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Crazy As Hell

DEJ Productions // R // February 4, 2003
List Price: $24.99 [Buy now and save at Amazon]

Review by Ron J. Epstein | posted April 5, 2003 | E-mail the Author
The Feature:
It's amazing, but in almost every movie that involves an "insane asylum" portrays them in such an over-the-top kind of way. Whereas "12 Monkeys" did it with humor in mind, "Crazy as Hell" does it in a manner where all the crazies run around screaming "duh, duh, duh, duh" while twitching, and playing with ridiculous toys.

Now that I have gotten that out of the way, Dr. Ty Adams (Michael Beach) is an acclaimed therapist who agrees to be filmed for two weeks, as he takes on a new assignment at a mental institution, to take as many of the mental patients off their medication while preserving their last shred of sanity. But, Dr. Adams is not without his personal demons, as his wife and daughter died under tragic circumstances.

One day, "The Man" (Eriq La Salle) shows up claiming to be Satan. At first, this seems like an impossible reach, but over the course of the movie, "The Man" positions himself to a point where Dr. Adams realizes that there is a chance that he could actually be Satan.

This movie suffers from a bad execution to a really good premise. The acting isn't as good as I hoped (I didn't like La Salle as Satan), and overall, this movie is incredibly corny.

Video:
"Crazy as Hell" is presented in Full Frame 1.33:1 (some e-tailers are incorrect in claiming this is presented in widescreen). Like most full frame transfers, the print is butchered by an awful pan-and-scan job. Colors seem lighter than they should be, and the picture gets grainy in darker scenes. If I cared about this movie, I'd be angry about the transfer.

Audio:
The audio is presented here in Dolby Surround 5.1 and Dolby 2.0. I don't get the idea of having 5.1 sound to go with a full frame transfer. Anyways, the movie sounds good for being made on a low budget. Character dialogue and action scenes sound good, and there are no audio dropouts to report.

Menus:
A static DVD menu offers the choices of "Play Movie", "Theatrical Trailer", "Scene Selections, "Set Up", and an optional "Director's Commentary with Eriq La Salle."

Extras:
A commentary by Director Eriq La Salle. There are many "dead spots" in his commentary, and overall, he's quite boring. In addition, he takes this ridiculous film too seriously.

Final Thoughts:
Okay math majors: Mediocre movie + Full Frame + Good Audio + Awful Commentary + $25 MSRP = Skip It. Trust me, you're a better person for not having seen this movie.

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