Victor Crowley isn’t a great horror-comedy, as the latter aspect doesn’t always land, but it is entertaining enough with respectable, if not familiar, gore effects and a solid enough ensemble cast led way by Laura Ortiz and series veteran Parry Shen.
Victor Crowley
(2017)
Genre(s): Horror, Comedy
Dark Sky Films | NR – 83 min. – $29.98 | February 6, 2018
Date Published: 02/17/2018 | Author: The Movieman
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THE MOVIE — 3.0/5 |
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In 2007, over forty people were brutally torn to pieces in Louisiana’s Honey Island Swamp. Over the past decade, lone survivor Andrew’s (PARRY SHEN) claims that local legend Victor Crowley (KANE HODDER) was responsible for the horrific massacre have been met with great controversy. But while promoting his new book, Andrew reluctantly accepts an invite back to the swamp to be interviewed by his ex-wife (KYRSTAL JOY BROWN) and get photographed by her crew while flying over, but a freak accident causes the plane to crash in the swamp. In the meantime, independent filmmaker Chloe (KATIE BOOTH), her boyfriend Alex (CHASE WILLIAMSON) and her best friend Rose (LAURA ORTIZ), have travelled to Louisiana in order to film a B-trailer in the hopes it would finance their own horror movie based off the events in the Hatchet trilogy. As it would happen, the three, along with goofy travel guide Dillon (DAVE SHERIDAN), hear the plane crash and go to rescue any survivors. As you know, any good horror movie needs plenty of victims and old Victor Crowley has been accidentally summoned, via a YouTube video, and wreaks havoc upon the group, much to the dread of Alex above all else, whom has been living in the cloud of suspicion of being a serial killer. Victor Crowley was a surprise film for fans who thought were attending a Hatchet 10th anniversary screening and instead got the fourth installment which was, in part, encourage by the late George A. Romero to writer/director Adam Green. As for the film itself, I thought it was ‘fine’ and all but perhaps the weakest of the four as 70-75% of the film takes place on the crashed plane while any swamp scenes were limited. I assume this was done to keep the production costs down, but it led to a so-so story, scares that weren’t there, laughs that didn’t quite land and gore effects, even though decent, have mostly been seen before (heck, there was a crotch chop that I saw in the Friday the 13th video game). As it stands, Adam Green’s Victor Crowley is for all its weaknesses, still entertaining way for horror fans to spend 75-minutes. Side note: Be sure to stay tuned to a mid-credits scene that I guess portends for the return of another character from the previous films… |
SPECIAL FEATURES – 4.0/5 |
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I admire Adam Green for packing his releases with a good amount of features. Audio Commentaries:
Usually tracks with the cast are the more light-hearted and although it was entertaining, the “Technical Commentary” is equally insightful and still had a laid-back vibe as Adam Green is generally a fun dude to listen to. Fly on the Set (1:08:33; HD) is exactly what you think it is, a documentary-style featurette that just captures the atmosphere of the production. Raising the Dead… Again (26:41; HD) is an interview with Adam Green explaining what led him to do the project. Also included is the Teaser (0:44; HD) and Trailer (2:07; HD). |
VIDEO – 3.75/5 |
| Victor Crowley resurrects onto Blu-ray presented with a 2.39 widescreen aspect ratio and a 1080p high-definition transfer. As with most horror movies, it is a dark looking movie but with some lighter touches for the daylight scenes while the darker shots still show off good detail. There are spots of excellent color, such as the red-lighting on the airplane fuselage and skin tones appear natural. |
AUDIO – 3.75/5 |
| The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track is adequate enough from clear dialogue levels coming from the center channel to Victor’s all familiar screams and the also familiar blood-curdling screams from his victims and the score plus some ambient noises make up the rear channels. |
OVERALL – 3.5/5 |
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Overall, Victor Crowley isn’t a great horror-comedy, as the latter aspect doesn’t always land, but it is entertaining enough with respectable, if not familiar, gore effects and a solid enough ensemble cast led way by Laura Ortiz and series veteran Parry Shen. The Blu-ray released by Dark Sky Films has good video/audio transfers and a nice selection of bonus material. |