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The Aggression Scale
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray A - America - Anchor Bay Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Ethan Stevenson (20th June 2012). |
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The Film
 As many have noted, including the film’s own director, “The Aggression Scale” is “Home Alone” (1990), if Kevin Macalister was a sadistic sociopath—or, more of one, depending on your reading of Chris Columbus’ beloved holiday classic. Only, instead of playing childish games with the two bumbling crooks breaking into his house, little Kev just bashed in the head of anyone who came through his front door with a baseball bat. There’s even a scene in the film that directly references Daniel Stern’s trip up the Macalister’s basement stairs. Only, instead of some tar and a single nail to the foot, the particular character to fall victim to a similar gag in “The Aggression Scale” ends up crushed to death. Plainly gruesome and plenty disturbing to be certain, but I also found “Aggression” to be generally passable, if only because director Steven C. Miller and screenwriter Ben Powell subvert the tropes of the criminals-come-a-knockin’ genre, and have crafted such a contrast with their main character, leaving you rooting for a hero who might be the villain in any other film. Is it great? No. But it’s pretty good; at least for essentially a direct-to-video, splatter-fest that’s little more than cinematic fodder. But it doesn’t pull any punches and as an R-rated “Home Alone” knock off, it works because it delivers on its promise of bloody violence. "We don't have to do this clean, you go down this list and kill them all. Then you find my money. You got 48 hours." Grizzled gangster Bellevance (Ray Wise; he of “Twin Peaks” (1990-1991) and “Reaper” (2007–2009) fame) is about to be put away for a long, long time. Instead of facing the prospect of a drawn out legal battle and the inevitable jail time, the mob boss is planning to run off to some exotic South American heaven where extradition isn’t part of the local vocabulary. But first, Bellevance needs money—$500,000 to be exact—to make his dream a reality. Money that he no longer has, because his accountant (Boyd Kestner) ran off with what was left in the company cashbox when things started going south. Suddenly flush, and hoping to make a nice new life for himself and his growing young family—which includes his newlywed wife (Lisa Rotondi) and her daughter Lauren (Fabianne Therese) from another marriage—the accountant moves into a nice country estate tucked away in the hills, far from anything remotely resembling civilization. Bellevance dispatches loyal Lloyd (Dana Ashbrook, also from “Twin Peaks” (1990-1991); he played bad-boy boyfriend Bobby Briggs for those who don’t know) and his team of merciless mercenaries to find it, and take back what’s left of the half-a-million, whatever the cost. They find the accountant and his family in short order, quickly killing his new wife and threatening the life of his stepdaughter as well as his own. But unlucky for Lloyd, he and his team find something they weren’t expecting as they search the house for the cash—the accountant’s sociopath of a son, Owen (Ryan Hartwig), whose obsessed with survivalist tactics and weaponry. Lets just say Owen has some anger issues. And he doesn’t take too kindly to seeing his family being threatened. The film runs a brisk 85-minutes, and Miller opens the story with a literal bang—Lloyd blasting a hole into a woman with a shotgun, in the bright sunlight of the suburban day, as her children watch playing in the front yard. A few other fits of brutal violence soon follow. But Miller then drops it down a notch, dwelling in the dome of domesticity, establishing the accountant’s family unit, making it clear that while Mom and Dad are pretty happy with the arrangement, neither of the kids is cool with it. And neither of the kids is exactly… sane, either. Then, almost exactly at the 30-minute mark, the shit hits the proverbial fan. And Lloyd and his goons—Derek Mears, the new Jason in the “Friday the 13th” (2009) remake, and Jacob Reynolds from Harmony Korine’s “Gummo” (1997), among them—meet the madness of the seemingly insane Owen, as he makes waste of their kneecaps, among other things. Although most of the characters are little more than archetypes—cardboard cutouts simply set up to prop up the plot in between the kills—the acting is at least above average, for DTV anyway, almost across the board, and there is some depth the brother, sister and villain, in part because of the deliberately slow setup. Sure, Therese is left to do little more than scream her pretty little head off once the action starts, but both Ashbrook—who has gone gray, which somehow adds a layer of distinguished menace to his appearance—and young Master Hartwig are both creepily effective. Hartwig’s Owen says not a single word, yet he’s able to communicate a range of emotions (most on the angry side of the scale) just fine. Owens sadistic actions constantly contrasting with his cherubic appearance are not exactly groundbreaking stuff—it’s a concept explored in dozens upon dozens of films. But, hey, it works. Groundbreaking and great, perhaps not. But I was surprised at just how much I found myself… enjoying (I don’t think that’s quite the right word; perhaps captivated is more apt) this tight little thriller. If you’re looking for something to watch at your weekly or monthly spatter-day, “The Aggression Scale” might just be the ticket. It’s certainly one of the better direct-to-video features I’ve seen lately. Better than a few of the theatrical ones too.
