13 Sins Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.5

13 Sins Blu-ray Movie Review

Not so devilishly bad as one may think.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman June 20, 2014

The spectacle of transformation.

Money and morals collide in 13 Sins, a Thriller based on the 2006 Thai picture 13 Beloved. The American remake largely defies convention while still following it, flooding the screen with twists and turns -- some obvious, some not -- but maintaining a frenetic pace and constructing sound character development along the way. The film is best described as Saw meets The Box, a bit less bloody than the former (though certainly unafraid of dousing the screen on a couple of occasions) and a bit more developed than the latter. It doesn't redefine its genre, but Thriller/Horror fans should find the film to their liking. It offers just enough dramatic meat and thematic subtexts to keep not only the eyes and ears entertained but the mind engaged from the beginning on through to the surprise-filled and emotionally draining end.

I scream...

Elliot Brindle (Mark Webber), a 32-year-old insurance salesman, is struggling to get by but has a few good things going for him in life. He's to be married to a woman (Rutina Wesley) who loves him through thick and thin. She's pregnant and happily so, and even her parents think the world of him. He's deep in debt, but he has a steady job and is sure he's about to earn a promotion. Unfortunately, that promotion turns into a dismissal. His boss believes he's not strong-willed or willing to bend over backwards to make the company money, even if it means abandoning his moral compass along the way. Indeed, Elliot's front is one of a sniveling nobody, afraid of confrontation and even incapable of telling off his boss after he's been fired and with an invitation from the man himself to do so. With no job, a pregnant fiancé, and a mentally handicapped brother named Michael (Devon Graye) about to be forced back into an assisted living home he loathes, it appears that everything Elliot lived for is starting to slip away.

One evening, he receives a mysterious phone call from someone who knows every intimate detail of his life, from the exact dollar amount of his debt to the fact that a fly is buzzing around the inside of his car. He's given the opportunity of a lifetime: perform a series of tasks for an ever-increasing dollar amount. The tasks begin trivially. He receives a good chunk of change for killing a fly and an even larger amount for eating it. The rules are simple: if he follows through with every challenge, no questions asked, he keeps the money. If at any time he fails a challenge or quits before the end, he loses everything he's gained. The desperate Elliot accepts, not knowing that subsequent challenges will become more difficult, physically and emotionally both. From upsetting a schoolgirl to exacting revenge on an old middle school bully, he pushes through the challenges and begins to feed off the adrenaline. As he marks challenges off the list, he becomes the target of a police detective (Ron Perlman) who is slowly catching on to the truth behind Elliot's apparent madness and random crime spree.

So, the people who "win" this game are going to have a doozy of a time filling out the IRS form 8300. All kidding aside, 13 Sins manages to do what seems almost impossible these days, and that's build a Thriller with solid characterization and maintain an audience interest from beginning to end with a solid "what if" series of scenarios that predictably grow ever more crazy as the film explores one man's evolution from social wimp to someone absolutely addicted to adrenaline and abandoning his consciousness with every ever-growing act of grotesqueness he carries out. The film's exploration of that transformation may not be as deep and satisfying as it might could have been -- there's still just a little too much imbalance in the focus on the external activities versus the internal strife and evolution, and there's no real satisfying discussion or revelation of the motivations at play on the other end of the phone, despite a valiant effort to do so through another strong performance from Pruitt Taylor Vince -- but there's enough in play on both sides of the coin to elevate the movie well above genre "junk" status.

The picture builds on its theme -- that there is no such thing as a free lunch, or expanded here, easy money -- to satisfaction. To that end, the movie constructs a run of events that are partially exciting, partially nauseating, partially depressing, and rarely hopeful, but it encourages the release of a broad number of emotions. That in itself seems like something of a minor miracle for a film of this nature. The picture knows what it's doing and aggressively pursues that goal, in that way acting as something of a reflection of its protagonist. It presents some interesting scenarios that threaten to march straight into cliché territory, but the film always seems to have an escape route brilliantly planned, flirting with disaster but always finding a satisfactory way out of every structural trap. Most every character plays a role larger than than they appear on the surface. The film takes its time revealing these truths, and when they come into the light it's not quite a knockout punch but certainly a string of welcome surprises that not only redefine much of what's previously happened but add to the greater story peril and emotional depth it builds throughout.

