Few actors have been headlining movies as long as John Cusack has and he's still doing it, if not in things you'd readily identify as "a John Cusack movie" then at least in wide release films where he takes top billing. Cusack alone is not enough to guarantee a high profile, though, and his recent successes have been more attributable to concepts than his appeal. That, coupled with the fact that Warner's Dark Castle Entertainment label of mid-range genre films has recently struggled at the box office, makes it easy enough to understand why The Factory, a horror thriller shot back in early 2008, is forgoing theatrical release and coming straight to DVD this month.

Written by young Australian actors Morgan O'Neill (who also directed this) and Paul Leyden, The Factory buries a dubious "Inspired by Actual Events" claim at the end of its opening credits. The film opens on Thanksgiving and lets us know up front who is responsible for a string of serial abductions that has baffled detectives in Buffalo, New York for a couple of years. Before we learn his name or occupation, we know that Carl (Dallas Roberts) is a sociopath behind the disappearances and presumed murders of seven young prostitutes.

Detective Mike Fletcher (Cusack) and his partner, new in town Kelsey (Jennifer Carpenter), have poured over the facts in the case and come up empty. All they know is that their serial killer is a "snow hunter" who preys upon vulnerable local sex workers exclusively during the winter months. Fletcher's already fervent interest in the case escalates when his 17-year-old daughter Abby (Mae Whitman) goes missing at what we know to be the deadly hands of crazed hospital chef Carl.

Carl's methods are a mystery to Fletcher, who isn't hesitant to employ violent interrogation techniques, and Kelsey, but not to us, who are shown everything in detail. There is a reason why the police haven't found any of the missing prostitutes' bodies and it is the same reason the movie is titled The Factory, a fact it clunkily makes clear in one of its final lines. The specifics are dark and grisly, as Abby takes her place in Carl's dungeon, joining the ranks of chain-bound, brainwashed, medicated, tortured prostitutes who call him "Daddy" and hope he can impregnate them as desired while cartoons are projected on them.

The film pulls out a major twist in its final minutes, one you might be able to see coming due to some pretty big hints, but also might not, considering the stupidity of the revelation and how it taints everything we've seen. Not that everything we've seen is good. It's choppily edited, manipulative, and highly unpleasant. True, horror movies aren't generally supposed to be pleasant, but the sociopathic material in the foreground here is not something anyone sane will enjoy seeing. I'll give The Factory credit for an unconventional ending, but that major twist eliminates virtually all of the film's credibility.

It's always fun to find dated references in a movie that has been sitting on a shelf for years. A mention of the Wii as something unfamiliar, Abby's wall posters of Avril Lavigne and Green Day, and an archaic camera flip phone all seem to qualify.

Unlike new theatrical fare, which for years Warner has regularly treated to three separate home video editions, The Factory comes to DVD alone on February 19th.

VIDEO and AUDIO

The DVD's 2.40:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer offers fine picture quality. This isn't a handsome film, but the visuals are capable enough and are about as well-represented as standard definition allows. The Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack is impressively good as well, making use of channel separation to nice effect while always staying crisp and consistent.

BONUS FEATURES, MENUS, PACKAGING and DESIGN

Even with no Blu-ray combo pack to make comparably attractive, Warner still puts minimal effort into this DVD. There are no real extras and just two remarkably plain static menu screens (not even a scene selection section).

Your purchase of this DVD does include a free UltraViolet stream of the film that's good for two years. A single-sided insert with directions and your unique code for accessing that is the only thing housed within the unslipcovered black Eco-Box keepcase.

The disc opens with an UltraViolet promo and trailers for Beautiful Creatures, Cloud Atlas, Argo, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Part 2, and Warner Bros.' 90th Anniversary collections. None of these are menu accessible, nor is The Factory's absent trailer.

CLOSING THOUGHTS

The Factory seems to have the ingredients for a passable atmospheric mystery, but more interested in the serial killer than the cops looking for him, it opts to be a bleak tale of torture and torment with an absurdly unsatisfying twist ending. Unless you're someone who tries to see every horror film out there, this is one you can skip.

Buy The Factory on DVD from Amazon.com