Rating summary

Movie		1.0
Video		4.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		2.0

Way of the Wicked Blu-ray Movie Review

No Way

Reviewed by Michael Reuben May 24, 2014

Director Kevin Carraway is back with another direct-to-video horror film, and the best I can say is that it's just slightly better than Carraway's last effort, 7 Below, to which I gave half a star. Carraway co-wrote that incoherent tale, but this time he's working from a script by actor and producer Matt Kelly, who has been involved in the film industry long enough to tell a story that makes at least superficial sense. (Kelly's credits as a producer include We Are Marshall and Barry Sonnenfeld's comedy RV.) Unfortunately, Kelly's script is so lazily derivative that no director could save it. It's one thing to borrow from Richard Donner's 1976 shocker, The Omen, which was itself an obvious attempt to cash in on the blockbuster success of The Exorcist three years earlier. But Kelly steals so blatantly that, at one point, he has one character ask another whether they're dealing with "some kind of an Omen kid"; then he squanders the one potentially interesting twist in a scenario that places that kid in a high school setting, where emotions run high and hormones are raging. Carraway does what he can with the script he has, but he has too little to work with. Not even Richard Donner could have held an audience's attention with Kelly's story. (Then again, Donner would have known enough to demand rewrites.)

In a small town in Washington State, a priest named Father Henry (Christian Slater) inquires into the death of a young boy who choked to death during an altercation with a fellow student named Robbie Mueller (Robbie Grantham). Robbie's care-worn mother (Jillian Fargey) insists that her son did nothing wrong and tells the priest to ask Robbie's friend, Heather Elliott, who witnessed the incident, but Father Henry has already done so and is clearly unsatisfied by Heather's account.

Five years later, Heather (Emily Tennant), is a teenager attending the local high school. One morning, she and her friend Cindy (Brittney Wilson) spot an intriguing newcomer arriving in his pickup. Suddenly Heather recognizes a grown-up Robbie Mueller (now played by Jake Croker), newly returned after having been sent away to school in the aftermath of the mysterious death five years ago. Robbie has never forgotten Heather and wants to renew their friendship, and possibly more. This doesn't sit well with Heather's current boyfriend, Matt (Jedidiah Goodacre), an athletic hero and class smartass who always has several followers in tow. It's only a matter of time before a confrontation occurs between Robbie Mueller and Matt, and then history repeats itself in a flash of telekinetic fireworks—except that Matt survives the confrontation (barely).

Heather's father, John Elliott, is a local police detective who remembers the Mueller case from five years ago. He's played by Vinnie Jones, whose British accent is explained by dialogue about how he and his wife emigrated before Heather was born. Det. Elliott is coping with personal issues as a single father to a teenage daughter, following the death of Mrs. Elliott a year earlier. The last thing he needs is the addition of an unknown like Robbie Mueller into an already tense environment.

Skulking in the shadows is Father Henry, who seems to know something but takes his time declaring his presence. When he finally does approach Det. Elliott, Father Henry's inability to explain what is happening reveals the bankruptcy of imagination at the core of Way of the Wicked's script. Father Henry is supposed to be the one person who understands the demonic forces at work, but when given a chance to explain what's happening to the detective, he can't do it. Instead, he shoves a pile of ancient tomes at the frustrated cop and tells him it's all there. Then we're treated to scenes of John Elliott reading Latin script in his basement, but neither he nor the viewers are any wiser for it.

Films like The Exorcist and The Omen drew from Catholic doctrine (selectively and with a fair amount of creative license) to make it clear who the enemy was—a demon in The Exorcist, the Antichrist in The Omen—and how it had to be fought. Way of the Wicked was made by a director and a screenwriter (who appears as one of Elliott's fellow detectives) who lack the patience for such basic craftsmanship in storytelling. For such amateur filmmakers, it's enough to posit a villain with supernatural abilities, cue the ominous music and trigger whatever special effects the budget will allow. The film's plotting is so sloppy that its climax is premised on a race to stop a prophecy from being fulfilled that, from all indications, has no likelihood of being fulfilled and is ultimately ignored. (Maybe someone imagined there'd be a sequel.)

Introducing a teenager with unsuspected powers into a volatile high school environment is a fruitful concept for a horror film, one that Steven King has exploited in stories like Carrie (and its two film adaptations) and Sleepwalkers. But King always provides a fully developed "mythology" for his specially endowed beings, whether in demonology or parapsychology. Way of the Wicked has no such narrative architecture, which is why it offers neither suspense nor surprise. The actors' performances often get blamed when a film falls this flat, but here they're making the most they can out of material that is simply not worth anyone's time.

Way of the Wicked Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

According to the best information I could find, Way of the Wicked was shot digitally on a Red One camera and finished on a digital intermediate. The cinematographer was Curtis Petersen, who has been a cinematographer, camera operator and second unit director since 1979, often shooting sequels like Death Wish V: The Face of Death . Image/RLJ's 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray was presumably sourced from digital files and presents all the typical virtues of a contemporary production originated on Red: a sharp and detailed image, solid blacks, an absence of video noise and a rich but generally naturalistic palette that emphasizes the green of the Pacific Northwest countryside (or, in this case, British Columbia, where the film was shot). Nighttime settings own feature light from unidentifiable sources, perhaps to suggest an other worldly presence.

Given the absence of any analog stage in the chain from capture to Blu-ray, none of the issues we look for in film-originated productions were in evidence. The average bitrate of 24.99 Mbps would be respectable for a filmed feature and is more than adequate for one that was digitally shot.

Way of the Wicked Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The film's 5.1 track is presented in lossless DTS-HD MA, and it features the kind of wide dynamic range and solid (though not exceptional) bass extension that one would expect from a contemporary sound mix. The big moments when supernatural forces manifest their presence (I don't want to be more specific about how, to avoid spoilers) are loud and effective, though not especially inventive or new. Classically atmospheric effects such as rain make good use of the surround array, as do the demonic whisperings that occasionally pop up in the mix. The dialogue is always clear, and the score for chorus and orchestra by Chris Petersen, who did the orchestrations for A Lonely Place to Die, does as much as it can to supply the suspense that the story itself hasn't earned.

Way of the Wicked Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The disc contains no extras. At startup, it plays trailers for Odd Thomas, The Colony, Stranded and Evidence, which can be skipped with the chapter forward button and are otherwise unavailable once the disc loads.

Way of the Wicked Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

One never knows what to expect from Image Entertainment. Their original film releases range from beloved cult classics like Lightning Bug to worthy but orphaned projects like Odd Thomas to intriguing arthouse fair like Last Love to bargain-basement dreck like Way of the Wicked. I would be glad to explain in greater detail why this film isn't worth your time, but I cannot do so without spoiling what little plot it has to offer. I'm pretty sure that most viewers will see every story point coming well in advance, but if you want to discover them for yourself, be my guest. You have been warned.