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Forsaken, The
Columbia/Tri-Star // R // September 25, 2001
List Price: $24.98 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
The Movie:
Sort of a vampire movie for the WB set ("From Dusk Till Dawson's Creek", anyone?), "The Forsaken" is a low-budget effort that occasionally manages to provide some mild thrills. It also doesn't shy away from the R-rating, showing not only some violence, but some mild doses of nudity, as well (the film literally starts with a scene of "Coyote Ugly"'s Izabella Miko topless in a shower). If anything, "The Forsaken" is better than "Dracula 2000", but that's not saying a great deal.
The film stars Kerr Smith ("Dawson's Creek") as Sean, a film editor who's training for bigger and better things. His employer will pay him if he delivers a car across country, which will also allow him to get to his sister's wedding. Along the way, he meets Nick (Brendan Fehr, looking occasionally a little like Jason Lee), who is a remarkably strange individual. Eventually, Nick lets Sean in on the fact that he's been hunting a pack of vampires around these parts for years.
The vampires, lead by Kit (Johnathon Schaech), are also on the hunt themselves for new recruits. As the film goes on, we find out that Nick's been bitten himself and it's only due to a coctail of drugs that he's kept normal. The only way that he can save himself, Sean and the freshly bitten Megan (Miko) is to kill off the last of the breed.
The performances are rather limited across the board. Smith can't carry the film too well, nor does Fehr make much of an action hero (although he's the better of the two). Schaech overacts, but at least gives a rather energetic performance. There's not a great deal required of Miko, except to freak out, pass out or be topless; she has a lot of screen time, but only a few lines of dialogue (another character actually says about her character, "doesn't say much, does she?" Guess not. Her "Coyote Ugly" role seems demanding in comparison.
Although I appreciated the fact that "The Forsaken" took on a more serious tone than the genre-referencing similar pictures that have come out in the past few years. That doesn't mean that it made the film effective, though. I didn't particularly find anything interesting about the main two characters and that made it difficult to care about what happened. Further attempts to jazz things up with rapid-fire editing and an agressive sound mix really don't make the film any more interesting.
Many wonder why teen horror pictures like "The Forsaken" continue to be made. In this case, the film only cost five million dollars and, although not by a massive amount, the film ended up making a profit. I'd hope that studios will eventually realize that the genre has really run out of ideas, but as long as these films turn a profit and can be cheaply made, they'll still likely come out from time to time. In fact, the ending of this film actually makes it apparent that there might even be a sequel.
The DVD
VIDEO: "The Forsaken" is presented in both 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen and pan & scan on this dual-sided DVD. The 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer is generally rather good, but there were some concerns throughout the movie. Sharpness and detail are generally solid, but not exceptional; some moments appeared a little on the softer side and some of the film's darkest scenes looked a little murky.
Some other little problems arose during the presentation. I didn't see any major signs of wear, but the occasional speckles popped up infrequently throughout the movie. No pixelation was seen, but there were a few small instances of visible edge enhancement; nothing that was too distracting or made the viewing experience suffer. With the dusty locations, colors were generally subdued. Colors did look slightly heavy during a few scenes that presented brighter colors, but this was a minor complaint. A respectable transfer, but not a top-notch one.
SOUND: "Forsaken" is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1. The film's soundtrack attempts to engage the audience by pushing the sound effects heavily into the surrounds. The film's explosions, metal score and other elements are often agressively offered by the surrounds, especially during the film's action sequences. Audio quality generally seemed to be solid: effects sounded crisp and rich, while the metal score sounded powerful without being shrill. Dialogue sounded muffled a few times, but otherwise came through clearly. Not consistently heavy, but a suprisingly agressive presentation at times.
MENUS:: Basic, non-animated menus that essentially use film-themed images as backgrounds.
EXTRAS::
Commentary: This is a commentary from director J.S Cardone. The commentary is rather low-key, but informative. The director discusses the genesis of the project, as well as what it was like to work with a low-budget production that had to move fast throughout the desert locations to keep things under budget. The director chats about the concepts that this story tried to bring to the genre as well as stories about working with the film's young cast. Some may find this track a little slow at times, but I thought it the director carried the track nicely, never falling back on simply telling what's currently going on.
Deleted Scenes: Three deleted scenes are presented, but don't have additional commentary to discuss why these scenes were deleted. The scenes are presented in rough form, with time code at the bottom.
Also: 2 short featurettes; one on the film's stuntwork and one on star Fehr; trailers for "Forsaken", "Bram Stoker's Dracula", "Ghosts of Mars", "John Carpenter's Vampires" and "Hollow Man" as well as filmographies.
Final Thoughts: Not particularly scary or entertaining, "The Forsaken" could have been better. Tristar's DVD presents the film with very good image quality, but audio that's unexpectedly surround-heavy at times. Could interest fans of the genre as a rental, although they should likely go in with low expectations.
