Across the Hall Blu-ray features mediocre video and decent audio, but overall it's a poor Blu-ray release
Terry learns that his fiancée, June, has checked into a hotel with another man, sending him into
a fit of near-homicidal fury. Desperate to hear a friendly voice, he calls his best friend,
admitting he's in a hotel room across the hall from June and plans to kill her lover.
Hollywood has had plenty of fallen stars to eulogize over the past few years, but Brittany Murphy's
tragically early death last month was one of the most shocking. Like the loss of Heath Ledger,
Murphy's passing seems both unfair and unreal, as is the case anytime a young talent is
unexpectedly extinguished. Unlike Ledger, however, who bowed out with an award-winning,
maniacally inspired turn as the Joker in The Dark Knight, Brittany Murphy's last few films—
which include the low-budget thrillers Deadline, Across the Hall, and the yet-to-be
released Abandoned—haven't been among her most memorable work. Nonetheless, she
leaves behind an impressive legacy, with unforgettable performances in Clueless, 8
Mile, Sin City, and Girl, Interrupted, among many others. Here, in the initially
suspenseful but ultimately inert Across the Hall, she plays a Hitchcockian blond caught
between two lovers.
Room 507
Based on a short film of the same name and expanded to feature length, Across the Hall
is a neo-noirish thriller that tries, mostly unsuccessfully, to emulate the rollercoaster-like twists,
turns, and narrative corkscrews of a Hitchcock movie. As if to recapture the musty essence of an
Old Hollywood mystery, the film is set in the run-down, roach-infested Riverside Hotel, a seedy
joint with rates that run, as the spooky porter (Brad Greenquist) reluctantly admits, "weekly,
nightly, and…by the hour." When bubbly blond June (Brittany Murphy) checks in, she takes the
nightly rate, and humors the porter, who shows her to room 507 and tries to impress her with
the hotel's former glory (it was once visited by the ambassador to Estonia, he says whilst
squashing a roach underfoot). Unbeknownst to June, her cuckolded fiancé Terry (Danny Pino) has
trailed her to the hotel and checks into room 508, yes, across the hall, with a gun in his
pocket and murder on his mind. Using his prominently featured Samsung cell phone, Terry calls
his best friend Julian (Mike Vogel)—who is soaking in the tub, sipping a whisky and icing his bum
knee—to ask for advice. Naturally, Julian tries to talk Terry out of doing anything rash, and says
he'll be right over to diffuse the situation. But—dum dum dum—is Julian already there?
It's no secret who June is meeting at the hotel, as the film reveals her affair with Julian early on.
The real question, then, is how—and if—the two illicit lovers will escape their sticky situation.
Working with a script by Jesse Mittelstadt and Julian Schwab, first time director Alex Merkin builds
his mystery non-linearly, jumping through time and from one perspective to another with the
sole intent of pulling a fast one on us. And this is my main issue with the film; its mysteries
superficially arise from editing instead of emanating from the characters and their conflicts. The
plot is too cleverly constructed—especially the ending—and what few surprises the film springs on
us seem blatantly obvious, and not just in retrospect. What's also clear is that the expansion
from a 16-minute short to a 93-minute feature relies on far more padding than the squeaky
mattresses at the Riverside Hotel. The story has been injected with diluted and often tedious
dialogue, most of it taking place over the phone between Terry and Julian. Some of the lines are
laughably strained, like when Terry says, "I'm in room 508, non-smoking" as he defiantly lights
up a cigarette. What passes for humor in the film—like the fustiness and social anxiety of the
porter—doesn't quite fit the otherwise serious tone.
Likewise, the three leads seem slightly off here, caught in that weird vortex between a poor
script, a cheaply constructed set, and generally undeveloped characters. Danny Pino, of TV's
Cold Case, has all the intensity and indecision of a sad stoner, glumly fingering the
trigger of a gun. Cloverfield's Mike Vogel is more amped up, but his harried pacing to and
fro feels like energy exerted in futility. The two are supposed to be best buds, but we never sense
any kind of connection between them. It may be because she has less to do, but Brittany Murphy
provides the film's best performance, as June's expectations for a romantic evening quickly
descend into terror. Granted, in the light of her recent death, some of the film's events are a bit
unsettling to watch, but if there's any reason to sit through Across the Hall, it's her.
Unfortunately, this cheapie thriller doesn't have much more to offer.
On Blu-ray, Across the Hall looks nearly as dingy as the Riverside Hotel, featuring a
1080p/AVC-encoded transfer that's plagued with problems from start to finish. To begin, the image
is almost consistently soft and indistinct. Fine detail is lacking even in close-ups, though longer
shots fare much worse. Most of the film is shot in the gloomy hallways and rooms of the hotel, and
wonky black levels prove to be a major issue. Shadow delineation is often extremely poor—detail-
obscuring crush is rampant—and at the same time, blacks frequently have a washed-out, opaque
and grayish quality. I'm sure at least part of the mucky, murky look is intentional—this is a seedy
hotel, after all—but Across the Hall's color palette is as icky as they come, with dirty
browns, grimy grays, and a sickly green pallor in Terry's room. The only bright color in the film is the
red neon sign outside of the hotel that flashes through the windows. Skin tones are either yellowish
or pallid, and the white balance seems slightly off throughout the whole film. Grain and digital noise
commingle harshly over the darker parts of the image, and I also noticed the distinct blotchiness of
banding on a few subtle color gradients, particularly surrounding light sources. Overall, the image
simply looks cheap, and the poor lighting and uninspired cinematography are further hurt by a less
than capable transfer.
While Across the Hall's picture quality is sub-par, even for a meagerly budgeted production,
the film's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track is at least capable, if never actually impressive.
This is one of those tracks where nothing really stands out negatively or positively. The dialogue is
well prioritized and easily understandable, composer Bobby Tahouri's music is detailed—though
somewhat lifeless and dynamically thin—and the sound effects, like the doors of an elevator
repeatedly closing on a metal trash bin, are convincing and suitably unsettling. The rear channels
get occasional engagement—mostly in the form of rippling thunder and pouring rain—but there's
not much in terms of immersion. Basically, this is a workmanlike, dialogue-driven mix that gets the
job done without any flourishes or theatrics.
Making of Across the Hall (SD, 12:36)
Fairly standard stuff here. Director Alex Merkin explains the origins of the story, and much time is
devoted to how apparently awesome the short film that preceded Across the Hall is.
What happened, then, in the transition from short to feature? There's also plenty of behind-the-
scenes footage and a few cursory interviews with the actors.
Working with Director Alex Merkin (SD, 2:27)
"Alex Merkin is kind of like working with a brilliant frat brother," says Danny Pino, and really, that
says it all. Mike Vogel and Brad Greenquist also say a few kind words.
The Call (SD, 2:16)
Here we see how the Danny Pino and Mike Vogel were—gasp—actually talking on the phone with
one another when they filmed their phone call scene.
Working with Friends (SD, 2:22)
Danny Pino and Mike Vogel discuss how good of friends they are.
The whole time I was watching Across the Hall, I kept thinking that it would make a great
short, but that the material seems to be spread a bit too thin for a feature-length film. This, of
course, was before I learned that it actually was a short film first, which makes sense. Brittany
Murphy fans may be curious to see one of the late star's final performances, but I can't really
recommend Across the Hall for any other reason.
Image Entertainment has announced the indie noir thriller drama, 'Across the Hall', starring Brittany Murphy as a cheating woman, straight to release on Blu-ray on January 19, 2010. 'Across the Hall' has had a trailer going around for more than a year, but never ...
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