The budget for WWE Films’ 2006 slasher vehicle, See No Evil, was $8 million. For a traditional slasher, this was and still remains an astronomical figure. For reference, the budget for the first Saw flick, released by Lionsgate two years prior, was around $1.2 million. This makes sense considering that the overall scope of Saw’s production was infinitesimal when compared to See No Evil’s elaborate sets comprising half a dozen floors of an enormous hotel. Unfortunately for Lionsgate, See No Evil brought in just over $15 million worldwide, while the first Saw brought in nearly $103 million and spawned a series which has garnered $618 million in worldwide returns in five years. It’s why we’ll never see a See No Evil 2, but that shouldn’t let you think the first isn’t worth your dollars, or at the least, the time it takes to add it to your queue.
The film tells the story of Jacob Goodnight (WWE favorite, Kane) and his tragic past, and also of the kids that spend the night in his pad, on a little relieve from the delinquency center. Goodnight isn’t exactly the type of person one should go marking their territory around. Armed with muscles even greater than those of Kane’s brother, The Undertaker, and a mean-ass hook he swings around with surprising ease and versatility, he has a tendency to make intruders wish they had stayed wherever the hell else they were before getting to the Blackwell Hotel.
And speaking of the hotel, it’s good to know the budget went somewhere for this flick. As creepy old burned up places go, it’s hard to do better. The production design is really impressive, often drawing your attention away from whatever you’re supposed to be looking at. It’s also notable that not every torched, roach-ridden hallway looks like all the other torched, roach-ridden hallways. The attention to detail in the set design is really tremendous, almost helping you figure out which floors got hit the worst when the hotel went up in flames, all those years ago...
Aside from that major plus, I’m sorry to say the movie just isn’t as clever as something like this needs to be these days. There have been thousands of slasher movies over the last 40 or 50 years, and any attempts to revitalize the genre need to have something the rest of the pack doesn’t. Multi-million dollar production values just don’t cut it when you’re looking at such a notably average picture. It doesn’t throw any surprises at you until you’re likely zoning out, and it just doesn’t have enough wit to sustain even its scant 84-minute runtime. Watching the film the first time through can be a fully rewarding experience, but I made three attempts to sit down for a second viewing and failed to make it further than an hour.
Blu-ray Picture and Sound:
As I expected going in, knowing the film’s rich, grimy aesthetic, See No Evil looks glorious in HD. Every few minutes I was actually pulled out of the picture by how beautifully detailed everything was. The makeup on Jacob Goodnight’s arms alone seems more layered and impressive than I’m sure it even looked in the theater. Black levels are convincing and skin texture looks better than real life when in close-up. The disc could serve as demo material if you’re a real sadist.
On the audio front, atmospheric establishing shots sound as good as they look. Thunder is booming and old creaky floorboards, flies jutting around and fleshy hook noises truly stand out amongst the crowd, especially given this disc’s rather low-key release. A wonderful surprise, which may inspire another viewing in the distant future, and if you’re 7.1 capable, you’re in luck.
Blu-ray Bonus Features
All the features from the standard-def release have been carried over, including two commentaries, your basic featurettes and some storyboard-to-film comparison pieces. All told it’s a remarkably impressive disc for such an underwhelming film, but like I said – it’s more than worth a rental. And with its brilliant audio and video, the rather comforting price tag may warrant a purchase. To illustrate, I recently purchased Pieces on standard DVD. It’s a Spanish language grindhouse flick made to cash in on Texas Chain Saw Massacre. That disc was more expensive than Amazon’s got the Blu-ray of See No Evil for (And also the Blu-ray of… The Texas Chain Saw Massacre).
"See No Evil" is on sale August 18, 2009 and is rated R. Horror. Directed by Gregory Dark. Written by Dan Madigan. Starring Christina Vidal, Kane, Michael J Pagan, Samantha Noble.