13 Sins Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

13 Sins arrives on Blu-ray with a good, proficient, but somewhat underwhelming 1080p transfer. Everything is in good working order here, yet the rather pale, pasty, flat, almost lifeless source leaves the viewer wishing for something more organic and tangible. In a general sense, the image offers solid details across the board, from skin and clothing textures to park trees and grimy interiors. Image clarity satisfies, and this is a sharp, clear transfer all the way around. Colors, too, are fine, all nicely balanced and accurate in any lighting condition, including some slimy red blood and gore seen both in a lower-light interior and during a nighttime exterior. Black levels are deep in every scene without crushing out details. Flesh tones, likewise, are generally fine, if not a touch pasty in places. The image does show some spiky noise and a hint of banding in a few spots. Still, despite its basic proficiency, this is a rather run-of-the-mill HD transfer, perfectly adequate but nothing to write home about in 2014.

13 Sins Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

13 Sins features a balanced and frequently aggressive DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack. Dialogue reverberates nicely in the opening Perth segment, and it comes through clearly and with a natural center-focus throughout. The telephone conversations, too, are handled well, with the "voice of the game" on the other end always coming through loudly and clearly. Music enjoys good, wide spacing and firm stage balance. The track features plenty of natural atmospherics, from the sounds of a lively daytime park to nighttime insects, all of which are nicely immersive and make good use of the side and surround speakers. Several large action scenes play with commendable command, featuring gunshots and crashes and revving power tools pouring into the listening area with satisfying presence and realism. Much like the video, this is a good track, one that handles its priorities and its subtleties equally well but that doesn't really leave any sort of lasting impression once the movie ends.

13 Sins Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

13 Sins contains a handful of bonus features, headlined by a four-participant audio commentary track.

• Audio Commentary: Co-Writer/Director Daniel Stamm and Actors Mark Webber, Ron Perlman, and Devon Graye discuss setting the film's tone with the early Perth sequence and move on to discuss filming locations, sounds and music, story themes, changes from script to screen, casting, George Coe's voice role, on-set anecdotes, shooting, and much more. This is a solid track and a fine companion to a good film.
• The Making of 13 Sins (1080i, 8:38): A look at the project's origins, the contrast between the thematic darkness and dramatic smarts therein, the cast and the chemistry between Mark Webber and Rutina Wesley, character motivations, core story ideas, and Daniel Stamm's direction. It also briefly looks at cinematography, writing, working with a low budget, shooting in New Orleans, and life on the set.
• Deleted Sequence (1080p, 5:50).
• Alternate Ending (1080p, 2:01).
• Anatomy of a Meltdown (1080p, 2:42): Director Daniel Stamm introduces a raw behind-the-scenes moment in which Writer David Birke blows up on Skype over Stamm's suggestion that they delete a scene on which Birke has been working for several days.

13 Sins Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Though 13 Sins lacks replay value, it does leave the door rather wide open for a sequel. Chances are, however, any follow-up would wind up on the direct-to-video path to nowhere and ignore the moral dilemmas in exchange for focusing entirely on new and increasingly bizarre and grotesque challenges for new participants. While 13 Sins won't go down in film history as itself any sort of deep, resonating experience, there's enough mental gymnastics going on to make it a worthwhile watch, blending violent entertainment and even a few humorous moments with a darker subtext that's not fully explored but left lingering in the imagination for a long time after the lights come up. In short, this is a quality little film that's surprisingly edge-of-seat stuff and much more engaging than most of the middling Horror/Thriller pictures of the past. Anchor Bay's Blu-ray release of 13 Sins delivers rock-solid video, quality audio, and a nice little assortment of extra content. Recommended.