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Category:    Home > Reviews > Thriller > > Horror > The Lodger (2008/Sony DVD)

The Lodger (2008/Sony DVD)

 

Picture: C+     Sound: B-     Extras: C-     Film: C-

 

 

Based on the famous book and films on the actual Jack The Ripper, Writer/Director David Ondaatje tries to have it every way he can on his new film of The Lodger, taking place in Los Angeles and Hollywood now, with suggestions of everything from deadly copycats to the possibility the real Ripper is still alive by supernatural means a century later.  It has been a while since anyone has attempted to make any film on the subject, in part because The Hughes Brothers did such a thorough job with their film From Hell.  You can read more about that at this link:

 

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/6169/From+Hell+(2001/Blu-ray)

 

 

This time, we have a detective (the underrated Alfred Molina) investigating the first of what turns out to be related murders and then are introduced to all manner of characters and living.  Hope Davis, Simon Baker, Donal Logue, Philip Baker Hall, Rachel Leigh Cook and Shane West are among the more noticeable faces and at first, this is interesting, then it is obvious the script does not know where to go and backs itself into a corner for which it cannot escape.

 

I was also interested in how often Ondaatje was notably “inspired” by the TV movies The Night Stalker (1972), The Night Strangler (1973) and series Kolchak: The Night Stalker (1974-75, all reviewed elsewhere on this site) in several scenes.  Maybe he thought others might not notice, but I sure did.  If anything, I was hoping it was a jumping point to a good story, but when this goes into decline, boy does it crash.  I wonder how close it really was to the Marie Belloc Lowndes book?  Likely not much.

 

The anamorphically enhanced 1.85 X 1 is a little soft throughout, likely an HD shoot, but we have seen worse, especially from TV and the straight-to-DVD market, while the Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 mixes are nothing special with little difference.  Extras include a making of featurette and deleted/alternate scenes.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo


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