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Vanishing On 7th Street
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray A - America - Magnolia Home Entertainment/Magnet Review written by and copyright: Anthony Arrigo (12th August 2011). |
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The Film
 Brad Anderson is a director I’ve kept on my radar over the years. I remember not being initially impressed with his first foray into horror, “Session 9” (2001), when I first saw it. It left me cold, probably because I watched it during a period in my film-watching life where I favored blood & gore over slow burning chills. I recently revisited it, however, and found I was sorely mistaken in dismissing it so easily. It’s a wonderfully atmospheric film with some great performances (David Caruso is great) and one of those endings that keeps you thinking long after the credits finish rolling. A few years later, there was a great deal of buzz surrounding “The Machinist” (2004), most of which was centered around Christian Bale’s extreme method acting of getting his weight down to supermodel-thin poundage. But the film itself had a stark, gritty aesthetic with solid, capable direction from Anderson. A glance at his IMDB page shows that he keeps himself quite busy between feature films by directing a number of high-profile television shows. I hadn’t heard much about his upcoming slate until catching a few promos for “Vanishing On 7th Street” (2010). It looked like another low-budget horror film, albeit with a questionable cast (Hayden “Mannequin Skywalker” Christensen as the lead?). I was hoping for the best, but what I ended up with was nothing memorable at all. It’s a typical night for Paul (John Leguizamo), a projectionist/conspiracy enthusiast working in a Detroit theater, flipping reels for a packed house, when suddenly all power is lost save for the flashlight helmet he wears. He exits his booth, finding a theater full of empty clothes. He heads out into the mall and instead of finding a large group of streakers he finds only more clothes and… nothing. The same thing happens to three other people, Luke (Hayden Christensen), Rosemary (Thandie Newton) and James (Jacob Latimore). All of them eventually hole up inside a bar, where the lights are kept running by a generator in the basement. The city is deserted, abandoned, and none of them has any clue why. Piecing together what little they know, it becomes clear that there is something lurking in the shadows that’s snatching people out of their clothes and taking them somewhere unknown. Is it The Rapture? Or something more sinister? The process of writing and directing a film that relies heavily on a mystery seems like it can be a double-edged sword. On the one hand, you want to keep your audience guessing, never giving them more information than they need at any one time so the mystique isn’t threatened. On the other hand, if you don’t provide some details about what exactly is happening, you’re likely to lose them. This film falls along the lines of the latter because, as much as I enjoy a movie that forces you to think for yourself, nothing much is revealed here. The only known facts are that everyone in this major metropolitan area has vanished, and it has apparently been done at the hands of something that lurks in the shadows. And they don’t like light. Otherwise, it’s anyone’s guess why they’re doing this, where they come from, where the people went, etc. I applaud Anderson in some ways for doing this. If this were a real-life occurrence, nobody would be likely to know a thing. In any other film, there would have been “that character” who has some information/ancient text/ESP to conveniently fill us in on what’s going on. But we don’t have one of those in this movie. All we’ve got are four people huddled in a dimly-lit bar for a few days. Could I posit some theories as to what this shadow entity is? Of course, but the possibilities seem far and wide; and Anderson gives us very little to extrapolate. The film seems to be leaning on a large theological debate regarding whether or not this is Judgment Day, and Jesus has come back to reclaim his followers. Luke doesn’t think this is so, but Rosemary firmly believes it. Some interesting questions are raised - if this really were to happen in actual life, how would those who are left behind react? With anger for being left on a vacant planet? Maybe the vanishings are the work of something more nefarious, in which case wouldn’t it be better to be among the few who are spared? It’s certainly doesn’t look like a hospitable world any longer, with everyone living in fear of losing precious light or else they’ll be instantly whisked away to some unknown abyss. I don’t think the religious angle was written heavily enough that the film could be seen as a moral tale of faith, but it’s certainly something worth considering when everyone around you has turned into a pile of laundry. I kid about Christensen’s acting – and I think the guy is universally reviled enough as it is – but he can act when he wants to. George Lucas has never struck me as a director who’s very good at getting the best performances out of his actors, but I know Christensen has it in him. Check him out in “Life As A House” (2001) with Kevin Kline. It gets overly-sappy (Cancer Dad movies do that), but he shows some actual range there. Here, he’s doing a good job working with the material. I wouldn’t say anyone will be surprised by his performance, but he’s been consistently turning in some good performances to repair his image after, you know, those films we all know him for. I actually found the best performance came from John Leguizamo. Now, here’s a guy who I’ve always written off as a loud-mouthed annoying jackass since my first exposure to him was “House Of Buggin’” (1995), his sketch comedy show that, if I recall correctly, had an irritating opening song. But after seeing some of his more dramatic roles in films like “Carlito’s Way” (1993) and “Land of the Dead” (2005), I’ve realized that this guy can act when he wants to. His role here is that of a theater projectionist who also happens to be an avid reader of conspiracies and unexplained phenomena. His knowledge is the closest we come to getting any kind of possible explanation for the events occurring.
