Body at Brighton Rock - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Body at Brighton Rock



Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:


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Movie
We’ve had countless movies over the last 50 years showing us why staying outside of nature can be a good thing, as mother nature can be a cruel mistress for those alone in the wilds. Real life hunters, explorers and general hikers have all been prey to her wonderful beauty but heartless revenge when they underestimate her. Body at Brighton Rock is the latest in these types of film warnings, stemming from first time director Roxanne Benjamin. The movies tries to be part 80s thriller, part psychological horror, and a little bit of Stephen King at the same time (more the twist ending for the final few moments). Body at Brighton Rock’s tone is a bit all over the place, but finds it’s main draw due to the realistic reactions of main heroine, Wendy (Karina Fontes), who is the single stabilizing force to this slightly overstretched thriller.

They say that you’re only as strong as the weakest link in life, and Wendy (Karina Fontes) is the weakest link for Brighton Rock National Park. She’s a part time summer employee who’s constantly late, not given much responsibility due to her flightiness, and can’t even see that she’s considered the “weak” one of the team. However, she gets a chance at something bigger when she trades shifts with her friend Maya (Emily Althaus) so that Maya can spend time with a hunky boy she’s been drooling over lately. Wendy’s new responsibility is taking care of a complex hiking trail that goes miles into the wilderness for the day’s work shift.

Wendy soon gets lost on the trail, forgetting her map on a rock and wandering away from the staked trail. Unable to find her way back she discovers a fallen body at the base of a giant ridge. Radioing for help, Wendy is reluctantly told to stay put as the fire and forest service is 6 hours our and night is coming soon. They’re going to have to come in the morning, leaving Wendy to fend for herself overnight against whatever predators are out there, whether those predators are on two sets of legs or four.

The film is all over the place with tone and “feel” of the thriller. This is a slow burn thriller, but the tone shifts dramatically from a light and airy “80s” feel for the first 30 minutes, to a much more terrifying and sinister tone once Wendy finds the body. Being that they aren’t sure if it’s a crime scene, Wendy’s imagination gets the best of her, as she sees and hears every little crunch and crack in the night, including some fear based hallucinations about the body moving. This middle (and part of the end) section of the film is probably the best, as Roxanne Benjamin crafts a pretty fun tale of a scared teenager having to come to grips with her own self doubts and fears.

The ending is almost two fold. The first ending is brutal and gory, with a nice solid ending that fits in well with Wendy’s struggle for survival in the wilderness, but here is where things get wonky. Roxanne spends the last 5 minutes of the film turning things into a surprise twist that feels like it would be more comfortable in a 1963 episode of The Twilight Zone, or something out of a Stephen King story. This ending just doesn’t make ANY sense at all, and it’s almost best to act as if this little twist doesn’t exist, as it is really not congruent with the rest of the story.

Karina Fontes is really the main character for 95% of the film. We get a few minutes of opening backstory with Maya and a few others, but once Karina gets on the trail in the first 10 minutes of the story, the only other people she interacts with are at the VERY end of the film, and a mysterious hunter named Red (Casey Adams), who sadly is only in the film for about 5 minutes or so. Karina actually is the best part of the whole story, and rises above the disjointed writing and tonal shifts that happen throughout with a very consistent character arc of overcoming fears.




Rating:

Rated R for language and some bloody images




Video:

I could find next to no information on the cameras used, or the master’s resolution for Body at Brighton Rock, but it’s got a very digital look to for sure. The imagery is rather flat, with a desaturated looking color palette and some artifacting here and there. There’s an overexposed look to the brightness levels in outdoor shots, while dark scenes (such as when Wendy spends the nights by her dead body) shows noises spikes and very very grey and flat looking black levels. General clarity is actually quite good most of the time, with the overexposed daylight shots showing lots of fine detail in the wilderness and up close. There’s some pretty significant banding in the night sky, but otherwise it’s a fairly solid picture.









Audio:

Audio is a bit better, as the creepy film has nice ambiance to it. The outdoors has wind whipping through the trees, and the creek and groan of branches come through in the surround channels, and the LFE is actually pretty intense at times. The roaring of the bear is thunderous, and the score accents are wildly powerful. Dialog is crisp and clear for the most part (although some of the voices coming over the radio are a bit garbled (intentionally)








Extras:

• Commentary with Director Roxanne Benjamin and Star Karina Fontes
• A Wild Place to Film
• A Walk in the Woods
• Working With a Bear
• Photo Gallery
• Theatrical Trailers

Final Score: ​

Body at Brighton Rock may have some problems with it, but at it’s core is a very solid psychological thriller that just has trouble with realizing a lot of those thrills. Wendy is a very relatable character and her journey is well realized despite some cheesy “zombie” moments and a twist ending that really is best left ignored. I had fun with the movie, but just can’t help but wonder if Body at Brighton Rock would have done better as an hour long episode in an anthology horror series rather than as a standalone movie. Either way, Magnolia’s Blu-ray sports decent video, good audio and some nice (if not a bit sparse) extras to chew through. Worth a watch in my humble opinion.



Technical Specifications:

Starring: Karina Fontes, Casey Adams, Emily Althaus, Miranda Bailey, Martin Spanjers, Matt Peters, Susan Burke
Directed by: Roxanne Benjamin
Written by: Roxanne Benjamin
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1
Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish
Studio: Magnolia Pictures
Rated: R
Runtime: 88 minutes
Blu-Ray Release Date: July 30th, 2019

Recommendation: Solid Rental/Solid Watch

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. Never heard of this movie. After reading, I am interested. Will check it out on amazon prime/netflix once available.

 

[Todd Anderson]

Cover art is a bit of a throw back. Looks like something you would have seen on the front of a Hardy Boys or Nancy Drew book back in the day!

I'll probably dig this flick up on Netflix at some point. Looks interesting!

 

[Michael Scott]

It has a strangely 80s vibe to it Todd. Hard to put my finger on why, but the dialog really felt like it

 

[Todd Anderson]

Hmmm... the word "Strangely"... a derivative of "Strange".... associated with 80s?

Sounds cool!

 

[Michael Scott]

Lol