6 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
A girl living with schizophrenia struggles with terrifying hallucinations as she begins to suspect her neighbor has kidnapped a child. The only person who believes her is Caleb -a boy she isn't even sure exists.
Starring: Katherine Heigl, Madison Iseman, Harry Connick Jr., Israel Broussard, Enuka OkumaThriller | Insignificant |
Drama | 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
English, English SDH, Spanish
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Digital copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 1.5 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
One of the kind of interesting things about what might be called this “Covid Age” is the rather brief window between some supposed “theatrical” releases and subsequent appearances on home video. I’m pretty sure it was only last week that I saw a Variety article about Fear of Rain’s ostensible “exhibition”, and, lo and behold, here it is already on Blu-ray. Now, in days of yore (in other words, pre-Covid Age), a release coming out on home video either without a “real” theatrical release or coming very soon thereafter typically augured a less than stellar effort, and so some may simply assume that Fear of Rain is a standard “straight to video” knockoff type of movie. In some ways, that may in fact be true, but the film has some rather interesting twists and turns along the way. The whole "DTV" aspect some may inherently feel about this enterprise just by its release strategy may be reinforced by the very opening scene, which documents the hoariest of hoary horror tropes, namely a panicked young woman running through the wilderness while some shadowy, menacing figure chases her. It's been seen countless times before (and no doubt will be seen countless times again), and about the only distinguishing factor in the scene is the spooky looking Spanish Moss hanging from the Florida trees. This opening sequence is a complete misdirect, however, as it turns out it's a hallucination being suffered by a schizophrenic teen improbably named Rain (Madison Iseman). When "reality" kicks in, she's in a hospital being restrained and injected with a sedative while her obviously fraught and concerned parents Michelle (Katherine Heigl) and John (Harry Connick, Jr.) look on in understandably abject worry.
Fear of Rain is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. This is another contemporary release where I just haven't been able to track down any authoritative technical data, but I'm assuming this was digitally captured and finished at a 2K DI. The results are certainly competent if never really mind blowing. The best parts of this presentation are the hallucinatory elements which can obviously work toward the detriment of fine detail with regard to things like skewed framings, fisheye lenses and pushed contrast, but which lend the film a kind of visceral intensity. When dealing in supposed "reality", the presentation offers consistent detail levels for the most part, though the big wrap up is shrouded in darkness and even outside material doesn't offer a ton of shadow definition. Just a few of the low light moments can look slightly noisy at times. A kind of sporadically used conceit whereby some of Rain's inner thoughts (and/or writings) appear in script across the screen and then kind of waft away like clouds in the wind are interesting, but might strike some as seeming overly pretentious.
Fear of Rain has a nicely layered sound design which offers some nightmare sonics in Rain's most addled moments. Hallucinatory sounds can rush in from the side and rear channels and then disburse again, and the result is often quite evocative. "Normal" moments provide at least background clamor in some of the high school scenes. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout this problem free presentations. Optional English, English SDH and Spanish subtitles are available.
Have you seen Fear of Rain before? Yep, probably. That said, the film toys with its premise in a relatively decent fashion, and both the aesthetic of depicting the roiling inner world of a schizophrenic as well as the general acumen of the performances may lift this film, however slightly, above standard "DTV" fare. Technical merits are generally solid for those who are considering a purchase.
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