![Chawz [Blu-ray]](http://cdn.hometheaterforum.com/2/26/50x50px-ZC-267ad4b7_B004L9GLYK-51rIdA0KmQL.jpg)
Chawz
Studio: Magnolia Home Entertainment
US DVD Release Date: April 26, 2011
Original Release Year: 2009
Rated: R (for some creature violence and brief language)
Running Time: 122 minutes
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audio: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (Korean, English)
Subtitles:
Movie: 3 out of 5
The nation to keep an eye on these days in regards to international cinema has to be South Korea. I thoroughly enjoyed The Host, about a genetically-mutated monster that attacks Seoul. I also enjoyed Dragon Wars, which upped the ante by making an English-language action-fantasy in the United States by Korean filmmakers. Now comes Chawz, a movie that constantly reminded me of the first time I saw Joe Dante’s Piranha.
A giant boar is attacking residents of a small farming town on the outskirts of Seoul. City traffic cop Kim (Tae-woong Eom, in a star-making role) is transferred from Seoul to the small farming town after arresting a chief prosecutor on a DUI (it didn’t help that he wrote anywhere on his transfer application), and is thrust head-first into investigating the mysterious deaths caused by the giant killer boar. Chawz borrows heavily from Steven Spielberg’s Jaws, even staging similar scenes and sharing a similar structure, while also having the black humor and sometimes silliness of Piranha, and even references Hot Fuzz with it’s small town and dysfunctional local police force. The first scene where we see the aftermath of the first boar attack is reminiscent of the scene where Chief Brody discovers the remains of Chrissy, the first victim in Jaws, and the public display of what everyone (except Kim) believe to be the killer boar is also taken almost verbatim from Spielberg’s classic. The film even references Jurassic Park when ripples are shown in soup bowls before the wild boar interrupts the town celebration. Like Piranha, Chawz wants to blame man’s tinkering with nature for the creation of the creature (in a subplot that is never fully explained). The effects are very good, a definite step above many made-for-SyFy movies, not quite on par with that of ILM, Sony ImageWorks, or Digital Domain.
The real problem with the film is its running time of 122 minutes, about 30 minutes too long. There are subplots that go nowhere that could have easily been dropped, and the pacing could have been tightened in a few sequences. Still, Chawz is an entertaining film, and if you’re a fan of monster movies, you’ll definitely get a kick out of it.
Video: 4 out of 5
Magnolia Home Entertainment, via its Magnet genre-film banner, brings Chawz to Blu-ray in a gorgeous 1080p transfer in the film’s original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, using the AVC codec. Originally filmed with HD cameras (the special features suggest it was also shot for 3-D), the image is obviously free of scratches and debris. Colors are well-saturated, particularly the lush greens of the forests and farming community, and flesh tones are fairly accurate. Detail is quite good, with some minor softness during some of the effects sequences.
Audio: 4 out of 5
Magnolia provides two audio options, Korean or dubbed English, both in DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. The Korean track is very close to reference quality, with good bass response and very active surrounds, in addition to exceptional fidelity, especially during quiet sequences. Dialogue is well-produced, sounding natural. The English dubbed track is a mess, with horribly acted dialogue (many of the characters sound like they may have been voiced by the same actor), with an obvious ADR quality to the recording. In addition, the frequency range is more compressed than the Korean track, even though they share almost identical bit rates. Avoid the English track at all costs.
Special Features: 3 out of 5
All of the special features are in 4:3 standard definition with Korean audio and English subtitles.
Making of Chawz Featurettes (1:00:09): This documentary is broken up into three parts, which can be viewed in its entirety or in individual segments. Part 1: Attack of a Man-eating Boar (24:35) has the cast, director (Shin Jung-Won), and members of the crew discussing the inspiration for the film (apparently there was and still is a problem with the number of wild boars in portions of South Korea), the creation of the visual effects, and shooting a portion of the film on location in Northern California with a mostly American crew versus shooting the remainder of the film in Korea with a mostly Korean crew. Part 2: Five-man Pursuit (15:40): Shin Jung-Won and the cast discuss the character portrayals and interactions and trying to act with a mostly CGI wild boar. In Part 3: Horror vs. Comedy (19:55), Shin Jung-Won discusses the many genres the film crosses, mixing comedy and horror, and how some of the humor was improvised on-set without the actors’ knowledge.
Deleted Scenes (9:39): A collection of six scenes are featured here, which have little to no added value to the finished film.
Q & A Session Premiere Event (3:49): This is one of two rather misleading (or mistitled) features on the disc, as there is no question and answer session here. Instead, director Shin Jung-Won and the cast thank everyone for attending the premiere, and have their photos taken on the red carpet.
Blooper Reel Poster Shoots (4:12): This is even more confusing and annoying than the previous feature, as this is essentially behind the scenes footage of the photo shoots for the movie posters.
International Trailer (1:55): In American movie fashion, the trailer tells you everything about the movie, including every major plot point and the ending.
Also from Magnolia Home Entertainment Blu-ray: Trailers for Black Death, Vanishing On 7th Street, Four Lions, Rubber, and HDNet & HDNet Movies are presented in high definition.
BD-Live: This disc is BD-Live enabled, but even a week after release date, there is still no content available.
Overall: 3.5 out of 5
The South Korean film industry is quickly taking their place in modern cinema as the premier creature feature producers, and Chawz continues that legacy, even though the film begins to wear out its welcome by being about 30 minutes too long. A gorgeous video transfer and a killer soundtrack, as well as some decent (if not great) bonus features round out a nice package.
