Chillerama - Blu-ray Review

Details: By Loron Hays; 04 December 2011

{2jtab: Movie Review}

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Tackling the territory of camp and schlock films from the 1950s with even more camp and schlock requires a bit of skill as those films, while insanely entertaining, were usually never meant to be the stuff of self-referential spoof. Writers/directors Adam Rifkin (Detroit Rock City), Tim Sullivan (2001 Maniacs), Adam Green (Hatchet) and Joe Lynch (Knights of Badassdom) come together to make a comedy anthology film – a B-grade movie within a series of four other B-grade movies designed to be from the 40s and 50s – that honors the creature features of the drive-in era. Each film has a different look and feel and tackles a specific genre of all things rock and schlock. Unfortunately, the idea is a bit more exciting than the actual film turns out to be.

The main story is about the final night of a drive-in movie theater as it shows some vintage classics from another era. A group of teens arrive and watch the movies – entitled Wadzilla, I Was a Teenage Werebear, The Diary of Anne Frankenstein, and Zom B Movie – as a mysterious illness sweeps through the crowd and renders patrons the living dead.

It’s hard to be too critical when I have the sneaking suspicion that writer/director Ed Wood himself would be proud of the effort Chillerama puts forth. Even if it doesn’t always meet the goals it sets out for itself, the film is completely twisted. In Rifkin’s Wadzilla, a man’s sperm mutates into a beastly-sized white creature and defiles the Statue of Liberty. Sullivan’s musical spoof of The Lost Boys is appropriately titled I Was a Teenage Werebear sees closeted kids coming out as leather-wearin’ daddy-o’s; all working metaphors for the gay community. The largely improvised The Diary of Anne Frankenstein, directed by Adam Green, has a gibberish-speaking Hitler going after the perfect killing machine. Finally, Lynch’s Zom B Movie spoofs the cinema of the late 60s with its gore and sex-starved zombies.

Unfortunately, the film isn’t as clever as it believes it is. There are large gaps in its overall quality and, while it is too easy to criticize it for its actors lack of talent, the overall sharpness of its script isn’t there. Several moments are too damn boring for anybody’s good. Is it possible for a film to be utterly fascinating and terribly boring at the same instance? Chillerama proves it so.

Chillerama is completely cheesy. That isn’t the problem. No, that’s its strength (which is why I refuse to ding it for its acting). Its tongue-in-cheek spirit is firmly planted in it’s honoring of the drive-in era. The throwback vibe was probably fun for the cast and the crew and moments of that goofiness do make it on to the screen, but watching it as a whole is not nearly as fun as it ought to be for fans of B-movies. And, while I understand the role of sexuality in the drive-in era, Chillerama’s overall content relies more on low-rent juvenile humor than that of an honest cinephile’s B-grade mind.

It feels a bit too dismissive to suggest that Chillerama is the poor man’s Grindhouse but if the shoe fits…

{2jtab: Film Details}

MPAA Rating: This title has not yet been rated by the MPAA
Director: Adam Green (segment "The Diary Of Anne Frankenstein"); Joe Lynch (segment "Zom-B-Movie"); Adam Rifkin (segment "Wadzilla"); Tim Sullivan (segment "I was a Teenage Werebear")
Writer: Adam Green (segment "The Diary Of Anne Frankenstein"); Joe Lynch (segment "Zom-B-Movie"); Adam Rifkin (segment "Wadzilla"); Tim Sullivan (segment "I was a Teenage Werebear")
Cast: Richard Riehle; Adam Rifkin; Ray Wise; Eric Roberts; Owen Benjamin; Lin Shaye
Genre: Action | Comedy | Fantasy | Horror | Musical
Tagline: The Ultimate Midnight Movie.
Memorable Movie Quote: "it's a medical anomaly the likes of which the medical community has never seen"
Distributor: AirScope Pictures
Release Date: August 20, 2010
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date: November 29, 2011

Synopsis: It's the closing night at the last drive-in theater in America and Cecil B. Kaufman (Richard Riehle) has planned the ultimate marathon of lost film prints to unleash upon his faithful cinephile patrons. Four films so rare that they have never been exhibited publicly on American soil until this very night! What could possibly go wrong?

In the spirit of classic anthology films like Creepshow and Twilight Zone: The Movie and containing films that not only celebrate the golden age of drive-in B horror shlock but also span over four decades of cinema, Chillerama offers something for every bad taste.

{2jtab: Blu-ray Review}

Chillerama - Blu-ray Review

Component Grades
Movie		Blu-ray Disc


Blu-ray Experience

Blu-ray Details:

Available on Blu-ray - January 29, 2011
Screen Formats: 1.85:1
Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish
Audio: English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Discs: 25GB Blu-ray Disc; Single disc (1 BD)
Playback: Region A

The 1080p transfer is a bit heavy in its use of visual style to make the films appear as if they are actually from another era. Every film has a different visual flavor and relishes in it. Some are over-saturated, extra grainy, with source damage to authenticate its vintage feel. Some are in black-and-white and flicker with appropriate speed changes. In all instances, fine detail is clear throughout. Black levels are robust and well-developed in their appropriations to shadows and edges. The soundtrack – presented in a bold DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack – doesn’t quite fill in the blanks, but does provide a bit of a surround sound quality to the B-grade movie experience.

Supplements:

Commentary:

Ironically enough, the commentary is provided in a picture-in-picture commentary from filmmakers Adam Rifkin, Tim Sullivan, Adam Green and Joe Lynch. While the directors do seem a bit too self-congratulatory throughout the commentary, they do humble themselves a bit to talk about the classics of the genre and the mention the films they spoofed. The fellowship between all the directors is also obvious.

Special Features:

Leading off with a strong making-of featurette, Chillerama’s special features are pretty thorough and cover each of the fake films that make their appearance at the drive-in. Each one also has its own set of deleted scenes and era-made trailers. The special features also extend into the world of classic monster movies with a short look at some other favorite monster flicks.