5.9 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 2.0 | |
Overall | 2.0 |
A mysterious stranger, Martin, arrives seeking to kill his wife, Ana, who suffers from a very dangerous disease that makes her as addicted to human blood as he is. But when he discovers that Ana has been dead for a couple of years, Martin decides to commit suicide to definitively eradicate this peculiar disease which imbues his blood with healing powers. Before he can do it, however, Martin is brutally attacked by three local thugs, lead by Caleb, the son of a corrupt police lieutenant. The incident suddenly initiates a chain-reaction that plunges the community into a bloodbath.
Starring: Cristo Montt, Lorenza Izzo, Luis Gnecco, Ariel Levy, Aaron Burns (V)Horror | 100% |
Thriller | 28% |
Mystery | 11% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.35:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
English, Spanish
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 2.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 2.0 |
The Stranger is one of the more redolent titles in the history of international media, having graced everything from Albert Camus’ defining work of existentialism, to Orson Welles’ film about a quasi-Fifth Columnist who’s infiltrated good old small town America. In fact, there are scores of films named The Stranger going back to the silent era, and with that many entries bearing the same title, it’s perhaps unsurprising that this 2014 film will probably struggle to attain its own identity. The Stranger markets itself as an Eli Roth production, but it boasts very little of Roth’s sometimes insouciant demeanor, delivering instead a pretty tired vampire story dressed up in an end of the world mien, with an infectious disease subtext that plays a bit like another celebrated filmmaker’s rebooting of vampire tropes, Guillermo del Toro’s The Strain: The Complete First Season.
The Stranger is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of IFC Midnight and Scream Factory, an imprint of Shout! Factory, with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. Director Guillermo Amoedo and cinematographer Chechu Graf play rather aggressively with the image throughout the feature, offering (at different times) sepia toned sequences, heavily desaturated moments, and an overall kind of tamped down palette that will then pop (at least relatively speaking) rather well in some brightly lit outdoor moments. A lot of the film is appropriately dark, with good if not exceptional levels of detail. That said, fine detail can be quite commendable in close-ups, even in some of these dimly lit moments. Despite the overall darkness of the feature, there are no major problems with compression issues.
The Stranger offers an occasionally forceful DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track that offers some good immersion in its placement of ambient environmental sounds, as well as some creepy sound effects. This was an international production from a cast and crew standpoint, and my hunch is large swaths of the film were post looped, for there are minor sync issues and the same kind of slightly surreal feeling to the soundtrack that often attends classic Italian films (which were of course filmed silently, having sound added later). Fidelity is excellent and dynamic range wide on this problem free track.
Even the marquee value of Eli Roth probably won't be enough to convince droves of horror lovers to invite this Stranger into their homes. The film simply shambles, more zombie-like in fact, never working up any convincing momentum. There is a palpable mood running through The Stranger, but it's sadly ineffective in supporting a tired story and some less than convincing performances. Technical merits are generally very good for those considering a purchase.
2015
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1970
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1933
Collector's Edition
1962
2012
2017
2011
Uncut
2008
Unrated Collector's Edition
2007
2018
2018
Count Dracula and His Vampire Bride
1973
2013
2019
2014
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1988
1981