Julia X Uncut - DVD

Film: It starts out like a great romance. A man (Kevin Sorbo) and a woman (Valerie Azlynn) sit in a cafe on their first date, smiling at each other, obviously having a good time together. But the evening with the supposed dream man soon turns into an absolute nightmare for the attractive Julia, as her Internet date turns out to be a sadistic serial killer who beats Julia up badly, brands her with an X and drags her off to a remote location where he wants to torture her to death. But Julia doesn't give up that easily. She manages to escape, and though her tormentor is right on her heels, Julia has one more ace up her sleeve that will reshuffle the cards all over again that night...

With Julia X, P.J. delivers. Pettiette, who has previously worked on a number of genre works as a writer and producer, delivers a bloody directorial debut that scores with a surprising twist, a Kevin Sorbo playing well against his Hercules image and a heavy dose of jet-black humour. This threatens to be obscured by the extreme brutality of some scenes. But it becomes clear again and again that the events, as bloody and disgusting as they may seem at first glance, should not be taken seriously. Julia X is a nasty low-budget horror-comedy that tells its bloody revenge story in a relentless, but also just completely over-the-top way.

Those who take it too seriously might be repelled by the scenes of torture and humiliation, which are quite drastic, especially in the uncut version. Also, the acting of the cast might just come across as too over-the-top. But if you take the movie for what it is, a completely over-the-top comedy, you will not only enjoy the nice twists Julia X has to offer, but also the acting of the actors. Especially Kevin Sorbo as a serial killer with his completely unrestrained sadistic play provides some very successful moments. Admittedly, the script is not particularly original, the dialogues sometimes extremely flat and the film has an unmistakable B-movie feeling throughout. But despite the lack of depth in content and although the intellect is not really overstrained here, Julia X can be thoroughly recommended to all genre fans.

Whoever expects a straightforward revenge thriller with a lot of suspense and the hint of dramaturgical depth, will certainly not have much fun with the film. But if you appreciate nasty little low-budget horror comedies and can overlook minor hangs in the production, you can safely take in this drastic warning against Internet acquaintances!

The film is released in two versions. The uncut version has not been approved by the FSK, but will be released in an SPIO JK approved version with the seal No Serious Youth Endangerment. The FSK 18 version, on the other hand, had to let a little feathers and was relieved by almost 2 minutes of particularly bloody scenes. For real genre fans, of course, there is no question of which version should be reached.

Picture + Sound: That Julia X is actually designed for a 3D evaluation, is not only some effects, but also the digital look of the film to notice. However, this also makes for a very clean image with a high overall sharpness that still allows many details to be seen well, even in darker scenes. The picture's depth, atmospheric coloring, and cohesive black levels also leave a positive impression. As for the sound, a few good sound effects provide a decent surround feeling in some scenes, while in others the more directionally mixed dialogue and music dominate the proceedings. Good!

Extras: Except for trailers, the DVD unfortunately has no bonus material to offer.

Conclusion: Julia X seems at first to be another representative of the subgenre of torture horror so popular since Saw and Hostel. But then the whole thing turns into an extremely bloody revenge thriller, which on closer inspection turns out to be a deep black comedy with a high disgust and entertainment factor. Genre fans are of course primarily recommended the uncut version, which presents itself on the DVD in good to very good picture and sound quality. Only the lack of noteworthy extras hits next to some of the particularly bloody moments of the film additionally on the stomach. Nevertheless, there is for all fans of relentless horror-thriller-comedies a: recommendable!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp