The Tattooist (2007)
R1 / NTSC DVD
Sony Pictures / 2008
Directed by Peter Burger
Written by Matthew Grainger & Jonathan King
Cast: Jason Behr, Mia Blake & Michael Hurst
Review by Brian Harris

Jason Behr plays Jake Sawyer, a shady tattooist offering his tat gun to the highest bidder looking for healing ink. While strolling through a tattoo expo he happens upon a group of Samoan tattooists working their traditional ink. Intrigued by their tools and style, he steals a Samoan tattoo instrument with a vengeful ghost attached and begins unwittingly spreading a deadly “grudge” to the people he tattoos.

Alright, I’ll admit it, I wasn’t expecting much from Jason Behr or this film. Even with Jonathan (Black Sheep) King attached as a writer to this project I was still hesitant to check it out as Ghosthouse has turned out exceptionally weak product in the past. Thankfully, I was wrong, the film turned out to be decent; it was original and interesting.

The acting was all in order aside from one or two performances, the concept was what we might expect to see from an Asian cinema inspired supernatural tale but it did have an original spin to it and the FX was subtle and effective. If you’re all about a cool looking ghost, The Tattooist has got you covered, Lomi the ghost was brilliantly creepy looking dressed in nothing but a bone necklace and tattooed pitch black.

Now, the downside…The Tattooist wasn’t scary. It was occasionally tense, reasonably thrilling and a little sexy but not one single, miniscule drop of scary could possibly have been squeezed from this film. Scary-lite would be an understatement. That’s not to say the film wasn’t good, it just won’t make you jump. Some may praise the film for its lack of cheap fright tactics, like jump scares, but I personally felt it could have used a few to shake things up a bit.

By the way, that bald, gnarled tattoo artist named Crash may be more recognizable to some of you with long hair, standing alongside Kevin Sorbo in Hercules! That’s right, that bald bugger was Herc’s scrappy sidekick Iolaus!

• Screen Format: 1.78:1 Anamorphic Widescreen / Color
• Audio: English, French / Dolby Digital 5.1
• Subtitles: English, French, Spanish
• Running time: 89 mins.

• Audio Commentary w/ Cast & Crew
• Deleted Scenes
• Behind The Scenes
• Featurettes (4)

I was anticipating a weak-kneed horror-lite with vapid characters and an illogical story; instead I was mildly surprised by the originality of the concept and Behr’s portrayal of an unsavory, yet likable, character. This wasn’t packed to the gills with CG or pretty people, which was a major plus, but it also lacked good, old-fashioned fear as well. In my opinion, this could have been so much better but it’s really not half bad for what it is right now. It’s definitely worthy of a rental.

“Turns Asian horror on its ear!”