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Released by: Image Entertainment
Released on: 8/9/2011
Director: James Rabbitts
Cast: Tabrett Bethell, Andy Whitfield
Year: 2010
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The Movie:
Writer/Director James Rabbitts' Australian thriller The Clinic is set in 1979 (before DNA testing, we're told - which helps suspend our disbelief) and follows a young engaged couple, Cameron (Andy Whitfield) and his pregnant fiancé, Beth (Tabrett Bethell), who is making the drive to his mother's place for Christmas holidays. When they're almost run off the road by a truck, they decide to cut their losses for the day and finish the drive the next morning and are relieved when they find a rundown motel. It's not fancy, in fact the pool is full of sludgy looking water and the place is more than a bit dirty looking, but they figure it's only one night, it'll do - even if the hotel clerk is a creep.
They bed down for the night but Cameron can't sleep. He goes out for a drive to get some Chinese food and comes back to find that Beth is missing. He calls the cops, but they're no help and are obviously on the take, while poor Beth wakes up in the middle of an abandoned abattoir in a bathtub full of ice and with a stitched up incision up her belly - the baby once inside her now missing. She crawls out and tries to find out where she is and what's happened to her and soon meets up with a few other women, all in the same predicament. As Cameron tries to find his missing wife and child Beth tries to find the baby she's never seen in hopes of making it out alive.
Now you've probably read the plot synopsis above and figured this'll be one of those movies where the filmmakers suck is in with the whole 'baby in peril' trick (Paranormal Activity 2, anyone?) but thankfully that's not really the case here. While Beth obviously wants to get her child back, you can't fault the writers for making that a part of the story, the movie is more concerned with her plight and how she's going to do that than it is with showing us countless shots of an innocent newborn child in danger. There's an interesting twist in regards to how exactly Beth will figure out which of the missing infants is hers and in regards to what she'll have to go through to figure that out which we won't spoil here but it's a twisted enough concept to work.
Whitfield and Bethell are both quite good in their respective roles with the supporting cast all doing fine as well. Bethell in particular is the focus of the film and she's not always completely convincing but manages to get it right often enough that we can get behind her and care about what happens. Top billed Whitfield's character comes second, and while he's good in the role, the movie belongs to Bethell when you really boil it down.
As far as horror movies go, there's a bit of gore here though it's hardly a splatter-fest. What grue there is happens to be rather well done and it's actually pretty effective as the effects are used for a reason rather than just for shock value. A twist at the end seems unnecessarily out of place in the big picture but it is handled well and the movie features some impressive cinematography that does a great job of capturing the destitute locations used in the movie.
Video/Audio/Extras:
The Clinc looks good in this 2.35.1 anamorphic widescreen transfer despite the fact that the movie was shot on a very bleak location - which is a testament to the cinematography. The image is strong from start to finish very deep blacks and nice color reproduction. Shadow detail stays surprisingly strong in the latter half of the film where everything is taking place in the darkness, while flesh tones remain lifelike and natural looking. There's a pretty decent level of both foreground and background detail present in the image throughout and while there is some edge enhancement present, as well as some aliasing, overall the movie looks very good on DVD.
The only audio option is a Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound with optional subtitles available in English and Spanish. While there are a few spots where the rear channels sound a little low, overall this is a very good effort. The surrounds are used pretty actively during most of the key moments and it makes for some pretty atmospheric viewing. Dialogue is clean, clear and easy to follow (as long as you're okay with the accents - they're really not that difficult…) and the sound effects and the background score are mixed into the movie nicely without ever overpowering the performers as they speak.
Extra are pretty slim, limited to only a trailer, a basic menu and chapter selection for the feature. As the film was supposedly based on true events according to the packaging, it's a shame we didn't get any documentaries or featurettes here to fill us in on just what those events were.
The Final Word:
While the near-barebones presentation is a disappointment the movie looks and sounds pretty good on this DVD from Image. As far as the quality of the film itself goes, it's worth seeing thanks to a decent script, above average performances and a couple of truly unsettling scenes.
