Don’t Tell a Soul Blu Ray Review (Lionsgate)
Don’t Tell a Soul is a 2020 psychological thriller film written and directed by Alex McAulay (Flower, Cult, The Lost Girls, and The Sparkle Room). It was produced by Chris Mangano (Struck by Lightning, Match, Punching Henry, The Polka King, and Standing Up, Falling Down). The film had it’s world premiere at the Deauville Film Festival. It had a limited theatrical release.
To help pay their dying mother Carol (played by: Mena Suvari from American Beauty, American Pie franchise, Spun, and Day of the Dead) medical bills, 17-year-old Matt (played by: Fionn Whitehead from Dunkirk, Him, Port Authority, and Voyagers) forces his 14-year-old brother Joey (played by: Jack Dylan Grazer from IT, Shazam!, Tales of Haloween, and Beautiful Boy) to rob a remote home being fumigated. Security guard Dave Hamby (played by: Rainn Wilson from The Office, Justice League Dark: Apokolips War, The Death and Return of Superman, Reign of the Supermen, The Death of Superman, Blackbird, and The Meg) chases the two teens through a forest, but falls into an abandoned well. He is badly injured and he can barely move now.
Matt insists on leaving Hamby in the hole so he cannot turn the brothers in to the police. Feeling guilty about leaving the man trapped, Joey regularly visits Hamby to bring him water, food, a sleeping bag, and a walkie-talkie. When he discovers what his brother is doing, Matt urinates on Hamby’s head to reassert authority. Joey still tries to help the man out after the dreadful incident with his older brother. Matt drops an open pesticide canister into the hole to kill Hamby. Joey confronts Matt when he learns his brother used the stolen money meant for their mother to host a motel party. The two brothers start to feud over the money and the dangerous situation that they got themselves into. Is Hamby dead? and Can these two get along enough to keep their horrible secrets from everyone else????
Don’t Tell a Soul is one of the best smaller films of last year and one of the best released suspense thrillers on home video this year. It has a small cast but everything here brings their A game to their roles. Jack Dylan Grazer and Fionn Whitehead have amazing chemistry together as the brothers with different reactions to his horrible situation. They are completely different, Jack Dylan Grazer is the likeable Joey who tries his best to fix his mistake and Fionn Whitehead is his asshole brother Matt who just wants to kill their witness of their crime. Rainn Wilson who is usually known for comedies tries something different here. He plays a man at the wrong place at the wrong time just trying to survive.
I was blown away by his performance in Don’t Tell a Soul. This is his greatest performance so far, he proves that he can do more than comedy here. Mena Suvari gives a strong performance as the boys mother that’s really sick and trying to hold everything together. This one you will either love or hate when it comes to the script. It doesn’t stop when it comes to the suspense and thrills. It just keeps getting worse for the leads. It’s loaded with twists and turns, you never know what’s going to happen next for the most part. I honestly see a few things coming here but it was still impressive. Don’t Tell a Soul was smaller and it kinda went under the radar during it’s release. This one deserves more attention because it delivers on everything that you would want from something like this, RECOMMENDED!!!!
Let’s talk about the high definition presentation and special feature from Lionsgate! This 1080p (2.39:1) transfer looks stunning on blu ray. Don’t Tell a Soul has a nice claustrophobic atmosphere to it. The English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track sounds great and it really kicks in during the finale. All of the dialogue is crystal clear, the suspense is elevated, and the music has a nice boost to it. It has English SDH and Spanish subtitles. “Flesh and Blood: Creating Don’t Tell a Soul” is a little over 21 minutes. It has interviews with director Alex McAulay, actors Rainn Wilson, Jack Dylan Grazer, Fionn Whitehead, Mena Suvari, and various members of the production. It has behind the scenes footage. They chat about the development of the film. They talk about the actors, characters, locations, and cinematography. They go over the chemistry of the cast. They show a nerf war that they had on set. It brings up the editing, sound mixing, and music for the production. It also comes with a slipcover and a digital code. It’s available everywhere right now, CHECK IT OUT!!!! 
