Product Details

• Actors: Laura Prepon, Misha Collins, Patrick Bauchau, Emilie Jacobs, Alex Boyd
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC, Widescreen
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Studio: Monterey Video
• DVD Release Date: April 3, 2007
• Run Time: 99 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000MNOXX0
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #37,620 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Karla" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

KARLA - DVD Movie

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Disturbing, April 7, 2007

By 

Fred Cody (Coral Springs, FL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Karla (DVD)

This was a very disturbing, yet, very engrossing movie. Real life crime stories intrique me and this was no exception. I thought the two main leads, Collins and Prepon were exceptionally good and it's a role certainly against type for Prepon. Perhaps there is too much sympathy for Karla in the movie, however, if some of the deleted scenes had been included, it may not have been the case in the finished product. This movie could have been explotive if the sex and rape scenes were more brutal, but, I commend all involved for leaving more to the immaginiation than the eyes. It's a movie you really want to follow almost word for word, frame by frame, as to not miss something that might give you a reason to understand the callousness and the brutality of the two principals in the case. I highly recommend this movie, but, it is disturbing, especially knowing it is based on a true story. Well done, well crafted, and well worth seeing.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not as good as I had hoped it would be, April 26, 2007

By 

Sarah Bellum (Dublin, OH United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Karla (DVD)

"Karla" is a small, fairly low-budget film that rather quietly recounts the story of Karla Homolka, wife of serial rapist and murderer Paul Bernardo. Being somewhat familiar with their story, I anticipated it would translate well to film. For the most part, the film succeeds in providing a realistic portrayal of a battered wife, whose husband managed to maintain a semblance of normalcy and elude capture for a few years. The tone of the film is fairly understated, which seems to contrast somewhat with the story. These were some horrific, disturbing events that might be shocking, though they were also true. Director Joel Bender deserves credit for not making them overly dramatic by adding stylized violence or ominous music, as so often happens in films that deal with this type of material. The actors also deserve credit for not overacting and hamming up their performances, which often occurs in horror and suspense films. Perhaps out of respect for the families of the victims, this film is not exploitive or sensationalized. If one watches this film expecting a prurient, American-style horror film, replete with blood, gore and gratuitous nudity, one will find the experience disappointing. I was, nonetheless, a little disappointed with the film, though not for the above reasons. It is pretty clear that Karla Homolka was abused by Paul Bernardo and that he perpetrated some atrocious, unconscionable acts. I cannot comprehend why abused women stay with their men, though I know it does happen. Karla Homolka was (and perhaps still is) a deceitful, manipulative individual, who knew her husband was raping and murdering young women; yet, she did nothing about it until her own life came into jeopardy. Even though she decided to stay, that doesn't provide rationale for condoning his raping and murdering these women. The end of the film contains an epilogue, which refutes much of what was portrayed in the film. It states in part that she has expressed no sympathy for the murdered girls, yet she is portrayed in the film as being at least moderately sympathetic toward them. She also did not appear to be too emotionally hurt by her abuse, as though the filmmakers could not decide what to make of her and consequently decided to write the character without much of a personality. It seems her character is based solely on a credulous, verbatim reading of interviews with her so that she comes across as stoic, detached and passive. Perhaps in reality she is emotionless and inured to her environment, though here she is presented so innocuously that it makes me wonder how "Evil has a beautiful face" was chosen as the tagline. Her character provides the impetus for the story since it is told from her perspective, which makes her lack of definition rather unfortunate for this film. Character issues aside, the film has too many slow-motion scenes, which gives it a little made-for-TV feel. Although no subtitles are included, the DVD does have several deleted scenes that are presented by the director. After hearing his extremely dry, insipid introductions, I understood how Karla's character came to be so underdeveloped. Contrast this film with "Monster" for a good example of how a person's motivations and experiences can be parlayed into an interesting, yet insidious character. For a different perspective of these characters, read the books "Invisible Darkness" or "Deadly Innocence."

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Close To Home Killing, May 29, 2007

By 

J. Wren (Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Karla (DVD)

I remember when the killings happened only 3 hrs away from my hometown. All of my father's family is from St Catherines and many of my family knew of or had met the victims. My grandmother actually went to church were one of the girls was abducted from. This case really hit home. I read one of the books that told the story of Karla and Paul and when I found out there was going to be a movie I was very interested in seeing it. I felt like by reading the book and watching the movie that I was keeping the victims memories alive not glorifying these sick people for the crimes they committed. This movie was only viewed in very few movie theatres in Canada, none in which were close to my home so I was unable to see the movie while in theatres. When the movie then became available on DVD again there was nowhere near to rent or buy it. I purchased this movie without ever seeing it but with a case that I had followed for such a long time I had the need to see it. This movie kept close to the facts that were released to the public through the media and the books available. The movie was very powerful, very graphic and very hard to believe to be true. It's so hard to believe that someone could do such horrible things to such innocent victims. I highly recommend this film but only to viewers that realize what this film in tales. The actors/actresses in this film did a wonderful job and I can only imagine how hard it was for them to be in these roles. To the families of the victims their memory is still alive. I hope that others who watch this film watch it for the same reasons as me not to glorify but to remember.