{"id":19956,"date":"2018-11-23T18:57:56","date_gmt":"2018-11-24T02:57:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/?p=19956"},"modified":"2018-11-23T19:00:22","modified_gmt":"2018-11-24T03:00:22","slug":"review-mara-bd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/2018\/11\/review-mara-bd\/","title":{"rendered":"Mara Blu-ray Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Mara<\/em><\/strong> is basically The Ring<\/em> without any tangible back-story for our vengeful demon\/spirit and although I really wanted to like this, especially since it stars Olga Kurylenko, it just didn\u2019t work and the demon herself, when fully revealed, was hardly scary.<\/p>\n

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Mara<\/span>
\n(2018)<\/span>
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Genre(s): <\/strong>Supernatural, Horror
\nLionsgate | R \u2013 99 min. \u2013 $21.99 | November 6, 2018<\/p>\n

Date Published:<\/strong> 11\/23\/2018 | Author:<\/strong> The Movieman<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n
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MOVIE INFO:
\n<\/u><\/strong>Directed by: <\/strong>Clive Tonge
\nWriter(s): <\/strong>Clive Tonge & Jonathan Frank (story), Jonathan Frank (written by)
\nCast: <\/strong>Olga Kurylenko, Craig Conway, Javier Botet, Rosie Fellner, Lance E. Nichols<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
DISC INFO:
\n<\/u><\/strong>Features: <\/strong>Featurette
\nDigital Copy: <\/strong>Yes
\nFormats Included: <\/strong>Blu-ray
\nNumber of Discs: <\/strong>1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Audio: <\/strong>English (DTS-HD MA 5.1)
\nVideo: <\/strong>1080p\/Widescreen 2.39
\nSubtitles: <\/strong>English SDH
\nDisc Size: <\/strong>22.3 GB
\nCodecs: <\/strong>MPEG-4 AVC
\nRegion(s): <\/strong>A<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Lionsgate provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this Blog Post.
\nThe opinions I share are my own.<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

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THE MOVIE \u2014 2.5\/5<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
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There was one thing that struck me while watching this supernatural horror film, Mara<\/em><\/strong>: I really wish I was watching The Ring<\/em> instead. The two films generally have similar plots with an evil supernatural entity coming forth and wreaking fear and death upon her victims. Though in this one, there\u2019s no video tape or phone call, this creature I guess feeds off of guilt and\/or vengeance. Kind of vague, actually.<\/p>\n

The story focuses on criminal psychologist Dr. Kate Fuller (OLGA KURYLENKO) called in by the police to examine a woman, Helena (ROSIE FELLNER), who has been arrested for the brutal murder of her husband, blaming it on a demon named Mara.<\/p>\n

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After the examination, Helena is placed in a mental hospital, though something doesn\u2019t quite sit right with Fuller and does a further investigation. This leads her to a man named Dougie (CRAIG CONWAY) who has been suffering from sleep paralysis which is when Mara would visit. From his experience, Dougie has figured out there are three stages, the final being she kills you and in each one, the victim\u2019s eyes becomes redder (guess from blood vessels popping or something).<\/p>\n

Soon enough, though, Fuller herself begins to experience the paralysis and starts seeing Mara. It\u2019s a rush against the clock to figure out how Mara can be defeated; all the while sleep deprivation sinks in. Not an easy task to convince others \u2014 such as a police detective (LANCE E. NICHOLS) and a doctor (MITCH EAKINS) \u2014 that a \u201csleep demon\u201d is hunting you down.<\/p>\n

I really wanted to like Mara<\/em><\/strong>. The film begins with a decent pre-credit opening and Olga Kurylenko serves well in the lead, with the exception of one scene where she becomes emotional, the outburst didn\u2019t exacrlt work. But for all the dark atmosphere and mystery behind this \u201csleep demon\u201d, it really begins falling apart as the film progressed, though it didn\u2019t take long to see some minor correlations with The Ring<\/em>. But where that film built tension as we learn of Samara\u2019s background, this one just gives us some history lesson that Mara dates back before Christ. We don\u2019t know why she does or really the rules, other than, I suppose, feeding off of tragedy… or something along those lines.<\/p>\n

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Finally, by the end where we really get to see Mara in all her glory… and she was more laughable than scary. I know her herky-jerky movements were to evoke something otherworldly, but it just looked kind of ridiculous, not to mention her almost spider-like arms and legs.<\/p>\n

Mara<\/em><\/strong> was directed by Clive Tonge marking his debut from a script written by Jonathan Frank, a name I\u2019m only familiar because I recently watched a movie of his called Final Score<\/em>, which was directed by Scott Mann, who produced this feature with his production company, \u201cMann Made Films\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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SPECIAL FEATURES \u2013 1.25\/5<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
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This release comes with a glossy slip cover<\/strong> and inside is a redemption code for the Digital HD<\/strong> copy. The only feature is Mara<\/u><\/em>: A Legacy of Evil (7:02)<\/u><\/strong> featurette.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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VIDEO \u2013 3.75\/5<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
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Although tonally this is a dark movie, there are some lighter parts that appear bright while skin tones do look natural. Detail is decent enough, sharper on the close-up objects or people, and really didn\u2019t notice any major instances of banding, artifacts, aliasing or other flaws. Even so, this is also not the kind of transfer that will pop off the small screen.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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AUDIO \u2013 4.5\/5<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
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The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track is fairly strong outputting clear dialogue principally from the center channel with the front and rears being relegated mostly for the \u201chaunting\u201d soundtrack or any ambient noises. The LFE does turn on for some key moments, shaking the floor with great intensity.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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OVERALL \u2013 2.5\/5<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
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Overall, Mara<\/em><\/strong> is basically The Ring<\/em> without any tangible back-story for our vengeful demon\/spirit and although I really wanted to like this, especially since it stars Olga Kurylenko, it just didn\u2019t work and the demon herself, when fully revealed, was hardly scary. This Blu-ray from Lionsgate has good video, great audio but only a singular bonus feature.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=G2wRPdld44M<\/p>\n

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Check out some more 1080p screen caps by going to page 2. Please note, these do contain spoilers<\/strong>.
\nThese are only here to give an idea of the movie\u2019s video quality and may not be truly representative of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
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Mara is basically The Ring without any tangible back-story for our vengeful demon\/spirit and although I really wanted to like this, especially since it stars Olga Kurylenko, it just didn\u2019t work and the demon herself, when fully revealed, was hardly scary.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1843],"class_list":["post-19956","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blurayreviews","tag-olga-kurylenko"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19956","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19956"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19956\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19961,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19956\/revisions\/19961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}