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Ozone
Tempe Entertainment // Unrated // January 6, 2004
List Price: $19.99 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
The Movie
J.R. Bookwalter certainly isn't a household name (except for maybe in the Bookwalter household), but he is well-known amongst fans of low-budget horror movies. This jack-of-all-trades made a name for himself with the release of The Dead Next Door in 1988, a film which was completed with funding from Sam Raimi. Over the years, Bookwalter's film got consistently better. But, his older efforts, such as the recently re-released Ozone show that all of the determination in the world won't necessarily guarantee a watchable movie.
Ozone takes place in a non-descript city where police detectives Eddie Boone (James Black) and Mike Weitz (Tom Hoover) are on the trail of a neighborhood drug-lord. While attempting to apprehend two suspects, Weitz disappears and Boone is injected with a new street drug known as "Ozone". Due to the fact that one of the suspects is killed, Boone is placed on suspension, but he continues the investigation on his own, as he's determined to find his partner. What he finds instead is that "Ozone" is turning those who use it into monsters. As Boone enters a strange underworld where addicts become zombies, he will soon face the evil behind "Ozone".
I hate to knock anyone who has the guts to make a low-budget movie on their own, especially someone like Bookwalter, whose Witchouse movies were pretty good, but Ozone just isn't very good, and fails on every account. For starters, the story is cliched and basically non-existent. Once Boone goes looking for Weitz, the movie is simply a series on seemingly random scenes in which Boone runs into one weirdo after another. We learn who is distributing "Ozone", but never really learn why. Also, if the film was attempting to make any sort of statement about drug addiction, it does come across at all. The depiction of addicts as mindless zombies is too elementary to be considered subtext.
The other problems with Ozone stem directly from the film's home-grown roots. The acting isn't very and most of the characters either over or under emote. The gore effects are good, but are often over-used. Even at 83 minutes, the movie is too long and many scenes feel like padding. There are several areas in the film where minutes go by with no dialogue and no story progression. To his credit, Bookwalter does fill the film with some interesting shots, and judging by the credits, he handled many of the technical jobs himself, but that doesn't change the fact that the movie isn't very good and is for only the most jaded/devoted fans of z-grade horror.
Video
Ozone shoots onto DVD courtesy of Tempe Home Video. The film is presented in a 4:3 aspect ratio. The movie was shot on S-VHS-C video and doesn't look as crisp and clean as most shot on video productions. The picture shows grain throughout the film and the amount of grain varies from light to moderate. The colors are good, but the picture is overly dark at times. There is nearly constant artifacting on this transfer and video noise is also prevalent at times. On the plus side, the amount of defects from the source print is surprisingly low. This transfer isn't necessarily bad, but if reveals all of the inherent problems with the film.
Audio
The DVD carries a newly created Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track. This track sounds fine, but it's a bit overzealous. Like many re-mixes, the dialogue remains strictly in the center channel, while the front and surround channels supply sound effects and musical cues. The mix does a fine job of accurately placing the sounds in conjunction with their positions in the film, but the sound effects are often louder, and thus more overt, than the dialogue. There is very little bass response here. This is a serviceable track that almost dominates the film.
Extras
As with many Tempe releases, the Ozone DVD contains several extras. We start with an audio commentary from director J.R. Bookwalter and star James Black. This is a fun commentary as these two old friends discuss this labor of love. They give details on the locations, the production, and what it's like to make a $3000 movie. Next up we have "Paying for Your Past Sins: The Ozone Story", which is a 30-minute featurette which offers relatively few films clips, and is made up mostly of modern interviews with the cast and crew, especially Bookwalter, as they discuss the making of the film. Bookwalter talks in-depth about why he decided to tackle this project. "Into the Black: James Black & Ozone" is an 8 minute segment which examines actor Black's involvement in the film. (Either this same featurette or something very similar was included on Tempe's release of The Vault, which Black directed.) Bookwalter provides audio commentary again on 7 minutes of shot-on-video behind-the-scenes footage which documents the opening sequences of the movie and has some footage from the movie's premiere. Actor James L. Edwards guides the viewer on a "Location Tour" (5 minutes) as he prowls the grounds of the hospital where the movie was shot. Screenwriter David Wagner had actually began shooting the movie himself on VHS before teaming with Bookwalter, and we are treated to approximately 11 minutes of that footage here. For some reason, a 12-minute reel of Ozone dubbed in Spanish is included on the DVD. There are thee still galleries: Production Stills, Conceptual & Cover Art, and Articles & Reviews. Finally, we have 4 trailers for Ozone and bonus trailers for 6 other Tempe releases.
Once again, I don't enjoy critiquing anyone who has the guts to shoot a feature-length movie with only $3000, but Ozone simply can't overcome its budget restraints. Bookwalter and company give it their best shot, but the amateurish acting and weak story cause the movie to be D.O.A.
