|
|
|
Haunting of Molly Hartley (The)
R2 - United Kingdom - Icon Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Samuel Scott (23rd June 2013). |
|
The Film
 ***This is a technical review only. For reviews on the movie from various critics, we recommend visiting HERE.*** 17-year-old Molly Hartley (Haley Bennett) moves away from Boston to start a new life with her father (Jake Weber) in the small town of Huntington after surviving a bizarre and near-fatal attack at the hands of her psychotic mother. As well as making new friends and trying to fit in at her new school, Molly has to contend with nightmarish hallucinations, nosebleeds and creepy voices in her head. Has Molly inherited her mother's insanity, or are there even darker forces at work?
Video
For it's United Kingdom dvd debut, Icon Home Entertainment release "The Haunting of Molly Hartley" at an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 which has been anamorphically enhanced, slightly different from the original aspect ratio of 1.85:1. It's a mixed bag. Made with a budget of $5,000,000 the movie shouldn't have the technical anomolies it does have. The first thing that may strike you, is a lack of sharpness to the picture throughout, leading to a loss of detail to background objects at times. This is kind of surprising, because there are moments where the movie actually looks spectacular - mainly during outdoor scenes at Molly Hartley's new high school in the daytime. Skintones vary from looking very natural in the 'regular' scenes, to feeling a little soft in scenes which have the psychological dream like segments, though this may actually just be a creative decision that doesn't quite work. Other colours look good, with reds vividly popping. Blacks sometimes crush a little but are generally fine. There's no signs of major artefacting, scratches, or other damage. Overall, I would say the transfer is average. The disc is PAL, and the feature runs 81:46.
Audio
There are two audio options available on the disc: - English Dolby Digital 5.1 - English Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo I opted for the 5.1 track, and whilst it was generally fine, it has a technical problem that Icon Home Entertainment's quality control should've picked up on. Unfortunately, the synching of the dialogue appears to be just a split second behind mouth movements for the vast majority of the runtime. It's noticeable, but not out of synch enough to ruin the viewing experience. Although the dialogue has this problem, at least it is always clear and easy to understand. The score is as formulaic as they come, but makes good use of the surrounds. Effects, mainly from the various cheap jump scares, also give the surrounds a little workout. Directionality is good, and there are no dropouts or scratches. There are optional subtitles in English HoH.
Extras
The bulk of the extras package consists of the following cast and crew interviews: Haley Bennett: - On her character (0:50) - More on her character (0:23) - On the challenges of her role (0:20) - On what attracted her to the character (0:45) - On working with the cast (0:29) Shanna Collins: - On her character (0:33) - On the story (0:48) - More on her character (0:27) - On her own high school experience (0:39) - On the religious aspect of the film (1:15) AnnaLynne McCord: - On the story (0:30) - On director Mickey Liddell (0:32) - On the appeal of horror films (1:02) - On working with the cast and crew (0:35) - On the fight scene (1:05) Mickey Liddell: - On what attracted him to the film (0:50) - On his favourite scene (0:42) - On identifying with the characters (0:57) - On the story (0:52) - On the appeal of horror films (1:05) - On casting Molly (0:43) - On Chace Crawford (0:48) Although on paper this looks like it should be a reasonable extra, the participants never elevate their answers past MTV-style promo fluff pieces. There is a little bit of repetition, but it is eventually just a bunch of sound snippets. Annoyingly, there is no play all option leaving the viewer to navigate each answer individually. The rest of the extras are unsubstantial and self-explanatory. Start-up Trailer: - "Triangle" (1:43) Theatrical Trailer (2:29)
Overall
|
|||||
|