The only audio option on this disc is a Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo track in English. And like the video, it's quite good. There are no problems with hiss or distortion and overall things are nice and clean sounding here with some great use of stereo effects towards the end of the film. Levels are properly balanced and there are no problems with the dialogue getting buried in the score or the sound effects. The background music is punchy enough but not overbearing and it fits the movie nicely. Optional subtitles are available in English and in Italian.
No Shame has supplied a wealth of supplements with this release, spread across the two discs in the set as follows:
DISC ONE:
First up is an audio commentary by writer/director Mariano Baino which is moderated by No Shame Films producer Michele De Angelis. Baino has got a lot to say about this film and he's obviously very passionate about this project and about filmmaking in general. He gives us plenty of information on the location shooting and why specific places were chosen in addition to casting information and the like. He covers some of the effects set pieces and discusses pre-production planning in a fair bit of detail. Whenever he slows down De Angelis is there to prod him with another question and to keep him talking and the result is a well-paced discussion that covers quite a bit of ground.
Up next are a handful of deleted scenes that didn't make it into the final, finished version of the movie for various reasons. While it's interesting to see this stuff, having it put back into the film wouldn't have really added much and it probably would have slowed the pace down a fair bit. Regardless, there are some extra bits and pieces of characterization and a few expository scenes that are interesting enough to make this worth checking out.
Deep Into Dark Waters is an excellent and very comprehensive featurette on the making of Dark Waters that includes interviews with Baino in addition to actress Louise Salter, cameraman Steve Brooke Smith, co-editor Rick Littler and producer Nigel Dali. At just shy of an hour in length, this documentary covers a lot of ground and it's great to hear from the participants about their experiences on set. Additionally, there is a wealth of behind the scenes photographs used throughout this piece, taken from Baino's own collection, that really do a good job of giving us a feel for the conditions under which the movie was made.
Rounding out the extra features on this disc is a still gallery of production photos and conceptual artwork, a brief silent blooper reel with audio commentary from Baino, and an introduction to the film from Baino who talks in the dark lit only by a candle! Animated menus and chapter stops for the feature are also included.
DISC TWO: The Short Films Of Mariano Baino
In addition to all of the Dark Waters related supplements, No Shame has included a second disc that compiles some of Baino's other projects on home video for the first time in North America.
Up first is a sixteen-minute shot on video short film entitled Dream Car which was Mariano Baino's first professional short film project. Dream Car is presented in a decent English language Dolby Digital Mono sound mix. This movie was made for Italian television and in a nutshell it's the story of a young man who wants nothing more than a fancy car to call his own. The more he wants it, the more he begins to obsess over it and as his obsession grows stronger and stronger his world starts to spiral out of control and his life takes a very drastic turn.
Caruncula is up next, it's a twenty-minute 16mm production taken from the original materials. Caruncula is presented in a crisp English language Dolby Digital Mono sound mix. This is a strange and fairly disturbing movie that deals with a woman and her innate desire to eat human flesh. While the story is quite basic, what makes this one stand out is the cinematography and that atmosphere and the use of color. It's a very lush looking film with plenty of eerie mood to compliment the strange happenings that occur as the story plays out.
The third film is Bain's latest project, Never, Ever After, a thirteen-minute production taken from the original Digital Betacam master. Never, Ever After is presented in a surprisingly strong English language Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound mix. Also made for Italian television, this sort of picks up where Baino left off with Dark Waters in terms of technique and composition. It's a fairy tale of sorts about a woman who cannot be happy with the way she looks no matter how hard she tries. When she learns of a new procedure that will help her change her appearance to the way she wants it to be, she jumps at the chance but of course things don't go quite as she planned or as she'd hoped.
In addition to the films, No Shame has included a featurette entitled The Making Never Ever After which is a twenty-minute look behind the scenes footage of the production. Included in here are interviews with Baino, his cinematographer and his lead actress as well as some on set footage shot during production. Also look for some stills and storyboard artwork scattered throughout here, making this a pretty interesting look at how this short film was put together.
All three of the short films on this disc include optional audio commentary tracks by Baino, once again moderated by No Shame Films producer Michele De Angelis. As with the discussion over the feature, these commentary tracks are quite interesting as Baino tells us where the ideas came from and why each short film was made. He covers casting and working on a low budget and tells us about location shooting and what he was trying to accomplish with each short.
Rounding out the extra features on this second disc is the complete screenplay for Never After in Adobe Acrobat PDF format (you'll need a DVD-Rom to access this), a video for Cecily Faye's The Face And The Body that Baino directed, and some nice photo and artwork galleries for the three shorts. Animated menus and chapter stops are also included for this disc.
If the content on the two discs weren't enough, No Shame has also included a forty-eight page insert booklet that includes some interesting production artwork, storyboards, script pages, an introduction by Mariano Baino, some brief liner notes, and director's biography for Baino. Also included inside the massive box that this limited edition set ships in is a replica of the demonic amulet that is seen throughout the film. This isn't a cheap plastic toy, this thing has got some serious weight to it and it actually looks amazingly authentic – it's a nice touch, and a demonstration of No Shame's commitment to really going the extra mile with some of their releases.
Final Thoughts:
Dark Waters is an atmospheric and creepy horror film that deserves to find a wider audience and No Shame's stellar two disc collector's edition release might just make that happen. The film looks and sounds fantastic and they've really gone the extra mile by including a wealth of supplements that not only explain the film and put it into context but delve into the history of the man who made it as well. Highly recommended!
Ian lives in NYC with his fiance where he writes for DVD Talk and for AV Maniacs. He likes NYC a lot, even if it is expensive and loud.
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