porn video out in the jungle one of the girls manage to escape, at the same time guard boss 'girlfriend' also seizes opportunity to take flight. By sheer coincidence Jennifer also manages to escape from prison. Now we have three female prisoners who were unaware of each other, all of them are on the run in the jungle. The prison staff on the other hand think of course that this is something that the three agreed on and start the hunt. They get hold of one of the women and begins to torture her to make her tell where the Jennifer is. When she knows nothing she can not tell, of course. But her tormentors are confident that she knows and will not stop the torture until she tell.
K3: Prison of Hell is written, produced, edited and directed by Andreas Bethmann who also plays the role of physician Dr Bertucci.
The film is produced and distributed by Bethmann´s own company called X-Rated Kult Video and as usual with releases from that company there is a choice of three different covers.
The majority of screen time seem to consist of explicit sex scenes and different forms of degradation but after 90 minutes or so the film takes on a gruesome tone with a extended torture scene courtesy of special fx wizard Olaf Ittenbach which is not for the squeamish as it´s very brutal and bloody. Budget is low but the film looks surprisingly good, they use the limited locations well. The acting is really bad but you can´t expect much from porn actresses. Bethmann isn´t a very good director and the film would benefit from a real plot and real characters that we care about  now rhey are anonymous and are only there to be exploited. The special fx made by Ittenbach are realistic and disturbing and are the highlight of the film. 
Rating: 2½ out of 7.  K3: Prison of Hell isn´t very good, it´s quite boring but it is a very sleazy flick with lots and lots of full frontal nudity, explicit sex, sadism and degradation and the last 30 minutes or so are incredibly violent. And who doesn´t like sleaze? =)
This is a very nasty and disturbing film so I do strongly warn sensitive viewers not to watch it!

/JL

Upcoming DVD reviews in the near future on this blog

Upcoming DVD reviews in the near future on this blog.

Red Velvet (2008) - Sean Fernland
Adam Chaplin (2011) - Emanuele De Santi
The Redsin Tower (2006)  - Fred Vogel
Deadwood Park (2007) - Eric Stanze
Violent Shit II (1992) - Andreas Schnass
Gutterballs (2008) - Ryan Nicholson
K3 - Prison Of Hell (Video 2009) - Andreas Bethmann

/JL

DVD review: Violent Shit (1989)

I recently bought the Anniversary Edition Box Set containing the Violent Shit trilogy, it´s a limited edition and my box is numbered 888 of 999. There is english subtitles available which is a plus. I will be reviewing all the Violent Shit flicks in the near future.
Violent Shit is written, produced, directed by Andreas Schnass. He also plays Karl The Butcher and is responsible for the special fx. It´s a micro-budget slasher flick where a demented, wicked, deformed, cannibalistic killer named Karl The The Butcher slaughters people in many gory, bloody ways.
There is hardly a plot, the acting is awfully bad, no characters to talk about as they appear on the screen and then they die shortly thereafter. The small amount dialouge there is in the film is bad, poor camera work, the use of pixelated effects is just horrible, the frequent use of stop-frame slow motion, the sound quality is worthless (the echo effect on the sound is just horrible) and the editing is bad.
It´s a very graphic flick, almost all the violence appear on screen and some viewers will probably be shocked by brutality of the murders but the special fx are amateurish.
And to all this I should mention that it´s a boring film. Seriously Violent Shit looks like shit... Some of the defects is of course related to the source material, it´s originally filmed on a camcorder but the film is so badly made it´s endurance test to sit and watch it.
Rating: 0½ out of 7. Violent Shit is in my humble opinion shit, it´s worthless and boring. This is possibly one of the worst movie I´ve ever seen.

