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(aka "Mischief Night" )

 

directed by Richard Zelniker
USA 2014

 

Whether Ricky Gladstone (Luke Baines, SAVING MR. BANKS) is crazy and off his meds or just putting on a front, he and his goth gang of high school misfits are planning a very special Mischief Night. Along for the ride is New York transplant Sean Holloway (Myko Olivier) whose grades have started to fall seemingly as much because of the vaguely referenced tragedy that has caused his father to be absent and his mother to drink herself to sleep nightly as much as to seem cool in front of Ricky and his gang. Isn't it just so convenient that they are studying "Romeo and Juliet" in Mr. Hayes' (Moe Irvin) English class when Sean's flirtation with bold and pretty Sarah (Evanne Friedmann) creates additional enmity between the misfits and the "Abercombie and Bitch" set lead by jock Brad (AXE GIANT: THE WRATH OF PAUL BUNYON's Jesse Cove, who also produced) and sheriff's son Donny (Ryan Shoos). Ricky, however, is no Mercutio; rather, his delusions of grandeur lead him to incite a revolution when the sheriff (Kent Harper, SURVEILLANCE) raids their favorite underage drinking dive. Sean passively follows the group as they target the jocks for brutal beatings, and it takes witnessing a couple brutal beatings before he realizes Ricky is sick in the head (it is actually quite laughable when he exclaims "You guys are sick!" and "You could've hurt innocent people") and finally decides which side he is on; although viewers may not care at this point since Olivier's Sean is such an annoyingly passive nonentity to the point that Baines' Ricky seem flashy and one-dimensional rather than perhaps the shadow side of our protagonist). When the misfits turn on Sean, can he elude them in order to save Sarah and stop Ricky from undertaking the next incendiary phase of his Mischief Night campaign? Character actor Martin Kove (DEATH RACE 2000) - father of Jesse - has a cameo appearance as a theater projectionist ("All you kids care about is zombie movies!")

Eric Cotenas

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Theatrical Release: 14 November 2014 (USA)

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DVD Review: Revolver Entertainment - Region 1 - NTSC

Big thanks to Eric Cotenas for the Review!

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Distribution

Revolver Entertainment

Region 1 - NTSC
Runtime 1:45:40
Video

2.35:1 Original Aspect Ratio

16X9 enhanced
Average Bitrate: 6.46 mb/s
NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s

NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate

Audio English Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles English, none
Features Release Information:
Studio: Revolver Entertainment

Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen anamorphic - 2.35:1

Edition Details:
� Audio Commentary by director Richard Zelniker and actor/producer Jesse Kove
� Actor's Round Table (16:9; 28:53)
� Behind the Scenes (16:9; 8:12)
� Deleted Scenes (16:9; 9:14)
� Photo Gallery
� Trailer (16:9; 2:07)

DVD Release Date: May 26th, 2015
Amaray

Chapters 17

 

 

 

Comments

Revolver's dual-layer disc features a progressive, anamorphic transfer of this aggressively color-corrected HD feature (although the deleted scenes reveal slightly more subdued color work that would have looked just as acceptable). The Dolby Digital 5.1 track is not to gimmicky, with some subtle surround activity in exterior scene while source music has a more immersive and bassy presence. The optional English subtitles transcribe the dialogue without errors, but the all caps formatting and the positioning of the subtitles suggest they are a converted closed captioning file.

Extras start off with a rather flat commentary by the director and producer in which they talk about their intentions of establishing the anti-hero's moral compass and (forced) ambiguous sexuality, stylistic homages, and filling the frame not for reasons of visual scope but for a claustrophobic effect (which may also explain why the night scenes and dark interior seem to have been further darkened in post). Besides the usual shooting anecdotes, there is a lot more play-by-play rather than actual analysis (apart from some remarks on the director's intent with some scenes and lines of dialogue that do not always succeed).

The actor's roundtable is not an actual Q&A session so much as a discussion between the director and actors about their interpretations of their characters and the shooting experience, which is actually more interesting and informative than the commentary (particularly Australian Baines admitting that despite the universality of bullying, there were some "lost in translation" moments for him in the script). The comments by the actors in the behind the scenes segment overlap with the roundtable, but we get more of a sense of the contrast they feel between their characters and their own high school experiences (as well as what they grabbed onto in the roles to relate to them). The deleted scenes are a bit problematic in that you can tell while watching the feature that bits have been snipped out because of what lingers in the final cut, suggesting that they could have cut the film further if they deemed some of these nice little extensions were superfluous (including one character's appearance during the climax that seems pointless without the deleted bit).

  - Eric Cotenas

 

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DVD Box Cover

CLICK to order from:

 

 
Distribution

Revolver Entertainment

Region 1 - NTSC

 

 



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