KOLOBOS

Directed by Daniel Liatowitsch & David Todd Ocvirk
Produced by Nne Ebong
Written by Nne Ebong, Daniel Liatowitsch & David Todd Ocvirk
Photography by Yoram Astrakhan
Music by William Kidd
Cast: Amy Weber, Donny Terranova, Nichole Pelerine & Ilia Volok

1999/87 mins/Color/5.1 DD
1.85:1/English/US/NTSC Region 1

Review from the Maverick DVD

KOLOBOS is by far one of the best direct to video horror movie i have seen in a long time! For some of you it might not mean much but this film is actually really good except for the awful ending... i'll get back to you about it later.

A badly mutilated girl is found in the street, bleeding a lot and all wet since there's a huge rainstorm going on. She is taken to an hospital where when she wakes up she remembers some of what happended through flashes.

The girl, Kyra (played by Playboy Playmate Amy Weber) took part of a real work experimental film in a big house where there was cameras following their every moves. There were five kids in there but as the night went by, one by one they got killed by something or someone. There's deadly booby traps everywhere and there's one pissed dude wanting to get their asses! Believe me, this film has more scares than any horror film i've seen in recent memories!

KOLOBOS "steals" a lot from other films but in a none pretencious way (unlike a certain Kevin Williamson) so most of the time it works out great. The main music theme is just like Goblin's theme for Dario Argento' SUSPIRIA. We even get a tooth bashing like in Argento's DEEP RED. Scream queen Linnea Quigley has a small part in it so watch for it!

Maverick's DVD boots a very nice transfer. The film is presented in a 1.85:1 aspect ratio and looks great, the colors are rich and vibrant. There is no signs of artifacts or compression. It sure looks like the director of photography, Yoram Astrakhan had a great time making this film. In some parts the visual style reminded a lof of some of Dario Argento's work. As for the audio, we get a kick ass 5.1 Dolby Digital soundtrack. This DVD makes good use of the directional sound effects that a 5.1 DD soundtrack can offer. We also have the possibility to watch the film with Spanish subtitles. The film is separated in 25 chapters. The main menu has the theme of the film playing in the background but no animation. We also get a not very good trailer and two page bios on the main star of the film, Amy Weber. The film comes in a keep case and there are no booklet or inlay card. Don't let the lame cover get to you... it has nothing to do with the film!

Now what about that fucked up ending... here's what director Todd Ocvirk had to say about it in an interview i conducted with him:"yes, most people hate the ending. Well, the truth is, we fucked up when we originally made KOLOBOS. The original script only dealt with the kids in the house. We see their audition tapes, then we see all the stuff in the house. We filmed all this in Omaha, Nebraska (because our investor lived there), and we finished shooting the film and were all excited, had our wrap party and all that. Then, the day we were leaving to come back to LA, our editor slapped us with a rough assembly and some very bad news. The film was only 64 minutes long!!!!! I can't tell you how much that screwed us up to find that out just as we were leaving. Needless to say, our investor wasn't too pleased, but he agreed to drop us the cash to finish the film"

"So, we cranked out another 30 pages in a week and tried to blend it in with the footage we already had. It was a total rush job, but I think it meshed together pretty well, all things considering. All the bookending material, the stuff in the alley, all the hospital scenes, and the house scene at the very end were added in after the fact. The main goal in writing those scenes was to add time to the film. For instance, the last scene in the house drags on longer than necessary (I wrote that part), but the reason it's like that is because we needed to pad the film. It was also hard to write all that stuff because the three of us were constantly arguing about which direction it should go. Finally, it was a 2-1 vote and we went with the idea that it was all in Kyra's head and she was about to do what we just saw. I wouldn't say we were all happy with it, but we were rushed, we needed to get it done, and it was "good enough." To be honest, I felt a whacked out ending like that would add to the surreal/psychological angle already established. When I wrote that ending, I went for more of a Roman Polanski's REPULSION feel. Some people like it, most people hate it. I won't make any excuses for it, but the reason it's like that is because we needed an extra 30 minutes!"

"Oh, and one other thing. The original ending that was shot in Omaha was screwed up because the 1st AC left a filter in the camera during an earlier exterior shoot. As a result, all that footage came out dark and crappy looking. That original ending, by the way, took place in an art gallery as Kyra looks over a (shitty looking) painting of Faceless. Dorothy (Linnea's character) comes by with some dude who's interested in buying the painting. They talk for a while, Kyra gives her explanation of what Kolobos means, then she excuses herself to go to the bathroom where she proceeds to slice up her face with a straight razor. I doubt audiences would've appreciated that ending either."

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Review by Kim Dubuisson. All Right Reserved. 2003. ©