The World Is Full of Secrets Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		1.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		2.0

The World Is Full of Secrets Blu-ray Movie Review

Teenage girls telling scary stories... in lengthy monologues.

The World is Full of Secrets is a drama-horror feature-film which is an independent production made on a shoe-string budget. The feature-film includes narration by Peggy Steffans. The effort resides as the feature-film directorial debut of producer Graham Swon.

The story of The World is Full of Secrets revolves around middle-class teenage girls who decide to get together for a spooky evening of scary stories shared with each other (and there is also some under-age drinking to be had). Becca (Elena Burger), Clara (Dennise Gregory), Suzie (Ayla Guttman), Emily (Alexa Shae Niziak), and Mel (Violet Piper) are determined to scare one another through better (and scarier) stories. Some of the girls rely on “based-on-a-true-story” scares to frighten the others while others decide to become creative on their own. Who will be victorious in crafting the best story (or will things lead to something much worse – real-life scares which no one can control)?

Featuring young unknown actresses, The World is Full of Secrets cast is comprised of teenage girls between 14 and 18. Several of the young girls are given lengthy monologues to speak – exploring the scary stories in an audio-book style format (with accompanying cinematography). In approaching the material in this fashion, it showcases both the talent – and weaknesses – of these younger performers. The camera never moves during these monologues and lets the girls tell all.

Grab some popcorn. You're going to need it!

The cinematography by Bart Cortright (The Sky Is Clear and Blue Today, Notes on an Appearance) is inconsistent and unflattering to the filmmakers. The production has many soft shots which are almost out of focus. The camera-work seems low budget and indie in every sense of the word. The film also seems to want to appear as an old production of yester-year (especially with the 1.20:1 aspect ratio utilized) yet the digital photography is nothing to write home about. There is nothing too special to report in regards to the visual aesthetics.

None of the production aesthetics are impressive. The art direction by Emily Lippolis is a debut effort. The filmmaking never allows audiences to see much art-direction whatsoever – so there is never any moment to appreciate what may have been designed. The production design, costume designs, and music score are all by Rae Swon (who may be a family member to the writer-editor-director). The efforts are so low-key as to not make a big impression at all.

The two longest monologues in The World is Full of Secrets focus on Agnes of Rome and Mary-Anne. These monologues are 21 minutes and 35 minutes long respectively. In other words, audiences are expected to watch nearly an hour of footage of two young girls slowly telling a story. The film is incapable of telling its story visually – and is a key example of how “show, not tell” is essential information for filmmakers to remember.

Written, edited, and directed by Graham Swon, The World is Full of Secrets is an awful film on every level. The script is unimaginative and boring. The editing is abysmal – and no monologue from this young cast should have lasted 35 minutes. The direction is unimaginative and dry – with only a few sequences even engaging the camera in some attempts at creativity. Swon should stick to producing films as The World is Full of Secrets is a total mess.

The World Is Full of Secrets Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Arriving on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber, The World is Full of Secrets is presented in 1080p MPEG-4 AVC encoded high definition in the original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.20:1 full frame. The unique aspect ratio is utilized to recall older cinematic works from decades past – but the creativity ends there. The film looks downright cheap and underwhelming with weak clarity and hazy cinematography. The visual aesthetic never seems to click together well and the end result is a low-budget effort that is nothing spectacular. The World is Full of Secrets looks like it was made with a low-budget digital camcorder. Black levels are never perfect – likely a fault of the video-camera used to make the film – but colors are decent. There are also a few moments of minor banding and digital noise (especially during night-time scenes). A strong encode by Kino of a lackluster looking feature-film.

The World Is Full of Secrets Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The release is presented in DTS HD Master Audio 2.0 mono. Most modern productions are not in mono audio so the choice was a bit unusual. Regardless, dialogue clarity is exceptional and the monologues from the actresses are crisp, clear, and easy to understand. The music also sounds reasonably decent on the encode for being such a low-budget production.

Subtitles are available in English SDH (for the deaf and hard of hearing), French, and Spanish.

The World Is Full of Secrets Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The release comes packaged with a booklet featuring an essay on The World is Full of Secrets. The essay is much more interesting and creative than the feature-film is (and has fun with comparing the production to classic cinematic masterpieces. As I said: creative.)

Audio Commentary by writer-director Graham Swon

Deleted Scene: The Magic Mirror (HD, 20:43)

The World Is Full of Secrets Theatrical Trailer (HD, 2:16)

The World Is Full of Secrets Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The World is Full of Secrets is an underwhelming low-budget indie production. The entire film is comprised of lengthy monologues from young teenage girls – telling stories to try and spook one another. The filmmaking is amateurish on every level. The Blu-ray release from Kino is decent (even if it can't save the production from its own faults). Skip It.