Review by Leonard Norwitz
Studio:
Theatrical: The Weinstein Company
Blu-ray: Genius Products/Dimension Extreme
Disc:
Region: A
Runtime: 1:23:49
Chapters: 24
Size: 25 GB, Feature 18.9 Gig
Case: Standard Amaray Blu-ray case
Release date: October 28, 2008
Video:
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Resolution: 1080p
Video codec: VC-1
Audio:
English D5.1 Dolby TrueHD. English DD 5.1
Subtitles:
English SDH & Spanish (feature film only)
Extras:
• Commentary by Writer/Director/Producer Larry Bishop
and Director of Photography Scott Kevan
• Featurette: The Making of Hell Ride
• Featurette: The Babes of Hell Ride
• Featurette: The Guys of Hell Ride
• Featurette: The Choppers of Hell Ride
• Michael Madsen's Video Diary
• Theatrical Trailer
The Film:
2
An "Official Selection" of the 2008 Sundance Film
Festival, Hell Ride has its first theatrical release at
your home theatre, should you choose to buy your Blu-ray
copy before the street date of October 28. . . Or, not.
Here's a sampling from the nation's critics:
Roger Ebert From the Chicago Sun Times
HERE :
In between searching for a killer, he [Pistolero] leads
a gang whose members are sort of hard to tell apart,
except for The Gent (Michael Madsen), so-called because
instead of leathers, he wears a ruffled formal shirt
under a tux jacket, with his gang colors stitched on the
back. Why does he do that? The answer to that question
would require Character Development, and none of the
cast members develop at all. They spring into being
fully created and never change, like Greek gods. . . All
these guys do is shoot one another and roll around in
bars with naked girls with silicone breasts -- who don't
seem to object to the biker's smelly grime.
Keith Phipps (The Onion A.V. Club
HERE) :
Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino's Grindhouse was
a daring experiment that failed to catch on, an attempt
to drag the down-market stuff they grew up on into the
21st century without dislodging a molecule of grit. But
Grindhouse's commercial failure wasn't such a bad thing.
Had it been a hit, we might be seeing more movies like
the Tarantino-produced Hell Ride, a witless reprise of
'60s and '70s biker movies written, directed by, and
starring Larry Bishop.
Rachel Saltz (N.Y. Times
HERE) :
A jumble of influences, “Hell Ride” borrows its
jump-around-in-time structure and absurdist wordplay
from Quentin Tarantino (who apparently doesn’t hold a
grudge; he’s credited as executive producer) and its
sense of empty spaces and hovering doom from Sergio
Leone. All that’s missing is those directors’ talent.
Leonard Norwitz (DVDBeaver.com)
Just because a movie uses noir elements, doesn't
guarantee an art film; just because a movie has a small
budget or no stars doesn't mean it's ready for the scrap
heap. Just because the 1955 Volkswagon wasn't pretty or
fashionable didn't mean it had nothing to offer the
smart buyer. The grindhouse movies of the late 1960s and
70s are a curious case; the recent resurgence (that's
probably too strong a word at this point) even stranger:
for in one's attempt at deliberately making an
exploitation movie, one runs the risk of simply making a
bad one. All I need are a couple of fascinating
characters, a witty script and a photographer and editor
who know what they're doing. For all its visual,
posturing and musical hommages, pseudo- and otherwise to
Sergio Leone, Tarantino and Rodriguez, perhaps the best
and worst that can be said of Hell Ride is that it feels
like a porn movie with all the explicit bits edited out.
Image:
8/8
NOTE:
The below
Blu-ray
captures were ripped directly from the
Blu-ray
disc.
The first number indicates a relative level of
excellence compared to other Blu-ray video discs on a
ten-point scale. The second number places this image
along the full range of DVD and Blu-ray discs.
The first number indicates a relative level of
excellence compared to other Blu-ray video discs on a
ten-point scale. The second number places this image
along the full range of DVD and Blu-ray discs.
Mimicking Tarentino and Oliver Stone, Larry Bishop moves
between film stocks, or the look of different film
stocks, like alternating current. Aside from questions
of narrative integrity, it sure makes a critique of the
transfer difficult. Most of the time, the movie is very
high contrast, which could conceivably wreak havoc with
edges, but I don't see much to trouble me there. Color
is often pumped up with orangey flesh tones, but that is
likely intentional. The image is clean, blemish-free,
with lots of healthy grain. But it is entirely possible
that this Blu-ray is a near perfect rendering of the
original film, as the awesomely gritty close-ups of
David Carradine suggest.
CLICK EACH
BLU-RAY
CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION
Audio & Music:
6/7
Here we are graced with a Dolby TrueHD uncompressed
audio mix that's a good example of pearls before swine.
If nothing else, a modern biker movie grindhouse or
not - ought to have rip-roaring engine revs. Nope. OK,
it ought to have some cool surround effects as the bikes
pass the camera's point of view. Not so much, though
there is an immersive quality during the gunfire and
music swells. Dialogue is dull. The soundtrack music
fares much better.
Operations:
7
Like other Genius Products Blu-rays I've seen, the menu
is pretty easy to use – easier, in fact, than Rob
Zombie's
Halloween, which required clicking onto new
windows for what was never an exceedingly long list of
extra features. This one's done right, though without
taking advantage of the possibilities of the medium.
Extras:
5
The four featurettes, in standard definition, total a
little more than half an hour, which is probably enough,
given the material. Madsen's Video Diary makes European
Dogma look positively contrived. I sampled the
commentary. Definitely more interesting than the movie.
Nothing too deep, which is a good thing. Identical to
the simultaneously released DVD.
Bottom line:
3
The material is sufficiently repulsive to gratify
certain baser instincts, but there's no real movie here.
The Blu-ray yields a good rendering of a peculiar image
and an audio mix that never hits me in the gut, so I
don't see a purchase here.
Leonard Norwitz
October 22nd, 2008