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  Directed by
  Starring
  Specs
  • Widescreen 1.78:1
  • 16:9 Enhanced
  • Dual Layer (RSDL )
  Languages
  • English: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
  • English: Dolby Digital Surround
  Subtitles
    English
  Extras
  • 3 Deleted scenes
  • Theatrical trailer
  • Audio commentary - Actors Susan Ward and Lori Heuring
  • Cast/crew biographies
  • Isolated music score
  • Photo gallery
  • Interviews

The In Crowd

Roadshow Entertainment/Roadshow Entertainment . R4 . COLOR . 102 mins . MA15+ . PAL

  Feature
Contract

The inarguably suave and smooth Mr Bryan Ferry once crooned, "I'm in with the in crowd" - but we can rest safe in the knowledge that he certainly wasn't referring to the bunch of spoilt U.S. brats depicted in this film, for to be 'in' with this lot would certainly not be anything at all worthy of singing about.

Another in a steady procession of I Know What You Did Last Summer-type flicks, The In Crowd tells the tale of Saint Anastasia Psychiatric Hospital inmate Adrien, who amongst other things carries the delightful label of "erotomanic type" upon her record. With her parents having washed their hands of her, and considered deserving of a chance at freedom by one Dr Henry, she is released to take up a summer job as a cabana girl at the Cliffmont Country Club - where the ever-so-perfect looking progeny of the rich (or "royal swine") fritter away their summers at great expense to their parents, who if this lot is anything to go by would be well worth spending the money on simply to not have them around.

Anyway, after a round of "terrorise the new girl", Adrien ends up taken under the wing of "Queen" Brittany - a slave to lip gloss and the rather conniving leader of the rich kid gang - and between menial chores such as waiting tables, cleaning pools and fetching ice hangs out and participates in their usual summer activities - tennis, golf, sailing, partying and, of course, killing. Killing? Well, this is an attempt at a teen slasher flick, after all.

"Am I supposed to be scared now?"

Full of fairly unknown young actors that do a serviceable job as clotheshorses, The In Crowd fails to impress for the simple reason that it's a supposed thriller that's about as scary and thrills-laden as a newborn puppy. Mind you the couple of appearances of naked breasts, and one and a half girl-on-girl kissing scenes (one is supposed to be mouth to mouth resuscitation, but that no doubt won’t matter to the Beavis and Buttheads of the world) should at least ensure this gets a few rentals from testosterone-frenzied teenage boys with nothing better to do. Anybody else could do much better.

  Video
Contract

It's almost getting boring reviewing Village Roadshow releases of late, simply as it's rare that there is any thing to whinge about in the video department. This is another very good transfer, which is presented at a ratio of 1.78:1 and anamorphically enhanced. The layer change must be praised for being quite expertly placed, freezing as it does momentarily on a static scene right after a location transition and going by so that it is virtually unnoticeable.

Colour is rendered lovingly, the image is essentially sharp as a tack throughout and the many dark scenes - nighttime at the beach for example - generally display more than adequate shadow detail. If we were to be incredibly finicky it could be noted that there are a few miniscule flecks throughout the film's duration, a couple of very minor instances of aliasing and one point where a shirt tends to shimmer a little, however these foibles are certainly not in any way intrusive.

  Audio
Contract

The audio for The In Crowd comes to us via a decent enough Dolby Digital 5.1 mix. There isn’t an awful lot in the way of sonic fireworks to get your system performing cartwheels, however those extra speakers are deftly used to pad out music and occasional effects, with the subwoofwoof along for the ride lending some subtle oomph to proceedings. It's all synched perfectly, and things are generally easy to understand, although there are a couple of brief instances where lines are mumbled somewhat that may need a quick replay by some.

The score comes from Jeff Rona, and basically it is as teen horror flick as they come. Most all of the music is imbued with a certain spookiness, even when there is absolutely nothing spooky to be witnessed, which in all honesty is possibly this film's best weapon for allowing any form of an "ooh, what's gonna happen next?" vibe to exist at all. As is the norm with films such as this there's a plethora of 'pop' type songs throughout, although most all of these come from rather obscure artists - the fact that Tracy Bonham is possibly the only 'name' amongst them all should be an indication of this obscurity.

  Extras
Contract

A boring static and silent menu contains a fair selection of extras for those who wish to pursue them...

Cast and crew : A substantial list of cast and crew, four of which are selectable whereby short interview segments of the "I play…" variety come up in full screen with mono sound.

Commentary - actors Susan Ward and Lori Heuring: A pleasant and generally entertaining departure from the usual po-faced directorial commentaries, here the two female stars of the The In Crowd get to giggle lots, offer up a few amusing anecdotes from making the flick and cover those important, in-depth issues of movie making such as wardrobe, hair and makeup.

Isolated music score: For those that dig the sound without all that chitchat, here's Jeff Rona's score and the film's various songs presented in DD 5.1.

Theatrical trailer (1:53): 1.85:1, anamorphically enhanced, Dolby Digital Stereo sound, and a reasonably snappy and fast paced advertisement that more than does its job, making this film an entirely more intriguing looking prospect than it in fact is.

Photo gallery: 39 reasonably sized pictures, mostly stills from the film - what more can be said?

Deleted scenes: Three scenes that were severed, all non-anamorphic and of rather dubious quality. Pleasingly, brief written annotations are supplied for each giving reasons to their absence from the finished product.

Dolby Digital trailer: The wet, drippy one - kind of apt really...

  Overall  
Contract

Disc-wise quality can’t be faulted, very good sound and vision is accompanied by a reasonable selection of extras. Movie-wise though, full to the brim with clichés - the word "kill" is littered throughout in many seemingly innocuous ways, and those "ooh, somebody's watching" type shots abound just for starters - The In Crowd may have worked better if it had gone for more of a Scream or even, gulp, Scary Movie styled vibe. However, as it stands it's just plain dull and predictable - a "thriller" that contains about as many twists as the Nullarbor, and that isn't even as exciting to look at.

Still, it is always nice to see an appearance by the mailman from Better Off Dead, no matter how brief it may be...


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      And I quote...
    "Just plain dull and predictable - a "thriller" that contains about as many twists as the Nullarbor, and that isn't even as exciting to look at..."
    - Amy Flower
      Review Equipment
    • DVD Player:
          Pioneer DV-535
    • TV:
          Sony 68cm
    • Receiver:
          Onkyo TX-DS494
    • Speakers:
          DB Dynamics Eclipse RBS662
    • Centre Speaker:
          DB Dynamics Eclipse ECC442
    • Surrounds:
          DB Dynamics Eclipse ECR042
    • Subwoofer:
          DTX Digital 4.8
    • Audio Cables:
          Standard RCA
    • Video Cables:
          Standard Component RCA
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