Sort of a vampire movie for the WB set ("From Dusk Till Dawson's Creek", anyone?), "The Forsaken" is a low-budget effort that occasionally manages to provide some mild thrills. It also doesn't shy away from the R-rating, showing not only some violence, but some mild doses of nudity, as well (the film literally starts with a scene of "Coyote Ugly"'s Izabella Miko topless in a shower). If anything, "The Forsaken" is better than "Dracula 2000", but that's not saying a great deal.
The film stars Kerr Smith ("Dawson's Creek") as Sean, a film editor who's training for bigger and better things. His employer will pay him if he delivers a car across country, which will also allow him to get to his sister's wedding. Along the way, he meets Nick (Brendan Fehr, looking occasionally a little like Jason Lee), who is a remarkably strange individual. Eventually, Nick lets Sean in on the fact that he's been hunting a pack of vampires around these parts for years.
The vampires, lead by Kit (Johnathon Schaech), are also on the hunt themselves for new recruits. As the film goes on, we find out that Nick's been bitten himself and it's only due to a coctail of drugs that he's kept normal. The only way that he can save himself, Sean and the freshly bitten Megan (Miko) is to kill off the last of the breed.
The performances are rather limited across the board. Smith can't carry the film too well, nor does Fehr make much of an action hero (although he's the better of the two). Schaech overacts, but at least gives a rather energetic performance. There's not a great deal required of Miko, except to freak out, pass out or be topless; she has a lot of screen time, but only a few lines of dialogue (another character actually says about her character, "doesn't say much, does she?" Guess not. Her "Coyote Ugly" role seems demanding in comparison.
Although I appreciated the fact that "The Forsaken" took on a more serious tone than the genre-referencing similar pictures that have come out in the past few years. That doesn't mean that it made the film effective, though. I didn't particularly find anything interesting about the main two characters and that made it difficult to care about what happened. Further attempts to jazz things up with rapid-fire editing and an agressive sound mix really don't make the film any more interesting.
Many wonder why teen horror pictures like "The Forsaken" continue to be made. In this case, the film only cost five million dollars and, although not by a massive amount, the film ended up making a profit. I'd hope that studios will eventually realize that the genre has really run out of ideas, but as long as these films turn a profit and can be cheaply made, they'll still likely come out from time to time. In fact, the ending of this film actually makes it apparent that there might even be a sequel.
The DVD
VIDEO: "The Forsaken" is presented in both 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen and pan & scan on this dual-sided DVD. The 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer is generally rather good, but there were some concerns throughout the movie. Sharpness and detail are generally solid, but not exceptional; some moments appeared a little on the softer side and some of the film's darkest scenes looked a little murky.
Some other little problems arose during the presentation. I didn't see any major signs of wear, but the occasional speckles popped up infrequently throughout the movie. No pixelation was seen, but there were a few small instances of visible edge enhancement; nothing that was too distracting or made the viewing experience suffer. With the dusty locations, colors were generally subdued. Colors did look slightly heavy during a few scenes that presented brighter colors, but this was a minor complaint. A respectable transfer, but not a top-notch one.
SOUND: "Forsaken" is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1. The film's soundtrack attempts to engage the audience by pushing the sound effects heavily into the surrounds. The film's explosions, metal score and other elements are often agressively offered by the surrounds, especially during the film's action sequences. Audio quality generally seemed to be solid: effects sounded crisp and rich, while the metal score sounded powerful without being shrill. Dialogue sounded muffled a few times, but otherwise came through clearly. Not consistently heavy, but a suprisingly agressive presentation at times.
MENUS:: Basic, non-animated menus that essentially use film-themed images as backgrounds.
EXTRAS::
Commentary: This is a commentary from director J.S Cardone. The commentary is rather low-key, but informative. The director discusses the genesis of the project, as well as what it was like to work with a low-budget production that had to move fast throughout the desert locations to keep things under budget. The director chats about the concepts that this story tried to bring to the genre as well as stories about working with the film's young cast. Some may find this track a little slow at times, but I thought it the director carried the track nicely, never falling back on simply telling what's currently going on.
Deleted Scenes: Three deleted scenes are presented, but don't have additional commentary to discuss why these scenes were deleted. The scenes are presented in rough form, with time code at the bottom.
Also: 2 short featurettes; one on the film's stuntwork and one on star Fehr; trailers for "Forsaken", "Bram Stoker's Dracula", "Ghosts of Mars", "John Carpenter's Vampires" and "Hollow Man" as well as filmographies.
Final Thoughts: Not particularly scary or entertaining, "The Forsaken" could have been better. Tristar's DVD presents the film with very good image quality, but audio that's unexpectedly surround-heavy at times. Could interest fans of the genre as a rental, although they should likely go in with low expectations.
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