“Greg Sommer is an enigma wrapped inside a mystery, encased in a Jean-Jacket Vest. An enterprising man in his early 30s, Greg, and his alter-ego SKULL MAN, are at war. Box Wars that is.
Welcome to Greg’s world. A world of warriors, magic, and glory. A world of metal. Greg is building the Canadian-chapter of BOX WARS, an international underground movement of Cardboard-based combat.
SKULL WORLD follows two years in the life of Greg, and sheds light on exactly what makes him, and his goals in life, so unique. A comedic and moving journey awaits [and it’s] not for the faint of heart.”
Skull Man is something of a phenomenon in Canada, a local celebrity persona that thrives on rockin’ large while living life to the fullest and being as honorable and kind hearted as possible. When you watch the film and enter the world of Skull Man you start to realize you’re in for a treat every time he [Greg] speaks, mostly because he has this aura of a medieval commander. If you’ve ever seen the movie FUBAR just imagine those guys except Greg and his friends have ambition, drive, creativity and don’t drink and smoke as excessively as those Canadian red necks do.
I saw the trailer for this film what seems like over a year ago at this point and remember thinking to myself box wars sounds amazing. I mean, you get the opportunity to dress up in cardboard armor, wield cardboard weapons and then run gloriously into a Braveheart style battle where the goal is to destroy and rip off the costumes of your enemies by beating the crap out of them with weapons in the most respectable way possible. This is basically an organized moshpit for people who don’t feel like running around playing quidditch, because you need a lot of stamina for that, or don’t enjoy the pacified nature of LARPing.
All of the above awesomeness aside, Skull World isn’t really that compelling of a feature. Half of the film is more of a hodgepodge of home video quality footage before the director upgrades his camera equipment to HD, but don’t let these remarks actually stop you from watching it because the quality of the content far outweighs any negative aspect of the production and editing. In fact, the passion that radiates from Skull Man, aka Greg, alone is enough to fuel two documentaries and then the topic of Box Wars could be the focus of another. I mean, let’s be honest, who wouldn’t love watching people beat the shit out of each other with creatively designed and beastly cardboard weapons for hours on end? If you say you wouldn’t, google box wars, watch a video and then get back to me ‘cause it makes LARPing look like child’s play.
Director Justin McConnell is an amateur and basic storyteller, editing this feature together in a simple manner that makes the film easy to push aside, but don’t think of this as me bashing Mr. McConnell, in fact I plan on doing the opposite. It’s thanks to metal head/geeky guys like Justin that documentaries like this can be made and shed light on some of these ridiculously awesome underground events and activities that most people would never come across in their life but now have inspired me to share with the world.
On the whole, Skull World is a very out there documentary but one that’s oddly charming at the same time. If you had to take anything away from it it’s that you shouldn’t rip on anything until you try it. Skull Man may seem a bit eccentric but he’s also hilarious, full of energy and good intentions; box wars might seem odd but it provides an adrenaline rush for everyone, athletes and non-athletes alike because all you need to do is run around charging at each other, no athletic talent required.
Movie Rating: A heartfelt, strange and passionate doc that teaches you how to rock large and properly destroy cardboard (6.7/10)
The film comes with over five hours of Special Features which includes:
- Feature commentary: Director Justin McConnell and Greg Sommer
- Feature Commentary: Skull Man’s Rockin’ Commentary Experience
- 7 Extended Segments & Battle, including full-length Australia trip
- 16 Deleted Scenes filled with Unseen Mayhem!; 5 More deleted scenes exclusive to the Blu-ray
- Full-length ‘Skull Man’s Box Wars’ self-produced TV pilot
- ‘Skull World’ premiere at the Canadian Film Festival with Q&A
- Music Video: The Overfiend “Maiden” w/ behind the scenes featuring Greg
- ‘Skull Man’s Pit Files’ music video
- Trailers, Photo Galleries, Easter Eggs and more!
There isn’t that much more on the blu-ray disc that warrants the upgrade from the DVD. The movie will probably look pretty similar in both formats.
Blu-ray rating: 6/10
Check out the trailer below to get an idea of what you’re in for when you watch this.
Skull World is now available on Blu-ray, DVD and VOD
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