Directors Dan Jones and Jesse P. Pollack dig beneath the lurid books and scare tactic media coverage to tell the definitive true story of Ricky Kasso, an American teenager who murdered his friend, Gary Lauwers, in an alleged “Satanic sacrifice” during the summer of 1984 in Long Island New York. That crime, and the public and media treatment of the event, helped birth the brief but dangerous ‘satanic panic’ of mass hysteria which gripped the United States in the 1980s and 90s. Based on the best-selling book The Acid King, by Jesse P. Pollack and published by Simon & Schuster. This Special Edition Blu-ray features hours of additional bonus content that takes you deeper into the film and the true crime case that inspired it.
For thoughts on The Acid King, please check out our discussions on The Video Attic:
[youtube https://youtu.be/uDkB8lyLRJc?t=1638]
Video Quality
The Acid King comes to Blu-Ray from Wild Eye Releasing with a wonderfully pleasing high definition master that suits the film exactly as is needed. The feature showcases different types of material in varying degrees of quality depending on the source, but the filmmakers seem to have taken great care with sourcing their footage. The archival footage used seems to be in the best shape possible given the inconsistent quality of the source material. This mostly consists of vintage new clips from this time period, but you also have some personal footage mixed in. The newer interview segments look clear and stable with natural skin tones and detailed facial features. With this lot we have a lot of facial hair and weathered t-shirts which appear quite detailed in HD. The colors featured in the footage have a great saturation which is presented without issue. You will not notice much in the way of compression artifacts or digital nuisances. Wild Eye Releasing has delivered a fine presentation that should please any fan.
Audio Quality
This Blu-Ray disc comes with a Dolby Digital 2.0 track, which is somewhat of a disappointment since a lossless track is always preferred, but the sonic ambition of the material is not hobbled in any notable way. Interviews dominate the runtime with a steady stream of talking heads, which are sometimes backed by some specific tunes. The sound quality of the songs never falters and spreads throughout the room. Dialogue is crisp and clear up front in the center channel as you get colorful anecdotes filmed in stable environments. Archival clips feature a bit of age-related wear, but not so much as to ruin the experience. The presentation could perhaps be tightened up with a lossless soundtrack, but it works out pretty well as is. There are optional English SDH subtitles provided.
Special Features
- Audio Commentary: Directors Jesse P. Pollack and Dan Jones, Production Assistant Michael Vaccaro, Executive Producer Chandler Thistle, and Connor Clark (Ricky in Lucifer’s Satanic Daughter) provide a great commentary track which gives you many great details about the production of this film. The group discuss trying to keep a low profile while filming, interacting with various townspeople, how they secured certain interview subjects, their inspirations for specific choices and more.
- Behind The Scenes – Tales From The Cutting Room Floor: A five-minute collection of odds and ends from the production in which you see the crew filming and interacting in various ways, occasionally in a video blog format. You get some amusing candid moments.
- Deleted Scenes: Three unused scenes totaling four minutes are provided here featuring more stories from Brendan about his run-ins with the wayward youth and discussions of bands being blamed for certain murders.
- Unresolved Podcast
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- Episode – The Acid King: The 43-minute audio episode of the Unresolved podcast is provided here which digs into the Acid King case.
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- Uncut Full Interview: The 89-minute uncut audio interview is provided of the filmmakers coming onto the Unresolved podcast and discussing the Acid King story.
- Extended Interviews: Additional interviews are provided here which gives you more insights into various subjects and their experience with the tragedy.
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- Brendan B. Brown (13:27)
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- David Breskin (18:58)
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- Eric Naiburg (14:17)
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- Jim Vanbebber (6:33)
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- Lori S. (6:04)
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- Nick Mamatas (9:37)
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- Tommy Tuner (6:33)
- Behind The Scenes Image Gallery: A two-minute collection of moments from the production of the film.
- Crime Scene Image Gallery: A two-minute collection of photos from the case and crime scene.
- Bonus Trailer – Lucifer’s Satanic Daughter: The three-minute trailer for this “Acid King” inspired movie is provided.
- The Acid King Trailer: The minute-long trailer for The Acid King is provided here.
Final Thoughts
The Acid King takes a very interesting tale of moral panic and a heinous crime, and it attempts to weave the two together with the benefit of hindsight and personal reflections from some of the people involved. Trouble arises when it comes to the construction of this feature, as the filmmakers seem a bit unsure of what exactly makes the story so compelling. There are a handful of interesting interview subjects who actually add to the experience, but there are just as many people who seem to have only the most tenuous ties to the story who seem to be on camera for no other reason than they claimed to be an expert. The film becomes way too bloated extremely fast, leaving you to check your watch as they explore aspects that seemingly go nowhere. There is an interesting film in here somewhere, but it needed to be more merciless in the editing room to get to the good stuff. Wild Eye Releasing has released a Blu-Ray featuring a good A/V presentation and a terrific assortment of special features. If you are a fan of the film, this release will make you happy.
The Acid King is currently available to purchase on Blu-Ray and Digital.
Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.
Disclaimer: Wild Eye Releasing has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.
Dillon is most comfortable sitting around in a theatre all day watching both big budget and independent movies.
