Film-Forward Review: [KORN: LIVE ON THE OTHER SIDE]

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KORN: LIVE ON THE OTHER SIDE
Directed by: Lawrence Jordan.
Produced by: Scott Lochmus.
Edited by: Sean Fullan.
Released by: LIVE NATION.
Country of Origin: USA. 130 min. Not Rated.
With: Korn: Jonathan Davis, David Silveria, Munky & Fieldy.
DVD Features: "See You on the Other Side," behind-the-scenes featurette. "See Who's on the Other Side," featurette on the music & crew. "Coming Undone" music video.

Shot at New York’s Hammerstein Ballroom to promote Korn’s 2005 album See You on the Other Side, the film begins with a dizzying montage of the tattooed and pierced fans of the kings of the oft-maligned genre rap-rock. Just like the kids in the cult doc Heavy Metal Parking Lot, they wave devil horns, saluting their dreadlocked gods as they enter the stage. Good to see very little has changed in the world of hard rock in two decades.

The band doesn’t bog down the show with new material, playing only four tracks from the new album, which was in large part cowritten by the Avril Lavigne-approved song writing team, the Matrix. The rest of the set spans the band’s career and includes a decidedly Korn-ified cover of Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick in the Wall,” replacing the children’s choir of the original with lead singer Jonathan Davis’ bark.

There is little time between songs, let alone vapid stage banter, which speeds up the pace of the approximately two-hour show. Shot with a dizzying number of cameras, practically every single angle of the performance is shown, from the fans in the mosh pit to drummer David Silveria. The fast cuts between shots of the concert and the arena's strobe lighting effects can make the film difficult to watch for long periods of time. In other words, epileptics need not apply. While the constant cuts may be headache inducing, each shot is blessed with a high degree of clarity and, while usually a sore spot for concert films, the sound throughout is consistently excellent.

Like many filmed concerts, this is a fans-only affair, memorabilia for rap-rock lovers who wish it was still 1999. While a souvenir, the crowd itself looked like it was having enough fun to justify dropping the money for an actual ticket. Molly Eichel
June 20, 2006

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