The Super could’ve been a fun thriller as it was advertised but what we got instead was a messy supernatural-horror film whose only redeeming factor very well may be Val Kilmer who did bring a gravitas to the film.
The Super
(2018)
Genre(s): Thriller, Supernatural
Lionsgate | R – 89 min. – $21.99 | December 18, 2018
Date Published: 01/16/2019 | Author: The Movieman
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Lionsgate provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this Blog Post.
The opinions I share are my own.
THE MOVIE — 1.0/5 |
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Plot Synopsis: Former cop Phil Lodge (PATRICK JOHN FLUEGER) takes a job as a superintendent in a Manhattan apartment building. When a teen goes missing, along with several other tenants, Phil suspects a sadistic murderer may be roaming the eerie corridors and that his daughters’ (MATTEA MARIE CONFORIT, TAYLOR RICHARDSON) lives are in danger. But whom can he trust when everybody around him has something to hide? Review: One would think that reading the above synopsis this would be a mystery-thriller, a who-dunnit if you will. Nope. From the first scene, I knew this wasn’t the case and instead took a supernatural turn and I will admit up front, I’m generally not a fan of these type of horror movies, with few exceptions (The Exorcist, The Omen and Poltergeist). So right there The Super did have a strike going against it. Strikes two and three came from the rest of the film, including an absolutely inane twist that absolutely makes very little sense.
One of the selling points, for me anyway, was finally seeing Val Kilmer on screen again following his battle with throat cancer. He had made a variety of appearances such as Terence Malick’s Song to Song (hated that one) and the much maligned The Snowman. Well, can’t say he’s out of the crapper with this one, but even though it is a small role, but not insignificant, he actually wasn’t too bad, however can’t say there were a couple unintentionally humorous scenes, such as his Walter character practicing voo-doo and other spiritual rituals. The rest of the cast I suppose did the best with what they had to work with. Patrick John Flueger, series regular on Chicago P.D., in the lead role I guess was charismatic enough for most of the film before going rather over-the-top goofy by the climax; Taylor Richardson as one of the daughters played up the moody teen (played a pre-teen in the even more awful Slender Man); and Mattea Conforti, despite having the part of the preciously disturbing child wasn’t even remotely creepy or in the least bit scary. Again, I can’t fault the cast too much when the material was at times either downright dull or at worst laughably awful.
The Super was under the direction of Stephan Rick marking his first English-language feature film following several German movies and television episodes. Rick tries his hardest to give this a dark and mysterious atmosphere, but pretty much fails at every turn and if not for Kilmer, the film wouldn’t have one ounce of suspense. In the end, The Super very well may be on the so bad it’s good spectrum and maybe if you watch this with a group as a oppose to on your own as I had, this might be a worthwhile watch, otherwise just skip this. |
SPECIAL FEATURES – 1.75/5 |
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This release does come with a semi-glossy slip cover and a redemption code for the Digital HD copy. The only feature included is a behind-the-scenes making-of featurette, “He Has Your Keys: Making The Super (20:27; HD). |
VIDEO – 3.75/5 |
| Lionsgate releases The Super is presented with a 1080p high-definition transfer and a 2.39 widescreen aspect ratio. For the most part it’s an adequate looking transfer, detail is relatively sharp and while colors are rather tamped down, there are some splashes of it during the few well lit scenes. On the plus side, the black levels are at least stark and I noticed no significant instances of artifacting or aliasing. |
AUDIO – 4.5/5 |
| The disc comes with a surprisingly strong DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track which does provide for clear dialogue levels. The majority of the audio does come out of the front channel however the front and rear speakers do get a nice workout displaying some nice depth especially during the more action-centric third act with the LFE kicking on to give the track an extra boost. |
OVERALL – 1.25/5 |
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Overall, The Super could’ve been a fun thriller as it was advertised but what we got instead was a messy supernatural-horror film whose only redeeming factor very well may be Val Kilmer who did bring a gravitas to an otherwise poorly produced movie. The Blu-ray release has good video/audio transfers but lackluster bonus material. |
Check out some more 1080p screen caps by going to page 2. Please note, these do contain spoilers.