Rosa & The Executioner Of The Fiend (2009/MVD Visual DVD)

 

Picture: C     Sound: C     Extras: D     Feature: C-

 

 

An old woman who escaped the Nazis in 1939 finds terror again when a young man who is also an assassin wants to kill a world leader visiting the UN in New York from her apartment in Ivan Acosta’s Rosa & The Executioner Of The Fiend (2009) but this is more of a stage play piece that never really works despite some interesting ideas.

 

Not a thriller and with really no suspense, the tale winds on for 102 very long minutes and when all is said and done, is boring and very disappointing considering its potential.  Acosta thinks he is saying something profound, but he is not, though he makes things worse by making meanings only he understands.  I bought some of it in the beginning, but it quickly become convoluted and never recovered.

 

Also annoying, this DVD has burned-in Spanish subtitles you cannot turn off.

 

The 1.33 X 1 image is very soft, shot on digital video that looks low definition.  You also get aliasing errors throughout and color is not too good.  The Dolby Digital 2.0 sound is barely stereo, low in volume and compressed, so be very careful of playback levels and volume switching.  There are no extras.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo