Writers: Matthew Grainger, Jonathan King
Directors: Peter Burger
Cast: Jason Behr, Mia Blake, David Fane, Robbie Magasiva, Caroline Cheong, Michael Hurst, Nathaniel Lees
Rating: R
Studio: Sony
Release Date: June 24, 2008

I really didn’t know how I felt about having to review a movie called The Tattooist. I’m not one of those people who think tattoos are bad. I’m also not a tattoo fanatic. I was unsure about an entire movie that revolved around tattoos and tattooing. Starting out as a lesson in the cultural practice of tattooing, the The Tattooist quickly becomes a thriller/horror movie with a fast paced storyline.

The Tattooist isn’t the best movie I’ve seen in recent days, but it is something I’d watch again. It’s a movie that is enjoyable and perhaps even a bit shocking. While some aspects of the movie are predictable as the movie goes along (I had a few “I bet this is going to happen” moments) this doesn’t seem to detract from the overall appeal of The Tattooist.

Release Information:
The Tattooist is a film that comes out of New Zealand. The film was actually co-produced between the countries of New Zealand and Singapore, and that is why the film debuted in New Zealand on August 30, 2007 and Singapore on November 29, 2007. The film has never been released in U.S. theaters though its main star is American.

The Tattooist comes to North America courtesy of Sony Pictures. The Home Entertainment division has released The Tattooist on DVD. It became available in the United States on June 24, 2008. The Tattooist can be purchased at a variety of online and offline retailers. Online, at Amazon, The Tattooist is available for $19.99 USD.

The Tattooist Plot
The Tattooist is actually quite an interesting film. It stars American actor, Jason Behr, who some people might recognize from the television show Roswell and the American remake of The Grudge. Behr stars as Jake Sawyer, a man who has been obsessed with tattoos since his childhood.

While working as a tattoo artist in Singapore, he plays on the Ancient traditions of tattooing and healing, often bringing a spiritual and healing element to the tattoos he gives. Of course, when his tattoos don’t always heal, he faces the wrath of angry individuals, even those he told to see a doctor. Still, Jake’s obsession leads him to a place where the ritual tatu is being performed.

His interest in tatu is enhanced by the beauty of a girl involved in the Ancient Samoan practice. Taking one of the tatu tools, without permission, Jake ends up accidentally cutting his hand on the instrument and that’s when many weird things start to happen. While his hand continuously aches and the cut seems to go from better to worse and back to better again, Jake also experiences frequent nightmares, all of which he attributes to the cut by the instrument. Discontented, he heads to New Zealand, to try and find the man (and the girl) from whom he stole the instrument.

In New Zealand, Jake shacks up with his old friend and tattooing mentor, Crash (Michael Hurst). Crash gives him a job in his tattoo parlor and a place to stay above the shop. In the meantime, Crash is helping Jake out by trying to find the tatu artists. Once Crash finds the group, Jake hooks up with Sina (Mia Blake), the cousin of the tatu artist and the niece of Mr Va’a (David Fane), a well respected artist of tatu in the Samoan community. Mr. Va’a has passed down his skills to Sina’s cousin, though he still is highly regarded.

In New Zealand, Jake’s customers start dying off, the tattoos he gave them killing them. Thinking that he’s unleashed some dark spirit that has to do with tatu, Jake must seek help from a Samoan community that dislikes outsiders, especially arrogant ones who take their tattooing gifts for granted. Of course, this is easier said than done.

The acting for The Tattooist was decent. I only knew Behr by name and I only knew him in passing. All of the characters from Jake to Mr. Va’a were played well, making the acting one of the strongest parts of the movie. The plot for The Tattooist was pretty good. While I was able to predict the ending at one point in the middle of the movie, it isn’t evident when the initial storytelling is going on though the beginning of the movie does foreshadow the ending. Overall, this movie is suspenseful though slightly flawed.

Storyline/Plot:
Replayability:
Acting:
Directing:

Audio/Visual:
The video quality for The Tattooist was quite fresh. Colors came through naturally and everything was bright with good contrast. The black tones had depth to them and overall, this was one of the best elements of this DVD. The specs for the video quality of The Tattooist are 1.98:1 anamorphic widescreen. For what it’s worth, I was impressed by the quality of a film I assume didn’t have a huge budget.

The sound for The Tattooist was disappointing. The English Dolby Digital 5.1 with Closed Captioning was all over the place. I had to toggle the volume consistently. The music didn’t mesh well with the dialogue. It was a mess. There is also a Dolby Digital French 5.1 track with closed captioning. Luckily, there are subtitles available in English, Spanish and French so you can follow along with what is going on by reading the text (and less volume toggling is necessary as a result).

Visual:
Audio:

Bonus Features:
The Tattooist has multiple bonus features. There were a surprising amount of bonuses found on a DVD I assume was made on a lower budget than most of the blockbusters we see coming from U.S. studios. The bonuses start with a digital copy. This allows the movie to easily be transferred and saved onto a computer.

The bonuses continue with a The Tattooist Behind the Scenes feature. This is the standard behind the scenes featurette, which offers a look at filming and discussion with the creators of the movie about their vision for the film. There are some deleted scenes and there is also an audio commentary. The commentary features director Peter Burger and actor Jason Behr. I found it pretty interesting, but that’s just my opinion.

The bonuses are rounded out with a series of featurettes. There is a Behind the Tattoo Designs Featurette, which examines the various tattoo designs and their meanings. There is a Real Life Samoan Tattoo Featurette, about the tattoo culture in Samoa. Finally, there are two additional featurettes called Becoming a Chief and The Colors of The Tattooist. All of these featurettes are interesting and make a great addition to this DVD.

Bonus Features:

Bottom Line:
The Tattooist was a surprisingly enjoyable film. While this horror inspired, supernatural thriller might not appeal to everyone, the story is comprehensive, the characters are interesting, and the plot moves along nicely, providing for an overall entertaining movie. If you are a fan of these types of films, pick up The Tattooist without further thought. Otherwise, this is one you�ll want to rent first, just in case it’s not up your alley.

Overall Rating:

Technorati Tags: The Tattooist, Sony, DVD Review, Jason Behr, Home Entertainment, Mia Blake, Peter Burger, New Zealand, Tattoo, Singapore

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