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Random Acts Of Violence Blu-ray Review

“Random Acts Of Violence” is a mess of a movie.

Based on the graphic novel by Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray and adapted for the screen by Jay Baruchel and Jesse Chabot, “Random Acts Of Violence” follows a comic book creator (Todd), his wife (Kathy), his friend and publisher (Ezra) and his artist assistant (Aurora) as they road trip to NY Comic-Con. Alas, this work trip turns out to be a living nightmare as someone is recreating Todd’s gruesome death scenes from his Slasherman comic in real life. There are also key subplots involving the I-90 killer (who inspired the creation of Slasherman), Todd’s own past, and Todd trying to figure out how to end Slasherman.

Directed by Jay Baruchel (who also produced, co-starred and co-wrote the script), “Random Acts Of Violence” is a brutal, dark, and gory horror film that tries to juggle too much. It’s a dark horror slasher, it’s an exploration of art imitating life, it’s about the moral implications of glorifying violence in art, it’s a “Seven” esque serial killer story, it’s a copycat killer story, and it’s a psychological horror story. Ambitious as it may be, all of the threads don’t gel together as the story seems to be at odds about what it wants to be and how it wants to play out.The often disjointed editing and scene transitions don’t exactly help matters much either. On the brightside, Jay Baruchel certainly has talent as a filmmaker. Choppy as the movie may be, Baruchel and cinematographer Karim Hussain created a very visual film that contains striking and haunting imagery.

The cast seems to play second fiddle to the material. Jesse Williams seems miscast for the lead and isn’t remotely convincing as a comic creator. Jordana Brewster (who plays Kathy) is an interesting character who is plotting to do a book about the victims of the I-90 killer, but her character doesn’t have enough room to grow. Jay Baruchel (Ezra) and Niamh Wilson (Aurora) have little to do in their respective roles.

Video/Audio:

Presentation: 2.38:1 1080p. How does it look? A decent transfer that has some strange coloring issues (although it’s unclear if that was from the original print).

Audio Track: 5.1 DTS-HD MA. How does it sound? A satisfactory 5.1 track.

Extras:
* A 36 minute interview with director/actor Jay Baruchel* Free 30 day trial for Shudder
* “More Than Just A Scary Movie”- A short featurette that sells the movie.
* “Inside The Making Of An Action Scene”- This behind-the-scenes extra covers the junkyard scene

February 10, 2021 - Posted by nicklyons1 | Blu-Ray review | Horror Movie, Jay Baruchel, Random Acts Of Violence Blu-ray Review