On DVD: Masters of Horror Dream Cruise

Directed By Norio Tsuruta

Starring Daniel Giles, Ryo Ishibashi

With this release of Dream Cruise all of the season two Masters of Horror episodes are out in the wild.  It'll be interesting to revisit the season as a whole, and the series as a whole and examine the evolution from the first episode to the last.

The Movie

In season one of Masters of Horror Takeshi Miike was asked to make a film for the series and he did, it was called Imprint.  Miike took the concept seriously, he took the million bucks and made exactly the movie he wanted to make unfettered.  What was his payback for that?  Well the movie got pulled from the schedule and was never broadcast.  Fortunately it was eventually released on DVD and it was definitely the most edgy and disturbing of the series, even including all of the season two episodes.

Well, true horror fans know that Asian horror is incredibly popular now so the producers wanted to again bring in an Asian director for season two but they wanted someone much safer than Takeshi Miike.  So, they went with Norio Tsuruta, a less well known director by name but his film Ring-O is one that fans will know.

Jack is an American businessman working in Japan.  He's currently having a torrid affair with one of his business partners, Eiji Saito.  When Saito invites Jack for a cruise on his boat Jack is understandably concerned.  Does Saito know about the affair?  Jack's judgment of the situation may be hampered by his fear of being on a boat out on the water.  When he was young a boat he and his brother was on capsized and his brother died so he now has a phobia of boats and water.

The film is a mix of nail biting tension and suspense and draggy exposition and spotty character development.  The first half of the film is too slowly paced and honestly a bit boring.  It's supposed to feel like a slow burn sort of thing but it just doesn't quite work.  Now after the second half, once they are out on the boat the film takes a solid turn into riveting territory.  Ghostly manifestations are a bit stereotypical for Asian horror but they all pay off with good scares and surprising gore.

By the end of the episode I was actually pretty satisfied with it but when you watch be warned that you'll need to tough it out through the first half.

6.5/10

The Video

The anamorphic widescreen presentation is a pretty solid TV transfer with vivid colors, good detail, and solid black levels.  Much of the film is pretty dark and with the darkness comes a bit of grain and some aliasing here and there.  Also you may notice a bit of edge enhancement.  As I said, it's a good TV on DVD release, nothing surprising.

7/10

The Audio

The DVD features a Dolby Digital 5.1 presentation and a Dolby 2.0 stereo mix both in English.  The Dolby Digital 5.1 presentation is obviously the stronger of the two options.  The surround mix is surprisingly aggressive with some good use of the surround speakers and solid dynamic range.  The immersion isn't consistent though.  During calmer scenes most of the audio shifts to the front speakers.  The balance is good though with dialogue, score, and sound effects being well mixed and clear.

7/10

Packaging and Bonus Features

As is common for the Masters of Horror releases the single disc comes packaged in a standard amaray case with a glossy slipcover.  The art is actually pretty striking.

First up for extras is a feature length commentary with star Daniel Giles and producer Mick Garris.  The commentary is pretty energetic and features many stories of working with an Asian director and cast and how the cultural differences made for an interesting production. 

There's a half hour long making of documentary that actually crams a good bit of information into the brief running time.  There's some cast and crew interviews, behind the scenes footage, and some comparisons of American and Asian horror films.  This featurette actually manages to go beyond the standard marketing reel and just as it gets really interesting it ends.  My only complaint here is that it's just too short.

Other than that there's a still gallery and a trailer for the episode along with the other episodes of the series.  The featurette and the commentary are both good but this is a really weak selection of extras, especially compared to the extensive extras we got with the first few episodes of season one.

5.5/10

Dream Cruise is far from a perfect episode of Masters of Horror but if you stick with it you'll be satisfied with the finale.  The film is very pretty to look at with solid editing and cinematography.  Tsuruta makes good use of his limited budget and crafts a film that looks fairly expensive.  Fans of horror Asian horror films should definitely check this one out.

Overall (Not an Average) 6.5/10

The Review

The Movie 6.5/10

The Video 7/10

The Audio 7/10

The Packaging and Bonus Features 5.5/10

Overall (Not an Average) 6.5/10

-Stephen Lackey