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Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
7500 (2014)

7500 (2014)

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Released 5-Nov-2014

Cover Art

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Thriller Trailer-Into the Storm, The Giver
Rating Rated M
Year Of Production 2014
Running Time 76:15
RSDL / Flipper No/No Cast & Crew
Start Up Ads Then Menu
Region Coding 4 Directed By Takashi Shimizu
Studio
Distributor

Roadshow Home Entertainment
Starring Leslie Bibb
Jamie Chung
Ryan Kwanten
Amy Smart
Jerry Ferrara
Nicky Whelan
Jonathan Schaech
Case ?
RPI ? Music Tyler Bates


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame None English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s)
English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
English Descriptive Audio Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio 1.85:1
16x9 Enhancement
16x9 Enhanced
Video Format 576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio 1.85:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles English for the Hearing Impaired Smoking No
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits No

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

     Flight 7500 leaves L.A. for a ten hour evening flight to Tokyo, Japan. On board are the usual mixed group of crew and passengers, many with relationship issues: Laura (Leslie Bibb) a hostess who is having an affair with the married pilot (Jonathan Schaech), Suzy (Jamie Chung) a hostess who is having grave doubts about her engagement, a newly married couple (Ryan Kwanten, Amy Smart), a couple who are about to break up (Jerry Ferrara, Nicky Whelan), a girl who may be pregnant, a cool dude and thief, a man with a mysterious box and a Goth girl. Three hours into the flight the plane hits a very turbulent patch after which one of the passengers convulses violently, coughs up blood and dies. The pilot decides not to return to L.A. and the body is placed into a separate section of the plane. But things start to happen and it seems that other, malevolent, forces may be on the aircraft and that the death toll will not stop at one.

     7500 is a tense supernatural horror / thriller from Japanese director Takashi Shimizu, the man responsible for Ju-on (2002), which he remade in English as The Grudge (2004), as well as both the Japanese and English language sequels. As such he knows a thing or two about supernatural horror tales and although 7500 starts as a disaster film the film quickly becomes a haunted house on a plane with mysterious vapour hands, a corpse which seeming does not stay dead and bumps in the dark. The film occurs during a night flight and the cabin lights are dimmed so the one dark, claustrophobic set is used throughout the film. Indeed, this is a film where much is suggested by things dimly seen in the shadows and a subtle sound design; much is implied, rather than shown. In fact, very little actually happens on screen which helps to build up a tension which is only occasionally released by scary moments, many of them false alarms. And in the end, despite misinformation and red herrings, it does make some sort of sense, although some may feel the result uneven and the ending unsatisfying.

     The acting, characters and dialogue in 7500 are no great shakes but director Takashi Shimizu knows how to get the most out of very little and with a running time of under 80 minutes 7500 does not outstay its welcome.

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Transfer Quality

Video

     7500 is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1, the original theatrical ratio, and is 16x9 enhanced.

     The film is set at night in a darkened aircraft, so was never going to have a vibrant colour palate; shades of brown or grey dominate, with even the red uniforms of the flight crew dull and subdued. However fine detail is sharp, blacks solid and shadow detail thankfully excellent, so we see what we are expected to see, and no more. Brightness and contrast are consistent and skin tones natural.

     I did not notice any marks or artefacts.

    English subtitles for the hearing impaired are available in a largish white font.

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

Audio

     Audio is a choice of English Dolby Digital 5.1 at 448 Kbps or Dolby Digital 2.0 at 224 Kbps. There is an additional English audio description audio track utilising a female voice (Dolby Digital 2.0 at 192 Kbps).

     The audio did what was required in a supernatural horror film. Dialogue is mostly easy to hear, and I doubt if anything important is lost. This film has a number of periods of quiet, with only the low hum of the plane’s engines on audio, but the track bursts into enveloping life during the periods of turbulence with effects and music filling the sound stage. On other occasions effects help to build the tension. The sub-woofer added depth to the effects, turbulence and music.

     The music score by Tyler Bates was not overdone and was effective.

     Lip synchronisation fine.

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

Extras

Trailers

     Trailers for Into the Storm (1:27) and The Giver (2:20) play on start-up. They cannot be selected from the menu.

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

     The Region 1 US version of 7500 seems the same as ours with no extras. There is a Region 2 German release but no Region 2 UK release at present.

Summary

     7500 is a supernatural / horror film set on a plane from a director who knows how to get the most out of very little. With a running time of under 80 minutes, 7500 is tightly scripted and tense and does not outstay its welcome although some horror fans may feel the result uneven and the ending unsatisfying. This is, as well, not a film you are likely to see as an in-flight movie any time soon.

     The video and audio are very good. The extras are only a couple of trailers for other films.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Ray Nyland (the bio is the thing)
Monday, November 24, 2014
Review Equipment
DVDSony BDP-S580, using HDMI output
DisplayLG 55inch HD LCD. This display device has not been calibrated. This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 1080p.
Audio DecoderNAD T737. This audio decoder/receiver has not been calibrated.
AmplificationNAD T737
SpeakersStudio Acoustics 5.1

Other Reviews NONE