5.9 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
On a holiday getaway to a cabin in the woods, Terrance Shade and his children are cut off by a blizzard. As the storm surges outside, a sinister presence materializes.
Starring: Eric McCormack, Jody Thompson (I), Conner Dwelly, Ryan Grantham, Donnelly RhodesHorror | 100% |
Thriller | 82% |
Action | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
Spanish: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English SDH
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 3.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 2.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
After the conclusion of the hit sitcom Will & Grace, star Eric McCormack set about reinventing himself so that his future career wouldn't be hemmed in by the familiar character he had played for eight seasons. He went on the New York stage as one of Neil LaBute's duplicitous womanizers in the play Some Girl(s). He co-starred as a slimy senator seeking the presidency in a Broadway revival of Gore Vidal's classic, The Best Man. He played a strait-laced family man in the short-lived TNT series Trust Me, before landing a steady job as a schizophrenic doctor on the current TNT series Perception. In the process, McCormack also tried a few genre films, including the 2012 thriller Barricade, one of the rare productions by WWE Studios that did not feature a former wrestling star. Filmed in Canada, with exteriors shot in British Columbia's remote Manning Park, Barricade is a minor exercise that is interesting primarily for McCormack's presence and the rapport he establishes with the young actors playing his children. Everyone involved seems to have understood that the core of the story is a father's troubled relationship with his children. Get that right, and minor flaws can be forgiven.
Barricade was shot on film by Robert Aschmann (Showtime's The L Word) and finished on a digital intermediate. As presented on RLJ/Image's 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray, it's a dark film, really dark, as if Aschmann and director Currie were literally trying to immerse the audience into the same state of confusion as the characters. Much of the film takes place either at night or inside dark interiors, and the blacks tend to be more gray than black. However, this probably isn't a flaw in the Blu-ray, as everything that needs to be seen for the sake of the story remains visible. I suspect that the DI colorist had to compensate for issues in the original lighting and made the most of what was there, brightening the image where necessary and sacrificing shadow detail in the process. It's not a beautiful picture, but it serves its purpose. In well-lit scenes, detail is well-rendered and colors are natural and properly saturated. Perhaps the most unfortunate side effect of the image's shortcomings is the failure to capture any truly spectacular views of Manning Park, which is the subject of a featurette in the extras. Having made the trek to that remote location for the film's exteriors, the crew could at least have gotten some great vistas, but too many of the outdoor shots fade into greyish darkness. At an average bitrate of 18.98 Mbps, Barricade might appear to flirt with overcompression, but those long dark passages provide a wealth of redundancy for a skilled compressionist and an advanced codec.
Barricade's 5.1 surround mix, presented in lossless DTS-HD MA, takes full advantage of every opportunity to make you jump with a sudden burst of noise from one direction or another. Even before the Shade family reaches the cabin, they have several encounters that are intensified by sound effects. Once there, they never know (and neither does the audience) when some unexpected noise will assault them like an unwelcome visitor, including, of course, the cold winds from the blizzard outside. Many of the sounds, especially odd pounding from various directions, reverberate with deep bass tones—or maybe that's just the Shade family's terror being expressed subjectively by the soundtrack? Whatever the case, consider reducing the volume if your system doesn't have a subwoofer. Dialogue is generally clear and largely functional, because no one knows what the hell is happening. The appropriately overwrought score is credited to Trevor Morris.
Most of the same participants are interviewed in the various featurettes, including McCormack, Grantham and Dwelly, director Currie, screenwriter Collings and producer Michael Pavone.
Barricade is a trifle, the kind of film you might encounter on late-night cable and wonder, "Where did that come from?" McCormack is better than the material, and he keeps the film watchable through both his own performance and the inspiration he provides to his young co-stars. The Blu-ray is nothing special to look at, but I suspect the film wasn't either. Worth at least a rental, and more if the story grabs you.
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