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HTF Fox, Anchor Bay DVD Reviewer
Join Date: Jun 2003
Local Time: 08:50 AM
Local Date: 10-13-2008
Posts: 1,131
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ROADKILL
Studio: Shadow Shows
Distributor: Video Service Corp.
Film Year: 1989
Canadian Rating: 14A
Film Length: 85 minutes
Genre: Comedy
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 non-anamorphic widescreen
Audio: English Dolby Digital Stereo
Subtitles: none
Closed Captioned: Yes
SLP: CDN $24.98
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Release Date: June 29, 2004
Film Rating:  /
Starring: Valerie Buhagiar (Ramona), Gerry Quigley (Roy Seth, the Promoter), Larry Hudson (Buddy, the Cab Driver), Bruce McDonald (Bruce Shack, the Director), Shaun Bowring (Mathew), Don McKellar (Russel, the Serial Killer), Mark Tarantino (Luke, the 15-Year Old Boy)
Directed by: Bruce McDonald
Written by: Bruce McDonald & Don McKeller
Forced Trailers: None
If you want to drive, you have to kill.
This movie is one for the road! One of Canadian Director Bruce McDonald’s early films, this one focuses on the travels of Romona, a girl hired by a music promoter to find the missing band “Children of Paradise”. They’ve missed four of five four tour dates and all is known is they are somewhere in Northern Ontario between Sudbury and Thunder Bay. Ramona is set to depart from Toronto by cab since she falsely stated on her job application that she could drive. This is where the fun begins.
The cab driver is a total space-out pothead who has no concept how far up he’s actually driving. Somewhere closer to her destination, Ramona spots the band’s van parked at the side of a diner at a gas station. As she checks the van out, the cab driver unknowingly drives off with her clothes and money. Ramona is somewhat successful in finding the troupe – she finds the drummer tanked in the back of the van while the bassist and guitarist and grabbing a bite in the diner. The problem is the singer – he’s nowhere to be found. And the band members, as stoned as they are, don’t seem to care.
Ramona is frustrated and soon embarks on another journey. She meets a Winnebago-driving filmmaker named Bruce. He was sent up by the Promoter to capture the events, and as time goes by Ramona sees the filmmaker and his crew is in desperate need to capture some gore from roadkill along the way. Those poor little creatures…it’s either move or die.
What else happens to Ramona? Well, aside from loosing her ride with the filmmaking crew, she meets up with an aspiring serial killer named Russel. He’s a young and clean-cut Canadian in his 20’s, and he has the belief of the true northern Canadian: you either become a hockey player or a serial killer. What else is there to do in the north? Actually, the “north” in this film isn’t really that north. I can’t claim is there is nothing to do up there, but its quite obvious the filmmaker believes so (amongst many others). Taking the path of a serial killer is a little far fetched, so fear not Americans; Canada is a safe place to go. Humor the story a little and have fun with it.
So anyways, Ramona is a little weirded out by Russel, which is understandable of course. Even though he taught her how to drive, she finds a way to leave his presence. From there she gets lucky with a 15 year old boy and also meets up with a quiet young man who doesn’t speak anymore because he feel’s he has nothing left to say.
All of these little subplots finally come together at the end of the film when all of the characters reach their turning point including our female lead. Truly, this film is really far-out and loves its roadkill. There is never a dull moment in Roadkill and its tacky unprofessional cinematography makes it that much more of a campy film. This film was nominated two Genie Awards and won as the Best Canadian Film at the Toronto film festival in 1989. This film contains a lot of great Rock and Roll music as well. Songs from artists such as Cowboy Junkies, The Ramones, Nash the Slash, Graeme Kirkland and the Wolves, The Leslie Spit Tree-O, The Razorbacks, and Stompin’ Tom Connors are featured in this film. There is even a cameo from Joey Ramone too! If you like this film, be sure to check out its bigger budget sequel Highway 61.
VIDEO QUALITY /
Unprofessionally shot in Kodak 8mm, it was blown up to 35mm at a 1.37:1 ratio. The video presented on this disc is in non-anamorphic widescreen at approximately 1.85:1. How this ratio was achieved for this release, I’m not sure. It’s quite possible the intention was 1.85:1 because everything seems framed correctly. Mattes could have been put down to give it a wider scope. I am disappointed that the disc’s advertising boasts digital remastering, yet a widescreen enhanced image is not given to those who opt for the best quality on widescreen displays. The video is in black and white and consists of everything undefined in fine detail. Yet, the image is pleasing in the interior shots accompanied by film grain that you will become quick to accept. Some scenes have very deep black levels making the images appearing as silhouettes. I’m not sure if this was the intent in these nighttime scenes. The film editing is very choppy to the point of being cheesy. Thankfully there is no signs of edge enhancement nor are compression artifacts a real bother.
AUDIO QUALITY /
The audio is labeled as being stereo but the reality is this is 2.0 mono. I was trying to find a hint of true stereo separation, but after all of my efforts, it was just plain old two channel mono. How does that sound? Normally many mono recordings aren’t that bad. This film is a different story. The way the audio was recorded was also done on the lowest budget as well. Speech can sound clogged and difficult to interpret, it also sounded like I took the audio by using a cheap ratio shack microphone. Everything is fuzzy sounding, hissing, and has the occasional ‘pops’ as well. In terms of quality, this film doesn’t seem to match my highschool project videos. Even though all dialogue, effects, and that wonderful rock and roll score are all in mono, this shouldn’t stop you from enjoying this film.
SPECIAL FEATURES /
Cast and crew bios, a photo gallery, and two shorts: Elimination Dance and Fort Goof are included. The shorts are really good, actually. They run from 6-9 minutes but are done very well. I can even spot a few actors/actresses I’ve seen before in other television productions. These are definitely worth checking out. A commentary with writer/star Don McKellar and producer Colin Brunton is also included. The guys have a lot of things to say throughout the movie and seem pretty excited about it. Its definitely not roadkill for a feature. A Hard Core Logo Trailer and a chapter stop insert is also included.
THOUGHTS…
If you’d like to see a comedy that’s a little campy and far out as well as coming from the vault as a director’s early work, then Roadkill is for you. There’s nothing wrong about this movie, it’s a good Canadian flick. In fact I enjoyed it immensely despite the intentionally poor image and sound quality that have nothing to do with the DVD transfer but rather the source. Enhanced widescreen is my preference, as you know, but what can I do? Hopefully the group at VSC are listening – give me enhanced widescreen only! I can’t wait to follow up with its sequel Highway 61. Yes, this movie got my interest. I’m trapped in for the sequel whenever its released. Thus, don’t leave this title for dead.
Michael Osadciw
04.07.30 |
