While She Was Out Blu-ray offers decent video and mediocre audio in this mediocre Blu-ray release
What starts out as a Christmas Eve trip to the mall ends up as an exercise in terror for suburban mom Della Myers (Kim Basinger) when she finds herself stranded in a forest and pursued by a quartet of thugs -- all because she's left an angry note on their car. The baddies (including Lukas Haas) chase her from the mall, and when she crashes her car in a wooded area, she has nothing to fend off her attackers but her wits and her toolbox.
If nothing else, While She Was Out -- a 2008 Survival Thriller starring Kim Basinger (L.A. Confidential) --
proves the validity of two life lessons. First, the mall is just a terrible place to go, and on Christmas
Eve in particular. Second, it's better to have a gun and not need it than to need a gun and not
have one. Then again, had Basinger's character adhered to one or both of these truisms, there
wouldn't have been a movie. Fortunately for audiences, Basinger's character Della might be a bit
dense, naive, and something of a pushover, but she uses her experiences "while she was out" to
become the person she never was, struggling through a night of terror only to find an inner
strength and determination of will that was hours before absent in the presence of an abusive
husband and at a packed and unforgiving mall.
Not a particularly original story but certainly one that's surprisingly well done and consistently
entertaining and even somewhat invigorating from depressed beginning to surprising conclusion,
While She Was Out delivers a brisk 86-minute Thriller that's worth a watch.
Life isn't a greeting card.
Della (Basinger) is the mother of twins and wife of a physically and verbally abusive husband.
After their latest confrontation on Christmas Eve, Della escapes to the mall with the goal of
purchasing some last-minute wrapping paper. She is confronted by a series of additionally
stressful encounters, including her difficulty in finding a vacant parking spot, disgust over a car
hogging two spaces (on which she leaves a handwritten note venting her frustrations), her
encounter with an imbecile coffee shop clerk, and a run-in with an old self-centered
acquaintance. Upon leaving the Mall, Dell's vehicle is pinned in by the same poorly-parked
vehicle; she's confronted by four teenage thugs, led by "Chuckie" (Lukas Haas, Death in Love).
When Chuckie murders a mall security guard that interferes with their dastardly plans for Della,
Dellas escapes in her vehicle but finds herself pursued by the thugs. Winding up at a
construction site and venturing into the nearby woods, a simple trip to the mall transforms into a
vicious night of terror and survival, the stuff that tests one's mettle and defines a life.
If While She Was Out seems familiar, it's because the film builds its story around plot
elements cobbled together from several other superior pictures, the result a movie
that's not particularly original but certainly a somewhat above-average genre effort. The film
begins
with a sense that it might be a female-centric Falling Down,
Basinger's Della seemingly at the breaking point considering her abusive husband, inconsiderate
mall patrons, brain-dead store clerks, and haughty acquaintances. The movie subsequently
appears to take on elements of the underrated Trespass before settling into something
akin to I Spit On Your Grave, though While She Was Out's protagonist isn't as
calculated and cold, fighting more for survival and on instinct rather than premeditated revenge.
Though neither as graphic nor disturbing as that 1978 cult classic, While She Was Out
definitely treads its familiar grounds and serves up a couple of particularly gruesome elements of
its own, both of which play central to the plot and elevate the film's tension level and story arc
considerably. Tonally, While She Was Out takes on somewhat deep, but not particularly
profound, psychological elements that add some weight to what is superficially a Survivalist
picture but also a minor character study in the physical and emotional transformation brought on
both during and after a crisis.
