COLLECTOR'S CRYPT - LYCAN COLONY (VISUAL VENGEANCE BLU RAY)
When it comes to big ideas, no genre is a better canvas than horror. No matter how absurd, ridiculous, disgusting, or terrifying there is no discrimination in the topics or themes around the genre. This allows for some wild ideas, some more successful than others, but if we were playing the “points for trying” game there would be no shortage of winners in horror. Sometimes, these big ideas open us up to new ideas or worlds that we either haven’t seen before or presented in a certain way. Then there are other films that offer up big ideas and don’t always deliver against them. This isn’t about placing blame so much as it is about understanding that what makes high-concept films work well is their ability to captivate you so much you forget to consider the logic of the situation. Often times, even with vast budgets, filmmakers struggle to bring ideas from page to screen. And big ideas is something that Visual Vengeance traffics in heavily, and most certainly with their newest release of Lycan Colony. Does this forgotten werewolf film captivate with it’s big ideas, or does is whimper into boredom?
WHAT’S IT ABOUT?
A disgraced, alcoholic surgeon moves with his family to a small town in New Hampshire. Unknown to them, the entire town is populated with werewolves, some good and others very evil. They soon find themselves thrust into an ancient, mystical battle between the wolf packs that will change their family furever.
HOW IS IT?
Visual Vengeance has made a name for itself as the foremost purveyor of forgotten amateur genre filmmaking, in particular first-time filmmakers. These films are unique in that they are some of the best living artifacts of truly bootstrapped films that are filled to the brim with off-the-wall ideas. The audaciousness of these movies is part of their charm as much as their cringe, and the degree to which they work often varies wildly in quality. Lycan Colony is such a film. It is filled with lots of ideas, some over-developed and some under-developed, and it is as entertaining as it is frustrating. While it isn’t going to rank near the top of Visual Vengeance releases, there is enough good here to suggest to those watchers who are looking for something strange and silly.
The small town in New Hampshire is a quiet place that attracts a lot of odd folks. From hunters to recovering alcoholic surgeons, the place is home to some odd people and even odder creatures. You see, this town isn’t just inhabited by people, it’s also inhabited by werewolves. Between a brother and sister searching for their missing dad to a werewolf bar fight, Lycan Colony has a lot packed into 90 minutes. So much so that it is kind of hard to even recall the plot in full since it is so convoluted. While it does provide some novelty fitting so much into so little, it also doesn’t help to equitably explain all these big ideas and how they fit together into the broader landscape. There is a lot of lore that is casually explained and some that have whole minutes dedicated to it, so the film probably could’ve benefited from some reining-in at some point to prioritize the parts that deserve more screen time.
The hallmark of Visual Vengeance films is an emphasis on DIY effects, and boy does Lycan Colony have that in spades. The costumes are admittedly some of the best parts even though they aren’t entirely convincing, they do offer a wildly different look for the typical werewolf that is intriguing enough. There are some CGI-enhanced scenes that look like they are from the early 90s even though this film came out in 2006, and the most interesting choices are hands down the strange audio dubbing and editing. The use of musical cues here is jarring and schizophrenic, while there are scenes where it genuinely looks and sounds like the audio is dubbed. A puzzling choice considering the film was shot in the US with English-speaking actors, but perhaps their accents were not “New England” enough and required someone with a much thicker accent to dub them over, as is the case here. Again, these choices may seem like faults to some and fantastic to others, it really depends on how much you enjoy these high-concept low-budget experiments.
HOW DOES IT LOOK?
Considering this is one of the more “recently” released films in the Visual Vengeance catalog, it doesn’t buck the trend of having shoddy quality in video in fullscreen 1.33:1 aspect ratios. A lot of this has to do with the choices made during the production, some of which seem to be over-saturation in a lot of scenes and some day-for-night-looking scenes that play very washed out. Still, the team at Visual Vengeance does their best with what they can! Images from this disc are seen below and throughout this review
HOW DOES IT SOUND?
Much like the visual elements of the film, the audio is decent enough considering the circumstances of the production. With a stereo track included along with English subtitles, the most challenging part about this audio track has less to do with the quality of it and more to do with the sound editing choices that were made. These are jarring at times and hilarious at others, but it doesn’t interfere with the overall track transfer.
ANYTHING SPECIAL?
As far as special features go, Lycan Colony is one of the lighter loads in the Visual Vengeance catalog. There are the standard commentaries included along with a RiffTrax version of the movie, and the feature we gravitated towards was the New 2022 Interview with Director Rob Roy. This 21-minute feature goes deep into Rob’s history with the film and how it was his first attempt at working with special effects, which is now his full-time gig, and also how Lycan Colony was the beginning of a narrative thread that Roy would continue with his own novels. Some of the strand editing may be explained by the fact that he only had 3-weeks to edit the film, but I’m not sure that explains some of the more interesting choices such as dubbing the character dialogue. Hilariously, he tried to disavow this film and got roped back into it after it “went viral” in 2019. A full list of special features included with this release is listed below.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
All Region Blu-ray
Limited Edition Slipcase - FIRST PRESSING ONLY
Limited Edition 'New Hampshire Forest Scent' Air Freshener - FIRST PRESSING ONLY
Commentary with director Rob Roy
Commentary with Sam Panico of B&S About Movies and Bill Van Ryn of Drive-In Asylum
New 2022 Interview with Director Rob Roy
The full Rifftrax version of Lycan Colony
Blooper Reel
Lycan Colony Music Video
Original Trailer
Visual Vengeance Trailers
Four-page liner notes/ essay by Sam Panico
Collectible Folded mini-poster
‘Stick your own’ VHS sticker set
Reversible Blu-ray sleeve
Optional English subtitles
LAST RITES
Lycan Colony is at times overwhelming and other times head-scratching, but if you like your schlock with a side of lycanthropy and some strange take on the lore this one may just be for you! As the director himself, “It was made to be made fun of”.
THE GORY DETAILS
Thank you to the fine fiends over at MVD ENTERTAINMENT for providing a review copy for the crypt! Lycan Colony is available NOW and can be purchased via MVD DIRECT!
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