Hatred Of A Minute

Released by: Anchor Bay Entertainment
Released on: July 8, 2003.
Director: Michael Kallio
Cast: Michael Kallio, Tracey Newberry, Gunner Hanson, Tim Lovelace
Year: 2001
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The Movie:

Eric Seaver (Michael Kallio) comes from a pretty nasty background. His mother married an abusive alcoholic named Barry (played by Gunnar Hanson, yes, Leatherface himself) who would routinely beat the snot out of Eric and his mother on a regular basis, as well as loading on heaps of mental abuse as well.

Well, Eric is all grown up now and not without his fair share of emotional issues. When his mother passes away, he and his stepfather get into it at the family home and Eric ends up bashing Barry's head in with a toaster and burying him out by the railroad tracks, just outside of town.

By this point, Eric has snapped and is starting to exhibit some unusual behavior around his family and friends. One of his friends, Glenn, happens to be a detective in the homicide department of the local police station. When more bodies start showing up by the railroad tracks and Eric starts acting stranger and stranger, Glenn becomes suspicious, and with good reason. It seems that Eric has gone on a killing spree and it's up to Glenn to stop him.

While the film plays around nicely with some good ideas, ultimately it's only partially successful. While the direction is competent and the editing quite excellent, the cast is obviously made of amateurs and there are some scenes in which the delivery of certain lines is almost laughable.

That's not to say that the film is a complete failure - it's not. The choice of using the analogy of good vs. evil within all of us works well and leads to some nice atmosphere in a few spots, and the director is able to quite effectively build some suspense in a few scenes, but it is difficult at times to accept some of the cast as believable. It is kind of cool to see Bruce Campbell pop up in a couple of spots on the TV in the background though.

The filmmakers show some real potential with this outing, and while this film didn't necessarily work for me completely, enough aspects of it did that I'd be willing to check out their future endeavors.

Video/Audio/Extras:

The 16x9 1.66.1 transfer is pretty sharp and colors are nicely brought out but there is quite a bit of grain and a little bit of print damage evident in just a few too many scenes. This is likely due to the fact that the film was shot on 16mm over a prolonged period of time. For the most part though, this transfer isn't bad.

The Dolby Digital Stereo track is clean and lively with nicely balanced sound effect levels and perfectly clear dialogue. The film would probably have benefited from a surround mix in a few scenes, but for a micro budget indy film, Hatred Of A Minute sounds very good.

For such a small film to get the special edition treatment that Hatred Of A Minute sees here is pretty cool. First up is a commentary with co-writer/actor/director Michael Kallio and Sound Designer Joel Newport. This track is interesting from a technical standpoint and some good information gets across throughout its duration. There's also a second audio commentary on the disc, also with Kallio, who is joined by one of the films producers, Bruce Campbell. Those who've heard Campbell's audio commentaries before know that he's rarely at a loss for words and this recording is no exception. It's a funny and informative track and the two seem to be having a good time doing it.

There is also a seventeen-minute featurette entitled Hating Every Minute that is mostly comprised of behind the scenes footage and interviews conducted on set during the filming. Most, if not all, of the footage here was shot on a camcorder and isn't of the highest quality but if you're like me and you're a sucker for behind the scenes information, especially on the low budget films, you'll want to give it a look.

Rounding out the special features on the disc are some deleted scenes (that I'm guessing were removed for pacing purposes), a theatrical trailer, talent bios, a gallery of promotional material and stills, and an eight-page booklet of liner notes.

The Final Word:

Anchor Bay has done a nice job on this presentation, and the extra features make it worth looking into.