Xero Review

Distributor: Cobra Films Edition Details: Collector's Edition DVD Movie Specs: Genres: All Sex, All Girl Run Time: 62 minutes Rated: XXX Release Year: 2010 Director: JacktheZipper Written by: JacktheZipper, Rockford Kabine Cast: Jade Starr, Jayme Langford, Franziska Facella, Davi Lynne, Zoe Minx Release Specs: Audio: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo Subtitles: none Video: Widescreen, 1.78:1 (anamorphic) Video Format: NTSC Format: DVD Regional Code (for DVD/Blu-ray): 0 (All) Number of discs: 1 DVD, 1 CD

Xero manages to bring together, Xero (a knife wielding, gas mask wearing, latex covered figure), a black fedora wearing woman, and phallic Onibaba masks. These are just some of the things you will encounter in Xero, one of JacktheZipper's art-porn ventures. I wanted to like Xero. JacktheZipper has collected some bizarre and haunting locations; they include an old farm, a decaying industrial building, and a hotel room. He has beautifully shot Xero. He has nicely edited Xero. Rockford Kabine has composed an impressive score for the movie. However, I could not get into the movie.

I felt like JacktheZipper was trying to tell me a story in the visuals. They were clearly deliberately set up by him. The way the scenes were intermixed. The introduction to Xero. A scene I won't get into toward the end. Even the slow increase from tease only scenes into the hardcore action as the movie progresses. But somehow whatever story he was trying to tell was lost on me; some of the visual effects he used seemed to pull the viewer out from the movie.

JacktheZipper shows here that he knows how to frame a shot and create something beautiful within the adult entertainment genre. Unfortunately, the bizarreness of the whole film gets in the way of the viewing experience. As a viewer, you feel frustrated, wanting to see the story that JacktheZipper is presenting, but never quite getting it.

Cobra Films has done a decent job with the presentation of the movie on this release. Xero is presented in the anamorphic widescreen aspect ratio of 1.78:1. The picture is sharp and clear throughout and the only blemishes in the picture are intentional. Xero is presented with a German Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo track, which is where the presentation loses points. I list the track as German because that is how the player itself identifies it. There isn't any dialog within the movie, so beyond that the language is inconsequential. The issue with the audio is that the music is very important for the movie presentation and deserving of a full surround mixture, which it wasn't granted. Other than that issue, the audio track is fine with the music clear at all times.

For a release labeled a Collector's Edition, Cobra Films hasn't included many extras at all. The biggest extra is a CD of the movie soundtrack by Rockford Kabine. There is also a photo gallery included on the disc as well as the trailer for Xero.

Xero is a frustrating movie to come from JacktheZipper. It is usually aesthetically beautiful displaying how well an adult movie can be shot. On the other hand, the pictorial narrative in the movie is confusing and likely to frustrate the viewer. Cobra Films has done a great job with the movie presentation on the disc but has skimped on the extras.

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