Video
I’m on the fence about the film’s 2.35:1 1080p 24/fps AVC MPEG-4 encoded image. I could easily nail it for having inconsistent black levels, de-saturated colors and a weak, anemic look throughout. I also felt that the use of a digital camera (even if it is the Red One, currently hot among filmmakers) didn’t do much to elevate the film’s look above its low-budget origins. The movie not only relies heavily on darkness as a major theme, but the film’s antagonists are made up entirely of shadow, so they need to really stand out. This is where the post-production manipulation comes in. The black levels have a grayish tint to them, in some cases looking almost like a halo around the blackness of the “shadow people”. Certain colors have been almost totally drained, while others remain to stand out more vividly. By toying with the image so much, it can be difficult to give it a thorough evaluation simply because it’s meant to look inferior to, say, 35mm stock and adequate lighting. But it’s completely justified because it’s necessary both to being the film’s antagonists to life, and to (presumably) help conceal some of the computer-generated imagery. Personally, I didn’t like the appearance. It didn’t have a filmic quality, looking more like a big-budget ABC Movie of the Week rather than a theatrical feature.
Audio
I might’ve expected more out of the English DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 surround sound track mixed at 48kHz/24-bit simply because they added the two additional channels to the mix. I figured this must be an active track if they’re going the extra mile with it, but I can’t say they would’ve added much to the track were I able to take advantage of them. Aside from a plane explosion, there is very little activity to speak of here. The film relies on a foreboding atmosphere above all else, so expect plenty in the way of disembodied whispers emanating from all four corners of the room. That’s mainly what this track thrives on – ghostly voices intended to creep the shit out of you. Unfortunately, effects like this have been done to death, so they don’t have the desired effect on seasoned horror fans. But you might find your girlfriend jumping on a few occasions. Dialogue was set a little on the low side. There were a few instances where I found myself reaching for the remote to pump up the volume because I had a hard time making out what people on screen were saying. I detected that some of what was being said had a very “canned” tone to it, like it was obvious what was ADR. Nothing too jarring, but something viewers might notice. Still, it was all very clear & distortion-free. Subtitles are available in English for the hearing impaired and Spanish.
Extras
Typical of Magnet’s releases, “Vanishing On 7th Street” contains a decent serving of extra features. Along with an audio commentary, we’re given alternate endings, a few featurettes, behind-the-scenes footage, interviews, a theatrical trailer, bonus trailers and a digital copy of the film. Those hoping for more answers hidden in the audio commentary with director Brad Anderson will be disappointed. He doesn’t know much more than we do, but he sure knows a lot about the production. This is a good track, but nothing about it stands out as particularly memorable. A reel with 3 alternate endings (1080i) runs for 8 minutes and 21 seconds. Honestly, though, even after having just watched the film I could barely tell what the differences were. There isn’t much “alternate” about them, save for maybe different takes/angles. “Revealing The Vanishing On 7th Street” (1080i) is a featurette that runs for 7 minutes and 4 seconds. Ironically, not much is revealed here. This is one of those useless fluff pieces full of gland-handing, getting about as deep as a puddle in regard to dissecting the film. “Creating the Mood on 7th Street” (1080i) is a featurette that runs for 4 minutes and 23 seconds. Director Anderson, along with some of the film’s cast & crew, discuss how they were able to achieve the film’s desolate, creepy appearance by shooting in Detroit, which is on its way to becoming a ghost town already. “Behind the Scenes Montage” (1080i) featurette runs for 2 minutes and 13 seconds. Vaguely interesting, this is simply footage of them shooting the film. A couple of Fangoria interviews (1080i) are available for the following: - “Brad Anderson” runs for 23 minutes. Man, he looks like shit here. The always affable ex-Fango editor Tony Timpone plays interviewer. - “Jacob Latimore” runs for 7 minutes and 42 seconds. “HDNet: A Look at Vanishing On 7th St” (1080i) is a featurette that runs for 4 minutes and 21 seconds. My thought son these HDNet promos have been consistent thus far, and this one is no different: it’s fluff good for watching on their network in between movies. The film’s theatrical trailer (1080p) runs for 2 minutes and 32 seconds. Bonus trailers (1080p) are included for the following titles: - “Black Death” runs for 2 minutes and 1 second. - “I Saw The Devil” runs for 2 minutes and 4 seconds. - “13 Assassins” runs for 1 minute and 52 seconds. - “Hobo With A Shotgun” runs for 1 minute and 27 seconds. - “Rubber” runs for 2 minutes and 17 seconds. - “HDNet promo” runs for 1 minute and 2 seconds. The disc also includes a bookmarks feature for tagging scenes, as well as a BD-Live link which, as you might guess, leads to a typical homepage. There is also a digital copy available via a website listed on the included insert. It appears to be compatible with iTunes only.
Packaging
An embossed slip-cover with some shiny lettering covers the standard Blu-ray keepcase.
Overall
I wanted this to be a better film; I had high hopes for it, but I Anderson didn’t give me enough to invest in the story. The characters weren’t interesting enough, and when it was all over I still wasn’t sure what the purpose of the events were. Why are people disappearing? I don’t need all the answers, but a few wouldn’t have hurt.
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