DVD Reviews:  Nine Lives

Nine Lives is the story of a group of friends who go to a Scottish mansion to celebrate the 21^st birthday of a dear friend. Things go horribly awry when one by one they start turning up dead and the only possible explanation is that they are actually killing each other. 

Cut off by a snowstorm, suspicion becomes full paranoia and the history of the house and a mysterious book turn the group into killers as an evil spirit invades the body of each person and as they in turn are dealt with, invades their killer as well. Tension is high in the old estate, which doesn’t help when the building is so large that people get lost in it’s twists and turns as they flee from the killer who has taken the guise of a loved one. 

The storyline of this film is a neat one in concept and does have a certain amount of originality to them. Starring a cast of relative young unknowns, whilst enjoyable, Nine Lives fails to fully grab you by the throat from start to finish and this is predominately due to the weaker performances of one of the young ladies in the film. She was hard to take seriously and almost seemed to ham it up a bit, which was out of place taken next to the demeanour of her co-stars. 

The general quality of the DVD in terms of audio and video was up to snuff and certainly there was nothing to complain about. Audio was clear and the soundtrack used all channels with the exception of the subwoofer, which didn’t rate much of a mention throughout the course of the movie. There was a bit of low level noise during some parts of the movie, but nothing to detract from the overall watching experience. 

I was a bit disappointed with the extras on the DVD. More a series of tacked on bits as opposed to a planned piece of content, we are presented with  bits and pieces, audio grabs and the like. The behind the scenes featurette was exactly that, a camera running showing the director and crew as the stars acted out their roles. No voice over or explanation. We joined them as a fly on the way and left them with just as much notice paid to the viewer. 

Sound bites from the cast and crew were a little bit disjointed however some were quite amusing even though they were a bit too short. 

Nine Lives is worth a watch and if you find it at the right price, even worth a purchase. You may have to forgive what I am assuming to be a fairly inexperienced cast at times, however don’t let that get in the way of a pretty decent little yarn.