Set in the world of show business, 2018’s High Voltage introduces us to Rachel (Allie Gonino), the lead singer of a rock band called Hollow Body. They attract attention from the big labels and seem to be on the rise.

This changes when Rachel and her bossy mother Barb (Perrey Reeves) get struck by lightning and die – apparently. Instead, Rachel now finds herself imbued with electricity-based abilities that allow her to suck the life out of men, and she uses these powers to terrifying effect.

In theory, at least, but Voltage tends to feel so unfocused that it doesn’t milk the horror to any significant degree. Voltage mixes different topics in an awkward manner that fails to come together to create a memorable result.

The film takes a long time to get to Rachel’s transformation, and that doesn’t bother me – again, in theory. Essentially an “origin story”, the film needs some time to establish its characters and situations.

However, Voltage doesn’t explore these realms in a satisfying manner, as it feels uncommitted to the different topics. The movie flits with so many different focal points that it fails to fall into place.

In addition to Rachel’s transformation, we follow the lives of manager Jimmy (David Arquette) and songwriter Scott (Ryan Donowho). These should add depth to the story, but they feel underdeveloped and spotty.

The main aspects of the tale – Rachel’s powers and journey – also don’t come out well. Though her powers act as the nominal main plot, they feel oddly ignored much of the time and almost an afterthought.

The script seems erratic and it often feels like the movie is missing key scenes. The story jumps ahead without logic at times and fails to flow smoothly.

All of this leaves Voltage as a strange mishmash of subjects that can’t create an involving tale. The “killer rock star” story boasts promise but the end result drags and goes nowhere.

Footnote One: an audio tag shows up after the end credits.

Footnote Two: one scene offers a news report that refers to “President Clinton”. Since the movie clearly takes place in present day, I guess the filmmakers assumed Hillary Clinton would win the 2016 election and no one bothered to fix this when she lost.

High Voltage appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 2.35:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. The transfer presented the film in a reasonably appealing manner.

Sharpness mostly looked good. Interiors tended to lack great delineation, but not to a substantial degree, so the majority of the flick showed fine clarity and accuracy.

Jaggies and shimmering failed to distract, and edge haloes remained absent. The movie also lacked any source flaws and was consistently clean.

In terms of colors, the movie went with a stylized palette that favored strong reds, greens and blues. These showed pretty positive clarity.

Blacks were pretty deep, and shadows were well-depicted. The image offered a “B” presentation.

As for the movie’s DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack, it filled the speakers in an active but no especially smooth manner. The mix used the channels in a way that seemed overly aggressive in the surrounds, a factor that left the soundscape as less than convincing.

Audio quality pleased. Speech was concise and natural, while effects remained accurate and full-bodied.

Music was vibrant and dynamic. The track sounded fine, but the soundfield tended to come across as unnatural.

Only one extra appears here: an audio commentary from writer/director Alex Keledjian. He provides a running, screen-specific look at story/characters, cast and performances, sets and locations, photography and visual design, music and connected domains.

Keledjian provides a competent commentary. While he gives us a decent nuts and bolts view of the production, I can’t claim Keledjian ever makes this a memorable chat. Still, he relates a mix of notes about the film, so he gets the job done.

The package also includes a DVD copy of Voltage. It also features the commentary.

An attempt to meld music with horror, High Voltage sounds interesting on the surface. Unfortunately, the final result lacks coherence and turns into an erratic, spotty effort. The Blu-ray brings generally good picture along with unbalanced audio and a decent commentary. Voltage becomes a mess of a movie.