Boo (2005) |
|
Boo (2005) |
|
|
| BUY IT |
| General | Extras | ||
| Category | Horror |
Main Menu Introduction Menu Animation & Audio Audio Commentary-Filmmakers' Featurette-Making Of Featurette-Inside The Special Effects Of Boo Featurette-Intensive Scare: Tales Of The Linda Vista Hospital Deleted Scenes-Alternate And Extended Scenes, With Optional Commentary Theatrical Trailer Trailer-Cereberus: The Guardian Of Hell, Stander, The Mechanik Trailer-Pinata: Survival Island, Heart Of Stone, Cemetery Gates |
|
| Rating |
|
||
| Year Of Production | 2005 | ||
| Running Time | 89:37 | ||
| RSDL / Flipper | Dual Layered | Cast & Crew | |
| Start Up | Menu | ||
| Region Coding | 4 | Directed By | Anthony C. Ferrante |
|
Studio
Distributor |
 Roadshow Home Entertainment |
Starring |
Anthony C. Ferrante Trish Coren M. Steven Felty Jilon Ghai Josh Holt Taylor Hurley Happy Mahaney Rachel Melvin Shirlene Quigley Nicole Rayburn Michael Samluk Edward Perry Smith Dee Wallace-Stone |
| Case | ? | ||
| RPI | $29.95 | Music |
Paul Andrews Alan Howarth Alan Howarth |
| Video | Audio | ||
| Pan & Scan/Full Frame | Auto Pan & Scan Encoded |
English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s) English Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) |
|
| Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 1.78:1 | ||
| 16x9 Enhancement |
 |
||
| Video Format | 576i (PAL) | ||
| Original Aspect Ratio | Unknown | Miscellaneous | |
| Jacket Pictures | No | ||
| Subtitles | None | Smoking | No |
| Annoying Product Placement | No | ||
| Action In or After Credits | No | ||
On Halloween night a group of attractive teenagers decide to get their kicks by exploring an abandoned and supposedly haunted old psychiatric hospital. Soon the buffed-up bunch are fighting off the evil spirit of Jacob, a former patient who tried to torch the hospital in an attempt to escape years earlier but only managed to burn himself to death. Now the paranoid schizophrenic paedophile is back to take possession of the living so he can once again try and break free.
You know when an ex-Fangoria horror magazine writer like Anthony C. Ferrante decides he wants to be a filmmaker then an original script is not going to be high on the agenda. Previously cutting his teeth on special effects work in a host of B-grade flicks like the Dentist and Wishmaster 2, Ferrante doesn’t stretch any narrative boundaries, but he certainly delights in carefully framing and spotlighting Fangoria-friendly, chunk-blowing gory effects.
In the grue department, Boo (the exclamation mark was probably dropped so horror fans didn’t confuse it with the animated children’s series) certainly delivers the goods. Director/Writer Ferrante is an obvious horror geek and pays homage to some of the nastiest and creepiest moments from horror favourites like Nightmare on Elm Street, Changeling, Dead Zone, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Demons, The Thing, Halloween, Scream, Night of the Demons, Session 9, Hellraiser – I’m sure you’ll spot more.
Normally all these horror references would have made for a horribly contrived and distracting viewing experience, but the direction, cinematography, editing, kick-ass soundtrack and copious amounts of splattery special effects all come together to create a visually appealing, at times disturbing and well-paced horror film.
The acting and script ranges from being just barely passable to formidable. Aside from Scream Princess Dee Wallace-Stone (The Hills Have Eyes and The Howling) the cast is made up of young unknowns. Regardless, they take their respective parts seriously and only falter when the dialogue they’re forced to deliver aims for humour when the scenes demand a morbid or macabre flavour. A melting face or pipe embedded in the head is not conducive to a humorous quip from the suffering character.
Boo is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 and is 16x9 enhanced.
Apart from a thin veneer of intermittent grain (30:49) and print softness (42:25) creeping in now and again, this is a crisp and very pleasing transfer. Shadow detail clarity is sharp and penetrating, even in very low-lit scenes like inside the dark hospital ward corridors at 9:08. Black levels are dutifully deep and free of any signs of low level noise.