Indeed, While She Was Out seems like a picture straight out of the 1970s, the only
difference here, really, are the late model cars and the more modern mall setting. Once the film
arrives at its second act, there's no mistaking it for a throwback sort of picture, and even the
film's lead villain -- Chuckie -- looks the part with his haircut and army-style jacket. In
fact, Lukas Haas's performance makes for the surprise of the film; he's both at once highly
volatile yet capable of a cold, calculated, and intelligent approach to the Della problem. The
character is given a smartly-written speech that marks the beginning of the film's climax, and
Haas' delivery is exceptional; both the script and the performance force the viewer to at least
consider that the film might conclude with a more abstract and less predictable finale. No matter
how it ends, though, While She Was Out makes for a decent enough picture on the way
to its crowd-pleasing final frame; Basinger's performance is solid and a match for Haas, and even
considering the picture's reliance on old themes and something of a throwback look and feel, it
remains fairly engrossing, helped in large part by Director Susan Montford's excellent pace and
the film's short runtime that allows for both rapid-fire action and tension as well as several more
deliberate yet no less captivating scenes.
While She Was Out debuts on Blu-ray with a 1080p, 1.78:1-framed transfer that makes
for a passable but somewhat problematic high definition transfer. The film's opening act is its
strongest from a visual perspective; though a bit dim, colors are strong in the many objects
scattered about Della's house. Detail, too, is sharp; the kids' bedroom offers a nice array of
crisply-defined objects, including blankets, toys, and furniture, all of which appear strongly
rendered and sharp, both in the foreground and background. A slight layer of nicely-preserved
film grain makes this a rather strong visual presentation. However, once the action shifts to the
chilly and dark exteriors, the transfer exhibits some problems. Blacks are consistently deep and
true, but often drown out finer details not only in the background but also, occasionally, seem to
devour foreground detail, too. Additionally, the transfer takes on a somewhat less defined look in
the second and third act. Foliage appears clumpy and indistinct, and even thick tree trunks
appear soft and one-dimensional. Certain shots go a bit soft, but for the most part, the transfer
doesn't lack a fair deal of sharpness. Minor banding is also a hindrance in several shots. Flesh
tones take on a slightly warm appearance early on but can appear a bit pasty later in the film.
For a low budget film and an under-the-radar Blu-ray release, the results here are neither
surprising nor particularly disappointing.
While She Was Out arrives on Blu-ray with no lossless or uncompressed audio option; only
a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack is included. It should come as no surprise that this one is rather
basic but still lacking in several key areas. Dialogue is reproduced with an adequate strength and
clarity, but there's little more here of note. Light ambience -- Christmas music and the hustle and
bustle of chatty patrons -- brings the mall scene to life with a sound but not particularly
mesmerizing level of precision. The track generally lacks much in the way of a more aggressive
sonic posture; cars do swoop from one side of the soundstage to another in one scene, and a few
reports from the business end of a Beretta handgun lack much in the way of a more realistic tone
and volume. In fact, the entire soundtrack lacks in volume even at reference levels; music is
subdued throughout, and surround activity is limited to supportive atmospherics, notably a light
drizzle as heard throughout the film and a slightly heavier downpour in the film's final exterior shot.
All said, the track isn't a disaster by an means but it's something of a disappointment, and the
absence of a lossless or uncompressed option -- particularly for a movie that's only about a year old
-- seems almost unfathomable and an unfortunate oversight.
This Blu-ray release of While She Was Out contains no extra features. In fact, it doesn't
even offer a top- or pop-up menu. Truly a bargain-basement release.
While She Was Out borrows elements from several other revenge, survival, and
breaking-point pictures, but what it lacks in sheer originality it makes up for in pacing and approach.
The film is marked by two solid performances that culminate in a well-done, smartly-written, and
well-played final act that alone makes the film worthwhile. Certainly not the sort of film that will
live on with a critical or cult following in the years to come, While She Was Out is
nevertheless an all-around decent outing that's neither an embarrassment to itself nor its genre;
indeed, it's a solid genre entry through and through, one that fans of this sort of material will want
to see. This Starz Blu-ray, however, is something of a disappointment. Featuring a decent 1080p
transfer, no lossless soundtrack, and absolutely no extras, only the quality of the movie and the
cheap price tag make it worth a consideration.
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