J.R. Bookwalter certainly isn't a household name (except for maybe in the Bookwalter household), but he is well-known amongst fans of low-budget horror movies. This jack-of-all-trades made a name for himself with the release of The Dead Next Door in 1988, a film which was completed with funding from Sam Raimi. Over the years, Bookwalter's film got consistently better. But, his older efforts, such as the recently re-released Ozone show that all of the determination in the world won't necessarily guarantee a watchable movie.
Ozone takes place in a non-descript city where police detectives Eddie Boone (James Black) and Mike Weitz (Tom Hoover) are on the trail of a neighborhood drug-lord. While attempting to apprehend two suspects, Weitz disappears and Boone is injected with a new street drug known as "Ozone". Due to the fact that one of the suspects is killed, Boone is placed on suspension, but he continues the investigation on his own, as he's determined to find his partner. What he finds instead is that "Ozone" is turning those who use it into monsters. As Boone enters a strange underworld where addicts become zombies, he will soon face the evil behind "Ozone".
I hate to knock anyone who has the guts to make a low-budget movie on their own, especially someone like Bookwalter, whose Witchouse movies were pretty good, but Ozone just isn't very good, and fails on every account. For starters, the story is cliched and basically non-existent. Once Boone goes looking for Weitz, the movie is simply a series on seemingly random scenes in which Boone runs into one weirdo after another. We learn who is distributing "Ozone", but never really learn why. Also, if the film was attempting to make any sort of statement about drug addiction, it does come across at all. The depiction of addicts as mindless zombies is too elementary to be considered subtext.
The other problems with Ozone stem directly from the film's home-grown roots. The acting isn't very and most of the characters either over or under emote. The gore effects are good, but are often over-used. Even at 83 minutes, the movie is too long and many scenes feel like padding. There are several areas in the film where minutes go by with no dialogue and no story progression. To his credit, Bookwalter does fill the film with some interesting shots, and judging by the credits, he handled many of the technical jobs himself, but that doesn't change the fact that the movie isn't very good and is for only the most jaded/devoted fans of z-grade horror.
Video
Ozone shoots onto DVD courtesy of Tempe Home Video. The film is presented in a 4:3 aspect ratio. The movie was shot on S-VHS-C video and doesn't look as crisp and clean as most shot on video productions. The picture shows grain throughout the film and the amount of grain varies from light to moderate. The colors are good, but the picture is overly dark at times. There is nearly constant artifacting on this transfer and video noise is also prevalent at times. On the plus side, the amount of defects from the source print is surprisingly low. This transfer isn't necessarily bad, but if reveals all of the inherent problems with the film.
Audio
The DVD carries a newly created Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track. This track sounds fine, but it's a bit overzealous. Like many re-mixes, the dialogue remains strictly in the center channel, while the front and surround channels supply sound effects and musical cues. The mix does a fine job of accurately placing the sounds in conjunction with their positions in the film, but the sound effects are often louder, and thus more overt, than the dialogue. There is very little bass response here. This is a serviceable track that almost dominates the film.
Extras
As with many Tempe releases, the Ozone DVD contains several extras. We start with an audio commentary from director J.R. Bookwalter and star James Black. This is a fun commentary as these two old friends discuss this labor of love. They give details on the locations, the production, and what it's like to make a $3000 movie. Next up we have "Paying for Your Past Sins: The Ozone Story", which is a 30-minute featurette which offers relatively few films clips, and is made up mostly of modern interviews with the cast and crew, especially Bookwalter, as they discuss the making of the film. Bookwalter talks in-depth about why he decided to tackle this project. "Into the Black: James Black & Ozone" is an 8 minute segment which examines actor Black's involvement in the film. (Either this same featurette or something very similar was included on Tempe's release of The Vault, which Black directed.) Bookwalter provides audio commentary again on 7 minutes of shot-on-video behind-the-scenes footage which documents the opening sequences of the movie and has some footage from the movie's premiere. Actor James L. Edwards guides the viewer on a "Location Tour" (5 minutes) as he prowls the grounds of the hospital where the movie was shot. Screenwriter David Wagner had actually began shooting the movie himself on VHS before teaming with Bookwalter, and we are treated to approximately 11 minutes of that footage here. For some reason, a 12-minute reel of Ozone dubbed in Spanish is included on the DVD. There are thee still galleries: Production Stills, Conceptual & Cover Art, and Articles & Reviews. Finally, we have 4 trailers for Ozone and bonus trailers for 6 other Tempe releases.
Once again, I don't enjoy critiquing anyone who has the guts to shoot a feature-length movie with only $3000, but Ozone simply can't overcome its budget restraints. Bookwalter and company give it their best shot, but the amateurish acting and weak story cause the movie to be D.O.A.
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