The organic colour palette mainly consisting of browns and drab greens are rich and appealing. However red tends to vibrate and appear oversaturated such as the graffiti on the wall at 5:24, the barmaid’s brightly patterned clothes (6:37) and the hideous clown costume at 19:46.
I only noticed some mild aliasing on the fence surrounding the hospital at the end of the film, but other than that unsightly film to video artefacts are virtually non-existent.
As expected the print used is very clean and exhibits no signs of wear or age.
| Sharpness |  |
| Shadow Detail | |
| Colour | |
| Grain/Pixelization | |
| Film-To-Video Artefacts | |
| Film Artefacts |  |
| Overall | |
Available audio tracks include a Dolby Digital 2.0 and 5.1 surround track. While the 2.0 is loud and proud, a lot of effort has gone into trying to create a menacingly immersive 5.1 mix.
There really isn’t an identifiable score as such, but more of a cacophony of eerie flourishes and nerve-jarring metallic poundings designed to make you leap out of your lounge chair in nervous shock. The effect is constant, overwhelming and reminiscent of the highly pumped up bass-heavy soundscape employed in Freddy vs Jason and Alien vs Predator.
The sound engineers make terrific, if not sporadic, use of the surrounds, such as at 9:43 where the screen goes dark and your imagination fills in the images as the grinding sound effects spirit around the room.
Audio-spatial depth is excellent. For example, a solitary piano note (23:24), eerie whistling (32:27), and a banging door (37:32) become louder and louder, erupting from the right front channel and ending in a crashing crescendo through the rear speakers.
The subwoofer is frequently called upon to complement and add that extra bit of oomph to the bass.
The front-centred dialogue is clearly audible, but there are a few moments in the film where the sound effects threaten to swallow up voices.
| Dialogue | |
| Audio Sync | |
| Clicks/Pops/Dropouts | |
| Surround Channel Use | |
| Subwoofer | |
| Overall | |
Ferrante dominates this commentary track. Although he’s enthusiastic and has much to impart, his total self-absorption and rapid monotone twang becomes quite irritating. David Allen spurs him on while Chris Conlee just gets enough time to introduce himself. Sheri Bryant almost says something at 10:40 but Ferrante cuts her off mid sentence.
The producers and key actors talk about how wonderful each other were - “I love working with him”…”I love her work”…blah, blah, blah! In between the ego patting and back slapping there is some interesting behind-the-scenes on-set production footage.
Nothing really new here either – “these special effects guys are soooo amazing,” and “the blood was so wet and cold” (groan).
The actors and crew share their unconvincing ‘weird’ and ‘real-life’ creepy experiences during the filming in the abandoned hospital.
The following 10 scenes can be played with or without director’s commentary:
1. Jessie gets revenge on Kevin
2. Allan meets Baines
3. Farty Barty lends a hand
4. Pinch me
5. Hallway fireball
6. Basement exposition
7. Dynamite Jones vs. Frankenfro
8. Mom phones home
9. Jessie challenges Jacob
10. Alternate ending
Ferrante explains that most of the above were extended scenes that needed to be cut for pacing reasons.
Boo theatrical trailer (2:36)
On Halloween night a group of college students went looking for a real scare. What they found was true evil.
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
The Region 1 release is virtually identical to our own. However, we have been blessed with additional trailers for other low-budget horror releases, so the inclusion of these sways me in favour of our Region 4 edition. If trailers aren’t your thing, then simply go for the cheapest option.
Boo is a veritable catalogue of scenes lovingly pilfered from a host of great contemporary horror films re-engineered and condensed into one entertainingly creepy gore fest. Horror aficionados will enjoy spotting the references while younger genre fans will hopefully appreciate Boo as a history lesson and track down the original films that it endorses.
| Video | |
| Audio | |
| Extras | |
| Plot | |
| Overall | |
| Review Equipment | |
| DVD | Yamaha DVR-S200 (it came free with the plasma), using S-Video output |
| Display | Yamaha 106cm Plasma. Calibrated with Sound & Home Theater Tune Up. This display device is 16x9 capable. |
| Audio Decoder | Built into amplifier. Calibrated with THX Optimizer. |
| Amplification | get a marshall stack, and crank it up. |
| Speakers | 2 x Bose Speakers and 4 NX-S200 Yamaha mini-speakers. |