FROM THE BACK OF THE BOX:

A man who has made a new life for himself and the daughter left on his doorstep 6 years ago finds his family threatened when the birth mother resurfaces.

FROM THE BACK OF MY BRAIN:

“Instructions Not Included” feels like the wake of “Kramer vs. Kramer” comedy clones that filled video stores in the 1980s. The film hops back and forth between English and Spanish, but the material holds up. Basically, single happening dude doesn’t  know what to do with his bastard daughter. Naturally, they spend the next 6 years growing closer together until the evil birth mother returns! How dare she who birthed the co-star show up to reclaim thy progeny!

The crossover appeal for this film is there in spades. It’s goofy funny and the leads are admirable in their performance. The neglectful mother is painted in the light that you might expect, but there’s more to it. This is very much Eugenio Derbez’s movie and I expect this to be the vehicle that starts pushing him deeper into American cinema. He’s already shown up in a few Adam Sandler affairs. That being said, he has the potential to do so much more.

Selling Latino cinema to the American market will slowly become easier over the next decade. That being said, we need more films like this to start opening the floodgate. Linguistics and cultural differences aren’t major handicaps anymore. The material has to be there to support the efforts of an international appeal. That being said, you can still evade the issue and chop stuff out for the Chinese ala Disney. The Blu-Ray comes with a commentary and Digital HD copy. The DTS-HD 5.1 master audio track really stands up for a light comedy. Still, the 1080p transfer had moments of light digital noise. Nothing major, but it was present throughout the film. In the end, I’d recommend a purchase to the curious.

RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW!

FROM THE BACK OF THE BOX:

Five young filmmakers retrace the steps of a doomed group of hikers in pursuit of an unsolvable mystery.

FROM THE BACK OF MY BRAIN:

Renny Harlin made a found footage movie. The problem was that it was a fan-film knock-off of “The Blair Witch Project”. Hell, they even had pretty strong knock-offs of that original trio. Gemma Atkinson is the only one that I recognize in the cast, but I feel like I’m mistaking her for someone else. Take that for what you will.

“Devil’s Pass” is Harlin’s attempt to reconnect to his horror roots. The Dyatlov Pass Incident provides for enough background to provide scares in the terrifying Russian side. The problem is that it keeps going “Blair Witch”, when it should be a little more “Descent”. No one cares about retracing true tragedy, as much as they want to see people get mangled and body parts to fly around. Viewers want to bullshit themselves and suggest otherwise, but box office results say that’s crap.

But, what does that mean for Harlin? Well, not a whole lot. Harlin’s gonna work on whatever he gets hired to do, The Exorcist prequel showed off that he’ll work for a paycheck. Is that the worst thing for a creative talent anymore? Not everyone is going to be Ozu or even Jack Hill. I just want to see the talents from my childhood/early teens doing better work. Harlin crafted my first look at Freddy Krueger, he shouldn’t have to be settling for this crap.

The DVD comes with a director’s commentary, deleted scenes, featurette and a trailer. The A/V Quality is pretty strong with a crisp Dolby 5.1 surround track. The transfer is pretty flat, even for standard definition. Still, I could tell what was going down. In the end, I’d recommend a purchase to the curious.

RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW!