The
Drownsman
(2014/Anchor Bay Blu-ray)
Picture:
B+ Sound: B+ Extras: D Film: C
Chad
Archibald's The
Drownsman
(2014) is an attempt to enlist a new cult classic horror villain onto
the roster next to Freddy, Jason, Michael Myers, and Pinhead, but
fails pretty miserably. This film has more plot holes than you can
imagine that made me constantly scratch my head throughout yet its
not as bad as it could have been. The concept is not terrible - a
supernatural entity that haunts and triggers a girl who nearly drowns
so that every time she comes in contact with water, he latches onto
her. The plot points are super predictable if you have ever seen A
Nightmare On Elm Street
as it literally hits almost every beat that that film had. Saved
only by some decent production design and a pretty sexy cast, this
film is only for those who don’t mind an unoriginal horror film.
A
near-death experience in a lake leaves Madison (Michelle Mylett) with
extreme hydrophobia. It's grown so bad that she's unable to attend
her best friend Hannah's (Caroline Korycki) wedding because of the
rain, as Madison believes that a sinister figure known as the
Drownsman (Ry Barrett) will pull her into his world and kill her. In
their attempt to help her, Madison's friends try to hold a seance to
make contact with this being and find that Madison is being haunted
by Sebastian Donner (also played by Barrett), a serial killer that
loved to listen to his victims' hearts beat as they slowly died.
However the group soon finds that their attempts to help Madison has
caused the Drownsman to notice them as well and he begins to pick
them off one by one.
The
lead actress, Michelle Mylett, isn't bad at all in her role and is
taking the gig seriously but I can't quite get past the fact that she
looks like a mix of Keira Knightley and Mila Kunis... not that that
is a bad thing. The character of the Drownsman himself is kind of a
mix between the Rob Zombie version of Michael Myers with the long
hair over his face and your normal Freddy-type scarring. What makes
no sense, however, is Madison's phobia of what itself... how does she
look so clean all the time if she is afraid to step onto into the
rain? Why would her best friend Hannah abandon her groom on their
wedding night to go over to Madison's house to check on her? Why
would she cancel her honeymoon the following day to help give her an
intervention?
Anchor
Bay does a good job with the HD presentation here, however, captured
in 1080p high definition with a widescreen aspect ratio of 2.35:1 and
a nice, lossless Dolby TrueHD 5.1 sound mix that doesn't disappoint.
The run time of the film is short at 86 minutes.
No
extras, which is frustrating on a Blu-ray release.
-
James Harland Lockhart V
www.facebook.com/jhl5films
