The Threat (Arrow Limited Edition)

The Threat begins with a family attending a wedding. Instead of happy faces smiling for the happy couple, a handheld camera runs wild around the event, with scowling faces and whispered voices wishing the couple nothing well. Beams of light emphasize looks of dissatisfaction. No one is happy. Kinji Fukasaku begins the film this way to let the audience know that no one in this film is truly innocent. There are no heroes and villains. And even though the film is shot in black and white, the morality on display isn’t as easily divided. Everything is varying shades of grey.

A family returns home from the wedding, only to have their safety upended by two death row inmates who have escaped from prison and broken into the family home. The criminals plan to stay there, eat their food, borrow their car, sleep in their bed, and use the paterfamilias as their “remote control”. The fugitives, you see, have been busy. Before they found this family home to destroy the safety of, they made another stop first, where they kidnapped the grandchild of a prestigious doctor, to collect a ransom. The duo has no plans to enact the logistics of the handoff, where they leave themselves vulnerable to police intervention and arrest. They’re going to use the family, specifically Mr. Misawa, the husband and father, to do the dirty work for them. And if he doesn’t, they’ll kill his wife and child.

The Threat almost feels like a prototype for home invasion movies like The Strangers, but instead of being the victims of random, senseless violence, the Misawa family is no less fortunate by simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The invaders here have a sense of purpose, but they are equally sadistic in how they go about getting what they want. And their presence awakens sadism that Mr. Misawa never knew he had in himself.  There’s a disturbing sequence of sexual violence that makes it hard to root for anyone—all we can do is watch with horror as the events unfold before us.

Although I wouldn't necessarily classify The Threat as a film noir, it does have those influences and the nighttime scenes are moodily emphasized with shadows. It’s interesting to see crime films of this era and how they’re a response to how the world has changed around them. Mr. Misawa and one of the death row fugitives talk about their time in the war. Japan, like every other country in the world, was irreversibly changed as a result of WWII, and most crime films that emerged from the shadow of that event are colored in various ways by it. American crime films of the era were similarly cynical and hard-edged. It’s hard to grapple with such violence on such a massive scale, and the films that were produced in the decades after visualized filmmakers’ own various attempts to come to terms with it.

The Threat is a good movie, with unpredictable twists and turns that often go into some very dark places. My biggest issue is that, at a lean 84 minutes, it still manages to drag. I think the simple premise was stretched about as far as it could go. Still, it’s an interesting examination of “good” and “bad” with no clear lines drawn for either. It’s simply a look at humanity at its worst, and the good things it can do in those situations, and the horrible things it’s capable of, too.

Vital Disc Stats: The Blu-ray
For this review we were supplied a pre-retail Check Disc to look at. Here's what you can expect in the final package: Arrow Video’s Blu-ray release of The Threat arrives on a single disc in a limited-edition package that includes a reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Tony Stella, an illustrated collector's booklet featuring writing on the film by Hayley Scanlon and a double-sided foldout poster featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Tony Stella.

The Threat was shot in black and white 35mm film and, for the most part, it looks fantastic in this video presentation courtesy of Arrow. The film is presented in high-definition 1080p and is clear of most technical errors and the film looks clear and clear of unsightly dirt spots. Film grain is apparent throughout. Closeups are very sharp and clear. Nighttime scenes are very well lit, using shadows to excellent effect—and the film’s use of Dutch angle evoke a sort of German Expressionist influence. Some nighttime scenes have noisy shadow grain and lower-lit interior scenes have some issues with focus going in and out, a sort of pulsating effect. These issues are few and far between and are minor nits to pick with what’s generally a very good-looking film.

As is the case with most films of this era, The Threat was filmed in mono and the audio on the Blu-ray is the original, uncompressed mono mix in Japanese, with English subtitles that can be turned on or off. Arrow specifies that these are newly translated English subtitles, there are a number of uses of the F-word near the end of the film and I’m curious to know if that’s always been the case, or if those F-bombs in the English subtitles are unique to this release?

The monoaural audio mix is very well-leveled. Dialogue always shines and the jazzy musical score never overpowers the film. There aren’t a lot of sound effects beyond some LFEs from a rumbling car engine or traffic. There are some gunshots that pack a wallop, but The Threat is, mostly, a morality play and the vast majority of what we hear is going to be our characters talking, punctuated by Isao Tomita's frequent musical interludes.

While there aren’t a ton of special features to be found on the disc, there are a number here to help provide historical context for The Threat when it was released and its historical significance for Japanese cinema and crime films as a whole.

• Brand New Audio Commentary by Japanese film expert Tom Mes
• Warning Warning Danger Danger, a brand new 20-minute video appreciation by critic and Japanese film specialist Mark Schilling (HD 18:42)
• Original Theatrical Trailer
• Image Gallery

The Threat is an underseen little gem of a crime film, served with a healthy spoonful of cynicism on top. It was ahead of its time in its portrayal of a home invasion and the violent acts that followed in its chaotic wake. Arrow Video gives the film an attractive audio/visual presentation, and although special features aren’t quite as robust as many of Arrow’s other releases, the packaging is sure to please fans along with two brand-new features produced specifically for this release. The Threat comes Recommended.