/JL

DVD review: Cradle of Fear (Video 2001)

Cradle of Fear is a independent film made in the UK. It´s a anthology movie consisting of four different episodes, linked together by an imprisoned satanist, hypnotist, child rapist, serial killer Kemper (David McEwen), who is using an evil angel called simply The Man (Dani Filth, lead singer of goth metal band Cradle of Filth) to extract revenge on relatives of those who put him away.
The film is written, edited and directed by Alex Chandon.
First story, Mel (the stunningly gorgeous Emily Booth) who picks up The Man at a nightclub for one night stand. He turns into some sort of monster, and performs unspeakable acts on her naked body. On the next morning, she has the sensation that she is surrounded by demons. Soon she finds out that she pregnant with the offspring of The Man
Second story, Emma (Emma Rice) and Sophie (Rebecca Eden) go to the apartment of an old deaf man believing that there is a large sum of cash there to be stolen, but their robbery becomes violent when the he wakes up and the man just won´t stay dead....
Third story, Nick (Louie Brownsell) has a great complex with his beloved girlfriend Nikki (Eileen Daly) because his leg was amputated in an accident and that makes him impotent. He becomes deranged, and is ready to go to any extreme to get a brand new leg, with tragic results.
Fourth story, Richard (Stuart Laing) works at a Internet company and becomes obsessed with snuff movies on a website called the The Sick Room, where, at least until your credit card gives out, you can cause actually pain, injury and even death to victims. He goes broke enjoying the fun at this site, and then goes looking for it.
In my opinion the first and fourth story are certainly the best ones. The plot in Cradle of Fear is predictable and the flick is a tad overlong. The acting in is mostly mediocre and Dani Filth is, to put it simply, a bad actor, but I didn´t have any high expectations and neither should you. The plot has a lot of holes and the music is sometimes not very good but this is extreme splatter and we get one extreme scene of gore after another as Alex Chandon tries to repulse the viewer as much as he can with grisly images. The special fx ranges from looking very fake to being very good. The visual effects are poor and some of the CGI is atrociously bad.

You should beware that the german version is cut by about 8 minutes.

Rating: 3½ out of 7.  I enjoyed it, it's not art but it's fun. But I would not recommended it to you unless you are into gore and splatter films.

/JL

DVD review: Maximum Impact (Video 2008)

Agent X (Ara Paiaya) races to rescue captured security defence expert Katie Tang (Paiaya's real-life wife, Raquel) from the hands of a rogue agent. He faces his most deadly adversaries in this action packed drama. Ara Paiaya stars, directs, produces, is visual effects creator and is action coordinator.
Several actors from The Suppressor (a flick that I liked very much) appears in Maximum Impact, the quality of acting varies but that´s expected in independent films. The sound is a little low sometimes during the film which makes it a little difficult to hear what the characters are saying. The soundtrack is orginal and surprisingly good.
The pacing is high and the actionsequences are never far apart, the shoot outs are fairly good but it´s the fighting scenes that stands out and these are choreographed by Ara who displays great skills as a martial artist and as usual he does all of his own stunts. You should keep in mind that this is a film made on a low budget, it´s not a high profile Hollywood film produced by Michael Bay 
Rating: 4½ out of 7. Maximum Impact looks good considering it´s low budget. It isn´t as well made as The Suppressor (2012), it´s obvious that Ara has improved his skills as a film maker in the time that has passed between Maximum Impact and The Suppressor.
My advise to everyone is to keep an eye out for Ara Paiaya, he has great potential as a director and actor

You can order the film from Amazon.com or from the official website for The Suppressor. Link: http://www.thesuppressor.co.uk/

/JL

DVD review: The Burning Moon (1997)

The Burning Moon centers on two horrific bedtime stories that a delinquent brother by the name Peter (Olaf Ittenbach) reads to his kid sister. The first one is entitled "Julia's Love" and tells the story of a serial killer who takes his blind date and her family on a blood soaked killing rampage. The second story is called "The Purity" and is about a crazed satan-worshipping priest who rapes and kills in a small German town. The townspeople try to find revenge and target an innocent suspect.
The film is written and directed by Olaf Ittenbach who also plays a major role in the film and is responsible for the special fx.
Both stories are mean-spirited and some scenes are very brutal and violent and not for the faint of heart. Plotwise the first bedtime story "Julia's Love" isn´t anything new, it´s classic slasher formula. The second bedtime story "The Purity" is better and more original and nastier.
There is bad acting and the dialogue is mostly bad, there is sometimes bad lighting and bad sound quality in the flick. The pacing is initially a bit slow but as soon as Peter starts telling the stories the film gains momentum and keeps going. The special fx ranges from bad to decent to very good. But you have to remember that it´s made on a micro-budget and from that viewpont the effects are really good.
Rating: 3½ out of 7. If you like splatter and gore you will not be disappointed.

