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Released by: Cinema Epoch
Released on: 10/9/2007
Director: Ryan Webb
Cast: Jennifer Clary, Joe Estevez, Sasha Andreev, John Rodriguez, Kevin Harberer, Jeremy Steel
Year: 2007
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The Movie:
The debut horror film from upstart film company JenKev Productions is See Jane Run, a film that wears its influences plainly on its sleeve. The basic premise - and it is basic - is that four young people decide to take a road trip through Texas for a romantic getaway in the lovely town of Brownsville. Of course, along the way they run into trouble, pick up a hitchhiker, and finally wind up having to deal with a maniacal killer with a taste for human flesh.
Sound familiar? It should, because See Jane Run borrows very, very heavily from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and doesn't really do much to differentiate itself from other TCM knock offs resulting in a film that simply doesn't stand out. That's not to say that the picture isn't reasonably amusing - Sasha Andreev does a fine job of playing the killer and goes over the top with the kind of malicious glee that gives a good movie villain some serious screen presence - it's just that it's hard to care. His father, played by Joe Estevez, is a reasonably creepy old coot but again, we don't care about the people who these guys are after, so why should we be emotionally involved in their plight? The characters that we're supposed to root for are simply shallow versions of characters we've seen before, the titular Jane bearing a very painfully obvious resemblence to Marilyn Burns as Sally in Tobe Hooper's classic.
What works about the film? Well, aside from Andreev's turn as the heavy, the gore is not only plentiful but fairly well executed. A few scenes show the film's low budget roots but for the most part the scenes of torture and cannibalism are unpleasant enough to get under your skin just a little bit and the majority of the effects (none of which are CGI) are realistic enough that we can suspend our disbelief. The film also does a pretty decent job of taking advantage of the baked and worn looking Texas landscape. We can believe that strange people might live in the area, as it just looks desolate and a little uninhabitable.
Sadly, gratuitous gore and decent splatter effects aren't enough to save the film when we don't care about the characters and when we know where the film is going. Yes, the grue is fun in a schlocky kind of way but the picture lacks any real substance. Had it gone a little further in its attempts to shock we might have at least had something visceral and nasty on our hands to appreciate on that level, but as bloody as the picture is the impact just never hits. Adding to this is the fact that it's hard to sympathize with the characters when they stop just short of bringing it upon themselves. The film is set in modern times - do people really stop to pick up deranged looking hitchhikers in this day and age? Is it a good idea to trust the crazy mechanic? If your friend and travelling companion mysteriously disappeared, wouldn't you maybe think something was up? The characters here just don't think, they commit the same easy mistakes that every other horror movie victim committed in the seventies and eighties stalk and slash boom.
Director Ryan Webb shows some talent and the film isn't a complete waste of time thanks to a few inspirted moments but it's a shame that more effort wasn't put into crafting something more interesting than what is essentially a rehash of something that was done very well the first time.
Video/Audio/Extras:
The 1.33.1 fullscreen transfer presents this shot on DV film in what we have to assume is its original aspect ratio. Video quality is pretty strong here for a low budget film. Some of the night scenes lack fine clarity but aside from that the image is solid with good color reproduction and a fair bit of detail present throughout. Not reference quality, but definitely better than your average low budget feature.
Unfortunately, while the film looks pretty decent, it doesn't sound so hot. A lot of background noise is heard in the mix alongside wind and and traffic. The dialogue stays reaonably clear but the levels bounce around a little too much.
Married producing couple Kevin Haberer and Jennifer Clary (the duo that makes up JenKev Productions) discuss shooting on location in Austin, casting the picture and how certain scenes were set up. Unfortunately there are spots where the dialogue from the commentary mixes in a bit too much with the dialogue from the film which makes it difficult to hear at times. There's also a fair bit of dead air here. Not to say that there aren't some interesting stories to be told surrounding the film, it's just that getting to them is a bit of a chore.
From there we get a couple of minutes worth of outtakes from Joe Estevez's scenes, and a five minute featurette that gives SFX technician Paul Magby a chance to talk about the work he did on the picture.
The Final Word:
Far from an undiscovered classic, See Jane Run has a few moments that might make it worth a look for fans of low budget horror. The film borrows heavily from what came before but some of the gore scenes redeem the picture if that's your thing. The DVD looks fine but doesn't sound so hot, and the extras are mediocre at best.