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Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
Jug Face (Blu-ray) (2013)

Jug Face (Blu-ray) (2013)

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Released 19-Mar-2014

Cover Art

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Horror Theatrical Trailer
Trailer-Accent Entertainment x 4
Rating Rated MA
Year Of Production 2013
Running Time 77:58 (Case: 85)
RSDL / Flipper No/No Cast & Crew
Start Up Ads Then Menu
Region Coding 1,4 Directed By Chad Crawford Kinkle
Studio
Distributor
Accent Film Entertainment Starring Lauren Ashley Cooper
Sean Bridges
Larry Fessenden
Sean Young
Case Standard Blu-ray
RPI ? Music Sean Spillane


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame None English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s)
English Dolby Digital 2.0 (256Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio 2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
16x9 Enhanced
Video Format 1080i
Original Aspect Ratio 2.35:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles None Smoking Yes
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits No

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

     When families first settled in this area of the remote backwoods of Tennessee, The Pit cured them of the pox and so they have worshipped The Pit ever since and it has continued to healed their illnesses. In return, the families have provided a blood sacrifice of one of their own to The Pit when required. The identity of the person to be sacrificed is revealed when a potter, in a trance, moulds a jug with the face of the victim.

     Teenaged girl Ada (Lauren Ashley Cooper) is pregnant with her brother’s child when she finds a jug which has her face that Dawai, the potter (Sean Bridges) has made, so she knows she is to be the next sacrifice. Terrified, she takes the jug and hides it. But The Pit wants its sacrifice and others in the community start to die in horrible ways. Ada must make a choice to flee and let others die or to face her fate head on.

     In Jug Face first time writer / director Chad Crawford Kinkle has created a slice of independent horror filmmaking that is certainly different. He avoids in your face shocks and instead delivers a film that creates foreboding and tension though a clear and concise storyline and interesting, but not clichéd, characters. Ada’s parents Sustin and Loriss (Larry Fessenden, Sean Young) are loving parents who care for their daughter, and are horrified when the truth is revealed, while the others in the community are doing what needs to be done, including willingly sacrificing their family members, for the communal good. Indeed, in almost all areas Jug Face avoids resorting to the clichés of the supernatural / horror genre. The music, for example, is atmospheric but not “hillbilly”, the events mostly occur in bright sunshine, not in darkness, and there are no evil villains. And the ending is unsettling, and certainly not conventional Hollywood.

     Jug Face is creepy, powerful and chilling. It does not resort to cliché’s or stereotypes to deliver its horror, and the acting is uniformly good with Lauren Ashley Cooper, Sean Bridges, Larry Fessenden and Sean Young all giving nuanced performances that never degenerate into hillbilly stereotypes. The conclusion is powerful and unsettling making Jug Face one of the better low budget supernatural / horror films I have watched this year.

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Transfer Quality

Video

     Jug Face is presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, the original ratio, in 1080i using MPEG-4 AVC code.

     Jug Face is a low budget film shot using Arri Alexa digital cameras. On the whole it is a good looking print with sharp detail and nice natural colours showing the greens of the woodlands to good effect. Blacks are excellent, shadow detail fine and skin tones natural without that yellowish look that digital filming often creates.

     The print shows occasional motion blur but there are no marks. Contrast and brightness does vary as a number of scenes with the source of light behind the actor are glary and soft; see 22:22 for one example. However I do not believe this softness is a result of the authoring of the Blu-ray, but rather the way the film was shot.

     There are no subtitles.

Video Ratings Summary
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     Audio is a choice of English Dolby Digital 5.1 at 448 Kbps or English Dolby Digital 2.0 at 256 Kbps; i.e., there is no lossless audio.

     Dialogue is mostly clear although a couple of sentences by Sean Bridges were a bit difficult to hear. As a supernatural / horror film, the surrounds and rears delivered the required aural soundstage providing the sounds of wind and insects in the quieter moments and the heightened music and ambient noise when required. The sub-woofer added bass to the music and rumbles to the sections involving The Pit.

     The score by Sean Spillane generally avoided obvious cues and added atmosphere and tension to the visuals. There were also some songs by Spillane on the soundtrack that were to my mind slightly less effective.

     Lip synchronisation is fine.

     The audio track did what was required.

Audio Ratings Summary
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

Trailers

     On start-up there were trailers for It’s a Disaster, Stuck, Computer Chess and The Amityville Asylum. These trailers, plus one for Jug Face can also be selected from the menu (total running time 10:48).

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

     The Region A US release of Jug Face adds as extras a making of (24 min approx.) that is supposed to be reasonable and Organ Grinder a short film (6 min) by Chad Crawford Kinkle. There is not currently a Region B UK release listed. A win for Region A.

Summary

     Jug Face is a creepy and chilling supernatural / horror film that does not resort to cliché’s or stereotypes to deliver its atmosphere of foreboding and horror. The acting is excellent, the ending unsettling. This one is quite different, and certainly worth seeking out for fans of the genre.

     The video and audio are acceptable. There are only trailers as extras as we miss out again on the extras available in Region A.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Ray Nyland (the bio is the thing)
Friday, May 16, 2014
Review Equipment
DVDSony BDP-S580, using HDMI output
DisplayLG 55inch HD LCD. This display device has not been calibrated. This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 1080p.
Audio DecoderNAD T737. This audio decoder/receiver has not been calibrated.
AmplificationNAD T737
SpeakersStudio Acoustics 5.1

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