I've mentioned before about how I typically try to avoid spoilers, but, as I plan and schedule reviews, I must often read the plot synopses of movies on the horizon. This usually amounts to internal comments as simple as "That sounds interesting." or "That doesn't sound like my kind of movie." But, every once in a while I read something which makes me say, "I can't begin to imagine how that premise was made into a movie." That was certainly the case with 247° F, a film which takes a very, very simplistic sounding idea and turns it into a feature-length film.

247° F introduces us to Jenna (Scout Taylor-Compton) who has agreed to join her friend, Renee (Christina Ulloa), on a weekend retreat. Renee's boyfriend, Michael (Michael Copon), has arranged for the group to travel with Ian (Travis Van Winkle) to his family's secluded lakeside cabin. Renee is also playing matchmaker as she hopes that Jenna and Ian will hit it off. Three years ago, Jenna lost her fiance and it's Renee's intent for this trip to bring her out of her shell. They arrive at the cabin and meet Wade (Tyler Mane), the cabin's caretaker. He informs them that their bags are inside and the cabin is well-stocked. After dinner, the group decides to use the cabin's built-in sauna before going to the big local party. They alternating sitting in the steam room and then jumping in the lake to cool off. However, an accident occurs and the group gets locked in the sauna. As the temperature controls are outside and the cabin is far from others, they are virtually helpless as the heat begins to rise and the water runs low.

As someone who was born and raised in the southeastern part of the United States, I've never understood the appeal of a sauna. You want to go into a room which is humid? In the south, every room is humid and the whole world is your sauna. I don't think I've ever had any toxins, as they were all sweated out the second I left my house. I'm talking about a part of the country where 99% humidity is considered brisk. Still, to each his own and saunas and steam rooms are obviously far more popular in places like northern Europe where the humidity and temperatures are commonly low.

Still, getting trapped in a sauna? Isn't this scraping the bottom barrel of the "trapped in a" genre? Hasn't this genre been done to death, as we've seen people trapped in freezers and jail cells and houses and department stores. Did we really need to see someone trapped in a sauna? Well, to be honest, I've never seen this done in a movie and I was curious to see how they would pull it off.

It's obvious that writers Levan Bakhia, Beqa Oniani, and Lloyd S. Wagner ("one of these things is not like the others...") have clearly done their homework and studied the "trapped in a" genre for 247° F, as we get all of the cliches. At first, the group doesn't realize that they are locked in. When they do, there is initial panic until they remember that someone should be coming soon. When that doesn't happen, there is more panic and plans for escape are hatched. Then, paranoia and bickering begins as the stress of the situation sets in. 247° F throws to unique pieces into the mix as the participants are clad only in their underwear and a super-hot stove sits in the middle of the room.

The new angle of the sauna aside, is 247° F cliched? Of course it is -- it really couldn't help but me. Still, Directors Levan Bakhia and Beqa Jguburia rarely let the pace drag and the tension remains high. The movie could have easily consisted mostly scenes where the group sat in the sauna and fretted, but this is a group of action and we witness there various plans to save themselves. Of course, we get the requisite scenes where someone comes near the cabin and the group gets their hopes up. The script uses some creative devices for why the rescue doesn't happen at these times. Inevitably, the premise wears thin and we are left to see who will survive, but kudos to the filmmakers for at least making this interesting. If 247° F has a stumbling block, it has to do with Jenna's backstory. We know that she suffered a tragic loss, but it didn't have much to do with being trapped somewhere. Wouldn't it have been more effective if her past issues had to do with claustrophobia?

Will 247° F make you think twice before going into a sauna? Probably so. (In my case, something will have had to have gone horribly wrong if I'm entering a sauna.) Is this a great movie? Not really, but it does its job and it is effective. 247° F manages to take an old premise and breath a little life into up by keeping things moving. And kudos to the film for avoiding the obvious exploitation opportunities given the cast's wardrobe. In this way, 247° F is both steamy and not steamy at the same time.

247° F brings us the re-teaming of Scout Taylor-Compton and Tyler Man for which no one was asking on Blu-ray Disc courtesy of Anchor Bay Entertainment. The film has been letterboxed at 2.35:1 and the Disc contains an AVC 1080p HD transfer which runs at an average of 27 Mbps. The image is very sharp and clear, showing no overt grain or defects from the source materials. The colors look good, although not overly bold, and the image is never too dark or bright. The image is not soft and we can make out textures on objects and the depth is good. The Disc carries a Dolby TrueHD 5.1 audio track which runs at 48 kHz and an average of 3.5 Mbps. The track opens with a great car accident sound effect which moves from one side to the other in the rear speakers. I was immediately impressed. However, this feeling went away when I noticed that the dynamic range on the track is off. Not only are the sound effects and music louder than the dialogue, the actually drown out and muffle the actor's voices at times. The surround and stereo effects are good, and we get some nice subwoofer, but when we cant' hear what is being said, there is a problem.

The 247° F Blu-ray Disc contains only two extras. We begin with an AUDIO COMMENTARY from Producer/Director Levan Bakhia. The Disc offers three DELETED SCENES which run about 4 minutes. These scenes are all brief and two of them are simply longer versions of scenes from the finished film.