I don’t think anyone looking at the cover of the Dark Tower will confuse this with the recent adaptation of the Stephen King book series. However, as a preface I’ll just say this has nothing to do with that. This Dark Tower film follows the goings on in an unfinished office building in Barcelona.
The film opens with someone spying in on Carolyn played by Jenny Agutter (American Werewolf in London) in lingerie. He does this in a place where it is easy to fall off the building, and guess what? He does just that, and on to a worker below, two for one. Dennis Randall played by Michael Moriarty (The Stuff)is sent into investigate and of course more death beings to occur, and it all seems to be following Carolyn.
I’ll be honest this one…was not great. I mean the Jenny Agutter in lingerie bits, were fantastic, but I mean whose going to deny that? And the opening of the film pretty much sets up some really great stuff to come, but it really is all over the place after the beginning. The third act of the film picks up a bit, but not really enough to recover from the mid-section. That being said the film was directed by both Freddie Francis and Ken Wiederhorn. Wiederhorn was allegedly let go from the project partially into it, and Francis took over which could account for the varying shifts in logic and tone.
If there is one area of praise to give this one disc it’s the transfer. Vinegar Syndrome give The Dark Tower a fantastic 1:85:1 1080p AVC encoded transfer that just looks fantastic. Detail is great, colors are well-reproduced, and it just looks natural and filmlike. Audio is a DTS-HD MA track in English that sounds crisp, clear, and without issue. Extras include an interview with FX Artist Steve Neill, and a still gallery.