Diabolique (1996)
Thriller about a murder plot hatched by the long-suffering wife and the mistress of an autocratic schoolmaster. When the boarding school headteacher becomes too much for the two women in his life, they form an alliance to plot his death. Killing him is the easy part however – making sure that he is dead proves to be more difficult. A remake of the 1955 French suspense classic.
This misbegotten remake loses almost everything that made the original French film so effective. The biggest misfire when it comes to this film would have to be the performances on display from the main two actresses. Sharon Stone goes very big as the mistress, Nicole, as director Jeremiah Chechik gives her free reign to chew the scenery every moment she is on screen. This may be a different direction for the adaptation, but it at least injects some unhinged energy to the proceedings. The same cannot be said for Isabelle Adjani’s performance as the wife, Mia. Adjani is practically sleepwalking through her role in a way that drains the film of any excitement. Kathy Bates attempts to resuscitate the film as a private investigator, but even her excellent turn can only do so much. The film is heavy-handed and filled with unbelievable dialogue that simply does not work. If you watch this film ironically as an overly campy tale, you will likely get much more enjoyment from it instead of comparing it to the actually-good original version.
Incognito (1997)
Master art forger Harry Donovan (Jason Patric) accepts a commission to paint a fake Rembrandt that could end up being worth a small fortune. While working on the painting, he romances art student Marieke (Irène Jacob), who later reveals herself to be a Rembrandt expert employed by the men who hired Harry to make the forgery. Marieke believes that the painting won’t pass for a genuine Rembrandt, and Harry’s employers are rather displeased with his failure, forcing him to flee for his life.
This thriller from director John Badham proves to be the strongest of the three films featured here, but that is not saying too much. Jason Patric proves to be passable as an incredibly talented artist who has been situationally forced into a seedier side of the art world. The real highlight of the film is Irène Jacob as the utterly charming Marike, who helps make the audience care even a little bit about what happens to Harry. The actual thrills presented in the film are minor, but it does a suitable job of telling an engaging narrative filled with a fair amount of suspense. The actual process of painting the forgery ends up being one of the more compelling aspects of the movie. Incognito is an ambitious film that falters when it tries to weave in too many narrative strands that are at best confusing, and at worst uninteresting. Thankfully, the majority of the film goes down easily as a pleasing art thriller with a few exceptional moments. The film will not knock your socks off, but it will get you through a long weekend afternoon pretty well.
The In-Crowd (2000)
Adrien Williams has spent time at a psychiatric hospital, learning to come to terms with a troubled past and is looking for a quiet, anonymous life as she begins to re-enter society. But she is too beautiful and self-possessed to be overlooked by the “in crowd” at the club -a clique of attractive, wealthy people led by Brittany Foster, their leader. Brittany takes Adrien under her wing, showing her the benefits of the privileged life and introducing her to other members of her inner circle.
The In-Crowd is a Lifetime film that somehow snuck into being a theatrically released film from a major studio. On a purely artistic level, this film is a garbage fire that easily ranks as the worst of this trio of releases. But, if you are one who loves your films extremely campy and over-the-top with painfully wooden performances, you may find yourself loving this in a so-bad-it’s-good type of way. None of the choices that are made during the course of this film would qualify as a reasonable choice anyone would make under normal circumstances. The “titillating” sex scenes that are thrown in here barely register as anything erotic or enjoyable. The performances from everyone involved are as if the actors were reading from a cue card just off screen. I really hate to be so hard on a production where I know a lot of people put in hard work, but this film does not even appear to be trying to be anything good. If you end up laughing your head off at it for ironic reasons, then I will be glad that the film provided something good for someone.
Video Quality
These three titles are crammed onto a single Blu-Ray disc courtesy of Mill Creek Entertainment with ancient 1080p masters that result in some very unimpressive transfers. Not that any of these films particularly deserve a high quality transfer, but if you are going to take the time to release them each film should at least get their own disc. The compression artifacts present are quite unsightly to behold. The colors lack any sort of vibrancy to make any of the films pop, even in the HD-ready beach setting of The In Crowd. The three films somehow get worse in quality the newer the film gets, with Diabolique looking the strongest and The In Crowd looking the weakest. Skin tones look fairly natural, but the black levels are very problematic and blocky. The presentation is at its best during brightly lit daytime shots that are showing close-ups. Mill Creek Entertainment should have dropped The In Crowd and focused on giving a higher bit rate to the other two if they really needed to keep it to one disc. These transfers are better than DVD quality, but not as much as you might hope.
Audio Quality
This new Blu-Ray set comes with lossless DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio mixes for the three films that are better than the video presentation in terms of quality. The dialogue holds up decently well, coming though clearly without being stepped on by the score or sound effects. The environmental effects are unobtrusive but fairly noticeable in the presentation. These tracks do exhibit some instances of age related wear and tear and distortion, and you cannot help but feel that they could have been a bit more dynamic under different circumstances. These tracks should have been cleaned up a bit more to showcase the best versions, but they still get the job done well enough. Optional English subtitles are provided on this disc.
Special Features
There are no special features included on this disc.
Final Thoughts
These three thrillers range from decent to downright terrible. There are some very entertaining moments interspersed through these three stories, but none of the three ever make a case for being truly essential. Mill Creek Entertainment has crammed three films onto one Blu-Ray disc which does not do the A/V presentation any favors. If you are a fan of any of these films, this will probably be the best you ever get on Blu-Ray.
Diabolique/Incognito/The In Crowd Dramatic Thrillers 3-Pack is currently available to purchase on Blu-Ray + Digital Combo Pack.
Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.
Disclaimer: Mill Creek Entertainment has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.
Dillon is most comfortable sitting around in a theatre all day watching both big budget and independent movies.
