FilmThreat.com’s Chris Gore gives us his comments on today’s big DVD releases:
American Psycho
American Psycho is frightening and funny. Christian Bale’s performance as Patrick Bateman, a homicidal maniac in the ‘80s, is inspired—it’s Bale’s best work, and this got him the Batman gig. (In fact, he could play Batman and the Joker in the Batman Begins sequel.) Two commentaries, one by the co-writer and another by the director, are both insightful. There’s a lot of discussion about exactly how to achieve the blood and effects; many of the methods were simple, like placing a woman’s actual head in the refrigerator—she just stuck her head through a hole, that was it. Deleted scenes are there along with loads of other features.
Verdict: BUY
Dark Water
This Japanese film follows the story of a single mother in a custody battle over her daughter… whose ceiling starts to leak and make weird noises. It freaks her out. These Asian horror films have a way of taking the most mundane things and making them scary, like little kids, water, or bootleg videos. This disc has no commentary and limited extras, but you can see it dubbed in English or with subtitles. The U.S. version with Jennifer Connelly comes out July 8, and I would wait for that.
Verdict: SKIP
The Jacket
Basically, The Jacket (starring Adrien Brody and Keira Knightley) is a lot like a much better film made in 1990 starring Tim Robbins called Jacob’s Ladder. This disc has no commentary, limited extras, some deleted scenes, and a short doc about the effects. It is a no-frills DVD for an average movie.
Verdict: SKIP
