DVD Review: KNIGHT OF THE DEAD (2012)

KNIGHT OF THE DEAD (2012) 

Label: Inception Media Group
Region: 1 NTSC

Duration: 84 Minutes

Rating: Unrated

Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1

Video: 16:9 Widescreen (1.78:1)
Cast: Alan Calton, Alf Thompson, Dylan Jones, Feth Greenwood, George McCluskey, Jason Beeston, Lee Bennett, Vivien Vilela
Director: Mark Atkins

Knight of the Dead (2012) comes from the same distribution company that brought us zombies vs. Old West gunslingers with the low-budget The Dead and the Damned (2010). They're latest offering features the undead vs. medieval crusaders and is directed by Mark Atkins who previously directed several  "mockbuster" productions from The Asylum which were aimed at cashing-in on popular movies with similarly titled direct-to-video titles like Battle of Los Angles, Jack the Giant Killer and Allan Quatermain and the Temple of Skulls - none of which I've seen to be fair. By the same token I've had zero interest in watching any of those films for the simple fact that there are so many original and unique indie filmmakers out there struggling for an audience, Why waste my time watching something that exists solely to cash-in on someone else ingenuity. I love 70's exploitation cinema but these mockbusters rarely rise to the level of what filmmakers like Roger Corman and his crew were doing in decades past - they seem so crass and uninspired. 

With that in mind I was quite reluctant to give this a spin but the movie starts off interestingly enough with a renaissance style animated sequence which gives us a bit of the back story about a plague that's beset mankind turning the infected into flesh-hungry zombies. We have a priest and a band of knights escorting him through what's known as the Valley of Black Death - a place infested with the plague and zombies. The priest has been charged with delivering the Holy Grail but hordes of the undead and evil assassins stand in their way - that's pretty much the story - not too bad. 

The locations used in the film shot around the UK look decent and period specific. The filmmakers make great use of what appear to be authentic ancient ruins to get the most from a low budget and the costuming is pretty decent. Some of the tunics and cowls looked a little too new and could have used some aging but that's about it. . 

However, the acting is pretty spotty ranging from decent to downright distracting. The main baddie chews it up pretty badly with over-the-top line delivery that took me straight out of the film every single time he appeared onscreen. The deaths are pretty decent but rendered with help of cheap digital blood spatter and gore - not a fan. The udead were a huge problem for me - they didn't feel undead and that was a major problem when the undead make-up a large part of your film. 

The filmmakers do a decent job with coverage and getting some decent shots that are framed nicely but the editing was a bit choppy and the action sequences were frantic and that annoyed me. in addition everything is put through a filter which desaturated the color to a bland cold blue grey scale which is way overused. This Holy Grail story wrapped up in medieval zombie construct had potential but in the end it just didn't add up for me, it's not terrible it's something a bit worse - boring. 2 Outta 5 

DVD Review: TROLLHUNTER (2010)

TROLLHUNTER (2010)

LABEL: Magnet Releasing
RELEASE DATE: August 23rd 2011
REGION CODE: 1 NTSC
RATING: PG13
DURATION: 103 mins
VIDEO: 16:9 Widescreen (1.78:1)
AUDIO: English, Norwegian Dolby Digital 5.1
DIRECTOR: Andre Ovredal
CAST: Otto Jespersen, Robert Stoltenberg, Glenn Erland Tosterud, , Tomas Alf Larsen, Urmila Berg_Domaas, Hans Morten Hansem, Johann Morck
TAGLINE: You'll Believe It When You See It

