D V D C R Y P T

HARDCORE POISONED EYES

Directed & Written by Sal Ciavarello
Produced by Anthony Fariello
Photography by Huy Truong
Musical Score by Deborah N. Hurwitz
Cast: Christine Gallo, Wendy Allyn & Jessica Hester

2001/88 mins/Color/Stereo
1.85:1/English/US/NTSC Region 1

Review from the Profound Images DVD

Angelique, Sarah and Ellie are three young women in their 20s heading for a fun weekend in a cabin north of New York. The place used to belong to Angelique's grandfather who was supposedly robbed and murdered by the thieves but Angelique believes there's more to the story. While Sarah and Ellie are getting drunk and argue over everything from music to guys, Angelique makes a stunning discovery about a relation between her grandfather and a Satanic cult! After too much Coronas, Sarah uses her cell phone to call the contact Angelique's grandfather had in the Satanic sect thus the fun ends and scares begin.

The last film I saw that had so much great tension scenes was LOS SIN NOMBRE (THE NAMELESS). HARDCORE POISONED EYES doesn't have any gore scenes, it doesn't have naked girls but it sure has a hella of a great script, smart and engaging dialogues and very good performances... something rare these days. If you are into Satanic stuff (hell, even if your not! - pun intended) you will dig this film. Sal Ciavarello' script is intelligent, well written, intense and very interesting. After watching the film you will find yourself wanting to talk to your friends about the film, religion and satanism. The three actress gives great performance, especially Wendy Allyn as Sarah.

This is micro-budget filmmaking at its best! It would be interesting to see what this shot on video flick would be like filmed on 35mm and with a bigger budget. Hopefully this will be the beginning of great things for director, Sal Ciavarello.

For a DV feature the image looks quite good. There is some sign of compressions when the scenes are dark but nothing annoying. Also the very white scenes, the one outside with the snow, look kinda weird... this is due to the camera used not the mastering of the disc. The Stereo track delivers the goods. Its nothing exceptional but still does a very good job giving us clear dialogues and make the score by Deborah N. Hurwitz all the more enjoyable. In the extras department we get a very interesting and detailed commentary track with Sal, Anthony and Huy. It sure sounds like they had a great time doing this film and they give us the lowdown on every aspect that went into making HPE. We also get a very good interview with the Sal Ciavarello done by none other then Roy Frumkes (director of DOCUMENT OF THE DEAD). The menus are basic, static and without any animation or sounds. My only real complain is the fact that there is no chapter stops. The DVD comes in keep case with no inlay card or booklet.

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