Cruel and Unusual

Art Stoner (Tom Berenger) is a serial killer, which is established in the opening scene of this film when he murders his lover for no apparent reason. He then decides to hitchhike and gets a lift from Adam Terrell, a lecturer who is on sabbatical and heading to live in a lighthouse while writing his first novel. Art and Adam get very friendly on their road trip and then again for no apparent reason, Art kills Adam. He then assumes his identity and heads for the sleepy coastal town and the secluded lighthouse that his victim had been bound for.

In the town he meets Kate (Rachel Hayward), who gives him directions to the lighthouse. She kills fish for a living and is resigned to spending the rest of her life as a single woman of the sea until she meets Art, who is now Adam. Confused yet? Kate’s father has died recently and her troublesome brother has returned home from Chicago after getting on the wrong side of the law. Kate has found her brother Mike (Tygh Runyan) a job as a lighthouse keeper, where he will be working with Adam.

"I make them happy before they die."

Also known as Watchtower, this film is a touch lacking in the story department. The characters are never really established enough so that you would care too much whether they live or die and the only really interesting character is that of Adam. Berenger does do a good job here, but with a limited script he has trouble making the character too scary, even though the audience is aware of his hidden talents from the first scene. It all just seems a matter of waiting for the penultimate climax and trying to guess how it will end. The story is reasonable, but it just seems to plod along without ever really getting anywhere.

Overall Cruel and Unusual is a mediocre film. The performance of Berenger as a serial killer is good, but he seems wasted in this role. The scenery is great and the cast are reasonably suited to their roles, but the potential cat and mouse story never eventuates. A film like this should contain a lot more twists and turns and really needs to develop the characters further. The character of Adam is obviously a complex one, but little is given away as to why he kills, nor his reasoning for victim selection. The film is watchable, but you could quite easily lose interest or even go make a cup of tea and not miss much. This is a decent enough rental film, but nothing more.

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 and 16x9 enhanced, this is a very clean transfer. The scenery is stunning and is captured beautifully. Picture is sharp throughout with the only problem being the occasional loss of detail in darker scenes. Film artefacts are rare as is grain and aliasing. There is a multitude of subtitles supplied and the English ones viewed are accurate to what is said on screen. There is no layer change on this single layer disc.

Audio supplied is a choice of English, French and Russian Dolby Digital 5.1. Sound is very good throughout, with some excellent use of separation for directional effects. Some fine examples of this are when the wind can be heard surrounding the lighthouse and also the sound of seagulls hovering around the fishing boat. Dialogue is clear at all times with no synch problems. Supporting music is well suited and subtle enough to not dominate scenes.

A few minor extras accompany this release. Firstly is a Theatrical Trailer which runs for 1:13. Next are some Filmographies for director George Mihalka, stars Tom Berenger, Rachel Hayward and Tygh Runyan. Lastly is a Photo Gallery which contains 22 pictures from the film itself and behind the scenes.

Overall this film is reasonably weak, but certianly not the worst out there. The saving graces are the performance of Berenger along with the very good video and audio transfer. The negative aspects are the slowness and predicability of the story. Possibly worth a rental if there is nothing else on offer.