DVDown Under Review - Jawbreaker : Collector's Edition

If you thought Sofie Lee and her gang of bitchy school girl friends from Muriel's Wedding were bad, wait til you get a load of Rose McGowan and her followers in Jawbreaker.

These girls Courtney(Rose McGowan), Julie (Rebecca Gayheart) and Foxy(Julie Benz), have an unusual tradition of mockingly kidnapping the birthday girl and playing a prank on them. It's suppose to be a bit of high school fun to embarrassed the girl in question, but in the hope of outdoing the previous attempts, Courtney stuffs a Jawbreaker (a ball of candy about the size of a billiard ball) into Liz's mouth, gags here with gaffer tape, and throws her in the boot of a car. When the girls open the boot to take a birthday picture, they discover the poor 'ol Liz has chocked on the Jawbreaker, and DIED!!!!! With the fear of prison, the three girls, cover up the accident by making out as if Liz was raped and killed in her own bed. Problem is the School head mistress (Carol Kane) gives very dowdy Fern Mayo (Judy Greer) Liz's homework. When Fern goes over to Liz's she walks in on the 3 girls preparing the body!!! Fern of course Freaks, but not before Rose convinces her NOT to tell in exchange for making her one of the beautiful people of the school.
So Fern the ugly Duckling, becomes Vylette the sexy Blonde Bombshell. Problem is Rose has created a monster and Fern..err Vylette has plans to take over the school.
To Complicate matters further, local detective (Pam Grier) suspects not all is right and heads up the case to solve the murder of poor lovely Liz.
This soon causes a rift with girls and sees Julie kicked out of the group as she feels guilty over the death and wants to tell. However, Ever so conniving Courtney has made damn sure no one will ever find out the truth, or so she thinks.

So How Does These Transfers Hold Up??

VIDEO
Columbia are very good at coming close to the look and feel of a DVD as it seen in the cinemas. Jawbreaker is no exception here. Framed at 1.85:1, and anamorphic for Widescreen TV's, this is a great looking picture. While the brightness seemed a tad high earlier on in the film, it mainly occurred in outdoor sequences and was only ever just a little intense. Colour Saturation was very strong, without ever really being overdone, it really looked terrific and suited the near fantasy value of this film. Other than the above mentioned scenes of overbrightness, black level was very good throughout,as was sharpness. Grain was essentially non existent as was aliasing....something I was very pleased NOT to see.

Video Highlights
Ch 07 16:20 - 16:33 Cleaning up Liz
Ch 08 21:57 - 23:08 One of Us!!
Ch 10 31:14 - 31:22 Thanks for the Lift
Ch 13 37:13 - 37:58 I'm the Mum and the Dad
Ch 20 53:17 - 54:18 Rules have been Changed

AUDIO
When I saw this film at the cinemas I was quite pissed that it was only in stereo, and the moron projecting the film obviously didn't realise that the left and right tracks were mixed up. Never mind the fact I complained about this and gave an example of a car move from right to left and the sound of the car engine moving from Left to right!!!!! idiots didn't understand OR care...(has happened a few times at the U-Beaut Birch Carroll and Coyle Mt Gravatt Cinemas here in Bris-Vegas)..anyhoo, THANKFULLY this DVD has been encoded with 2 very aggressive Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks, in English and German. This is a very fun mix, with lots of sound effects occurring in the surrounds throughout. The Front soundstage was quite open, with well focused dialogue, and music while not overly exciting, still worked well within the 5.1 soundfield. It seems the filmmakers have had almost as much fun with this mix as on Desperado.

Audio Highlights
Ch 11 34:11 - 34:21 When Courtney calls it's Priority 1
Ch 13 37:57 - 39:05 Julie's Alone
Ch 14 40:13 - 40:14 Hard...like a rock!!
Ch 18 49:55 - 50:13 What is a friend anyway
Ch 24 64:12 - 64:52 There she is!!

EXTRAS
Complimenting the very fine picture and sound is a nice Collection of Extras
- Director Darren Stein has a solo Running Commentary and obviously had a blast making this film (telling a few anecdotes along the way)
- The rather short Behind the Scene's Featurette with a few interviews intertwined with scenes taken from the Theatrical Trailer it seems.
- Music Video of Yoo Hoo (featuring Rose McGowan) by Imperial Teen (a nice looking clip)
- Cast and Crew Bios & the Dolby Digital City Trailer.

With a nasty black streak similar to the very cool Heathers, Jawbreaker may not appeal to all, but there is some fun to be had her knowing that tongues are planted firmly in cheeks.

PICTURE QUALITY	9/10 a lot of eye candy
SOUND QUALITY	8/10 a lot of ear candy
FEATURES	7/10 good commentary track

Review Equipment
TV: Pioneer SD-T50W1 (16:9 RPTV)
DVD: Pioneer DV717 (using RGB outputs)
Receiver: Marantz SR870 & Sony SDP-EP9ES
Speakers:-
     Fronts: B&W 602
     Centre: B&W CDMC-SE
     Rears: Jamo Magic 14
     Subby: M&K V125

- Reviewed 3rd January 2000