Saturday, 22 March 2014

White of the Eye - UK BD/DVD review

Arrow films have added obscure thriller “White of the Eye” to their release schedule, and as always were kind enough to send me a copy to review.
 
Taking place in Arizona, this 1987 murder/mystery film revolves around Paul White (David Keith – Officer and a Gentleman), a hi-fi specialist, who earns a living installing custom sound systems for wealthy clients.
 
However, a string of grisly murders that happen to coincide with some of the remote towns he’s visited recently, arouses the suspicions of a certain Detective Mendoza (Art Evans – Die Hard 2), who also notices his truck has the same tyre tread patterns as ones found at the scene.
 
But with nothing else to go on, he has no other reason to suspect him. But we soon find out that Paul isn’t exactly pure as the driven snow. Turns out he’s been having an affair with some of his clients, which his wife Joan (Cathy Moriarty – Raging Bull) happens to know about, despite him trying to keep it a secret from her.
 
To make matters more interesting, it seems Joan’s ex-boyfriend Mike (Alan Rosenberg – Righteous Kill), has just got out of jail and is working close to town and he and Paul have a bit of “history” so to speak.
 
With no other leads, and more bodies piling up. Detective Mendoza’s attention becomes focussed back on Paul once more. But despite him having an apparent alibi for the most recent killing, Joan begins to suspect that the police might actually be onto something and that her husband isn’t the person she thinks he is…
 
Adapted from Margaret Tracey’s book “Mrs White” and directed by British film maker Donald Cammel (Demon Seed), the film was rather reminiscent of an Italian Giallo thriller. Owing to the way the camera lingers on the graphic murders, and the way you never quite see the killers face. Plus there’s bizarre plot twists, superfluous characters thrown in as red herrings and the surreal use of sound and visuals in places.
 
This is a fairly obscure film, which not many people will probably have heard of, but Arrow have once again pushed the boat out in terms of providing special features.
 
Included on the disc are..
 
Audio commentary track. – Sam Umland, the author of Donald Cammel’s biography, provides a rather “clinical” running commentary, analysing the technical aspects of the film and pointing out differences between the shooting script and the original novel.
 
The Ultimate Performance. – A 73 minute documentary produced by the BBC about director Donald Camell, originally shown in 1998, following his death
 
The Argument  - short film shot by the director in 1972, which comes with an optional commentary by Sam Umland.
 
Into the White – interview with director of photography Larry McConkey, who discusses the making of the movie.
 
Deleted scenes – a couple of deleted scenes from the film with audio commentary by Donald Cammel’s biographer Sam Umland.
 
Bleach Bypass sequence – A look at the flashback footage used in the film without the grainy special effects.
 
And lastly there’s an alternate intro credits sequence.

The case also contains a collectors booklet, featuring stills and artwork from the film, along with linear notes by Brad Stevens. However, the pictures contain major plot spoilers, so don't read the book till after you've watched the film.
 
A great selection of supplemental material, though I would have also liked to have seen a theatrical trailer included on the discs, but not to worry.
 
Whilst the film might not “quite” fit into the horror category, but I’m sure a lot of horror fans will want to check this one out, owing to its graphic nature and visual style. Which again, was rather reminiscent of some of Argento’s earlier work.
 
The film is being released on a dual format BD & DVD combo pack, available in both a standard case and limited edition Steelbook and will be released March 31st
 
Buy the UK BD/DVD combo pack from Amazon.co.uk
 
Buy the UK BD/DVD Steelbook combo pack from Amazon.co.uk


 

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