Presented by Pathfinder, this DVD features the 2009 film Killer Bride's Perfect Crime, or Killer Virgin Road as was the English title in Japan. Directed by Goro Kishitani, the film is a bit of a choatic, dark comedy involving the machinations of a dog, an innocent bride and a murder. Now I'm reviewing this DVD fairly late, over a decade since it was released in fact and is now long out of print. In the years since, the film has gained a very small following, and copies of the DVD can now fetch a fairly high price on the secondhand market. Is it worth it? Well sadly the video quality could be better although it does have a decent audio presentation. The extras, though, are pretty scarce here.
| Video: |
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The video presentation on this DVD is a bit of a mixed bag, with one glaring issue that's hard to overlook. While the film is framed in a 1.85:1 aspect ratio, it is unfortunately not anamorphic which is a baffling choice for a DVD released as late as 2011. As a result, viewers are stuck with a letterboxed image within a 4:3 frame, leading to black bars on all sides when viewed on modern widescreen displays. In an era where widescreen anamorphic transfers had long been the standard, this is disappointing.
That said, if you can get past the unfortunate formatting, the actual video quality is decent for standard definition. The image is detailed within the limits of the format, although artifacts in the form of pixilation do appear. Colors come through vibrantly though, and contrast is strong without overwhelming the picture. The print used is also in stellar shape, making it feel like this could have been a much stronger release with a proper anamorphic transfer.
| Audio: |
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The audio on this DVD is presented in Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo, and while it doesn't offer any bells and whistles, it delivers a good listening experience. There's nothing particularly immersive or dynamic happening in the mix, those expecting a rich surround soundscape will be left wanting, but for a stereo track it performs its job effectively. Dialogue is consistently clear and easy to understand, with no noticeable issues such as distortion, imbalance, or volume drops. Even during more active or frantic scenes, the mix maintains clarity.
The movie can be accompanied with, removable, English subtitles.
| Extras: |
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Unfortunately, there isn't much extra content included with this release. However, the disc does feature a selection of trailers. There is a trailer for the main film and a TV spot, along with a series of trailers to promote other titles from Pathfinder.
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I originally picked up this DVD back when it first released, only to shelve it and forget about it for years. Upon revisiting it recently, the non-anamorphic video presentation immediately reminded me why I never got around to reviewing it. If you can get past this blemish, though, Pathfinder did an okay job with this release. While I wouldn't say it deserves to command the higher asking price on the resale market, the film itself has some fun moments, even if it's uneven, so can see why people are hungry to get it.
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