Black Widow (1987)

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General		Extras
Category	Thriller	None
Rating
Year Of Production	1987
Running Time	97:43
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (46:25)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Bob Rafelson
Studio Distributor	Twentieth Century Fox	Starring	Debra Winger Theresa Russell Sami Frey Dennis Hopper Nicol Williamson Terry O'Quinn James Hong Diane Ladd D.W. Moffett Lois Smith Leo Rossi Danny Kamekona Rutanya Alda
Case	?
RPI	$24.95	Music	Michael Small

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) French Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) German Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) Polish Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.85:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	Danish Dutch English for the Hearing Impaired Finnish French German Greek Italian Norwegian Spanish Swedish Turkish French Titling German Titling Italian Titling Spanish Titling	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    This movie is a thriller made in the mid-1980s, directed by Bob Rafelson (Five Easy Pieces), and is interesting in that it is one of the few thrillers I can think of in which both the main protagonists are women. The only other one which comes readily to mind is the movie Bound starring Gina Gershon & Jennifer Tilly, although in that film they are not exactly on opposite sides. One of the lead characters in this film is Alex Barnes (Debra Winger), a desk-bound Department of Justice officer, who stumbles across what she believes to be a pattern in a series of deaths of wealthy older men. Despite it not being within her job specification, she decides to investigate, with the reluctant agreement of her boss. It becomes obvious very early in the movie, at least to the audience, that she is onto something, although the police and her boss are not convinced. The other lead character is introduced to the audience as Catherine Petersen (Teresa Russell), although she uses many names during the movie. She is the black widow of the title, a woman who mates and then kills. Some of the men stuck in her web include Sam Petersen, Ben Dumers (Dennis Hopper in what really only amounts to a cameo), an anthropologist called McCrory and Paul Nuytten (Sami Frey).

    Alex becomes obsessed with tracking her down, giving up her job to continue the investigation. The movie focuses on her investigation and obsession with this black widow rather than on working out who is the guilty party. There is an undertone of attraction between the women and once they become known to each other, their relationship becomes more complex, including both of them being interested in the same men.

    This is an effective and different thriller featuring some good acting by Debra Winger. Being a film from the 1980s, some of the fashion and hair (Winger looks like she is playing Charles II at one point) is a bit dated but the story has not. This is quite an entertaining and intriguing film with an interesting ending. Well worth a look if you like films of this sort.

Video

    The video quality is good.

    The feature is presented in a 1.85:1 aspect ratio 16x9 enhanced which is the original aspect ratio.

    The picture was clear and sharp throughout, with no evidence of low level noise. There was some grain throughout, mostly light but heavier at times. The shadow detail was reasonable but certainly nothing special.

    The colour was reasonable, however it did seem a little dull generally. The blacks were dark and well saturated.

    On the artefacts front, there were a few white specks here and there and some minor aliasing such as on the Venetians at 4:24.

    There are subtitles in 16 languages including English for the hearing impaired. The English subtitles were clear and easy to read.

    The layer change occurs at 46:25 and did not stand out.
    

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    The audio quality is good.

    This DVD contains six audio options; an English Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack encoded at 192 Kb/s and the same in French, German, Italian, Polish & Spanish. Generally, the sound was a little flat but not too bad.

    Dialogue was clear and easy to understand and there was no problem with audio sync.

    The music used in this film, composed by Michael Small, is quite effective, adding to the tension as required.

    The surround speakers added some mild atmosphere when played using ProLogic II.

     The subwoofer was used occasionally. I especially noticed it during the scene involving the erupting volcano. Obviously, this has more to do with the bass management of my amplifier than the soundtrack itself.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

    None!

Menu

    The menu is simple, allowing for scene and language selection only.

    The Region 4 version of this disc misses out on;

• Trailer
• TV Spots
• Promos for other films

    The Region 1 version of this disc misses out on;

• Soundtracks in German, Polish & Italian

    The Region 1 is slightly better on paper but the differences are certainly not compelling. Unless you can get the Region 1 version at the same price or cheaper I would probably buy the local product.

    The video quality is good.

    The audio quality is good.

    The disc has no extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall