Announcement
Collapse
No announcement yet.
Troma's War
Collapse
X
Collapse
-
Troma's War
Released by: Troma
Released on: August 18th, 2015
Director: Lloyd Kaufman, Michael Herz
Cast: Carolyn Beauchamp, Sean Bowen, Jessica Dublin
Purchase From Amazon
The Movie
Troma's War is a rare breed of sorts; an ensemble cast war film which shoots for some creative stars, as opposed to the established heights of lunacy previously achieved by Troma's out-there cinema legacy. The film follows a group of stranded Tromaville citizens after a horrific plane crash, who then have to contend with a military-controlled army of blood-thirsty and lust-crazed terrorists with a sadistic streak.
It should be said that Troma's War had some issues during its initial release as a victim of some pretty hefty cuts by the MPAA, resulting in a neutered and watered-down version being released to theatres, thus bumming out Troma's legion of dedicated, blood 'n guts fanbase. This Blu-Ray restores the original director's cut from Troma owners Michael Herz and Lloyd Kaufman-who co-directed under the pseudonym of "Samuel Weil"-complete with all of the expected gunk, junk and excessive offensiveness Troma fans had come to expect from the NYC indie institution.
There's some ballsy fun to be had here with Troma's War as the principal cast are clearly having some fun here with the material, with some even delivering a level of emotional depth not usually witnessed with some of Troma's more popular work. Troma's War does suffer from a boring first act as situations are getting set up for the characters, but once the action set pieces get going, it's all full steam ahead for Troma's War from the middle third, right on through to the back end. One particularly infamous sequence occurs when one of the terrorists-suffering from a hefty amount of facial lesions and sores-threatens the crash survivors-cum-rebel forces with his "A.I.D.S. Brigade," while the final battle scene encapsulated every war film cliche, here Troma-fied to the tenth power.
It's nice to see Troma's War released in HD in an unexpurgated version, as this film may just be one of the more forgotten gems in the company's extensive catalog.
Video/Audio/Extras
The Blu-Ray here for Troma's War doesn't look quite as nice as their recent Nuke 'Em High release, but it's certainly better than the infamous Rabid Grannies disc from earlier in the year, as the film is presented in 1080i AVC encoded widescreen with a decent color palette and sharpness. There are some instances of DNR which rear their heads now and again, but it's not too distracting, overall. Additionally, there are some definite artifacting and compression issues to be had, as well, primarily when the action gets hairy near the final act. It's not a constant thing, but it's certainly there, and is sadly indicative of the crap-shoot in quality when it comes to Troma discs.
The Dolby Digital 2.0 audio track is nicely balanced, however, as Christopher DeMarco's melodic synth score booms out quite nicely, even behind all the gunfire and explosions. Unfortunately, there's some serious syncing issues with the dialogue not matching the actors mouths. Granted, a lot of the dialogue here is dubbed, anyway, but there's a couple seconds of delay which are readily visible when watching the disc with Kaufman's commentary on that are fixed when watching the film on its own. It's distracting, but at least Troma's War proper is free from this glitch.
Extras include this aforementioned commentary from Kaufman, who is his usual entertaining self here, detailing production facts while at the same time describing-with a straight face-how Troma's War utilizes allegory about corruption in the military-industrial complex and A.I.D.S. ignorance in the U.S. It's good and irreverent stuff which reminds Troma fans everywhere about how much we love Kaufman and Co.'s dedication, so many years later.
There's also a newly-recorded intro with Kaufman, the theatrical trailer as well as interviews with Lloyd and Michael about their experience making the film, presenting a nice package to celebrate this ambitious little film from Troma.
The Final Word
Troma's War has aged pretty well, and is a reminder of how fun low budget filmmaking can be, Troma-style, even twenty-five plus years later.
Posting comments is disabled.
