Neighbours From Hell
March seems like an eternity ago. Bowie had passed but at least we still seemed to have a semblance of sanity left. Then we had some other greats pass on leaving the good Space Ship Earth with a few leaks in it’s bow, and then as if by some deranged marketing campaign for the Blu-ray/DVD release of Ben Wheatley’s ‘High-Rise’ (2015) we had millions voting to leave the EU despite one of the most corrupt political propaganda and outright lies there has been. I’m pretty sure it’s time to lock up your dogs before they’re barbecued. Chaos has a pop up shop.
The excitement and expectations for cinematic outré Ben Wheatley and ‘High-Rise’ were somewhat high off the back of his previous outstanding works. And he didn’t fail to deliver at all. ‘High-Rise’ may not have been to everyone’s tastes, but why on earth would you want to aim for that in the first place. He’s not here just to make movies, he’s here to advance them, smash through the barriers and build universes.
You can read the review for the cinema release here, but for anyone that has any true love for cinema this is absolutely an essential purchase now that it’s available on Blu-ray.
The transfer to disc is just beautiful. The movie continues to hypnotise and draw you into the very depths of societal chaos and carnage with it’s lush colours, movements, cinematography and sounds. The 5.1 mix is wholly enveloping, helping to wrap you in the death clutch grip of insanity, to the slow dripping blood beat of the Portishead’s cover of ‘SOS’ by ABBA, which in itself is a work of art. Madness never looked and sounded so beautiful.
The love and attention to detail of the movie has been lovingly matched on the Blu-ray with a multitude of interviews with cast members (Tom Hiddleston’s is a particular stand out in his commitment to the role) and rather wonderfully crew members too. They clearly show that everyone involved knew they were constructing something wonderful, and not only wanted to attain that goal, but surpass it as a team, everyone working together.
There’s a short featurette and audio commentaries too, which not only enriches the whole movie (obviously watch the movie first), but effectively gives you a masterclass in making outstanding cinema.
As I mention in the full review of the movie, the superb talents of Ben and Amy are well on the way to redefining cinema, with the addition of the extras on their releases such as this, they are showing us how to do it too. Not only will the achieve greatness, they’re taking us with them. For that alone it gets full marks.
10/10
‘High-Rise’ is out on Blu-ray and available to download now.
Read More of Steve’s reviews here >