Product Details

• Actors: Kim Basinger, Craig Sheffer
• Format: Color, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Studio: Starz / Anchor Bay
• DVD Release Date: April 28, 2009
• Run Time: 88 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (85 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B001QMCJ14
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #81,688 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "While She Was Out" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Genre: Action/Adventure
Rating: R
Release Date: 28-APR-2009
Media Type: DVD

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars One Housewife's Journey of Self Discovery and Female Empowerment, April 29, 2009

By 

K. Harris "Film aficionado" (Albuquerque, NM) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: While She Was Out (DVD)

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"While She Was Out" tells the familiar story of an ordinary woman pushed to extraordinary lengths to survive an ordeal no one suspects she will live through. An improbable thriller, "Out" presents Kim Basinger as a put-upon housewife who encounters a murderous group of meanies on Christmas Eve. Basinger starts out as such a dishrag to her abusive husband, we hope to see her emerge a strong and resilient heroine as she is isolated and pursued throughout the night. One by one, she confronts her attackers and succeeds! The theme of female empowerment through murder isn't a new idea--but one that has a certain appeal. However, "While She Was Out" doesn't employ the device particularly well. No real intelligence or creativity is employed by Basinger--she's more lucky than good. And that's unfortunate, because this might have been a nifty little thriller.

The one thing I was certain of throughout the film was that we were preparing for a knock-out ending. As Basinger took the reins of her own life on this fateful night--how might this change her home life? The earlier scenes are played so over-the-top, the exciting and liberating set-up can be seen a mile away. However, the resolution is so tired, so expected, and so thoroughly underwhelming--it truly removed the last bit of goodwill I had for this picture.

The saddest thing of all about "While She Was Out" is how much I wanted to like it. The image of Basinger clutching a red toolbox on the DVD cover is priceless. The description, as well, is mint--they should have paid the copywriter big! It sure sounds like a sure fire guilty pleasure! Add Guillermo del Toro of the impeccable "Pan's Labyrinth" as a producer, and that just raises expectations even more. But the film really lacks sensibility and surprise (I loved the ridiculous images of Christmas Eve at the mall where women were busy buying sexy lingerie and getting their hair done minutes before the bustling building becomes a ghost town). On several occasions, I recalled Basinger in an equally ludicrous thriller "Cellular." But that film works despite its shortcomings due to characters to root for--and if that Kim Basinger were in this film, maybe things would have turned out differently. KGHarris, 04/09.

20 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Lifetime TV "movie-of-the-week" + several hardcore kill scenes = dismal straight-to-DVD junk, May 13, 2009

By 

Hugo D. Hackenbush (Main Street, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: While She Was Out (DVD)

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Don't be fooled by Guillermo Del Toro's name as a producer on this film... Kim Basinger, Lukas Haas and Craig Sheffer all collect an undeserved paycheck in the straight-to-DVD exploitation revenge flick "While She Was Out".

Basinger plays a (somewhat past-her-prime) upper-middle-class trophy wife who, along with her beloved two children, is stuck in an abusive marriage to a cretinous loser of an alcoholic husband (a forgettable Craig Sheffer). After yet another round of domestic violence with her drunk hubby, Basinger takes off from her gated community digs and decides to clear her head by getting a little Christmas shopping done at the local mall. While there, she happens upon an ethnically-diverse group of particularly stupid teen mall thugs (led by a completely unconvincing Lukas Haas), who thereafter proceed to chase and terrorize Basinger until she is finally driven to fight back.

Sub-standard entry in the revenge film genre is good for one or two unintentional snickers and not much more, as the film alternates between being tedious (the film is essentially one long, badly-paced chase sequence), ludicrous (somehow when stranded in a huge forest at night with her assailants, Basinger just can't seem to escape, no matter how fast she runs, no matter how much lead time she has over them; meanwhile, the bad guys, completely unfamiliar with their pitch-black surroundings and armed only with a flash light, always seem to know the general direction she is going, and never get lost while walking slowly after her) and cartoonishly, gratuitously violent (watch long, close-up money shots of assorted car tools explicitly pummeling and piercing flesh).

Basinger (still looking quite beautiful after all these years) tries her best, as she yelps and quivers convincingly enough, but it's all for naught, as the film is dismal on pretty much every level.

Even those who wholeheartedly enjoy revenge and torture porn flicks will find their patience tested with this one. What initially starts out as intriguing quickly steers into borderline camp (check out the scene where Basinger's character runs into an old friend at the mall) before eventually becoming a flat-out bore, thanks to perfunctory direction, cliched plotting, embarrassing dialogue and dull, cardboard characters. Those hearty viewers that manage to stay awake for the silly "surprise" ending of "While She Was Out" will be rewarded with a newfound respect for Charles Bronson's "Death Wish" series.

Need I say it? Skip this film... even as a rental.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Dreadful; Basinger Squeals Throughout, September 7, 2011

By 

carol irvin "carol irvin" (United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: While She Was Out (DVD)

This is just dreadful. I used to like Kim Basinger. Perhaps this is another example of women over a certain age in Hollywood not getting offered good parts. This one is about as bad as it gets. First she starts out with a husband who is abusive and then when she goes Christmas shopping, escaping him for the evening, she gets attacked by three abusive young men and flees from them. That is pretty much the whole arc of the movie.

There was a time when she was the leading lady for Sam Shepard, Michael Keaton, Alec Baldwin and Richard Gere. This movie is a far fall from those heady days. Don't bother.