Categories
Collapse
article_tags
Collapse
- album review (218)
- album reviews (274)
- arrow video (272)
- blu-ray (3225)
- blu-ray review (4177)
- comic books (1392)
- comic reviews (872)
- comics (988)
- dark horse comics (484)
- dvd and blu-ray reviews a-f (1969)
- DVD And Blu-ray Reviews G-M (1711)
- DVD And Blu-ray Reviews N-S (1757)
- DVD And Blu-ray Reviews T-Z (878)
- dvd review (2514)
- idw publishing (216)
- image comics (207)
- kino lorber (391)
- movie news (260)
- review (318)
- scream factory (280)
- severin films (301)
- shout! factory (537)
- twilight time (269)
- twilight time releasing (231)
- vinegar syndrome (500)
Latest Articles
Collapse
-
Released by: Blue Underground
Released on: May 21st, 2024.
Director: Bob Clark
Cast: John Marley, Lynn Carlin, Richard Backus, Henderson Forsythe, Anya Ormsby, Jane Daly
Year: 1974
Purchase From Amazon
Deathdream – Movie Review:
Also known as Dead Of Night, 1974's Deathdream, directed by the late, great Bob Clark and written by Alan Ormsby (who also wrote Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things, directed by Clark shortly before...-
Channel: Movies
05-09-2024, 11:07 AM -
-
Released by: Vinegar Syndrome
Released on: April 30th, 2024.
Director: Lech Kowalski
Cast: John Spacely
Year: 1985
Purchase From Amazon
Story Of A Junkie – Movie Review:
New York City filmmaker Lech Kowalski is no stranger to the NYC drug scene. He followed Dee Dee Ramone around and did the same for Johnny Thunders, documenting their exploits on film in movies like Hey Is Dee Dee Home and Born To Lose: The Last Rock And Roll Movie....-
Channel: Movies
05-03-2024, 05:45 PM -
-
Released by: Vinegar Syndrome
Released on: April 20th, 2024.
Director: Freddie Francis
Cast: Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Donald Sutherland
Year: 1965
Purchase From Amazon
Dr. Terror’s House Of Horrors – Movie Review:
Directed by Freddie Francis for Amicus in 1965, Dr. Terror's House Of Horrors is the first of a few anthology style horror pictures that the studio pumped out around this time. It's also one of their best....-
Channel: Movies
05-03-2024, 05:24 PM -
-
Released by: Sony Pictures
Released on: April 30th, 2024.
Director: SJ Clarkson
Cast: Dakota Johnson, Sydney Sweeney, Isabela Merced, Celeste O'Connor
Year: 2024
Purchase From Amazon
Madame Web –Movie Review:
Maligned pretty much as soon as the trailer dropped, 2024's Madame Web is, honestly, just as bad as you've probably heard. The movie opens in the Peruvian Amazon in 1973 where a pregnant female scientist named Constance Webb...-
Channel: Movies
05-02-2024, 12:57 PM -
-
Released by: Shout! Studios
Released on: April 16th, 2024.
Director: Paul Schrader
Cast: Nick Nolte, James Coburn, Sissy Spacek, Willem Defoe
Year: 1997
Purchase From Amazon
Affliction – Movie Review:
Directed by Paul Schrader, who wrote the script based on the novel of the same name by Russell Banks, 1997's Affliction is narrated by a man named Rolfe Whitehouse (Willem Dafoe) as he tells the story of his brother, Wade (Nick Nolte),...-
Channel: Movies
04-26-2024, 12:49 PM -
-
Released by: Mondo Macabro
Released on: May 4th, 2024.
Director: León Klimovsky
Cast: Paul Naschy, Shirley Corrigan, José Marco Davó
Year: 1972
Purchase From Amazon
Dr. Jekyll And The Werewolf – Movie Review:
Spanish horror mogul Paul Naschy resumes his most famous role as Waldemar Daninsky the wolf-man for the sixth time in the deliriously strange Dr. Jekyll And The Werewolf.
This time out, we find poor Waldemar...-
Channel: Movies
04-26-2024, 11:11 AM -