The Drownsman actually isn’t a bad movie but it’s also pretty ordinary for the genre and certainly borrows from Nightmare on Elm Street without the memorable villain instead we get something akin to the Swamp Thing. Aside from that, though, the acting isn’t half bad but the idea of water being scary doesn’t quite work and it seems to take itself too seriously to be considered satire either.
The Drownsman
(2015)
REVIEW NAVIGATION
The Movie | Special Features | Video Quality | Audio Quality | Overall
Genre(s): Horror, Supernatural
Anchor Bay | NR – 86 min. – $26.99 | May 12, 2015
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MOVIE INFO: Directed by: Chad Archibald Writer(s): Chad Archibald & Cody Calahan (written by) Cast: Michelle Mylett, Caroline Korycki, Gemma Bird Matheson, Sydney Kondruss, Clare Bastable, Ry Barrett DISC INFO: Audio: English (Dolby TrueHD 5.1) |
** Click Here to Purchase The Drownsman on Blu-ray from Amazon.com **
THE MOVIE
Plot Outline: After almost drowning in a lake accident, Madison (MICHELLE MYLETT) develops a cripping fear of water. But when her friends — Hannah (CAROLINE KORYCKI), Kobie (GEMMA BIRD MATHESON) and Lauren (SYDNEY KONDRUSS) — attempt an intervention, they unknowingly unleash something for worse: the vision of serial killer supernatural psychopath Sebastian Donner (RY BARRETT) – known as “The Drownsman’ – who begins to stalk the women one by one, dragging them into a bar of submerged torment from which there is no escape.
SPECIAL FEATURES – 0/5
No features were included.
VIDEO – 4.5/5
Anchor Bay unleashes The Drownsman onto Blu-ray with a 1080p high-definition transfer and a 2.35 widescreen aspect ratio. As one might expect, the picture quality is fairly dark in keeping with the horror aspects of the film however colors do have a good pop to them while detail levels are sharp and well defined. There were no obvious signs of aliasing or pixilation and darker shots were nicely stark making for an all around clean transfer.
AUDIO – 4.5/5
The movie comes with a 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track provides for nice depth from the blood-curdling screams from the Drownsman’s victims to the atmospheric, if not clichéd, horror score by composer Stephanie Copeland as well as ambient noises including off-screen sounds. It might not rival the best out there even within the genre, but it’s still an impressive lossless track that is rather dynamic.
OVERALL – 3.0/5
Overall, The Drownsman actually isn’t a bad movie but it’s also pretty ordinary for the genre and certainly borrows from Nightmare on Elm Street without the memorable villain instead we get something akin to the Swamp Thing. Aside from that, though, the acting isn’t half bad but the idea of water being scary doesn’t quite work and it seems to take itself too seriously to be considered satire either. The Blu-ray released by Anchor Bay is very basic with great video/audio transfers but no bonus material.
Published: 05/17/2015
Check out some more screen caps by going to page 2. Please note, these do contain spoilers.