D V D C R Y P T

BOY MEETS GIRL

Directed by Ray Brady
Produced by Chris Read & Ray Brady
Written by Jim Crosbie Ray Brady
Director of Photograpy Kevin McMorrow
Music by Jim Crosbie Geoff Southall
Cast: Tim Poole, Danielle Sanderson & Margot Steinberg

1994/95 mins/Color/Dolby 2.0
1.33:1/English/UK/NTSC Region 1

Review from the Unearthed Films DVD

OK, boys and girls, open your vocabulary books, as we're about to learn a new oxymoron: tame torture. Yes, that certainly meets the criteria of an oxymoron, as it's two words together that don't make sense. Yet, "tame torture" is exactly what we get with BOY MEETS GIRL, a British film which has just hit DVD in the U.S. courtesy of Unearthed Films. The movie banned in the UK for 8 years by the BBFC, and now we can see what all of the fuss is about.

We've all read books (or comic books or played video games) and thought, "This would make a great movie." Well, as I watched BOY MEETS GIRL, all that I could think was, "This would make a great play." Save for the first 8 minutes of the film, all of BOY MEETS GIRL takes place in the darkened room, and the majority of the scenes are dominated by dialogue. Now, don't get the wrong idea, BOY MEETS GIRL is a brutal film, but the majority of the torture suffered by Tevin is psychological, not physical, as he is questioned about the conduct in his life. And, the majority of audiences would find the movie revolting and reprehensible. But, coming from the same company which released GUINEA PIG: DEVIL'S EXPERIMENT, the movie is quite tame. There is very little on-screen violence, and the torture which is depicted displays amateurish FX. To be honest, the majority of the movie is quite boring, as it reminded me more of a dramatic reading from a liberal arts college (the film turns into a debate about violence and the nature of man) than a controversial movie. Director Ray Brady was clearly working with a low-budget and his attempt to make an intelligent and shocking film is admirable, but the final result is not very entertaining. BOY MEETS GIRL joins my long list of "banned" movies which were apparently banned more for their quality than their shock value.

Unearthed Films is the company that dared to bring BOY MEETS GIRL to DVD in Region 1. The film is presented in a 1.33:1 aspect ratio for this release. This low-budget shocker was shot on 16mm film and the transfer reveals many of the defects associated with that medium. The image shows a great deal of grain and the image is very dark in many scenes. There are numerous defects to the source print which are visible throughout the film, but most are contained to small scratches or black dots. The few colors are good, but there is some bleeding of the shades in the opening scene. Artifacting can be seen in many scenes, as can video noise. The Dolby 2.0 audio track is woefully unbalanced as the dynamic range fluctuates throughout the film. The dialogue will be very low in the mix and then will suddenly become quite loud. This occurs with the music as well. The track also displays a very slight hiss.

The DVD contains a few extra features. There is an audio commentary from director/co-writer Ray Brady. Brady sounds like an amiable fellow, and for once he delivers what we want from a commentary, as he talks in detail about the production of the film, the goals of the film, how the touchy subject matter was tackled, and his reaction to the film's banning. Next, we have picture-in-picture comparisons of rehearsals to the final film for four different scenes. A still gallery, which contains around 40 images, offers many on-set photos and a few behind-the-scenes shots. Finally, we have the very brief trailer for BOY MEETS GIRL, which is presented in a 1.33:1 aspect ratio.

Tevin (Tim Poole) meets a woman named Anne Marie (Margot Steinberg) at a bar and they then journey to her apartment. Once there, Anne Marie puts on an adult video and serves Tevin a drink...which happens to be drugged, resulting in him falling unconscious. When Tevin awakens, he finds himself in a darkened room, where he is strapped to an old dentist's chair. From then on, Anne Marie and her masked assistant proceed to torture Tevin -- both physically, and mentally, as he is questioned about his life and his morals. Is this just a game, or will the torture lead to death?

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