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Army of Frankensteins - Blu-ray Review

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Sometimes shit is shit.  Writer/director Ryan Bellgardt’s Army of Frankensteins is being advertised as a horror/comedy.  It is neither.  It’s just a bad film that – even with its intriguing premise of a time travelling Frankenstein trapped in the Civil War – goes nowhere fast.  Released by Scream Factory, this is one title that I highly recommend you avoid at all costs. 

Starring Jordan Farris as a down-on-his-luck young adult who finds himself consistently in the wrong place at the wrong time, Army of Frankensteins is what happens when he crosses paths with a mad scientist named Dr. Tanner Finski (John Ferguson) and his child genius assistant, Igor (Christian Bellgardt) one dark and stormy night in a grocery store.  Suddenly, he finds himself transported to the Civil War fighting against an army of Frankenstein monsters (all played by a beer-bellied Eric Gesecus) that have somehow been created thanks to Finski’s doomed experiments. 

With little intelligence in its random silliness and a budget competent enough to be annoying, this independent film is a time-traveling mess.  The amateur acting from the local talent isn’t the main problem here; pantomime is to be expected.  It’s the fact that so much of the promise in the premise is wasted by point-and-shoot direction and a goofy use of gore effects.  A man expecting his arm to be ripped off early on in the film is a simple warning shot that more scenes like this are bound to follow.

Make no mistake; I genuinely want to support farm-grown films.  Shot entirely in Oklahoma, Army of Frankensteins made its debut at the state’s DeadCENTER Film Festival in October of 2014.  It makes its debut on blu this week thanks to Scream Factory.    I’d love to be able to recommend it but I wouldn’t know the audience who’d appreciate this one.

This is a film that earned my dislike because it is neither funny nor scary.  I didn’t laugh; I groaned.  Too much of Bellgardt’s film is simple cannon fodder.  Even at its goofier moments, the film just lies there like a napping dog and expects a treat.  Maybe some people can appreciate this domestic behavior from something that should be a bit more animated but it is my opinion that the aesthetic of camp shouldn’t be AS dead as an Army of Frankensteins.

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[tab title="Film Details"]

Army of Frankensteins - Blu-ray review

MPAA Rating: Not rated.
Runtime:
108 mins
Director
: Ryan Bellgardt
Writer:
Ryan Bellgardt
Cast:
Jordan Farris, Christian Bellgardt, John Ferguson
Genre
: Horror | Sci-fi
Tagline:
Lincoln did not free the slaves alone.
Memorable Movie Quote: "We're from the future, and it's time to kick some Frankenstein ass."
Distributor:
Scream Factory
Official Site:
Release Date:
No theatrical release
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date:
September 1, 2015
Synopsis: A young man travels back in time, finding himself entrenched in the Civil War with an army of Frankensteins.

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[tab title="Blu-ray Review"]

Army of Frankensteins - Blu-ray Review

Blu-ray

Blu-ray Details:

Available on Blu-ray - September 1, 2015
Screen Formats: 2.35:1
Subtitles
: English
Audio:
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1; English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
Discs: 25GB Blu-ray Disc; Single disc (1 BD)
Region Encoding: A

Presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Scream Factory, the AVC encoded 1080p transfer (in 2.35:1) of Army of Frankensteins is a very-detailed success.  Crisp and dynamic when exteriors are sunny, the colors are atmospheric and purposefully saturated.  Black levels are often too soggy to not bleed out from their edges, though.  While it never escapes its digital rendering the image is sharp and full of some decent POV work as expressed through the transplanted eye of Farris.  The sound is a mixed bag of noise and explosions and is offered here on a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track.

Supplements:

Commentary:

  • None

Special Features:

None

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