6.5 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
A woman goes to the countryside to spend a quiet weekend after losing her job and having her last complicated relationship implode. She rents a country house to an old-fashioned widower, who struggles to hide his pyschopatic tendencies.
Starring: Amanda Crew, Robert Patrick, Hayley Marie Norman, Johnny Pemberton, Nancy Linehan CharlesHorror | 100% |
Thriller | Insignificant |
Comedy | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English SDH, Spanish
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Digital copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (locked)
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 1.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
The universe’s extremely dark sense of humor which I mentioned in our recent Abigail Blu-ray review is evidently continuing apace. As I mentioned in the opening paragraph of that review, Abigail, a film about a global pandemic and the population's panicked response to it, crossed my review queue just as news of the Coronavirus was (no pun intended) starting to spread, and now Tone-Deaf arrives with another seemingly pointed reference to current events (more or less, anyway). Early in this rather cheeky combo platter of horror and blacker than black humor, curmudgeonly Baby Boomer Harvey (Robert Patrick) breaks the cinematic fourth wall for the first (but not the last) time to deliver a diatribe to an audience he assumes is made up largely of Millennials. He then suggests (and here’s the current events “comedy” — if you can call it that) that the entire generation drink a gallon of bleach in order to (to paraphrase a certain Ebenezer Scrooge, whom Harvey probably resembles in pre-salvation temperament if not in total assets) “decrease the surplus population”. That very statement highlights a chief aim of writer and director Richard Bates, Jr., which is not just to provide a story with about equal amounts of gore and at least giggles if not outright guffaws, but to also offer a certain generational social critique.
Tone-Deaf is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. The films closing credits sport a "Captured with Alexa" logo, and I'm assuming things were finished at a 2K DI. Aside from some passing murkiness that shows up in some of the intentionally shadowy interior scenes in the mansion (especially in the last half of the film), this is a rather appealing looking presentation, with consistently good detail levels and some nice, vivid saturation in the palette. A few outdoor moments look just slightly softer than the bulk of the presentation, including the first scene with Harvey, but generally speaking clarity is excellent and fine detail levels are consistent. Harvey's hallucinations often feature what I'm assuming is pretty exuberant contrast that can tend to push whites toward blooming levels, but which makes the blue pop rather well.
Tone-Deaf features a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track that does achieve some nice angsty qualities courtesy of washes of low frequency effects and menacing tones in the score. Olive's ham handed piano playing is also rendered cleanly (if with intentional boxiness and distortion in the opening flashback). There are a couple of startle effects that erupt from individual channels once the real mayhem starts, and couple of outdoor scenes offer good ambient environmental effects. Dialogue and some pretty "squishy" sound effects are rendered with excellent fidelity and no problems whatsoever that I heard.
There's a lot to like about Tone-Deaf, but this was a film whose reach perhaps exceeded its grasp. Bates is obviously a very talented writer and director, but I think he might benefit from some outside counsel on paring down his ideas or at least making them more integrated. Fans of the cast may well want to check this out, and this disc offers solid technical merits for those who are considering a purchase.
Director's Cut
1963
The Secret of Marrowbone
2017
1971
2020
2018
2018
2016
1968
Blood Evil / Blood Will Have Blood / Nightmare of Terror
1971
2016
2014
2010
2016
2013
Ahí va el diablo
2012
2015
2013
2011
1974
2017