Larva (2005) |
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General | Extras | ||
Category | Horror |
Menu Animation Trailer-Alien Lockdown, Clive Barker's The Plague, The Woods, Trailer-The Alibi, 16 Blocks |
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Rating | |||
Year Of Production | 2005 | ||
Running Time | 89:43 | ||
RSDL / Flipper | No/No | Cast & Crew | |
Start Up | Ads Then Menu | ||
Region Coding | 4 | Directed By | Tim Cox |
Studio
Distributor |
SONY Pictures Sony Pictures Home Entertain |
Starring |
Vincent Ventresca Rachel Hunter William Forsythe David Selby Robert Miano James Daris James Sheldon |
Case | Amaray-Transparent | ||
RPI | $39.95 | Music | John Dickson |
Video | Audio | ||
Pan & Scan/Full Frame | Full Frame | English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s) | |
Widescreen Aspect Ratio | None | ||
16x9 Enhancement | No | ||
Video Format | 576i (PAL) | ||
Original Aspect Ratio | 1.78:1 | Miscellaneous | |
Jacket Pictures | No | ||
Subtitles | None | Smoking | Yes |
Annoying Product Placement | No | ||
Action In or After Credits | Yes |
Larva is another in a long line of predictable and cliché-ridden Z grade Sci-fi films that have found their way onto the shelves of your local rental franchise. Larva is your standard issue 90 minutes of generic characters battling cheap CGI nasties on a series of dodgy soundstages. For fans of the genre, all the conventions are present and accounted for. There is the Greedy CEO who only cares about profits and covering up his crimes against humanity, the hero with the tainted past who knows something is wrong, the local townsfolk who refuse to believe the hero because of his questionable past, and of course the Ignorant Law Enforcement officials trying to make good on their corrupt practices.
Making a genre quickie this predictable would be acceptable, but for director Tim Cox's inability to provide the film with any suspense or energy. There's no spark or fun to the proceedings and the audience can already figure out every single thing that is going to happen well in advance. The difference between low budget exploitation films today and those of decades past is their total lack of personality. Companies like Roger Corman's New World Pictures or New Line Cinema would have had a blast with similar material back in the 1980s. That's not to say that the occasional B grade gem doesn't appear (this year's Slither is a great example of the genre done right), but unfortunately Larva is the polar opposite.
Larva has been presented 1.33:1 full frame and is not enhanced for widescreen viewing.
The transfer is reasonably sharp, but consistently displays slight edge enhancement throughout. Shadow details are quite poor with background information lost during any scene not filmed in broad daylight. Black levels are adequate, but do suffer from persistent grain.
Colours are natural if somewhat muted and fail to capitalise on the gorier aspects of the film.
Film and Video Artefacts are kept to a minimum.
Sharpness | |
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Colour | |
Grain/Pixelization | |
Film-To-Video Artefacts | |
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Overall |
Larva has a solitary English Dolby Digital 2.0 surround track
Dialogue is clear with no audio sync problems apparent.
The film's score is typical of the low budget material, but remains unobtrusive.
Surround Channel Usage is minimal. Rear channels consist of ambient noise and score with no discernable directional effects to be heard.
The Subwoofer adds the minimum bass and reverberation required to support the lifeless track.
Dialogue | |
Audio Sync | |
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts | |
Surround Channel Use | |
Subwoofer | |
Overall |
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
The R1 version has an anamorphic transfer at 1:78:1.
The R4 has a shoddy looking full frame version.
The clear winner is R1.
Larva is predictable, clichéd, slow, and not worth your hard earned rental dollar.
Video | |
Audio | |
Extras | |
Plot | |
Overall |
Review Equipment | |
DVD | Pioneer DV-535, using Component output |
Display | LG 42" High Definition Plasma with built in High Definition Tuner. Calibrated with Video Essentials. This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 720p. |
Audio Decoder | Sony HT-K215. Calibrated with Video Essentials. |
Amplification | Sony HT-K215 |
Speakers | fronts-paradigm titans, centre &rear Sony - radio parts subbie |