- Aspect Ratio: 2:35:1
- Video Codec: AVC MPEG-4
- Resolution: 1080p/24 (23.976Hz)
- Audio Codec: Korean DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, Korean Dolby Digital Stereo
- Subtitles: English
- Subtitles Color: Yellow
- Region: ABC (Region-Free)
- Rating: Not Rated
- Run Time: 115 Mins
- Discs: 1 (1 x Blu-ray)
- Digital Copies: N/A
- Studio: Well Go USA Entertainment
- Blu-ray Release Date: October 9th, 2012
- List Price: $29.98
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Overall
[Rating:3/5]
The Film
[Rating:3.5/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:4.5/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:1/5]
Click thumbnails for high-resolution 1920X1080p screen captures
(All TheaterByte screen captures are lightly compressed with lossy JPEG at 100% quality setting and are meant as a general representation of the content. They do not fully reveal the capabilities of the Blu-ray format)
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The Film
[Rating:3.5/5]
Bedevilled tells the story of Hae-won (Seong-won Ji), a middle-class woman working in a bank in Seoul. While her job may be decent, what isn’t is her work environment, which is full of misogynistic co-workers whose one goal is to make Hae’s life a living hell. After a series of incidents ‘force’ Hae-won into a vacation, she soon finds herself on the island of Moo-do. It’s here that she discovers her childhood friend Kim Bok-nam (Yeong-hie Seo) is one of the locals. At first, everything seems to be going okay; however, Hae-won soon learns that Bok-nam’s abusive husband wants nothing more than to torture her, essentially making a slave out of her. Realizing that she’ll never get rid of this man, Bok-nam decides to escape with her one true love, her young daughter. But, when tragedy strikes, Hae-won realizes she must now take matters into her own hands, and bring justice to those who deserve it. What results is a well-shot, fairly well-made Korean thriller.
Let’s be honest here, one of the strongest benefits of a film like Bedevilled is the varying locales used throughout. The beauty of the Seoul, Korea landscape is nicely captured and really helps to (occasionally) make us forget about the subject matter we’re witnessing. Rape, violence, terror, bloodshed, and death comprise a majority of this one, making the scenes tough to bare. But, the real power and lasting impact here is the power of the physical character in Hae-won. Here we have a woman who is treated horribly, really in a despicable manner. Abused verbally and mentally, she must fight back. Her rising up above those who look down upon her, make Bedevilled worth watching. No, the subject matter isn’t anything brand new, but a movie like this relies on strong performances, of which Bedevilled has plenty of.
Video Quality
[Rating:4.5/5]
Bedevilled debuts on Blu-ray with a 2:35:1 framed, AVC MPEG-4 encoded transfer, which holds excellent detail. In particular, the film’s strong use of detail comes from the color palette. The palette uses a wide range of low-lit colors, from grays to washed out yellows, all of which looked fantastic. Facial close-ups result in accurate flesh tones and contrast levels. Shot digitally using the Red One Camera, film grain is absent. All in all, the transfer holds its own as yet another strong effort from Well Go USA.
Audio Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
Featuring a Korean DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix, I was mostly impressed with this lossless offering from Well Go USA. While most of the film (at least initially) is dialogue driven, atmosphere still is quite solid. Little discrete effects, like that of background dialogue or creature effects like birds and other animals, help to bring a sense of atmosphere to the mix. Once the film’s second half begins, the action revs up creating a more robust aural experience. Guns and explosions work together to round out what is a solid effort from the folks at Well Go USA.
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:1/5]
The included supplements are featured in High Definition:
- Behind the Scenes – This runs 12:45 and offers up a few glances into some of the key sequences in the film.
- Trailer – The film’s trailer (1:36) is shown.
The Definitive Word
Overall:
[Rating:3/5]
While the subject in and of itself isn’t anything remotely new, the strong performances make Bedevilled worth looking into. Equally worth looking into is Well Go USA’s technical presentation with a near perfect video presentation, and a good audio mix. Even though the features lack substance, this is still a movie you want to check out based solely on the acting.
Additional Screen Captures
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Purchase Bedevilled on Blu-ray at CD Universe
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[amazon-product]B008OTTRSU[/amazon-product]
Purchase Bedevilled on Blu-ray at CD Universe
Shop for more Blu-ray titles at Amazon.com
Overall
[Rating:3/5]
The Film
[Rating:3.5/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:4.5/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:1/5]
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