UNDEAD (2003)
Label: Umbrella Entertainment
Region: Region-Free
Duration: 97 Minutes
Audio options include both uncompressed English DTS-HD 2.0 stereo and 5.1 surround with optional English subtitles. Audio is crisp and sharp sounding, the splattery gore effects and sharp firearms discharges are well rendered, as is the dialogue.
Onto the extras we get a fine selection of archival stuff beginning with the Audio Commentary with Directors Peter and Michael Spierig and Cinematographer Andy Strahorn. We also get the 47-min On the set of the Undead, the 27-min The Making of Undead, the 2-min Homemade Dolly Video, the 2-min Undead Camera and Make-up Tests, a 12-min Stills Gallery, plus the Theatrical Trailer.
Rating: MA 15+
Audio: English 5.1 & 2.0 DTS HD-MA with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.77:1)
Director: Michael Spierig, Peter Spierig
Cast: Felicity Mason, Mungo McKay, Rob Jenkins
When a series of meteorites crash-land in the small fishing village of Berkeley, Australia it heralds the arrival of a extraterrestrial infection that unleashes a horde of the living dead. In a fun opening we track one of the meteorite as it enters the Earth's atmosphere and proceeds blow a bowling ball sized hole through the chest of a man in the park, he being the first infected. In the aftermath a small group of survivors are of lead by a local and quite pregnant beauty pageant winner René (Felicity Mason) and the town's residents doomsday prepper looney Marion (Mungo McKay, Daybreakers), who team up with a young couple and the town's argumentative coppers to fight their way through the undead and escape the village, only to find a monolithic wall has trapped the whole town.
Audio: English 5.1 & 2.0 DTS HD-MA with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.77:1)
Director: Michael Spierig, Peter Spierig
Cast: Felicity Mason, Mungo McKay, Rob Jenkins
When a series of meteorites crash-land in the small fishing village of Berkeley, Australia it heralds the arrival of a extraterrestrial infection that unleashes a horde of the living dead. In a fun opening we track one of the meteorite as it enters the Earth's atmosphere and proceeds blow a bowling ball sized hole through the chest of a man in the park, he being the first infected. In the aftermath a small group of survivors are of lead by a local and quite pregnant beauty pageant winner René (Felicity Mason) and the town's residents doomsday prepper looney Marion (Mungo McKay, Daybreakers), who team up with a young couple and the town's argumentative coppers to fight their way through the undead and escape the village, only to find a monolithic wall has trapped the whole town.
Undead was the feature-films debut of Australia's Spierig Brothers (Daybreakers) who made it for $75K, crafting a spunky and low-budget zombie/alien epic that oozes creativity while clearly taking inspiration from the low-budget horror roots of Sam Raimi (Evil Dead) and Peter Jackson (Dead Alive). The inventive and kinetic film stitches in a alien visitation arc, some gun-fu action (including a kick-ass three-barreled shotgun) and gory undead carnage offering a crowd pleasing, if uneven horror-comedy, that was slightly ahead of the early '00's zombie resurgence.
The Spierig's would go onto make the still under-loved Daybreakers a few years later, followed by Predestination and franchise horror with Jigsaw, but this scrappy indie was my introduction to them, catching it at the local arthouse theater after catching a trailer online, and I was hugely impressed at the time, and still continue to be. Some of the effects are a bit iffy in retrospect, the effects stretching the budget, but the spirit and unbridled enthusiasm for genre tropes and a spark on originality still makes hell of a fun watch, even after the glut on indie zombie flicks that came soon after, most of which cannot hold a candle to this Australian cult-classic.
Audio/Video: Undead (2003) arrives on region-free Blu-ray from Umbrella Entertainment remastered in 1080p HD framed in 1.77:1 widescreen with retimed color-grading. Color-grading is largely in line with the 2004 Lionsgate DVD, opening scenes bathed in a golden hue and once the undead action starts changing to an intense blue leaning that desaturates the color palette quite a bit though there are some red highlights. Black levels are decent but crush is evident, and fine detail is a bit sapped by source limitation combined with the heavy color-grading. Overall a solid looking Blu-ray for this low-budget zombie flick.
