Dark Night Films' breakout film gets the ultimate re-mastered edition treatment in the form of better editing, updated soundtrack, added scenes and the inclusion of the film's original work print entitled "Copycat".
The original Chameleon Killer film was the one that initially hooked me on to Dark Night Films years ago when it first came out. Since then, Dark Night Films (as well as its subdivision Lighthouse Pictures) has evolved tremendously in a short amount of time, but this all makes the Chameleon Killer Ultimate Edition is very difficult for me to review.
So without further ado here's the the Good, the Bad and the Ugly!
THE GOOD: The sound is greatly improved. From the music, to the post production dubbing, to the overall volume of the film, it's pretty tight. The original Chameleon Killer film has the audio SCREAMING LOUD on the initial DVD release. I usually have my TV set to volume 20 for casual watching, but I had to lower it all the way to volume 08 when watching the original Chameleon Killer DVD. This one has more of an "average" volume level with everything else on TV or video. The soundtrack is also updated with more recent songs. While the new songs fit, the old ones also fit their scenes just as well so this feature really wasn't necessary. The video editing was also a great improvement! I was amazed at how well this version was edited. Most of the scenes blended together nicely instead of the jump cuts that were all too prevalent in the earlier Dark Night Films. VIOLET FLAME RULES!!!
THE BAD: Some of the special effects, while the ideas were good, are poorly executed. E.H. Jenkins' body jammed up under the bridge looks stupid. I liked the CopyCat work print version of the scene better where Dirty Harriet and Garris just look up and gasp as opposed to seeing a cartoonish E.H. with bright red "blood" and Dirty Harriette giving a pitiful vomiting performance. Actually, ALL of the animated blood scenes look bad! One could be into the scene until the stab wounds and chainsaw lacerations bleed out this bright red arc of computerized blood. It's VERY distracting to the scene and it makes the film look like something some kids made in their backyard with a camcorder instead of the slick thriller that it aspires to be, and actually pulls off quite well at times, when there isn't any blood animation. There are also a few questionable edits that remain (ie: the scene where Mitch is in the room looking out at killer in the yard and the camera focuses on the window screen instead of the action in the yard). The added subplot of Steve Austin's character having an affair with Kaisha's character is also unnecessary and doesn't add anything to the film, especially since the audience has no reason to care for their characters.
THE UGLY: The video quality and the tired, old Hi-8 analog camera that it was filmed on, they both go hand in hand. One could easily overlook this when the film was first released, but since the subsequent releases from Dark Night Films have been so much better, this original video quality just doesn't cut it now. The video qualities aren't even consistent since the "Psycho" shower sequence was clearly filmed on a different camera and the video digitizes and pixilates during these scenes far more compared to the rest of the film. There are also video hits in certain scenes due to the original analog cassette that was used. Again, a much-needed camera upgrade to digital standards will fix this.
OVERALL: A tough grade here. If THIS version was the one that was released back in 2003, the film would get a 9 out of 10. Since it's 2006 and there have been further releases from Dark Night Films with better editing, video quality, (not to mention the fact that I haven't seen them a hundred times already) it brings the grade down to a 7 out of 10. For those who have never seen the original Chameleon Killer (or any other Dark Night Film for that matter) this Chameleon Killer Ultimate Edition is a must see/must have and it makes a great warm-up act for the sequel "Silent Vengeance" that's coming soon!
