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Snatchers (2019)
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment
Blu-ray Disc Released: 2/18/2020
All Ratings out of
Movie:
1/2
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
1/2
Review by Mike Long, Posted on 2/11/2020
This statement is going to sound odd to most, but as I get older, I appreciate
Re-Animator more and more.
Stuart Gordon’s 1985 masterpiece, loosely based on stories by H.P. Lovecraft, is
a gory as it is clever – A wild ride that still comes across as shocking today.
Which raises the question, why don’t more films attempt to mimic this
approach? Sure, we get plenty of
gory movies, but most are boring and pedestrian.
And, we get weird films which try something different, but usually get
bogged down in their own pretentiousness.
Where are the movies which want to push the envelope, but still be
entertaining and fun? Could
Snatchers be that movie?
High school student Sara (Mary Nepi) is shocked when her boyfriend, Skyler
(Austin Fryberger), states that he wants to break up.
Determined to maintain their relationship, Sara decides that she will
finally relent and have sex with Skyler, despite the fact that he doesn’t have
protection. The next morning, Sara
awakens to find that she is pregnant, and by pregnant, I mean that she already
has a protruding belly. Unsure of
what to do, she reaches out to her estranged friend, Hayley (Gabrielle Elyse).
Together, they visit a doctor’s office, which is where Sara learns the
truth – there is a monster growing inside of her.
Now, she must avoid letter her mom know that she’s expecting, while she
attempts to find Skyler and figure out how this could have happened.
Little does Sara know that her bun in the oven could be a threat to the
entire planet.
Before we move on with this review, let’s get one thing out of the way; I’m sick
and tired of the “friend who got left behind” plot.
This seems to be cropping up in more and more movies, and it often
involves females. You know exactly
what I’m talking about – They were friends as kids, possibly through middle
school, but in high school, one became more popular and they drifted apart.
Now, thanks to the movie’s story, they must reunite and help one another.
Do people drift apart? Of
course, they do, but we’ve reached a point where this is simply lazy writing,
and it becomes an odd way to show that the superficial character can grow and
rekindle the friendship with her lost companion.
Here’s an idea, don’t have her be mean in the first place.
OK, but to our review. Snatchers
has seemingly come out of nowhere, and it’s a interesting little movie.
It plays as a very clever hybrid of a coming-of-age high school story and
a monster movie. I can only imagine
that the team behind Snatchers pitched it as “Juno meets
Predator”. As odd as it sounds,
the movie deftly mixes shades of Alien and The Hidden with a
Superbad-like story in which teenaged friends must go on an unplanned
adventure. The first act focuses on
Sara and her sudden situation, but it ends with a shocking gore scene which will
make even jaded viewers (like myself) sit up and take notice.
From that point, the movie is off and running, slowly morphing from
teenage comedy to all-out monster movie.
Still, throughout, the film never loses its sense of play.
I wouldn’t necessarily call the movie a comedy, although it does have
some funny moments, but it does find a nice balance between scenes in which
multiple people die and more lighthearted moments.
And, as odd as this may sound, it’s all done with good taste.
The opening credits, which are, again, clearly a homage to Alien,
imply that what we are about to watch will not only be gory, but contained some
gross sex stuff as well. The letter
does not occur, while the former is kept to somewhat of a minimum.
Yes, there are monsters here and there is blood here, but the movie never
slows its pace to be over the top when it comes to grue.
This leads us to the one real problem with Snatchers, it’s too
restrained. Based on the first
violent scene and the fact that the movie is about a teenage girl who lost her
virginity and was impregnated with a monster, I thought that the were in for an
over-the-top treat. However,
filmmakers Stephen Cedars, Benji Kleiman and Scott Yacyshyn manage to hold onto
the reins. The result is a film
which is certainly playful and fun, but it never “goes there”.
And I’m sure that will be fine for most, but as someone who is always
searching for the next Re-Animator, I was disappointed.
Snatchers is a nice first effort.
Maybe next time they’ll truly throw caution to the wind and make
something which will blow us away.
Snatchers
also throws in a Terminator reference for good measure on Blu-ray Disc
courtesy of Warner Bros. Home Entertainment.
The film has been letterboxed at 2.35:1 and the Disc contains an AVC
1080p HD transfer which runs at an average of 15 Mbps.
(Warner releases aren’t known for their high bitrates, but even for them,
that’s low.) The image is sharp and
clear, showing no overt grain and no defects from the source materials.
The colors look good and the image is never overly dark or bright.
The level of detail is good, and the depth works well.
If anything, the picture isn’t quite as crisp as most other new movies
that we see. The Disc carries a
DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track which runs at 48 kHz and an average of 2.5 Mbps.
The track provides clear dialogue and sound effects.
We get several scenes here in which the mix highlights individual sounds
in the front and rear speakers.
These contain moments where sounds coming from off-screen are very important.
The subwoofer effects kick into gear during the monster sequences.
The Snatchers Blu-ray Disc contains a few extra features.
We begin with an AUDIO COMMENTARY from Co-Directors/Co-Writers Stephen
Cedars & Benji Kleiman and Co-Writer Scott Yacyshyn.
“The Birth of Snatchers: A Behind-the-Scenes Look” (14 minutes)
has Cedars, Kleiman, and Yacyshyn opening the conversation about how the film
came together and what their goals were.
They then break down some key scenes.
We also get some comments from the cast.
“Unexpected: The Snatchers Blooper Reel” (4 minutes) is a real of
gaffes. The extras are rounded out
by 2 TRAILERS for the film.