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PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
Heaven's Pond (2003)

Heaven's Pond (2003)

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Released 17-Jun-2004
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Details At A Glance

General		Extras
Category	Thriller	Dolby Digital Trailer-Rain Theatrical Trailer
Rating
Year Of Production	2003
Running Time	88:20
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu	Cast & Crew
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Joel Viertel
Studio Distributor	Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	Kip Pardue Tara Reid Meredith Baxter Dan Gunther
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip	Starring	Kip Pardue Tara Reid Meredith Baxter Dan Gunther
RPI	$39.95	Music	Louis Febre

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	Unknown	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No	Miscellaneous
Subtitles	English for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

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

Plot Synopsis

Heaven's Pond (AKA Devil's Pond) opens with a wedding between Mitch Olsen (Kip Pardue) and Julianne (Tara Reid). The wedding speeches are used to fill in the back story and establish the nature of their brief relationship. They then head off on their honeymoon to a remote cabin that is situated on a small island, in the middle of a lake.

Two weeks alone on a small isolated island is enough time for any couple to get to know each other well and it is no different for our newlyweds. Julianne soon realises that Mitch is hiding something from her and begins to suspect that there is more to him than meets the eye.

In short, Heaven's Pond is a psychological thriller that is slowly paced and full of predictable clichés. Of course there is no mobile phone reception and to make matters worse Julianne has a fear of water, so she can't just swim to shore.

With just four listed cast members, Kip Pardue and Tara Reid are left to carry the movie on their own. Julianne's mother Kate (Meredith Baxter) and the priest (Daniel Gunther) only appear briefly during the wedding scene.

Interestingly, neither my DVD Player nor Windows Media Player displayed the elapsed time for this movie, so it is impossible for me to accurately indicate where the video and audio anomalies occur.

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Transfer Quality

Video

The video transfer is very good.

The transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 and it is 16x9 enhanced.

The image is sharp and it contains a reasonable level of shadow detail. Unfortunately there are a few night scenes where the blacks are anything but black.

Colours look good without being overly bright. Skin tones look natural.

The transfer is clean and free from MPEG artefacts and aliasing. There was some minor telecine wobble during the opening credits and the occasional film artefact in the form of a speck or two.

The only subtitle stream available is English for the Hearing Impaired. The subtitles are well placed, easy to read and they accurately reflect the spoken word.

This is a Single Layer Single Sided disc so there is no disruptive layer change.

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

Audio

The audio transfer is very good.

English Dolby Digital 5.1 is the only audio track available.

The dialogue was clear and easy to understand at all times. I did not notice any audio sync problems with this disc.

Louis Febre's musical score succeeds in creating an atmosphere of suspense, even during scenes where nothing is happening on screen.

The surround channels are used to good effect when it comes to ambience, particularly in the later stages of the movie once things get moving.

The subwoofer is actively used in the later scenes to recreate thunder claps and gun shots. The low frequency rumble when Mitch approaches the car is very effective, even if it is a little too loud.

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

Extras

Apart from a theatrical trailer there are no extras on this DVD.

Theatrical Trailer (1:37)

This high quality theatrical trailer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1, 16x9 enhanced, and it is accompanied by an English Dolby Digital 2.0 sound track.

R4 vs R1

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

The Region 4 version of this disc misses out on;

Audio Commentary with Writer/Director Joel Viertel and Writers Alek Friedman and Mora Stephens.
Audio Commentary with Producers J. Todd Harris and Craig Davis Roth.
The "Making of Devil's Pond" Featurette.
Five deleted scenes with optional commentary.
Three Storyboard comparisons with commentary.
Six trailers, including Punisher and House of the Dead.

The Region 1 version of this disc misses out on;

Nothing

Heaven's Pond was marketed elsewhere as Devil's Pond and I wonder if this is why the Region 4 DVD misses out on so many extras. Rather than reworking the extras that contained references to "Devil's Pond" it might have been considered easier to just cut them.

Summary

The plot for Heaven's Pond feels contrived and never reaches any great heights. While the video and audio transfers are surprisingly good, they alone can't save the movie.