Tweet
Released by: Autonomy Pictures
Released on: October 8th, 2013.
Director: Emanuele De Santi
Cast: Emanuele De Santi, Valeria Sannino, Paolo Luciani, Alessandro Gramanti
Year: 2011
Purchase From Amazon
The Movie:
Italian filmmaker Emanuele De Santi wrote, directed and played the lead role in the 2011 low budget gorefest Adam Chaplin: Violent Avenger. The movie takes place in a country that doesn't actually exist called Heaven Valley where a woman named Emily (Valeria Sannino) is murdered. Emily's husband, Adam (Emanuele De Santi), takes it upon himself to figure out who killed his wife and pay them back in kind. He starts to put together the pieces of the puzzle and realizes that Denny (Christian Riva), a local mobster, is the man behind it all.
Adam would go to the cops, but it would be pointless as they're all on the take. As his anger gets the best of him, he summons a demon who, in return for his soul, imbues him with superhuman strength, the kind that will allow him to rip peoples' arms off. The demon will also help Adam find the killers, but only if he follows its instructions to the letter.
Let's not beat around the bush here. Adam Chaplin: Violent Avenger is an hour and a half long fight scene. It's a very gory one, a ridiculously gory on, in fact, but it doesn't have a whole lot more going for it than that. De Santi looks tough, he's good at punching guys and ripping off body parts. The effects are all done the old fashioned way and without any obvious CGI. There's that to like about it, and those who don't need much more than gore will probably get a kick out of this. If you're in the right frame of mind for something this brainless and insanely over the top, it's probably a fine way to kill ninety minutes.
There's not much of a story here though. The whole thing plays off like an effects reel, which is all well and good, but it doesn't make for particularly riveting viewing. It also overdoes it on a visual level. Gore scenes are awesome and the ones featured in this movie are impressive but there are so many of them that come so close together that by the time you're half way through, they don't really have a whole lot of impact anymore. It's the whole 'too much of a good thing' syndrome.
On top of that, the movie's color scheme is irritating. The whole movie is bathed in blue which gives it a dark look that De Santi was probably hoping would give the movie an edge of sorts but it just results in an unattractive picture. The performances are, if not particularly good, inspired and enthusiastic but this is a whole lot of not particularly great looking style over substance.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Adam Chaplin: Violent Avenger arrives on DVD from Autonomy Pictures in a 1.78.1 anamorphic widescreen transfer that probably looks as good as the source material will allow for. This is a rather ugly looking movie, colors and contrast are consistently blown out for stylistic effect and while in a sense that works in the context of the story being told, it sometimes means the visuals are kind of blah looking. The transfer seems to replicate things pretty accurately though. Detail is okay, never great, particularly in the darker scenes but this seems to stem back to the photography.
The Italian language Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo is fine. The levels are properly balanced and there are no problems with hiss or distortion to note. The English subtitles are free of typos and easy to read and generally this mix gets the job done without any issues.
Extras include a few featurettes, all on the shorter side. Look for H.A.B.S. (Hyper-realistic Anime Blood Simulation), which takes a look at the way in which the extreme gore effects for the feature were handled. It's moderately interesting, particularly if you're a VFX junkie. Along the same lines is another featurette called Mechanisms Of Gore, which again focuses on the gore in the movie, just as the title implies. From Idea To Screen is a behind the scenes piece that explores what went into making the picture while Building Up Adam reveals what De Santi did to get in shape to play the lead in the movie. A trailer for the feature is also included, as are menus and chapter selection options.
The Final Word:
Adam Chaplin: Violent Avenger offers up a whole lot of admittedly impressive and creative gore. It doesn't, however, offer up a whole lot more than that. There's definitely an inspired effort here to try something different but the movie is so relentless in its visual assault that you never feel for the characters and the story gets lost. Gorehounds will dig absolutely dig this one, as it offers up carnage by the truckload and Autonomy Pictures' DVD offers up the best English friendly release around.
