Brooklyn 45

Chamber thrillers or parlor films are a tough genre to work in. You need a compelling story, interesting characters, and a unique plot and story that’ll sustain all of the action and drama. That’s tough for any film, but then you’ve got to do it all within a single room and keep it visually exciting for the audience. Many try, few succeed. Writer/Director Ted Geoghegan conjures up one heck of a chamber film that successfully amps up suspense and tension while dipping a few toes into the realm of supernatural horror for extra flavor. 

It’s Christmas eve 1945. The war is over. Lt. Col. “Hock” Hockstatter (Larry Fessenden) is having a few old war buddies over for some drinks. His wife recently passed, and he’s mournful, lonely, and in need of good company. In attendance is Mjr. DiFranco (Ezrta Buzzington), Mjr. Stanton (Jeremy Holm), Bob (Bob Reins) and former spy-hunter wife Marla Sheridan (Anne Ramsay). But the real reason he’s invited his best friends over wasn’t to spread some holiday cheer and celebrate the end of the war. Convinced his wife was actually murdered, Hock forces his friends to participate in a seance to root out a murderous spy in their midst. 

Chamber films are very difficult. Even in novel form, they’re hard to execute well. When Agatha Christie could even struggle with the conceit in her books, it’s hell for a visual medium like film to sustain narrative flow while ramping up tension and suspense for the audience. Either the venture becomes too repetitious or the plot is stretched too thin that it peters out into an uneventful nothingburger. All credit to Ted Geoghegan for writing and directing a successful chamber horror thriller with Brooklyn 45. 

Now to be fair, this film does almost run aground into the repetition sinkhole. After certain plot developments arise, our group of war friends are left to determine if a German neighbor played by Kristina Klebe is an innocent immigrant or actually a Nazi spy. This argumentative round-about back-and-forth of discourse between characters teeters precariously close to falling over the edge. But Geoghegan’s script and talented cast pull back and with a supernatural twist, we have one extra layer of plot defense to keep this story tightly wound and exciting. It’s not perfect, I thought some dialog exchanges could have been cut down to quicken the pace, but for the most part Brooklyn 45 works and leaves some ghastly gore effects for the big finale.

Part of what helps this film hold together is the swift 93-minute run time. It’s in and out relatively quickly without a lot of fuss. We get to meet our cast at their best, and then quickly learn about them at their worst. While the fast pace helps, it’s the cast that makes the film work. Larry Fessenden is his usual terrific self. Anne Ramsay is a true standout as our cold-as-ice spy hunter and her interplay with the suspect woman played by Klebe is great stuff. Ezra Buzzington looks like he’s having a great time as a bastard military career man while Jeremy Holm delivers as a soldier haunted by his past. Ron E. Rains is also great as the guy trying to keep things calm as everything in the room goes to shit. 

The fun part of this release is fans can enjoy the film in Color or in Black and White. The color is nice for sure, but I have to say I really enjoyed the mood and atmosphere of the monochromatic version. Between the style of the film, and the time period, the stark whites, creepy shadows, and deep blacks really sell the story. So if you’ve already seen it, make sure you check out Brooklyn 45 that way too. 

Vital Disc Stats: The Blu-ray  
Brooklyn 45 comes to Blu-ray with a single-disc release from Shudder and OCN Distribution. The film is pressed on a Region A BD-50 disc. Housed in a clear case, the set also includes a 26-page booklet with an essay about the making of the film with behind-the-scenes photos. The disc loads to an animated main menu with standard navigation options.

Brooklyn 45 arrives with a stylish visually appealing 2.35:1 1080p transfer - in color! Because we have two distinctly different visual presentations on one disc, I’ll keep things brief and to the point but know both are great. The color version keeps things festive with a 1940s vibe. Primaries look lovely, there are plenty of military olive drab to go about and details for our single-room location are filled with little trinkets and accents to catch the eye. Even in the limited space, depth is maintained for a nice dimensional image. Most of those aspects are carried over for the Black and White version… obviously without the primary color pallet. The grayscale is lovely with deep blacks, bright whites, and full shades of shadows in between. I’d also say the Black and White helps ground some of the CGI bits and effects better than the color. Overall you can’t go wrong with either version.

Whether you watch in Color or Black and White, Brooklyn 45 is treated to a lovely and atmospheric DTS-HD MA 5.1 track. A chamber film, the soundscape rightly feels tight and confined. The channel spread is wisely used to let ambient effects and key sounds sell the surround experience while the Front/Center channels handle much of the sonic workload. Dialog is clean and clear without issue. Scoring by Blitz/Berlin accentuates the mood of the film nicely without overcompensating for noise to fill any given scene. It’s a nice creepy feature and this audio mix sells it.

On the bonus features side, we have a fairly respectable smattering of extra content to dig into. The key informative features fans will want to check out are Ted Geoghegan’s audio commentary and the 30-minute behind-the-scenes making-of. The commentary is brisk and informative without sounding dull or too prepared. The making-of is also nicely detailed getting time with the cast and crew as they work through the film. The booklet essay is also a great read. Also on this list is the Black and White version, I don't necessarily call this a bonus feature exactly but I'm including it here for clarity.

• Audio Commentary featuring writer/director Ted Geoghegan
• Black and White Version (HD 1:32:39)
• Ghosts of the Past: The Making of Brooklyn 45 (HD 30:16)
• Booklet

For a solid little fright film, Brooklyn 45 was a nice diversion. A chamber thriller with supernatural horror overtones, the film moves quickly and avoids a number of pitfalls that can snag this delicate single-location form of storytelling. Not a perfect film, some of the conversation pieces do get a little repetitious, but the cast and the smart direction save the venture with some solid creeps and spooks with one hell of a gory ending. On Blu-ray, fans can enjoy a full Color or Black and White version of the film with great audio and some informative extra features. Recommended