Video
Some minor shimmer and a smattering of noise in a few scenes aside, Anchor Bay’s 2.40:1 widescreen 1080p 24/fps AVC MPEG-4 encoded presentation of “The Aggression Scale” is very, very good. Miller and cinematographer Jeff Dolen shot the picture digitally in 4K with the RED MX camera, and the resulting image is as pristine as you’d expect a modern new-to-disc production to look. There are no signs of edge enhancement, and bothersome artifacts are kept in check for the most part. The film exhibits that typical digital look—complete lack of grain, immense detail. The black level is strong, and contrast runs just a tad hot with whites on the verge of blooming. But somewhat unexpectedly, “Scale” isn’t too stylized and, heightened contrast aside, the film has relatively natural colors, with accurate and life-like skin tones. Greens, reds, blues and the yellow of the family moving van are nicely saturated without appearing artificial or boosted. The image is very sharp, with plenty of intricate detail in both tight close ups, and the medium and wide shots. The transfer isn’t perfect; a smattering of aerial shots in the beginning are problematic exhibiting slight aliasing and two shots around 1:11:00 of Owen driving on the highway at night are awash with some pretty nasty noise. But a few fleeting flaws aside, “The Aggression Scale” looks great.
Audio
“Loud and messy, Lloyd. Loud and messy.” Indeed. “The Aggression Scale’s” English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 soundtrack is certainly loud, providing plenty of aggressive power, be it from shotgun blasts exploding with over-packed shot or the eclectic if occasionally blaring electronic score by Kevin Riepl. The track makes good use of the surrounds too, populating the rear channels with some subtle, outdoor backcountry atmosphere—chirping birds, rustling leaves in the wind and creaking cicadas. Dialogue is, for the most part, clear, although given that the main character is mute, remains sparsely dispersed throughout the film. Unfortunately, the track is also quite messy. The first sign that something isn’t quite right is the first of a few sync issues, present from about 8:30-8:45, where there’s a lag between Dana Ashbrook’s lips and what he’s saying. A few truly awful stereo and surround speaker pans, which sound phony and just wrong, stick out too. The initially knock on the door during the family’s dinner phases between the two rear speakers without rhyme or reason. Perhaps the relatively low budget is to blame for these rare, but bothersome, follies? Overall, the disc sounds quite good, but there are a few issues. A Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 surround is also included and the disc features no subtitles.
Extras
The one extra of note included on this disc is a brief featurette, titled “The Making of ‘The Aggression Scale’” (2.30:1 widescreen 1080p, 14 minutes 49 seconds). It’s an average piece, with behind-the-scenes footage and interviews cut together to make a not particularly memorable production overview. The only other content encoded on the disc, aside from the film itself, are three pre-menu bonus trailers: - “The Wicker Tree” on Blu-ray and DVD (2.40:1 widescreen 1080p, 1 minute 57 seconds). - “Battle Royale” on Blu-ray and DVD (1080p, 1 minute 46 seconds). - “Seeking Justice” on Blu-ray and DVD (2.35:1 widescreen 1080p, 2 minutes 4 seconds).
Packaging
“The Aggression Scale” comes to Blu-ray from Starz/Anchor Bay Home Entertainment. The film arrives in an eco-elite keep case, and is pressed onto a Region-A locked, single-layer BD-25.
Overall
“The Aggression Scale” isn’t a great movie, but it manages to prove a good watch at least once. The film subverts the genre tropes just enough to keep you interested in a story that would otherwise prove predictable and safe. The Blu-ray offers great video, powerful audio but only one mediocre extra. Because I don’t think this has a whole lot of replay, I suggest a rental although, I have to say, this was much better than I was expecting.
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