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I am looking forward to seeing this sometime, when i read the plotline it reminded me a little of an ITV miniseries which i think was called Chimera, which i also think was one of the original titles for this film.

Chimera involved genetics and cloning and the creature killed people but wasn't totally evil or bad, more childlike and misguided and Chimera had a really sad ending, ITV don't make anything decent these days and instead they make "reality" shows like The X Factor. ( what a fix that show is )

(Posted on Tuesday, December 7, 2010 at 3:57 PM)

This looks much better than the US release. I keep wondering why Warner Brothers( in the US) keep using VC-1 encodes at pretty low bit rates in all their new releases( the compression in films like "The Book Of Eli" is hideous to say the least). Seriously, why don't they use AVC?

(Posted on Tuesday, December 7, 2010 at 8:08 PM)

Foxy, you'll be pleased to know that Chimera, as it was indeed called, was released onto DVD earlier this year by Revelation. Here's the Amazon link:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Chimera-DVD-John-Lynch/dp/B0037Q6IQY

Incidentally, it was directed Lawrence Gordon Clark who did those wonderful BBC Ghost Story for Christmas adaptations.

(Posted on Wednesday, December 8, 2010 at 3:01 PM)

Thanks for confirming that and the Amazon link.

Wow, i looked it up on IMDB and i thought it was a late nineties miniseries but i see it's 1991, God do i now feel old and boy does time fly by.

(Posted on Wednesday, December 8, 2010 at 7:35 PM)

Ronny -- Equipment investment, I believe someone said here once. But (one) of the good things about the increase in 3D discs is that they're forced to use AVC, so if you look at a certain well-known BD review site, one of their upcoming [AVC] releases looks pretty impressive.

(Posted on Friday, December 10, 2010 at 9:11 AM)

Does that UK release have any of the extras included on the French BD, like the PiP commentary? The stateside WB release is a bit too expensive still, but if a superior looking version packs in all the goodies I might grab it anyway.

Liked the film quite a bit when I rented it on DVD locally for Halloween (stupid Netflix/Blockbuster deals, always ruining my fun!). Didn't love it, though. Some of the CG was a bit... off, I guess? And I would have loved a bit more solid development with Mr. Diedra's character. I feel like we know plenty about Polley's, and what little is ever said and shown explains pretty much all of her actions - I was very satisfied that I knew who she was, as a parent (of sorts).

But when it was over, I felt like I didn't know much about who Brody was, on any sort of deeper level - as a parent, as a human being, all those moral and ethical questions that the film tries so hard to answer, and we never get a satisfying one from the protagonist. Maybe this was intentional, to let the viewer latch on to him as an impartial observer? (Well, I guess that theory only works up until... *ahem*) The film doesn't really ever feel too short, so perhaps all I'm asking for would have turned the film into a plodding mess anyway.

It was still interesting and mostly satisfying. Nice writing and very unique monster design work for what, in trailers, looked like a cheap Species clone. I'm glad it delivered much more than it had promised.

(Posted on Saturday, December 11, 2010 at 9:31 PM)

Quite liked Optimum's decision to only put that 'Double Play' nonsense on the slipcase and not on the actual sleeve.

Mean that I can bin the slipcase and give the DVD to someone and not have the old OCD kick in.

(Posted on Sunday, December 12, 2010 at 4:17 PM)

Interesting. The Warner US release only has that "A Director's Playground" documentary, no interview or trailer. The Gaumont has the PiP feature and the same features otherwise, but they're all at 50Hz, which makes the expense feel like a bit more than it's worth without having a player that'll convert that to something I could actually see.

I think I own a few US releases that include those awful iPod ready Digital Copies but don't mention it outside of the slipcase. (Inglourious Basterds and The Dark Knight comes to mind.) I think it's just a sneaky way of being able to quietly discontinue the combo sets and replace them with a cheaper BD-Only version later, since the activation license on all of those are only good for about a year anyway. Same theory if they're including a DVD, too, or even one of those new DVD-With-Digital-Copy-Included arrangements that seems to have become the norm these days.

(Posted on Sunday, December 12, 2010 at 6:17 PM)

Kentai, there's a Canadian release that has everything but the PiP track. Would that be of any use to you?

http://www.axelmusic.com/productDetails/774212104107

(Posted on Monday, December 13, 2010 at 12:39 AM)

Oh! That might be very useful. Thank you, Dirk. :)

Michael, if you have a minute could you check if the Optimum release's extras are 50hz or 60hz? I'm just curious if the UK/Canadian discs are the same thing or not now.

(Posted on Wednesday, December 15, 2010 at 12:45 AM)