/JL

DVD review: The Suppressor (2012)

They took the only thing, he would kill for. Now somewhere, somehow, someones gonna pay. When Drug crime is out of control and Corruption is all around. The Suppressor is the only punishment.
The Suppressor is a new vigilante film from the UK, it´s written, produced and directed by Ara Paiaya. He is also sound editor, film editor, has created the visual effects and plays the role of Blake Bradley aka The Suppressor.                       
I have a soft spot for vigilante flicks and I´ve seen many of them. When putting the dvd into my Blu-ray player I frankly didn´t know that to expect as this is the first film by Ara Paiaya that I´ve bought.
The murder of the main characters wife in the beginning is suitable gruesome and sets things in motion, he sends his daughter to a boarding school before setting out on a path of violence and destruction.
The plot is somewhat similar to Death Wish 4 and that´s not a bad thing. It´s well made, the acting is much better than expected, the pacing is good, the actionsequences and especially the display of martial arts are very good. The fights are choreographed by Ara Paiaya and he does his own stunts. Soundtrack is very good and fits the film perfectly.

The Suppressor is available through Amazon.com and The Suppressor website to which I´ve added a link: http://www.thesuppressor.co.uk/ 

Rating: 7 out of 7. Now this was a really nice surprise, the plot has some similarities with Death Wish 4 but The Suppressor is a superior flick in every aspect. I highly recommend it to fans of action/vigilante films. I will keep an eye out for Ara Paiaya.

Now do we dare hope for a The Suppressor 2?

/JL

DVD review: Live Feed (2006)

Five young adults are about to find themselves in a fight for their lives, pitted against evil itself! While on vacation in Chinatown, one of the five makes a seemingly innocent albeit ignorant mistake and soon all of them will realize the cost of such an inconsequential action. A stranger appears to help them, but is this too little, too late? Live Feed is directed, written, produced by Ryan Nicholson who also designed the special fx and prosthetics. It´s easy to dismiss Live Feed as a low budget rip off of Eli Roth´s Hostel and comparisons are inevitable and in my opinion Live Feed is what Eli Roth´s Hostel did not dare to be. Really bloody, nasty and dirty. Hostel is too polished to put it simply. It may have better actors, special fx team, catering companies and everything that comes with Hollywood but it is ultimately quite tame. In my mind a film isn´t automatically better just because it has a big company and a lot of money behind it.
The plot in Live Feed is simple and predictable. The pacing is good but the acting is of the lower mark and sometimes downright horrible. The soundtrack is pretty bad and feels homemade but it could be intentionally made that way but it fails to create a creepy moody atmosphere. Some of the editing seems a little off/odd.. The low budget is evident throughout the entire movie.
Most of the special fx is not very good although there are some effects that looks really good. The main selling point, which I like, is the tone and that the scenes we are treated are dark and brutal and there is a tone of dark humour.
It´s obvious that the budgetary constraints has influenced the production and Ryan Nicholson have stated that a director´s cut of film with the title Live Feed: The CAT III Edition with extended sex/violence, audio remastered in 5.1 surround sound with special features revisiting "The Venus Theatre", interactive "Live Feed's" and a sneak peek at "Live Feed 2" will be released sometime in the future. It was originally supposed to be released in the fall of 2008 but has been postponed several times..
Rating 4½ out of 7. I liked the movie, it´s pretty good, actually I liked this better than the over-rated Hostel.  Live Feed dares to go further than Hostel but unfortunately it suffers from its low budget. I look forward to seeing more of Ryan Nicholson.

This review is of the unrated cut. Below is a teaser poster for Live Feed: The CAT III Edition.