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Killer: 4 Pack, The

MVD Entertainment Group // Unrated // November 18, 2014
List Price: $10.76 [Buy now and save at Mvdb2b]

Review by Jeremy Biltz | posted October 21, 2014 | E-mail the Author
The Movie:
Everybody wants to watch a bunch of horror movies in October, at least people that I want anything to do with. And what better way to efficiently get your horror film fix than with a combo pack? SGL Entertainment tries to meet this need with its Killer 4 Pack, which includes the films The Day of the Dead, Jezebeth, Carnage: The Legend of Quiltface and Hellweek: Grindhouse Edition. The quality ranges from decent, to very, very bad.

There doesn't seem to be any particular thematic grouping of the films. You've got a thrill kill group in one, a deformed slasher in another, a Satanist in a third, and an inexplicably weird group of killers in the fourth. I'll just give a capsule review of each film below.

The Day of the Dead
This is the best of the four films on the disc. It involves a group of spoiled kids who get their kicks from beating random strangers to death. They usually pick out someone who won't be missed: a homeless person or drifter. Their big mistake comes when they pick out illegal alien Ana (Rosa Isela Frausto) who's working in the suburbs of Chicago. Intrepid detective Carla Moreno (Christina De Leon) has a connection to Ana, and works tirelessly to track down her killers.

The effects are pretty good, and the performances as well. There are a few flubbed lines and forced reads, but overall the acting is good and the story moves along at a good clip. One problem is that there's no hint of any supernatural elements until over an hour in, and then it flips back and forth about whether it's a "ghost story" or not until the end. Regardless, this is a decent film and worth a watch. Sadly, the other three are not of this level of quality.

Jezebeth
At times, Jezebeth reads like an extended music video. The film clocks in at 1:23, and it has a six minute opening credit sequence and a ten minute closing credit sequence. Lots of time in between is spent watching characters do nothing or very little while music plays. The story is confusing and not very compelling.

Basically, Goth girl Jezebeth (Bree Michaels) has found a book of evil magic that gives instructions how to call up a demon. She wants to do this becauseā€¦ Well, it's not entirely clear. She has a fraught relationship with her sisters, with whom she lives regardless. This all traces back to an ancestor who gave birth to a demon child. Vampires are involved as well. This is not a good movie.

Carnage: The Legend of Quiltface
If you are familiar with the works of Massimiliano Cerchi, you'll know what to expect as far as quality here. This is a standard Cerchi film, with a tepid plot, forgettable characters, mediocre performances and fair to middling effects.

Quiltface is a legendary figure who lives in the desert and kills unwary travelers. That doesn't stop a group of college photography students from spending a day in the desert anyway to work on a school project. Of course, the killings begin in short order, and the surprise twist involves veterans mistreated when they returned from Vietnam. This one isn't worth recommending either.

Hellweek: Grindhouse Edition
This 2010 film follows in the great tradition of Happy Hell Night, Black Christmas, and Sorority Row. Fraternity / sorority horror is a genre with deep roots, particularly in the slasher sub-genre. Sadly, Hellweek is scattered, confused and not particularly compelling.

J.J. (Rob Jaeger) is the head of his fraternity, and wants an especially memorable hell week hazing stunt for his freshmen. Of course, he chooses to lock them in the abandoned warehouse in which a number of people have mysteriously died. Why not? He sends some frat brothers ahead to plan some scary surprises as well. But he doesn't realize that a group of very strange and violent people call the warehouse home, and they don't appreciate visitors. This film is not much good either, though it does have better performances than either Jezebeth or Quiltface. The video quality has been artificially altered to appear as if it was shot on low quality film in the seventies. It's still not much to get excited about.

Of the four films, I would only recommend that anyone seek out The Day of the Dead. It's not fantastic, but it is well executed and interesting. The other three are eminently forgettable. Overall, The Killer 4 Pack earns a Skip It.

The DVD

Video:
All of the films are 1.78:1 widescreen, and of varying video quality, none of very high quality. Of course, Hellweek is stylized to appear of low quality, in that nostalgic way, so that's not an area in which it can be criticized. The other films have varying degrees of muddiness, aliasing and posterization going on.

Sound:
Audio is Dolby digital 2 channel, and also has some problems. The sound is often afflicted with echo or muffled slightly. No prominent hiss is apparent, though. No subtitles or alternate language tracks are included.

Extras:
No extras are included.

Final Thoughts:
The Killer 4 Pack does have one good film, but it's not worth the effort to pick it up just for The Day of the Dead. The other films are sloppy, confused and not very interesting. I wouldn't recommend picking this up, even to avid collectors.


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