The Feature:
Wow, what a bad movie "Taboo" is. Starring a "sextet of rising stars" (Columbia Tri-Star's words not mine), "Taboo" is a story about a group of college friends who play a game of the same name one night. Each one is asked a sexual question (i.e. "Would you ever have a three way?"), and they each answer. This helps to define the characters and their moral weaknesses, although heavily relying on stereotyping. I mean, one is a prude; one is sexually adventurous, etc. That part I'm okay with. A year later, they all meet up in an empty house on a stormy night to celebrate New Years, and everything goes to hell. Overused movie clichés anyone?

One by one, everybody dies, and a card is left on their body. The card has one word on it that describes their sin as it relates to the answers given when they played Taboo last year. After that, more secrets and lies rise to the surface, and we're left with one of the most convoluted movies I have ever seen.

I don't blame the six actors and actresses in how bad this movie is (aside from "Finch" from "American Pie", and Amber Benson from "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", I have never heard of any of them). Each one does an okay job playing up their particular character's vices, but the material they're given to work with is atrocious. I'm almost tempted to give away all the forced twists and turns throughout the movie, just so I can spare you the agony of having to watch "Taboo." If I were any of the "rising stars" in this movie, I would not list it on my resume.

Video:
Apparently Columbia Tri-Star has no idea what the difference between "Full Screen" and "Widescreen" is. The back of the DVD states that "Taboo" is show in a Full Screen Presentation with an approximate ratio of 1.85:1. Isn't that a massive contradiction? Anyways, "Taboo" is indeed shown only in Widescreen 1.85:1. Colors are pretty good, as well as flesh tones. The print does suffer from specs of dirt and grain at times (especially during the scenes when the lights suddenly turn off). But overall, the picture quality is perfectly acceptable.

Audio:
The audio is presented here in Dolby 2.0 as well as in a French audio track. The audio is pretty good, although 5.1 would have been useful during the scenes with sudden thunderclaps and gunshots. But overall, the dialogue sounds pretty clean, although the background piano music can sound hollow at times.

Menus:
A static DVD menu offers the choices of "Play Movie", "Audio Set Up", "Subtitles", "Scene Selections", and "Trailers."

Extras:
Three trailers… that's it. One for "Swept Away", one for "New Best Friend", and finally, one for "So Close."

Final Thoughts:
If you respect yourself, you'll avoid this movie. It could have been a million times better, but it isn't. The ending is abrupt, and makes no sense whatsoever. The only thing I commend the makers of "Taboo" is on the fact that this movie barely has a runtime of 75 minutes. Add to that no extras, sub par video and audio, and you have a real stinker. For the love of God, please "Skip It."