Audio/Video: Undead (2003) arrives on region-free Blu-ray from Umbrella Entertainment remastered in 1080p HD framed in 1.77:1 widescreen with retimed color-grading. Color-grading is largely in line with the 2004 Lionsgate DVD, opening scenes bathed in a golden hue and once the undead action starts changing to an intense blue leaning that desaturates the color palette quite a bit though there are some red highlights. Black levels are decent but crush is evident, and fine detail is a bit sapped by source limitation combined with the heavy color-grading. Overall a solid looking Blu-ray for this low-budget zombie flick.
Audio options include both uncompressed English DTS-HD 2.0 stereo and 5.1 surround with optional English subtitles. Audio is crisp and sharp sounding, the splattery gore effects and sharp firearms discharges are well rendered, as is the dialogue.
Onto the extras we get a fine selection of archival stuff beginning with the Audio Commentary with Directors Peter and Michael Spierig and Cinematographer Andy Strahorn. We also get the 47-min On the set of the Undead, the 27-min The Making of Undead, the 2-min Homemade Dolly Video, the 2-min Undead Camera and Make-up Tests, a 12-min Stills Gallery, plus the Theatrical Trailer.
Exclusive to this release is the 37-min Attack of the Undead – Short Film, newly remastered, which was the is what the feature-length film was based on and features, which was a fun watch. The black and white film features a lot of familiar gags in it seen in the feature film. Also new is the Original Soundtrack CD, containing the Cliff Bradley score, containing 17 tracks that run about 53-min.
Sadly we do not get the longer-running cut of the film which is available in other territories, this shorter cut apparently being the Spierig Bros. preferred cut of the film. The Lionsgate DVD had a listed run time of 104 minutes but I went back to it to compare and it's actually only ran 97-minute version, the same as this one. Also not included are the 16-minutes of Deleted and Extended Scenes from the Lionsgate DVD, the 5-min Supernova Convention Q&A Footage, the 9-min Midnight Madness Toronto Film Festival Screening featurette, the Cast Audio Commentary, Animatic to Film Comparison and the 2-min Zombies Internet featurette. That these are not on the new Blu-ray s not a deal-breaker for me, it is still a nice A/V upgrade and the exclusive extras (Soundtrack CD, short film) are pretty cool, but if you're a bonus junk junkie I would sat hang onto the Lionsgate DVD for the sake of completeness.
The 2-disc BD/CD release arrives in an oversized keepcase with a limited-edition O-ring packaging branded with the Worlds on Film: World Beyond imprint branding a numbered spine, this being #12, featuring a sleeve of reversible artwork with exclusive new artwork. Inside you will find the Blu-ray decked out with the new illustration by Simon Sherry and the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack CD.
Special Features:
- Original Soundtrack CD (17 Songs, 53 Minutes)
- Audio Commentary with Directors Peter and Michael Spierig and Cinematographer Andy Strahorn
- On the set of the Undead (47 min)
- Attack of the Undead – Short Film (37 min)
-The Making of Undead (37 min)
- Homemade Dolly Video (2 min)
- Undead Camera and Make-up Tests (2 min)
- Stills Gallery (12 min)
- Theatrical Trailer
- Original Soundtrack CD (17 Songs, 53 Minutes)
- Audio Commentary with Directors Peter and Michael Spierig and Cinematographer Andy Strahorn
- On the set of the Undead (47 min)
- Attack of the Undead – Short Film (37 min)
-The Making of Undead (37 min)
- Homemade Dolly Video (2 min)
- Undead Camera and Make-up Tests (2 min)
- Stills Gallery (12 min)
- Theatrical Trailer
Screenshots from the Umbrella Entertainment Blu-ray:
