Gnaw (Blu-ray) (2008)

This review is sponsored by

BUY IT

General		Extras
Category	Horror	Audio Commentary-Director Gregory Mandry Theatrical Trailer Trailer-x 4 for other releases
Rating
Year Of Production	2008
Running Time	77:01 (Case: 80)
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Programme
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Gregory Mandry
Studio Distributor	Gryphon Entertainment	Starring	Michael Bell Max Waller Rob Weston Hiram Bleetman Carrie Cohen Nigel Croft-Adams Sara Dylan Gary Faulkner Rachel Mitchem Oliver Squires Julia Vandoorne
Case	Standard Blu-ray
RPI	?	Music	Mark Hill

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (640Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (384Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	1080i
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	Yes

“It’s nice to have your friends for dinner . . .”

     We learn in the pre-credit sequence that people have been going missing in the Suffolk countryside for some time and that someone is killing people in quite gruesome ways, butchering the corpses and cooking the remains. We then meet six young people out for a weekend in the country. They are the obnoxious Jack (Nigel Croft-Adams), his girlfriend Jill (Rachel Mitchem), sex obsessed couple Ed (Hiram Bleetman) and Hannah (Julia Vandoorne), asthmatic Matt (Oliver Lee Squires) and Lorrie (Sara Dylan). Lorrie is seemingly a bit of an outsider in the group; however we find out that she has been sleeping with Jack and is pregnant. The group arrive at an isolated farmhouse owned by Mrs Obadiah (Carrie Cohen) and are served supper. But the group are being watched by The Slaughterman (Gary Faulkner), and before too much time has passed things get very messy.

     Gnaw tries hard but here is nothing original in the writing; we know from the pre-credits that a homicidal maniac is on the loose, slaughtering and cooking his victims, so the interest is really in how much we invest in the characters of the young people and how and when they die. The film does, in fact, take its time to get to know the young people, but in truth except for Lorrie and perhaps Matt they are not all that interesting and, as nothing much happens for over 30 minutes, the film feels slow. There are certainly some tense moments and scares as the mayhem starts, but mostly the film is predictable and clichéd, not really adding many surprises or anything new to the genre. As well, while Gnaw is quite gruesome most of the killing and the dissection of the corpses takes place off camera, so the actual gore level of the film is probably not going to satisfy those interested in the genre.

     Gnaw runs only a scant 77 minutes, but even so feels long during the first half. A lot of the dialogue is very silly, with Carrie Cohen as Mrs Obadiah having some of the worst, and with not very interesting characters, obvious situations and the gore mostly off camera the film is hard to recommend. The ending, however, is not quite as expected and is the most inventive part of the script.

Video

    Gnaw is presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, the original ratio, in 1080i using the MPEG-4 AVC code.

     This is not the sharpest Blu-ray you will see. Much of the film is set in the night or in dark and shadowy interiors so it is good that blacks are solid and shadow detail acceptable – we see what the filmmakers intend us to see. However, a number of the darker scenes do evince a lot of digital noise and there are also a couple of deliberately grainy sections, including the pre-credit pursuit and Lorrie’s dream sequence around 26:08. Colours are muted and dull, even the blood for the most part. Daylight scenes are better with nice colours. Skin tones are natural, brightness and contrast consistent. There is also some ghosting with motion, such as against the mottled yard surface at 38:35, but marks are absent.

     There are no subtitles.

     The print is acceptable for a low budget film.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     The Blu-ray cover indicates the film comes with a DTS HD audio. This is not correct; the film has only an English Dolby Digital 5.1 at 640 Kbps so this Blu-ray does not have lossless audio. The director’s audio commentary is in Dolby Digital 2.0 at 384 Kbps.

     There is not a lot of dialogue in the film, and the Slaughterman does not speak at all, but what there is is easy to hear. For a horror film, the surrounds are disappointing as they add very little to the sound stage, most effects emanating from the front speakers. I heard only some music, and a bit of ambient sound in the rears, not the creaks and other effects I expected. The subwoofer was hardly noticed.

     The original music score by Mark Hill was augmented by a number of pop songs. The score was effective.

     The audio track was disappointing for a horror film.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Audio Commentary: Director Gregory Mandry

     The director talks about locations, adds some technical information, story details and describes what is on screen. He says they had a lot of great fun torturing and maiming the cast! However, there are a lot of long pauses and silences, made more obvious by the fact that the film audio does not play under the commentary. I found it a bit hard to get through.

Making of (9:44)

     Sub headed Humble Pie: The Making of Gnaw, director Gregory Mandry and producers Rob Weston and Simon Sharp talk about their inspirations, the setting, fairy tale elements, the killer and the costumes. The featurette also includes behind the scenes footage, including the make-up of The Slaughterman, and some film footage. It is reasonable for its type, and worth watching once.

Trailer (1:40)

Trailers

     Trailers for Sweet Karma 2: A Dominatrix Story (1:31), Spiderhole (1:55), Sickboy (1:25) and Neverlost (2:23).

     The Region B UK Blu-ray is not due to be released until 10 June 2013. A Region 1 US DVD is listed on Amazon.com, but no Blu-ray. Local is the go.

     Gnaw tries hard but the pacing is uneven, the characters not very interesting and mostly the film is predictable, not adding anything new to the genre. The ending is inventive but the film is hard to recommend to fans of the genre.

     The video is 1080i but is acceptable, the audio is disappointing. The extras are reasonable.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall