IMDB: Out for a Kill (2003), one of the most incomprehensible films I've ever seen. Watched this last night as kind of a V-day joke.

Everyone reconizes that it's terrible, but no one I can see mentions that it was clearly made to be released internationally. Much of the dialogue occurs where we cannot see people's mouths moving. When plot details or exposition are shown with text, they are post-processed in like subtitiles, rather than placed into the film directly. This doesn't look as good, but it's easier to switch. All this points to the filmmakers consciously angling towards internationalization when making the movie.

The conventions of the film also track more closely with Hong Kong than Hollywood. Multiple subplots are hinted at without exploration. Visual styling includes a lone gravity-defying wire-fight. In what are meant to be emotionally-intense scenes, the principle actors have most of their faces shadowed, but with light around their eyes; it's a pretty distinctive effect.

And also, most of the crew is Bulgarian, and the eastern-european bits were recognizably filmed in Sofia, Bulgaria.

My guess is that the whole film was made overseas. Many other parts -- particularly the "American House" Segal and his wife are supposed to live in -- have the distinctive look of soundstage sets. Using a non-US (and non-union) crew, DV cams and digital post-production, the whole movie could have been produced for a comparative pittance. Segal was a producer -- meaning investor -- on the film, so this makes sense. With secondary sales in Hong Kong and around the globe, its entirely possible that this film turned a healthy profit.

And they use the word "Academician" in it. Academician!