7 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Teenage girl is plagued by harassing phone calls. Her fear mounts when she's babysitting at a neighbor's home one evening and the caller rings her at that number.
Starring: Kathleen Beller, Blythe Danner, Tony Bill, Robin Mattson, Tricia O'NeilHorror | 100% |
Thriller | Insignificant |
Drama | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.33:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
BDInfo
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (C untested)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 3.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
An adaptation of a Richard Peck novel, 1978’s “Are You in the House Alone?” is a television movie that puts in some effort to come across as a horror event, tracking the increasing paranoia of a teenage girl as she’s stalked by a demented individual. The endeavor dials up the sinister score, inserts criminal POV shots for maximum slasher impact, and deals with creepy characters. While the picture has a certain level of suspense, it’s far more effective as an emotional journey for most of the participants, with writer Judith Parker (“L.A. Law”) taking special care to explore the cruelties and frustrations of a sexual assault, trying to ignore the film’s genre leanings for as long as she can.
Listed as "Newly restored in 2K from its 35mm interpositive," the AVC encoded image (1.33:1 aspect ratio) presentation for "Are You in the House Alone?" secures the more intimate atmosphere of the feature. Close-ups deliver strong facial surfaces and period hairstyles, and costuming is fibrous, also surveying the 1970s in fashion. Outdoor visits, including a mid-movie trip to San Francisco, are dimensional. Colors are respectfully refreshed, with outfits offering compelling primaries, along with household decoration. Greenery is exact. Blacks are deep, preserving frame information as the story moves into nighttime activities. Grain is fine and film-like. Source is in excellent condition, with some speckling and light scratches present.
The 1.0 DTS-HD MA is a simple offering of dialogue exchanges, which show some age but remain appreciable, with adequate intelligibility. Scoring cues support dramatics with clear instrumentation and comfortable levels, also dipping into horror-style cues with peeping sequences.
"Are You in the House Alone?" abandons suspense for the third act, which transforms into a condemnation of the legal system, which favors a victim- blaming approach to cases of sexual assault. The film doesn't reach a fever pitch of anger, but it does challenge ideas of justice and social standing. Perhaps horror fans expecting something more in line with "When a Stranger Calls" are going to be disappointed the T.V. movie, but "Are You in the House Alone?" goes for bigger ideas on trauma, shame, and denial, making for an interesting exploration of the female experience during the 1970s.
(Still not reliable for this title)
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