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Geek Vibes Nation
25-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Geek Vibes Nation
'Rounding' Blu-Ray Review - Medical Horror Film Conjures Psychological Torment
After a traumatic incident, a driven young medical resident transfers to a rural hospital for a fresh start, but the demons of his past start to catch up to him when he becomes consumed by the case of a patient with mysterious symptoms. Director Alex Thompson assembles a strong ensemble of veteran character actors in this humanist and unconventional genre vision. For in-depth thoughts on Rounding, please see my colleague Cody Allen's review from its original theatrical release here. Video Quality Rounding arrives on Blu-Ray in a 1080p presentation that provides an ideal viewing experience. This is a visually dynamic film with haunting shots where you can see an incredible amount of detail. The transfer retains the intended claustrophobic look where subtle elements of the costumes and production design are able to come through. The skin tones and makeup look very detailed and natural throughout. The film is not bursting with bold colors, but the hues in some of the design elements stand out in a welcome way. This film uses lighting deliberately as it establishes the mood of the locales to conjure tension. The highlights are handled beautifully, along with the deep blacks that do not appear to falter with any compression artifacts. This presentation represents this film to great effect. Audio Quality The Blu-Ray disc comes with a DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio track that deftly handles the creepy soundscape introduced here. The environmental effects create a really haunting experience that believably realizes the world. This is not a particularly kinetic film, but activity in the low end is handled well thanks to the music and some key developments. The film uses the score in really notable ways that fill the room with grand fidelity. Dialogue comes through crisp and clear without ever being covered up by the sound effects or the score. The sound design is just as precisely deployed as the on-screen visuals with all of the sounds positioned just right in the mix. This track accomplished everything that is asked of it. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided. Special Features Audio Commentary: Director Alex Thompson and editor Mike Smith provide an informative commentary track in which they give background details on how they brought the film together, memories from the production, the shooting locations, the movement of the camera, and more. Behind The Scenes of Rounding: A 16-minute featurette that takes a look at the story, the dynamics between the characters, the themes of the narrative, the performances, and more. Interviews: A selection of interviews featured in the above featurette is provided in an extended form. Director Alex Thompson (5:13) Co-Writer Christopher Thompson (4:20) Namir Smallwood (3:42) Sidney Flanigan (2:26) Michael Potts (2:49) Deleted Scenes: A five-minute selection of unused material is provided in a slightly unfinished form. Outtakes: A six-minute collection of unused takes is provided. Theatrical Trailer (1:34) Final Thoughts Rounding examines the psychological toll that the medical field takes on professionals, manifested through a genre lens. Hardcore horror fans may come away underwhelmed by the lack of overt scares, but there is enough body horror and psychological torment to make your skin crawl. The screenplay is a bit underdeveloped in terms of revealing motivations and shoring up dangling narrative threads, keeping the film from reaching its full potential. Even with its flaws, it is worth diving into the mental spiral. Music Box Films has released a Blu-Ray featuring a strong A/V presentation and a worthy assortment of special features. Recommended Rounding is currently available to purchase on Standard Edition Blu-Ray or with a Limited Edition Slipcover exclusively through Vinegar Syndrome. Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray. Disclaimer: Music Box Films Home Entertainment has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.
Chicago Tribune
13-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
‘Rounding' review: From Chicago's ‘Ghostlight' director, an eerie tale of a doctor's demons
Filmed before 'Ghostlight' in 2022, Chicago-based director and co-writer Alex Thompson's 'Rounding' has the less eerie-sounding title of the two. Yet titles are deceiving. The movie, shot in Elmhurst, Galena, Highland Park and around Chicago, makes its overdue theatrical premiere in tandem with streaming availability on various platforms, both distributed by the Music Box Films subsidiary Doppelganger Releasing. It's a slippery picture, as well as a bit vague, sometimes deliberately, sometimes less so. At the same time 'Rounding,' named after the hospital rounds medical students conduct with their mentors, casts enough of an atmospheric spell in its tale of psychological demons haunting a young medical student to linger in your psyche a while. After a breakdown following his role in the assisted suicide of a patient (Cheryl Lynn Bruce), James (Namir Smallwood) relocates to a small-town hospital in a place called Greenville. Much of 'Rounding' takes place in winter, and as James — a runner — jogs around town, he prepares himself mentally for the next day's demands. The training isn't for the weak. At one point, surrounded by other residents making rounds, James must deliver news to a lung cancer patient that is not encouraging. He bungles it, and it weighs on him, in addition to everything else shadowing his uncertain recovery. This is a protagonist who has 'lost the thread,' in the the words of his unseen mother, with whom James has several phone calls across an unspecified time period. Strange things happen to, and within, this doctor in training: little time lapses, momentary fugue-state panic attacks. Meantime there's a mystery surrounding one of the patients James gets to know, an asthmatic young woman (Sidney Flanigan) whose ever-present mother (Rebecca Spence) doesn't like James' interrogation of her daughter's peculiar treatment plan. Something isn't right, James keeps saying. Is the something in his increasingly fraught head, or elsewhere? Filmmaker Thompson, who co-wrote the script with his brother Christopher Thompson, suggests no one answer. At one point the manifestations of James' dread and guilt become, to him, at least, very real, and monstrous. Other developments nudge 'Rounding' into a bit of body horror; after a fall down a stairway, James spends the rest of the movie hobbling around on a bad and then festering leg. Meantime the patient with whom James has become medically obsessed gets better, then worse, then … The premise may sound straightforward, and it is, almost. 'Rounding' works best, I think, when the 'almost' feeling sustains a kind of subterranean tension. While Smallwood's character as written is essentially reactive, the actor's facility with charged stillness sets the tone. This is not full-on scare stuff; it's more interior. The supporting turns are very fine. Among others, there's Tony Award-winning director David Cromer as a somewhat cryptic bedside-manner coach, and Charin Alvarez who, in a three-minute scene as James' wary longtime colleague, conducts a mini-masterclass in humanizing exposition with quiet gravity. The Steppenwolf Theatre Company connections run deep in this ensemble, which includes the excellent Kelly O'Sullivan, screenwriter of 'Ghostlight' and 'Saint Frances' as well as screenwriter and co-director, with her partner Alex Thompson, of the forthcoming 'Mouse.' The musical score by Quinn Tsan and Macie Stewart captures the main character's unease, slyly. 'Rounding' may not be enough for some, or clear enough in its intentions. Others don't mind ambiguity, or even elements of ambiguity's first cousin, opacity, if there are other things to appreciate. And there are. 'Rounding' — 3 stars (out of 4) No MPA rating (some language and violence) How to watch: Premieres Friday at Chicago's Music Box Theatre, 3733 N. Southport Ave.; Also streaming online.
