Murder Made Easy Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		2.5

Murder Made Easy Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Stephen Larson August 22, 2022

Filmmakers have long been fascinated with the idea of imposing a confined setting in their narratives so that the limitations inspire them to work more creatively within that restricted space. Director David Palamaro makes a noble attempt at this in his feature-length debut, Murder Made Easy (2017). Palamaro has chosen a Los Angeles townhouse as his primary setting with a story that takes inspiration from Agatha Christie's 1952 play The Mousetrap. In fact, the movie centers on the one-year anniversary of the death of a theater director who produced The Mousetrap on stage. The late Neil was the head of a university theater department who's being remembered by his widow, Joan (Jessica Graham), and his best friend, Michael (Christopher Soren Kelly). Joan and Michael have grown so close since Neil's death that their friendship is close to becoming a romantic partnership. They've invited some of Neil's colleagues, students, and friends over for a dinner party. But rather than invite them together, they schedule the evening so each one arrives separately. Their first guest is Marcus (Edmund Lupinski), a college professor and part-time actor who's also a recovering alcoholic. He tells Michael that he may be in jeopardy of being suspended from the university (more details are provided by a later guest). Their second guest Cricket (Emilia Richeson) is a New Age hippie who's also a strict vegan and environmentalist. She annoys the hell out of Joan by staging a long drawn-out séance. Damien (Daniel Ahearn) is a still-emerging documentary indie filmmaker who was a one-time boyfriend of Joan's. Angela (Sheila Cutchlow) is the author of several books and a practicing psychoanalyst. She pries a little too much into Michael's psyche.

Partners in crime?

Since Murder Made Easy relies on surprises for each one of its "episodes," I won't divulge too much. Palamaro demarcates the beginning of each segment with menu-style cards that list which meal Michael and Joan will be serving each one of their guests. The film reveals its ultra-low budget roots in the first reel after the camera pans across framed photos of Neil's family and friends. The camera proceeds to a traveling shot that's supposed to look like a smooth unbroken take but the movement is so jittery that the take should have been redone. It's fine for indies to often employ handheld shots, but I don't think this one was executed properly.

Murder Made Easy delivers a lot of dark humor that keeps the conversations amongst the guests interesting. But with the way the story events are structured, there's repetition from one episode to the next. For most of the runtime, the audience knows what will happen. What it doesn't know is how a particular vignette will unfold. That keeps the movie watchable but the script fails to deliver adequate background on the guests, their significance in Neil's life, and Michael and Joan's motives (beyond what the audience is anticipating) for inviting them over.

Murder Made Easy Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Scream Team's release of Murder Made Easy comes on this MPEG-4 AVC-encoded BD-25. The movie initially premiered at the 2017 Women in Horror Film Festival and appears to have had a limited edition Blu-ray put out in 2019. The special edition out this month is a wide release. The picture appears in its original exhibition ratio of 2.39:1. Cinematographer Sherri Kauk shot it on a DSLR and used a gimbal. The picture looks very sharp with no source flaws. The authoring and compression could have been better. The video is only encoded at a standard bitrate of just 15113 kbps.

Thirteen chapter breaks accompany the 76-minute feature.

Murder Made Easy Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Scream Team has supplied a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Stereo mix (2113 kbps, 24-bit) and a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Surround track (3626 kbps, 24-bit). I focused primarily on the 5.1 mix. Delivery and spoken words are clearly enunciated. The satellite speakers are used effectively on occasion. For example, I heard a door knock on Surround Right during one scene and the doorbell ring on Surround Left during another. Composer Sean Spillane contributes a jazz-infused score and a couple songs.

Unfortunately, there are no subtitling options.

Murder Made Easy Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary with David Palamaro (Director), Tim Davis (Writer), Jessica Graham (Actress), Christopher Soren Kelly (Actor), and Jason Coleman (Film Critic) - a group chat that boasts good banter among the participants. Graham and Kelly explain what they brought to their lead roles and how they approached their characters. Palamaro addresses the challenges of making a low-budget indie. He says that crew members had to wear multiple hats as they took on about five different tasks to assist in getting the film made. Film critic Jason Coleman proves a good moderator with solid questions that keep the chat lively. There are hardly any gaps. In English, not subtitled.

• Audio Commentary with David Palamaro (Director), Sherri Kauk (Director of Photography), and Nick Schoonover (Sound Recordist) - a chatty feature-length track that offers remarks by Palamaro and Kauk for a majority of the commentary. (Schoonover is more more in the background and delivers one or two comments.) This is definitely the more technically oriented track of the two. While Palamaro is knowledgeable about movies, he admits that he doesn't know a whole lot about cinematography lingo. Kauk has to explain the key differences between anamorphic and spherical lenses to him. She also discusses lighting schemes and color temperature. In English, not subtitled.

• Deleted Scenes (13:51, 1080p) - nine omitted and alternate scenes which were kept out of the final cut of Murder Made Easy. Each is preceded by a card, which lists the scene name. They're presented in 2.39:1 anamorphic widescreen with Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo sound (192 kbps). In English, not subtitled.

• Bloopers (10:23, 1080p) - a compilation of goofs, slip-ups, and outtakes during the filming.

• Rehearsal Scenes (51:45, 1080p) - this piece starts with an introduction by David Palamaro, who narrates while pages from his storyboards and script are displayed. There are nine rehearsal scenes that were shot with Palamaro's iPhone. At the beginning, a split screen shows a comparison between a few of the rehearsal scenes (on the left) with the final film version (on the right). For the rehearsals, all of the actors are dressed in casual apparel. Some read from script pages while others recite their lines from memory. In English, not subtitled.

• Photo Gallery (6:48, 1080p) - a slideshow with musical underscore comprising around 102 on-set production photographs. All are behind-the-scenes snapshots showing the actors, director, camera & lighting crew, and wardrobe people both at work and in between takes.

• Trailer (Final Version) (1:28, 1080p)

• Trailer (Version 1) (2:13, 1080p)

• Trailer (Version 2) (0:58, 1080p)

Murder Made Easy Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Murder Made Easy will appeal to those who enjoy Murder by Death (1976), Deathtrap (1982), and Clue (1985). I thought there was too much repetitiveness from one episode to the next. In addition, the script was thin in developing the characters, albeit within a short runtime. If you're a fan of the film, then you'll be pleased with the bountiful extras. But if you haven't seen Murder Made Easy, then I'd advise a RENTAL FIRST.