Now On Blu-ray: OBSERVANCE Didn't Work For Me
Parker, a down on his luck private investigator is contracted to watch the goings-on at a young lady's apartment. In order to do so his employer, whose identity is a mystery and who communicates with Parker through an intermediary, finds an abandoned building across the street and sets up a blind in which all Parker has to do is sit, watch, and report back. It seems like a pretty sweet job and the pay is good for relatively little work, but things start getting weird pretty quickly and when Parker decides he wants out, it's not easy.
Supernatural goings on mixed with detached violence start to work on Parker's nerves. He's not sure he's crazy or if something is actually out to get him. Maybe it's both. Observance is a paranoid thriller with a supernatural twist that will work for a lot of people, it just didn't work with me.
Obvious fingerprints of Polanski's Repulsion and Hitchcock's Rear Window are all over Observance, but somehow it just missed the mark for me, which both surprises and disappoints me and I'm not entirely sure where the fault lays.
Joseph Sims-Dennett's Observance is the kind of film that I'm usually in the bag for. A claustrophobic thriller where things are exactly what they seem is right in my wheelhouse. However, I ultimately found myself drifting away from the story being told as the film wore on, and for an eighty-three minute feature, that's a problem.
I'm beginning to feel like I just wasn't made for these times. I'm finding he current trend of obtuse artsy horror more and more alienating the more prominent and pervasive it becomes. I'm conflicted about it because I feel as though I'm an intelligent enough guy - though I know plenty of people who might argue otherwise - that I should be able to get the same enjoyment out of these films that others seem to. However, in the end, my tastes in this genre of film run decidedly more toward the linear Good Vs. Evil narrative.
However, my opinion is far from definitive and we need look no further that our own Hugo Ozman for a counterpoint:
On the whole, Observance is a suspenseful, edge of the seat thriller that should please fans of the horror / thriller genre. I have enjoyed it a lot, even though I do believe that it would have been even scarier if every scene was filmed inside that apartment.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
The Disc
Artsploitation's Blu-ray of Observance is quite good, in spite of my personal issues with the film. As with any independent feature these days, the film was shot digitally and transfers beautifully to home video. The 5.1 surround track is used effectively to convey the claustrophobia of the film as well as delivering clear dialogue and FX.
The only extra is a three minute "Preface to Observance", a puffy piece in which the performers talk about their roles and how excited they were to play them. It's not bad or offensive, it's just very slight. Overall, I'd say to give Observance a rental before you buy if at all possible, you may love it!
