My Sucky Teen Romance appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 1.78:1 on this Blu-Ray Disc. The image showed good reproduction but lacked great clarity.
For the most part, sharpness seemed positive. While the movie didn’t provide excellent definition, it appeared acceptable concise and accurate. No issues with jagged edges or moiré effects occur, and I noticed no edge haloes or noise problems. Source flaws also failed to pop up here.
Unlike most films of its genre, Sucky delivered a natural palette. Skin tones could be a little orange at times, but I suspect that occurred due to makeup issues; otherwise the colors appeared pretty full and rich. Blacks showed good depth, and shadows offered nice delineation. This wasn’t a killer presentation, but it seemed worthy of a “B”.
It comes as a surprise that Sucky only provides a PCM Stereo soundtrack; that’s unusual for a modern movie, even one with a small budget. The soundscape didn’t have much to offer. Music showed decent but unspectacular stereo imaging, and effects occasionally broadened to the side speakers. However, the track remained largely monaural, without a lot of spread most of the time.
Audio quality was acceptable. Speech remained intelligible and natural, though some awkward looping popped up at times. Music was fairly full and dynamic, and effects showed reasonable accuracy. Bass response was pretty deep, though low-end could be a bit too heavy on occasion. This was a decent track but not one that fits with modern standards.
A few extras fill out the set. We launch with an audio commentary from writer/director Emily Hagins and producer Paul Gandersman. Both sit together for this running, screen-specific look at script/story/characters, sets and locations, cast and performances, effects and editing, music and audio, costumes and visual design, and a few other production areas.
Hagins and Gandersman provide a competent commentary. At no point does it threaten to become truly engaging, but it always manages to stay on task and give us good details about the production. That makes it a worthwhile listen for fans.
We get an 11-minute, eight-second Behind the Scenes Featurette. It includes notes from Hagins, Gandersman, and actors Tony Vespe, Elaine Hurt, Lauren Lee, Santiago Dietche, Patrick Delgado, and Devin Bonnee. We get some notes about Hagins’ career, the film’s story and characters, cast and performances, thoughts about the vampire genre and the movie’s use of gore, Hagins’ take on the material, shooting the convention, camerawork and technology. The featurette doesn’t get into much detail, but if offers a decent overview of the production.
One Deleted Scene runs two minutes, 51 seconds. It shows more of the vampire panel that features Harry Knowles. It’s completely superfluous in terms of story and lacks much entertainment value; it’s amateurish and unfunny.
Next comes a short film from 2011 called Cupcakes. It goes for two minutes, five seconds, as it shows a super-perky couple who cheerfully bicker as they order snacks at a cupcake shop. Hagins directed it and it features a couple of actors from Sucky. It’s not particularly memorable, but it’s okay.
A Blooper Reel goes for one minute, 54 seconds. This mostly consists of actors acting silly on the set. It’s probably a lot of fun for them to revisit, but it’s not very interesting for the viewer.
The disc opens with ads for A Bag of Hammers and Hypothermia. We also get the trailer for Sucky.
A teen vampire movie directed by a teenager offers an interesting twist, but does it ensure a good film? No. My Sucky Teen Romance isn’t a bad flick, but it can be amateurish and doesn’t satisfy on a consistent basis. The Blu-ray provides good picture, lackluster audio and a few useful supplements. I can’t say I actively disliked Sucky, but I can’t say it does anything for me, either.