L.A. Aids Jabber: Collector's Edition – Visual Vengeance (Blu-ray)

Release Date: USA, 1994
Director: Drew Godderis
Writer: Drew Godderis
Cast: Justin Godderis, Marcy Lynn, Justin Mack, Jason Majik, Joy Yurada

Release Date: August 9th, 2022
Approximate Running Time: 78 Minutes 24 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Aspect Ratio / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC
Rating: NR
Sound: Dolby Digital Stereo English
Subtitles: English SDH
Region Coding: Region Free
Retail Price: $29.95

"Jeff, a mentally unstable young man is diagnosed with AIDS and takes his anger out on the world by filling a syringe with his own tainted blood and trolling the seedy streets of Los Angeles looking for victims in an acid-washed and venomous delirium. Police slowly piece together his crimes in an attempt to stop this ticking virus time bomb from jabbing again." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 2/5

Here’s the information provided about the transfer, "Archival master taken from master SD tape."

L.A. Aids Jabber comes on a 25 GB single layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 19.1 GB

Feature: 11.7 GB

This transfer looks like one would expect considering the limitations of its video source. Image clarity ranges from adequate to lacking any fine detail, particularly during the darker scenes. That said, while this transfer has its shortcomings, the result is most likely as good as this film will ever look.

Audio: 3/5

This release comes with one audio option, a Dolby Digital stereo mix in English with removable English SDH. The audio fared much better than the transfer. Though it is limited range-wise, dialog comes through clearly enough to follow, and ambient sounds are well-represented.

Extras:

Extras for this release include a photo gallery, L.A. Aids Jabber Visual Vengeance trailer (1 minute 19 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an interview with actor Gene Webber (4 minutes 22 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an interview with cinematographer Rick Bradach (6 minutes 29 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an interview with actress Joy Yurada (6 minutes 58 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an interview with Justin Godderis son of director Drew Godderis titled Growing Up On Set (8 minutes 43 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an interview with Blood Diner director Jackie Kong (9 minutes 21 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), a featurette with Drew Godderis titled L.A. Aids Jabber - 2021 Locations Visit (16 minutes 22 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an interview with actor Jason Majik titled Bleeding The Pack (28 minutes 33 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an interview with Drew Godderis titled Lethal Injection: The Making of L.A. Aids Jabber (10 minutes 3 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), Drew Godderis’ introduction to the film (1 minute 13 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an audio commentary with Drew Godderis, Wild Eye’s Rob Hauschild, and filmmaker Mark Polonia, reversible cover art featuring original VHS art, ‘Stick your own’ video store sticker sheet, a four-page leaflet with a essay titled Rage in the Blood: Diagnosing Drew Godderis’ L.A. Aids Jabber written by Tony Strauss, and a limited-edition slipcover (first pressing only).

Other extras include trailers for Feeders, Suburban Sasquatch, and Slaughter Day.

Summary:

Even by exploitation film standards, L.A. Aids Jabber features a wild premise and pushes the limits of bad taste. The narrative revolves around a protagonist with a short temper who goes on a killing spree after learning that he has the Aids virus. He compiles a hit list of those who have done him wrong, and then he tracks them down and injects them with his contaminated blood.

Despite the fact that L.A. Aids Jabber has all of the hallmarks of a low-budget film, The result is a film that takes its anemic resources and exploits them for all their worth. Also, when it comes to the performances, any shortcomings are easily forgiven because of the enthusiasm of the cast. Another strength is how well the narrative maintains momentum and a twist ending that serves as the perfect coda. That said, the positives outweigh the negatives.

Content-wise, L.A. Aids Jabber is a melting pot of genres. It is part horror, part police procedural, and some exploitation cinema elements are thrown in for good measure. And though there are bound to be some viewers who will quickly tune out, for those with strong endurance, you will be rewarded with a truly unique cinematic experience that lives up to its title, L.A. Aids Jabber.

L.A. Aids Jabber is another stellar release from Visual Vengeance that comes with the best possible audio/video presentations and comes with a wealth of informative extras, recommended.

Written by Michael Den Boer