Live Feed Blu Ray Review (Unearthed Films)

Five young adults which includes Emily (played by: Taayla Markell from Romeo Must Die, Good Luck Chuck, The Twilight Zone, & Dark Angel), Linda (played by: Caroline Chojnacki from The Gutter Diaries & The Hard Cut), Sarah (played by: Ashley Schappert), Darren (played by: Rob Scattergood from Torched, Peelers, & Skew), & Mike (played by: Lee Tichon from Stan Helsing, Tooth Fairy, Dark Moon Rising, & Smallville) decide to visit an abandoned porno theater to have some fun. They find out that this seedy location is not vacated like they originally thought. The Yakuza lead by their Boss (played by: Stephen Chang from The Big Boss, Game of Death, Once a Thief, & Mystery Date) is set up in there for some entertainment. The outsiders are about to find themselves in a fight for their lives, pitted against evil itself when they run into the brutal madman known as The Butcher (played by: Greg Chan from Double Happiness, The Romeo Section, Once a Thief, & Dragon Boys)! While on vacation in a foreign city, one of the five makes a seemingly innocent albeit ignorant mistake & soon all of them will realize the cost of such an inconsequential action. A stranger (played by: Kevan Ohtsji from Dreamcatcher, Godzilla, Stargate SG-1, & Mortal Kombat: Legacy) appears to help them after all this chaos is in motion but is this too little, too late????

Ryan Nicholson was trying to capitalize on the torture porn craze with his horror feature Live Feed. Hostel & Saw were very popular at the time, this film is more Hostel than Saw if I had to do a comparison with them. Live Feed is much nastier & more gruesome than Eli Roth’s original Hostel feature. This was actually the first Nicholson film that I seen, it was everywhere when it was first released & the cover artwork grabbed my attention right away. I’ve reviewed a few Plotdigger Films releases so far & this one is a little different compared to the others. It’s actually one of the best scripts from Nicholson which is a rarity because that department was always his biggest flaw as a filmmaker. Then again, Live Feed is more action based rather than dialogue which is a good thing when it comes to this director. The acting does have it’s typical over the top theatrics for some of the characters but most of them were actually really solid here which is another thing that you usually don’t get from an Nicholson production. I don’t mean this as an insult when I am talking about the script & performances for his other work. Let’s be honest, these type of movies are focused on other departments when it comes to the overall entertainment value. Ryan Nicholson always delivered when it came to the special fx, gore, cool looking villain, & creative kills. Live Feed is no different when it comes to that because it has all those quality ingredients in it. Especially the snake one, that was nasty! Live Feed doesn’t hold back & its a very fun experience with some sick visuals. RECOMMENDED!!!!

Let’s discuss the special features from Unearthed Films! It has an “Audio Commentary” with director Ryan Nicholson with the cast. They chat about their experience on the production. They talk about the concept, locations, cast, special fx, the kills, & the atmosphere. They tell a few funny stories about Live Feed. Nicholson is full of excitement when revisiting his film. It has a decent amount of information & it’s just very entertaining to listen to while viewing the feature. It has the “Adults Only” hardcore cut of Live Feed as a bonus feature. This version is the same length as the original uncut version but it’s edited different & it has some additional hardcore shots in it. It’s in standard definition so it actually comes off sleazier with the rougher look here. “Behind the Blood: The Making of Live Feed” is a full length documentary that’s almost an hour & twenty minutes about the making of this independent production. It has interviews with director Ryan Nicholson, the cast, & crew for Live Feed. It’s a great inside look into the low budget feature & it has all kinds of behind the scenes footage from the set. It’s broken down in several different segments. Lots of gore & snakes involved here from the start. They go over the concept, characters, camera work, fx, kills, locations, weapons, & the actors involved from this gore fest. Lots of information is provided here & Ryan Nicholson’s passion for film making really shows in this documentary. “Return to the Venus Theatre Location” is almost 45 minutes. The production crew takes you on a tour of some of the main locations featured in Live Feed. Almost 8 minutes of “Deleted Scenes”. Almost 4 minutes of “Alternate Scenes” which includes an alternate ending. All of this additional or extended material were cut for a reason. It’s a cool extra but I can see why none of this made the final cut here. “Video Feed” is a little over 24 minutes. It has additional footage from the Live Feed from the movie. It’s a closer look of what’s shown on the TVs here. “Womb Service” short film written & directed by Bob Dixon is a little over 16 minutes. It’s a sleazy & very low budget short. It has nothing to do with this feature. It has an almost 30 minute “Photo Gallery” featuring a variety of pictures from the movie. It has all kinds of “Trailers” featuring other Nicholson features including this one plus some Unearthed Films related releases. Just a heads up, everything here is in standard definition. This release is loaded with so much bonus material & guess what? This is only the standard single release for Live Feed. Unearthed Films also released a two disc version with 17 additional hours of behind the scenes footage. I love what Unearthed Films is doing with Ryan Nicholson’s back catalog. I am a huge fan of his work & it’s great to see his films get the proper treatment that they deserve with these brand new home video releases. I own the original DVD for Live Feed from MTI home video & it’s like watching this for the very first time because it’s a massive improvement when it comes to quality over that older release when it comes to this brand new (1.85:1) transfer. Live Feed was previously available from SRS as a limited edition blu ray release but this new version from Unearthed Films is loaded & it’s the definitive Live Feed collection for fans. I am looking forward to Torched which is the next one from the Nicholson features from Unearthed. This is available everywhere right now, CHECK IT OUT!!!!