Plot: What’s it about?
The hospital can be a place people dread, as it is home to illness, injuries, battles for life, and even death. Even the highly skilled doctors and nurses can only do so much and at times, even they can make mistakes. So even routines procedures can have some folks on edge, aware of the potential for a mishap of some kind. George Grieves (Tom Cavanagh) is going in for a routine visit at Mount Abbadon Hospital. He has a good life, a job that pays well, an incredible home, and a beautiful wife that adores him, a life his brother Frank (David Clayton Rogers) could never have. George and his wife Jenny (Kathleen York) venture to Mount Abbadon for the visit and George winds up being put under, an unexpected turn of events. Once he awakes, the world seems much different and while he can’t put his finger on it, he has an eerie feeling. A gorgeous nurse named Andrea (Katherine Cunningham-Eves) is in his room and at his beck and call, but she has few answers. Has something changed since George was put under and if so, what and will George ever discover the truth?
I’m always optimistic about new horror brands, but after the lackluster Rest Stop release, I didn’t have a lot of faith for Sublime, the label’s next feature. In truth, Sublime follows the same path as Rest Stop, a promising start that shows some potential, only to fall apart as time passes. This movie takes an even steeper dive than Rest Stop however, with cliche after cliche and more derivative moments than original ones. So not only does Sublime lose its momentum, it resorts to recycling elements from other movies, where those elements were better used. As the movie is bad anyway, I’d at least rather see a bad movie that is creative and somewhat original, but that isn’t the case here. The potential for a fun movie is here, but the filmmakers seem helpless to find it and as such, we’re left with this mess. Sublime is too slow, too dull, and never fulfills the potential shown early in the movie, so even hardcore horror fans are likely to be disappointed. With so many horror movies out there, Sublime never stands out and as such, I can’t really even recommend a rental.
Video: How does it look?
Sublime is presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen. I am very pleased with this visual presentation and I think most viewers of this film will agree. I found no problems at all with the source print and compression errors were at a bare minimum. Colors seem vivid and bright, with no smears or similar color errors and flesh tones look natural and undistorted. I couldn’t find trouble with the contrast either, shadows are layered well and no visible detail loss is evident. This is a great transfer and I think fans will be most satisfied with this presentation.
Audio: How does it sound?
This movie has a few sequences which fire up the surrounds, but on the whole this is a more conservative film in terms of audio. But while you might not hear the surrounds often, the included Dolby Digital 5.1 surround track makes sure they always sound very good when you do. The tension is enhanced thanks to some nice presence, but not to the extent I had hoped for. No problems with the music or dialogue however, as those elements come across in smooth, natural fashion throughout. This disc also includes subtitles in English, Portuguese, Korean, and Chinese.
Supplements: What are the extras?
The film’s director Tony Krantz provides an audio commentary track, joined by writer Erik Jendersen. I actually liked this track, a lot more than the movie in fact. These two seem to have a genuine passion for the material and cover all kinds of topics, from lighting to casting to production woes. Sadly the passion didn’t turn into a great movie, but at least this commentary track adds some value to this release. The two men also return for separate interviews, each running a little under twenty minutes and while some information is repeated, some solid new stuff is revealed also. The final supplement is a supposed webcast of a live surgical exorcism, which is related to the movie and a good inclusion.
