October 19, 2015

Introduction

A Lonely Place To Die isn't exactly up to the same standards as other climbing adventure films and the reason is mostly due to the way the film moves away from climbing-centric into a more familiar environment of run or die. However, I still enjoy watching it as it has some nice imagery of the outdoors. For those who have a separate bank account for saving up for some memorable travel memories, certainly consider the areas where ALPTD was shot.

Filming for A Lonely Place To Die took place in the Scottish Highlands. Climbing was specifically sequenced at Ben Nevis, located in the Grampian Mountians. Ben Nevis is Scotland's highest peak at 1,344m (4,409ft). Additional underwater scenes were filmed in Essex, England. You might think Ben Nevis isn't that high of a mountain for climbing when compared to other famous areas around the world, but it's very popular among climbing enthusiasts. Ben Nevis has multiple approaches, which can facilitate the most amateur to the most advanced. Whatever your climbing skill, the Grampian Mountains are an absolute treat to travel to and enjoy.

The Plot

Friends Alison (Melissa George), Jenny (Kate Magowan), Rob (Alec Newman), Ed (Ed Speleers), and Alex (Gary Sweeney) are a group of climbers who enjoy the challenges it encompasses. One a climb, fairly novice climber Ed is distracted with Alison and almost plummets to his death if not for Rob coming to his aid. Regrouping back at a nearby cabin, they meet up with Jenny and her boyfriend Alex.

After staying the night and heading out the next morning, the eventually come across something which looks like a pipe sticking out of the ground. Due to the area being rather void of residential homes, there's something amiss. Rob goes to his pack and grabs a few portable shovels to dig around this pipe, and eventually discover a large box-like enclosure underground. The friends lift the lid off and find Anna huddled down in a corner. She's obviously been kidnapped for some reason, and discovering all her water is gone and no food in the enclosure means whoever kidnapped her...is probably coming back very soon.

Packaging

Packaging for A Lonely Place To Die came to me in the not-so-usual (but highly recommended) VIVA Elite Blu-ray case (12.5mm).

Video & Screencaps

Video for A Lonely Place To Die is exceptional in many instances, but since it was shot in Super 8, there are some night scenes of celebration mixed with solid reds on street performers appearing abnormal, distracting heavily from the elements of the movie. It seems it has to do with the increase in ISO which tweaks solid and primary colors way more than non-primary colors, resulting in a very unnatural appearance.

Additional Screencaps

Audio

Audio for A Lonely Place To Die really good on the DTS-HD Master 5.1 soundtrack. At the 3830Kbps rate, these specs are just where I liked it. Low end was there, voices came across clear, rushing water sounds were full and crisp.

Main Audio Track: German DTS-HD Master 5.1 @ 3830Kbps (48kHz/24-bit)
Subtitles: English, Spanish

Extras

Extras for A Lonely Place To Die were non-existent on this release. I'm sure Melissa George had some good thoughts on the climbing scenes (even though special effects were used) as well as a few other actors.

Previews (7:37) MPEG2 Video 720x480 (1.78:1) (480i)

Specifications

Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Active Pixel Area: 1920 x 817 pixels
Inactive Pixel Area: 1920 x 263 pixels

Disc Name: A_LONELY_PLACE_TO_DIE
Codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Resolution: 1080p
Blu-ray BD-25
Disc Size: 23,678,296,452 bytes (22.05 GB)
Movie Size: 23,070,044,160 bytes (21.49 GB)
Overall Bitrate: 30.99 Mbps
Video Bitrate: 23.72 Mbps

Conclusion

A Lonely Place To Die starts out pretty good and has a believable plot. Unfortunately, as a few outdoorsy movies tend to follow...the final scenes are changed from an outside familiar environment and taken to a more enclosed environment. Bad idea. This instinctively creates a form of forced enclosuredness to the viewer and from that point on you'll have the viewer being extra observant with micro-plots in the new environment.

The only way this works...is if you have an extremely solid plot with extremely solid actors. The actors did well, and the plot was good, but changing the environment reduced the plot elements.

Initially having some really great climbing scenes with outdoor adventure and some pretty good acting, A Lonely Place To Die (Blu-Ray) receives a RECOMMENDED PLUS.

Surprisingly, I haven't seen any additional screentime in other movies for Holly Boyd who played Anna since this film was made.