Film
A detective, Bruce Kenner (Ethan Hawke – The Purge, Total Recall), and a psychoanalyst, Kenneth Raines (David Thewlis – The Theory Of Everything, The Fifth Estate), uncover mounting evidence of a satanic cult, involved in rituals involved sexual abuse and the murder of infants, while investigating the alleged rape of a young woman, Angela Gray (Emma Watson – This Is The End, Noah).
Regression is a psychological thriller, a crime story with a hint of horror and the supernatural attached to it. Set in 1990, there is a hint of nostalgia attached that tends to heighten the feeling of imminent evil that is derived from some of the film’s settings.
The film projects a feeling of dread, that there is a force at work, and that any moment something evil will befall one of the main characters. Red herrings abound, the plot steers the viewers mind toward a string of diversions, twisting the story so that any preconceived predictions of good or bad, or guilt, are usually quashed in the near future.
With a few cheap jump-scares, prompted mostly by music or the sudden appearance of a character, there is enough doubt cast on whom one would think guilty or innocent, to raise the level of tension to a rather palpable level. With the cast delivering excellent performances, and a story that feels as if it would be at home in any time or setting, Regression gives the viewer pause to contemplate the provenance of ones of doubts and fears.
A thriller that uses aspects of truth, tale and ones very own imagination, Regression manipulates the user, as some of its leading characters are likely playing each other. It is this that makes it both enthralling, and tense, at the same time, resulting in an enjoyable film across several genres and sub-genres.
Disc
Technically, the disc is of good quality, overall. On the content side however, you get just main feature.
Regression is available now, to purchase on disc, in South Africa.
Video
Video is encoded at a high average bitrate. There are no visible artefacts on screen. Due to the nature of the film’s story, there are many dark scenes. In these, there is still a fair amount of detail. Blacks are deep, and no bleed between colours.
Viewers with the relevant hardware or software would be able to scale up to a larger or higher resolution screen, should they wish.
Audio
Audio is encoded at a high average bitrate, with a choice between a Dolby Digital 5.1 mix or a 2.0 downmix. There is a fair amount of creative use for the surround channels in several scenes, while in others these server merely to expand the on-screen action, and further draw the viewer in to the story. Dialogue is clear via the centre channel.
Navigation
Navigation is basic, yet easy to follow. There is a static poster background, with some music. Selections allow viewers to play the main feature, use a sub-menu to navigation to chapters (these are merely numbered, with moving thumbnails), and an audio selection sub-menu to pick between the 5.1 surround or 2.0 stereo mixes.
Bonus Features
There are unfortunately no bonus features on the disc, save for a few trailers playing at the beginning of the disc for Irrational Man, Uitvlucht and Triple 9.
While these previews can be fast-forwarded, they can not be skipped.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qwjc8IcxD8
