6.4 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.5 | |
Overall | 4.5 |
A vampire in the East Village picks up women, and while having sex with them kills them and drinks their blood. Meanwhile, a young Puerto Rican guy begins searching the Village for his sister, who is one of the vampire's victims.
Starring: James Raftery, John Leguizamo, Karen Wexler, David Roya, Yul VazquezHorror | 100% |
Crime | 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 (96kHz, 24-bit)
BDInfo
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD)
Region A, B (C untested)
Movie | 2.5 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 5.0 | |
Overall | 4.5 |
The vampire movie certainly needs a shake-up every now and then, keeping the subgenre fresh when staleness is so much easier for many filmmakers. With “Night Owl,” writer/director Jeffrey Arsenault tries to make his mark on the legacy, arranging his own bloodsucker saga on the streets of New York City, following a troubled young man who’s been cursed for decades, growing weary of the life he’s known for a long time. “Night Owl” has a concept and a distinct setting in 1989 NYC, where the sounds of the city are changing over to the 1990s, and the streets are still littered with filth and horrors, permitting vampirism to thrive. What Arsenault doesn’t have is timing, with the picture enduring more than a few complete stops as the helmer (making his feature-length debut) tries to figure out editing rhythms and performance tempos. There’s no ambitious scale here, just low-budget events that teeter on the edge of randomness.
The AVC encoded image (1.33:1 aspect ratio) presentation works with an exceptionally dark picture, as much of "Night Owl" is captured with natural light at night. The 16mm-shot feature is fairly scrappy to begin with, and some wear and tear is visible, with some speckle storms, mild scratching, and debris detected. Detail reaches as far as possible, finding cinematographic limitations, while textures are acceptable, capturing dimensional interiors and costuming. Delineation is also capable, but deals with a lot of black-on-black images. Grain is heavy but film-like.
The 1.0 DTS-HD MA sound mix often enters New York City nightlife, with club performances adding some bounce to the listening event, offering defined instrumentation and stronger volume. Dialogue exchanges are reasonably pronounced, with acceptable emotionality. Scoring supports as necessary, with some mild instability at times. Atmospherics capture club life and street travels. Hiss is detected.
"Night Owl" does enjoy period atmosphere, with Arsenault covering the transition from the 1980s to the 1990s, often permitting musical performances to eat up some screen time (including house music star Screamin' Rachael). And there's the bonus of seeing Leguizamo in his younger years, offering pronounced screen energy the helmer doesn't quite know how to manage, making the more sedate actors seem asleep by comparison. "Night Owl" is more of a time capsule than an effective horror picture, as vampire conduct isn't frightening or sympathetic. Arsenault can't get the feature on its feet, dealing mostly with murkiness and delay tactics, trying to making a movie out of a handful of ideas.
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