Here we are again with yet another found-footage film shot in the cinema verite style but fear not visitor's to the Mausoleum, this one is a keeper. TROLLHUNTER begins with a trio of Norwegian college students whom set about documenting what they believe is a series of illegal bear poachings. The crew consists of on-screen talent Thomas (Glenn Erland Tosterudwhen), sound recordist Johanna (Johanna Morck) and cameraman Kalle (Tomas Alf Larsen). After speaking with a group of hunters whom are outraged at the illegal killing they track down the alleged "poacher", a mysterious man named Hans (Otto Jespersen). They eventually sleuth the location of the elusive character and further trail him into the woods late one night where they believe he stalks his illegal game. What they discover is that he is not a poacher but is in fact a Trollhunter who works for the Troll Security Service (TSS), a secretive government agency devised to keep the existence of trolls hidden from the public. Hans has been tasked with locating and destroying trolls who stray from their assigned remote territories. After some reluctance he allows the persistent trio to document his trollhunting exploits. Hans has a few strict rules the trio must adhere to if they wish to join him. First, his word is final and they must adhere to his every command, troll hunting is quite dangerous as you can well imagine. Second, if any among them are believers in Christ they may not join him for trolls can smell the blood of Christians, it's true. All confirm they are non-believers but one among them is not forthcoming and it proves disastrous to their well being. They must also mask their natural body odor by smearing themselves in the putrid gelatinous essence of troll stench, which seemed pretty gross. Having sworn to obey his every word, disavowing Christ and covered in smelly goo the trio keeps the film running while he tracks and kills several species of troll which range from the 20ft. tall, three-headed variety to the enormous twenty story tall mountain troll. Along the way he expands on the mythology of the trolls with some cool references to Scandinavian folklore, it's captivating stuff.

The Norwegian mountains and wilderness makes for a gorgeous setting, the lush green gorges, rocky outcroppings, waterfalls and snowy landscapes go a long way towards creating a setting in which one can truly believe in the fantastical, it brings trolls from the fairy tales into the modern age, I totally bought into it. The night scenes filmed deep in the wilderness and lit by the glow of moon are truly magical and eerie, there is some seriously fine world building and mythology transpiring on screen.

Good acting all around but the film is anchored by Hans (Jespersen), the craggy, bearded trollhunter  whom completely sold the realism of the situation for me. He trucks around the Norwegian hills in a custom SUV dragging a camper behind it with protective armament's and charms, his weapon of choice, a super-powerful ultra-violet light canon which either turns trolls to stone or causes them to explode, depending on the species. His vehicle is marred by the scars of troll battle, huge claw marks, tears and gashes cover it's exterior, and does his own storied face.

The trolls look fantastic, obviously they're digital renderings but are quite well done and manage not to draw too much attention to themselves, very natural for the most part. These creatures come right off the pages of a dark  fairytales, only way more menacing, these are great creature designs. The film's is also not wanting for action, as the group flee from trolls through the Scandinavian forest it's pretty harrowing stuff, a ground shaking fun time.

It's actually quite rare I get a screener that I can enjoy with my kids, ages eleven and twelve, so it was a real treat to throw this on and watch it with 'em with a nice big bowl of buttered popcorn, much like myself they were completely enthralled from start to finish... should I tell them trolls don't really exist? Nah. 
  

DVD: The films looks pretty good, it's grainy, the night scenes particularly, but the colors pop and the cinematography stays within it's cinema verite concept but it's not too shaky. The 5.1 sound design is pretty great and definitely pulls you into the fantastical reality as the trolls call out into the night, it gave the surrounds quite a work. There's a decent amount of features on the disc but they're not outstanding, interesting, but not what I would call essential viewing. We get nearly 40 minutes of deleted scenes, bloopers, extended scenes, a nifty visual effects featurette (with no audio) plus a behind-the-scenes mini doc, good breezy stuff. These are presented 16x9 enhanced widescreen with Norwegian audio and optional English subtitles. The last of the features include a HDNet featurette and a collection of Magnolia trailers.
 

SPECIAL FEATURES:
- Deleted Scenes (3:34)
- Improv and Bloopers (2:06)
- Extended Scenes (7:54)
- Visual Effects (6:06)
- Behind the Scenes (23:23)
- Photo Galleries
- HDNet: A  Look at Trollhunter (4:20)
- Magnolia Trailers (9:15) - HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN, 13 ASSASSINS, GOOD NEIGHBORS, THE PERFECT HOST

VERDICT: Last year's MONSTERS (2010) was a like-minded cinema verite style film that I quite enjoyed but those neon-alien-squids just don't stand a chance against these Norwegian trolls, this is right up there with REC. (2007), CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST (1980) and THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT (1999) in my opinion. A definite recommend from me, worth a purchase sight unseen.