Single White Female

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General		Extras
Category	Thriller	Theatrical Trailer(s)	1
Rating		Other Trailer(s)	None
Running Time	104 minutes	Commentary Tracks	None
RSDL/Flipper	No/No	Other Extras	None
Region	4
Distributor	Columbia Tristar
RRP	$34.95

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	No	MPEG	None
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1	Dolby Digital	2.0
16x9 Enhancement	Yes	Soundtrack Languages	English (Dolby Digital 2.0)  French (Dolby Digital 2.0)
Theatrical Aspect Ratio	1.85:1
Macrovision	Yes
Subtitles	English  French Dutch Arabic

    Sam keeps calling, and eventually, Allison and Sam are reunited. Hedra is not at all happy about this, and sets about ruining things for Allison. The first mysterious incident involves Buddy, who falls from a height and is killed, ostensibly as a result of Sam's incompetence - but we know better.

    Meanwhile, at work, things are going well for Allison, until her boss, Mitchell Myerson (Stephen Tobolowsky) makes a pass at her. Sam at this stage is out of town on business, and Allison confides in Heddie. Heddie decides that a make-over is in order, and convinces Allison to come with her. Heddie makes herself look like Allison, which is the first inkling that Allison has of any problem with Heddie. Allison goes searching through Heddie's room, and discovers a shoe box filled with sinister things, including Heddie's real name - Ellen Besch - and the fact that Heddie was a twin whose other half drowned in an accident. She also finds letters from Sam that were intercepted by Heddie.

    Allison talks to Graham Knox (Peter Friedman), her gay upstairs neighbour about Heddie. Unfortunately, Heddie overhears the conversation and attacks Graham, killing him - or so we are lead to believe.

    Sam returns to town, and checks into a hotel. He calls Allison, but Heddie takes the call, and Heddie goes to the hotel dressed as Allison. They have a suitably sordid liaison, after which Heddie kills Sam in a most unusual manner.

    Finally we head to the first climax of the movie, where Allison is trapped inside Graham's apartment by Heddie, but manages to escape, and then the second climax of the movie, where Allison is trapped inside the basement of the apartment block, and lastly to the ultimate climax of the movie, in the elevator.

Video

    The transfer was razor sharp at all times. Shadow detail was excellent, with no low level noise apparent.

    The colour was well rendered. The colours in this movie are all somewhat dark and muted, but that suits the tone of this movie.

    No MPEG artefacts were seen. The only film-to-video artefact that I noticed came at occasional reel change points, where there was an effect as if the first frame was a fraction too high, and then the next frame was in the correct place, "slotting" into place. I have not seen this in previous Columbia Tristar transfers, and it is not a major bother. I've seen this happen frequently at the cinema, however. Film artefacts were few and far between, and not bothersome at all, though the odd amount of film grain was apparent now and then.

Audio

    Dialogue was always completely clear and intelligible.

    The musical score was often present, underscoring the action. It was an unremarkable soundtrack.

     The surround channel was used for music, ambience and occasional effects. As far as surround channels go, this was only lightly used to enhance the mood. It was not a particularly enveloping soundtrack.

    The .1 channel was not specifically used, being a matrix soundtrack, but low frequency music and effects were redirected to the subwoofer by the processor.

    Overall, the soundtrack was perfectly serviceable, but unremarkable.

    The video quality is up to the standard expected of Columbia Tristar.

    The audio quality is perfectly satisfactory without being exceptional.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

Michael Demtschyna
12th November 1998