247ºF Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.0

247ºF Blu-ray Movie Review

Or, why drinking in excess is bad.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman October 20, 2012

What's the opposite of Frozen, Writer/Director Adam Green's disturbing and all-too-real, harrowing, emotionally draining, and psychologically terrifying Chiller-in-every-sense-of-the-term? That would be 247° F, a story not of people stranded in the cold but rather several individuals stuck inside a sauna with seemingly no hope of escape. While the concept is fine, the directing tandem of Levan Bakhia and Beqa Jguburia cannot elevate the movie to match, or even approach, the unbearable tension of Frozen and the sense of panic, dread, hopelessness, inevitability, and real danger that movie weaves into its narrative. 247° F shows signs of excellence but never finds a real, palpable sense of despair beyond the actors physically throwing themselves at the problem, weeping, or fighting one another. In other words, it's superficially fine but the picture lacks the necessary depth to really take that plunge into the truly frightening, to find that real-life scenario gone wrong that will leave audiences saying "I'll never look at a sauna the same way again" as they did with the ski lift after Frozen or the water after Jaws.

Hot.

Jenna (Scout Taylor-Compton) is struggling to overcome the tragic loss of her husband several years earlier. She's become an expert photographer and is beginning to work her way back into society, but the scars of her loss remain fresh. She and friend Renee (Christina Ulloa) travel to a lakeside cabin for a much-needed getaway. They meet up with Renee's boozing boyfriend Michael (Michael Copon) and his friend Ian (Travis Van Winkle), whose uncle Wade (Tyler Mane) owns the property. The four settle into the rustic abode while Wade heads off to supervise a fireworks display for a local festivity. The four relax in Wade's sauna before heading out to a party. When Michael gets drunk, Ian, Renee, and Jenna return to the sauna. Michael accidentally barricades them inside and passes out. As the three struggle to escape, emotions rise as rapidly as the temperature. Can any of them making it out of their own personal hell before the temperature reaches an unlivable high?

It's certainly rather easy to envision the scenario, but 247° F never has audiences truly feeling the heat, whether the heat of the rising temperatures or the flare-ups that ignite the interpersonal drama. The picture does, however, find a steady pace and does a fair job of conveying the pending dangers should escape from within or release from the outside not happen in a timely manner. Yet the film never quite finds that sense of closed-in panic of Frozen, that movie contrasting the inescapably tiny confines of the high-up ski lift with the rest of the world sprawled out just a few dozen feet below. In 247° F, the audience never feels a sense of claustrophobia. The room is fairly spacious, truth be told, but the combination of the searing heat, the panic, the anger, and the dread don't seem to heighten the tension or make the environment all the more frightening. The picture does, however, largely avoid cliché and uses real-world idiocy to its advantage, leaving the movie relatively free of contrived plot points and making it seem a little more believable. There is the obligatory "really bad timing" moment when the trapped souls might have been saved had it not been for something stopping someone on the outside from hearing their cries. The movie also ends far too easily and abruptly. The last few minutes are easily the movie's worst; where a good ending might have made it worthwhile, the mediocre easy way out of 247° F will leave audiences cold.

247° F does succeed in building up its quintet of main characters with just a little more care, attention to detail, and realism than those that are normally passed off in scary movies as fodder for the mechanism. These characters are a step -- just a step -- above the norm, with fair backstories and believable traits that don't do a whole lot for the movie's tension beyond the actions of one but that are at least passably intelligent (Ian) and likable through the provided prism (Jenna). Of course, the usual lack of effort and smarts from the characters in movies like these abound. There are a few common sense efforts at escape and relief, and few really brain dead moments, and a few obvious things to try left completely out of the equation. The characters largely argue with one another and while the lack of more forceful physical exertion is understandable in context, one would think that more efforts at escape and calm rather than paranoia would dominate, at least in the early goings where it's at best evenly split and the temperature has yet to elevate to tragic levels. The picture does do well to drag out the story to ninety minutes, but even with a good pace it feels a bit overlong and repetitive in some spots.

247ºF Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

247° F burns up high definition displays with a fairly strong 1080p transfer. The HD video source dazzles in the opening minutes; good, deep blacks are replaced by clear, brilliant colors and sturdy details when the action shifts from the nighttime car wreck to the lake side daytime. Viewers will appreciate the transfer's ability to finely define the wooden dock and sauna, seams in clothes, and natural facial textures. Colors are even and true to life, whether bright clothes or the cabin's rustic hues. Some of the lower-light scenes reveal slightly troublesome color transitions, such as when faces appear partially in shadow. Otherwise, the image is meticulously clean, consistently sharp, and visually accurate. This is another high quality release from Anchor Bay.

247ºF Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

247° F ignites sound systems with a rather good and interesting Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless soundtrack. Anchor Bay's presentation is unafraid to throw sound elements all over the stage, whether they blend seamlessly into the track or not. At the beginning, a loud crash envelops the soundstage; twisted metal crunches all over to jolting effect. Later in chapter eight, dialogue jumps from speaker to speaker as the on-screen perspective shifts. The effect is far from natural, sounding forced and phony, scratchy and not at all realistic. Otherwise, dialogue is center-focused and very clear. Some of the heavier effects -- exploding fireworks or the trapped struggling to break out of the sauna -- play with good, natural clarity and sonic precision. Bass can be rather unkempt at the bottom at times, and at others it's tight and natural. Outdoor ambience is gently immersive. This is a good track with a few unnecessary and forced surround sound elements.

247ºF Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

247° F contains two supplements.

• Audio Commentary: Producer/Director Levan Bakhia jumps right in with a discussion on the importance of the opening titles and moves on to discuss character development, the challenges of making a first film, crafting various scenes, the work of the cast, music, themes and story, sound effects, and more. This is a solid commentary track that moves fast and offers a lot of insightful information.
• Deleted Scenes (1080p, 4:15).

247ºF Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

247° F is said to be based on "true events." Perhaps saunas should come with "in case of emergency" instructions on the inside or some sort of escape hatch that a drunken buffoon cannot block off. The film is halfway entertaining and runs at a fairly decent clip. The characters are fine but not quite as smart as they might should be. Lastly, and most critically, the movie lacks the immediacy, tension, and absolute fear of the genre's best. Audiences won't feel hot and confined with the characters, and that's the essential ingredient in the movie like this and one that Frozen gets just right. As it is, 247° F is a competent little time killer that could have been more but thankfully isn't much less. Anchor Bay's Blu-ray release of 247° F features strong video and audio. A couple of extras are included. Worth a rental.