Before watching THE APPARITION, I hadn’t heard many good things about it. I was intrigued, though, mainly because of the mostly decent cast and eye-catching cover art. While it is by no means a horror classic, it’s not as bad as I was led to believe — sure, the plot is a little thin on the ground and it’s low-budget doesn’t always help matters, but I’ve seen so much worse when it comes to this genre. Much, much worse!
THE APPARITION is about a young couple haunted by a strange presence that lives off their fear, a presence that was brought forth during a university experiment gone wrong. They can’t seem to escape it, and it’s up to an expert in the supernatural to try and figure things out. Sounds familiar? It probably does. There are many lesser-known horror films that have similar stories to this one, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. There’s nothing new here but the idea is interesting and there was plenty to keep my interest, though the plot would have benefitted from a more in-depth exploration of the parapsychology phenomena.
Sebastian Stan of Captain America fame plays a good part, and he’s the stand-out member of the cast. Tom Felton has a small role post-Harry Potter, and, although he isn’t a major player, it’s nice to see him branch out and visit somewhere other than the wizarding world. Twilight’s Ashley Greene is probably the weakest link, though she isn’t terrible — I’m not a huge fan of hers to start with, but she’s alright here. Nothing too memorable and not a career low, either!
Aside from a noteworthy cast, THE APPARITION also includes a few decent horror scenes and a genuinely thought-provoking premise. It’s a little slow on the whole, but that’s down to the script needing some work and the plot requiring more going on than the odd shadowy attack. Still, it’s an easy watch and I’m glad I gave it a go!
The film is presented on Blu-ray with a Full HD 1080/24p transfer. This is a predictably dark film, and it’s often difficult to make out what’s going on. Everything blends together unless the scene takes place in daylight, and it’s a somewhat distracting viewing experience. There isn’t much colour to be found, and the blu-ray transfer doesn’t do much to help matters.
This release has a 5.1 DTS-HD MA sound mix which makes the dialogue and soundtrack stand out. I had no issues with background noise drowning the dialogue, which makes a welcome change these days, and the audio is definitely the technical highlight of this disc.
There are short interviews with Ashley Greene, Tom Felton, Sebastian Stan and producer Joel Silver. They’re fairly interesting to watch but not must-see additions.
THE APPARITION won’t be remembered as a great horror film, but I enjoyed what it tried to do and, as I mentioned earlier, there’s a lot worse out there. So, don’t rush home and watch it, but don’t ignore it, either — you might just like it!
