The Other Side DVD Review

With independent films there are so many hurdles to jump. Immediately when watching an independent film, especially in the day and age when several stars are signed on to the “independent” films we mostly see in theaters, there are higher standards. Scrutiny seems much more justified if there is an immediate rough quality to absorb. Bad acting, cheap sound, awful lighting and unbelievable special effects are hard to absorb. In The Other Side that quality is the photography. While the editing, visual effects and directing are all great, the photography is often grainy and uncomplimentary to the film. Gregg Bishop already seems to be trying too hard for people to remember his name, as it is listed in the credits for director, writer, editor, producer, and even the questionably important title of executive producer. With the hard work Bishop obviously put into this film it will surely be fruitful in obtaining him future films, but viewing this one must be reserved for true lovers of independent cinema and not just the ones starring Steve Carell.

After a grainy beginning in which a young man is killed in his car and sent to a hell of sorts, but quickly after that we flash back and see the same man, Sam North (Nathan Mobley) in the car driving home to his gravel-voiced girlfriend, Hanna (Jaime Alexander). After withstanding a long term relationship for sake of higher education Sam is on his home back to reunite with his girlfriend in Georgia. He is waiting to meet her when someone kills him and sends him to the realm of the damned, a place not unlike hell and including bad memories and terrifying alterations on reality. With the help of others in the realm he is able to escape and return back to life. Apparently death, in whatever form, holds a grudge. In Final Destination it returns to kill those who cheated it in life, and in The Other Side they return in the form of dead bodies in a mortuary and buy guns to kill those who escaped death. These three “Reapers” are bounty hunters determined to drag Sam back to hell to be tormented for eternity, and the first thing he finds out upon returning to the living is that Hanna has gone missing.

The effectiveness in which the violence is played out is part of what makes the film so cool. The fantasy of hell as a prison cell with souls waiting to escape is absurd, especially when the bounty hunters wear black fedoras and carry cross-bows, but that is also what makes the film cool. It may be a bit much, but it is creative and fun, which is plenty. The gunplay is ambitious and even when not entirely believable it can be fun to watch, a theory which Shoot Em Up takes to heart. The DVD for The Other Side contains plenty of special features for the well documented independent film. There is a featurette about the special effects in the film, which is nearly all digital. There is also a featurette about the scenes in hell, which are mostly done by using creative lighting. The film surprisingly has a few deleted scenes as well, but the real special feature to be excited about is the commentary track with Bishop explaining his methods.