DVD Review: While She Was Out: Kim Basinger, Lukas Haas, Craig Sheffer, Jamie Starr, Leonard Wu, Luis Chavez, Steve Gainer, Paul Haslinger, Susan Montford, William A. Anderson, William M. Anderson: Movies & TV
DVD Review: While She Was Out: Kim Basinger, Lukas Haas, Craig Sheffer, Jamie Starr, Leonard Wu, Luis Chavez, Steve Gainer, Paul Haslinger, Susan Montford, William A. Anderson, William M. Anderson: Movies & TV
Amazon.com
Stills from While She Was Out (Click for larger image)
Beyond While She Was Out 
More Horror - The Devil’s Ground
More Horror - Laid to Rest
The Anchor Bay Horror Store
Product Description
A suburban housewife (Kim Basinger) is forced to fend for herself when she becomes stranded in a desolate forest with four murderous thugs. What starts off as a quick trip to the mall ends in the woods with a fight for her life. All she has is a toolbox and her will to survive.
B grade slasher movie,
By CGScammell
(Southern Arizona) -
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What’s this?)
There were too many things wrong with this movie, but since enough reviewers have already stated the obvious, I won’t repeat them here. But here are my added observations
The movie starts out with tense music as you see a car drive down wet streets to a nice two-story suburban home. It’s the husband, who comes home with a really bad attitude and takes it out on his wife, Della.
Dells gives off her trademark chirpy screams she’s so famous for in other movies, and shakes in fear…which she does throughout the movie. This opening scene already tells the audience that Della is going to have a very, very bad day.
The mall scenes seem muted. For a Christmas Eve that was one quiet mall! Where were the pushy crowds, the tense verbal exchanges and the impatient customers? Nothing happened until she left the mall.
One lone cop comes up to four thugs? Where was the back-up?
From here on out, as she drives away from the mall, the plot just went downhill. Sure, the killing scenes were great if you like violent female erotica, but none of the politically-correct thugs had any common sense to be even labeled a thug. They couldn’t shoot straight, they couldn’t run straight, they couldn’t even overtake Della. And they were four against one!
Now Della’s strong point is that she’s pretty damn good with lugwrenches, screwdrivers, blowtorches and guns. Every scene after the first death was predictable. The remaining thugs stalk Della in a dark forest (but of course our protagonist has a nice shining light on her) It’s supposed to be a rainy scene with thunder and lightning in the background yet everyone appears to be dry. Okay…
There was no character development, but most slasher movies don’t need that. Still, I was expecting more with Kim B in the lead role.
The plot was just so stupid and dragged out. The thugs’ actions were all predictable and so was the very end.
The very end was just too forseeable.
The movie was only 1:20 hours long. I was glad it was over. Would I recommend this movie? No. But if you like women who are great with tools and look good in boots and heels, yeah, this may be your fantasy woman…just don’t tick her off!
One Housewife’s Journey of Self Discovery and Female Empowerment,
By K. Harris “Film aficionado” (Las Vegas, NV) -
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What’s this?)
“While She Was Out” tells the familiar story of an ordinary woman pushed to extraordinary lengths to survive an ordeal no one suspects she will live through. An improbable thriller, “Out” presents Kim Basinger as a put-upon housewife who encounters a murderous group of meanies on Christmas Eve. Basinger starts out as such a dishrag to her abusive husband, we hope to see her emerge a strong and resilient heroine as she is isolated and pursued throughout the night. One by one, she confronts her attackers and succeeds! The theme of female empowerment through murder isn’t a new idea–but one that has a certain appeal. However, “While She Was Out” doesn’t employ the device particularly well. No real intelligence or creativity is employed by Basinger–she’s more lucky than good. And that’s unfortunate, because this might have been a nifty little thriller.
The one thing I was certain of throughout the film was that we were preparing for a knock-out ending. As Basinger took the reins of her own life on this fateful night–how might this change her home life? The earlier scenes are played so over-the-top, the exciting and liberating set-up can be seen a mile away. However, the resolution is so tired, so expected, and so thoroughly underwhelming–it truly removed the last bit of goodwill I had for this picture.
The saddest thing of all about “While She Was Out” is how much I wanted to like it. The image of Basinger clutching a red toolbox on the DVD cover is priceless. The description, as well, is mint–they should have paid the copywriter big! It sure sounds like a sure fire guilty pleasure! Add Guillermo del Toro of the impeccable “Pan’s Labyrinth” as a producer, and that just raises expectations even more. But the film really lacks sensibility and surprise (I loved the ridiculous images of Christmas Eve at the mall where women were busy buying sexy lingerie and getting their hair done minutes before the bustling building becomes a ghost town). On several occasions, I recalled Basinger in an equally ludicrous thriller “Cellular.” But that film works despite its shortcomings due to characters to root for–and if that Kim Basinger were in this film, maybe things would have turned out differently. KGHarris, 04/09.
Could this film be the end of Kim Basinger’s career?,
By Joseph Tidline (Phoenix, AZ USA) -
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What’s this?)
I remember seeing the trailer for this film sometime last year. I thought it looked a little cheesy but would make for an entertaining rental. Well I don;t know if this film was ever released in theaters but if it was I never saw one commercial for it. And after seeing the film I can understand why.
The films stars Kim Basinger as a housewife and mother who decides to go out to the mall on a rainy Christmas Eve night just to purchase wrapping paper. While leaving the mall she is confronted by a stereotypical, multicultural gang of toughs led by, of all people, Lukas Haas. That was about the point I knew this film was going to be bad. Touch and menacing are not words I would use to describe Lukas Haas. He is probably one of the last people in Hollywood I would have cast as a leader of a gang.
The films turns into the usual woman trying to survive the night thriller/horror film, and this film does it with lots of violence. I guess the excessive violence is meant to distract us from the horrible acting. And the acting in this film is awful. I believe a lot of the blame falls on whomever wrote the script. The actors can only work with what they are given. But that does not explain the presence of Kim Basinger in this film. At one time she was a bright and talented actress who won a much deserved Oscar for her role in LA Confidential. I know she has not done much since her publicized divorce from Alec Baldwin, but I can only wonder what was going throgh her head when she chose to make this film. Maybe the concept sounded more appealing when it was originally pitched to her.
In the end I believe that with better writing and some better casting this film could have been a lot better than the film that ended up on this DVD. As for the DVD itself there is not much in the way of extras. You get the original movie trailer, 2 TV spots (which I never saw on telelvison), a making of feature, and the obligatory commentary by the director and the producer.
If this review has not turned you away from this film, I can only say give it a rental, rather than a purchase, and see what could possibly be the beginning of the end of Kim Basinger’s career. I gave the film 2 out of 5 only for the suspense the film brought and I am a glutton for punishment. Also in the end, Kim Basinger does put her heart into the role and does the best she can with what she was given.
Search While She Was Out: Kim Basinger, Lukas Haas, Craig Sheffer, Jamie Starr, Leonard Wu, Luis Chavez, Steve Gainer, Paul Haslinger, Susan Montford, William A. Anderson, William M. Anderson: Movies & TV from AmAzon
[asa]B001QMCJ14[/asa]
First tagged "video" by norma Segui Customer tags: wii(133), dance games(131)
First tagged "video" by Kyle A. Munz Customer tags: helmet cam(7)