DVD Review: CHILDREN OF A DARKER DAWN (2013)

CHILDREN OF A DARKER DAWN (2013)

Label: Pop Twist
Region Code: Region FREE
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 106 Minute
Video: 16:9 Widescreen
Audio: English Dolby Digital 2.0
Director: Jason Figgis
Cast:  Emily Forster, Catherine Wrigglesworth, Justine Rodgers

A pandemic virus is decimating the adult population of the world, the afflicted grown-ups are losing they're minds and slipping into a weird state of dementia before death. Nine months later teenagers and children are the only survivors of the new plague. This is director Jason Figgis' apocalyptic version of the classic Lord of the Flies story, set in the melancholic city of Dublin, Ireland. Our main characters are sisters Evie (Catherine Wrigglesworth) and Fran (Emily Forster) move from house to house preferring to keep to themselves while scavenging for food and shelter, steering clear of other groups of juveniles in the area. When we finally meet-up with others we can see why - it's pretty grim and desperate out there and the neighbors aren't always a friendly bunch.

As a doomsday movie the scale quite small, there are very few establishing shots setting-up a larger world view, we're tightly focused on a small group of survivors and the teenage drama that's unfolds, only in this post-apocalyptic reality petty jealousies and rivalries can easily turn deadly.

The young cast are excellent, for a micro-budget film a poor cast can be the death knell but there are no such issues here, very strong performances. Through flashback we see the disintegration of the parents who at first exhibit flu like symptoms and then signs of dementia, some of these scenes are quite affecting as the children grasp to hold onto their mothers and fathers as they slip away into insanity, it can powerful stuff.

A few concerns you might wanna be aware of before plunging into this one sight unseen. Due to the micro-budget origins the scope of the film is very small - we just don't get a lot of world building on display. It's a bit of a slow burn and and the sudden finale left me cold. While it lacks a visceral punch it does have some multi-layered performances from a promising young cast, preferring to skip the usual gore and ultra-violence for a genuine sense of dread and tension, but at the end of the day this is a apocalypse-drama that for me doesn't have a lot of rewatch value. 2 Outta 5

DVD Review: STATE OF EMERGENCY (2010)

STATE OF EMERGENCY (2010)

Label: Image Entertainment

Region: 1 NTSC 

Rating: Unrated 

Duration: 90 Minutes 

Video: 16:9 Widescreen 

Audio: English Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo

Cast: Jay Hayden, Andy Stahl, Tori White
Director: Turner Clay

Tagline: When the Dead Walk, the Living Run 

Synopsis: After an explosion unleashes the contents of a military bio-weapons plant, the unsuspecting populace is transformed into a roaming army of flesh-eating zombies. Trapped in the quarantine zone, Jim (Jay Hayden, A Warrior's Heart) finds himself cut off, confused and fighting for his own survival. Contacted by a small band of others unaffected by the toxins, Jim sets out to reach their besieged warehouse. Becoming the group's de-facto leader, he struggles to keep order as they hunker down, fortify their stronghold and arm themselves against the attacking mutants. Fragmentary radio reports from outside hint at a last-ditch government rescue plan. But can the survivors hold out until help arrives… or will they succumb to the living hell of an undead apocalypse?

When a chemical plants goes up in flames the toxic fallout really ruins the day for the inhabitants of a small town. Among them are Jim (Jay Hayden) and his unfortunate wife. As the toxic plume rises into the sky emergency sirens go off, a large portion of the populace exhibit signs of extreme violence and the military arrives and quarantines the country as a precaution, it's a very 28 Days Later rage-plague set-up, what we get are more infected than actual Romero-esque zombies. 

Our protagonist Jim at first finds safety in an abandoned building where he keeps to himself and watches the TV, we learn about the quarantine and the violence the infected are inflicting on survivors.  Not long after he is contacted by small group of three survivors who have taken up residence in a nearby warehouse, it's a more secure shelter, and he joins them. W what we get is more a character piece more so than as film laced with zombie carnage, there's not even a lot of survivor drama or in-fighting among the group. If you think of Romero's Dawn of the Dead (1979) and of the time in the mall once Peter and the group wall-up the stairwell and try to lead a life of normalcy you've got a good grasp of what you're in for here, 

Gore hounds seeking a throat-ripping zombie assault might be in for a a bit of disappointment but as a character study about a small group of survivors this works quite well, we get some strong characterization, the small cast is excellent, particularly Jim Hayden and Andy Stahl whom are given characters with the most meat on the bone, good stuff. 

It's a low-budget feature but the cinematography is fantastic and has a attractive green patina to it, nice deep saturated color and great shots, a very decent looking micro budgeted film. Note to indie filmmakers, having a great director of photography goes a long way.  

We only get a handful of infected onscreen but they look great, red-eyed and angry as fuck... except when they're speaking, yup, that's right, some of the infected maintain the ability to speak for a little bit at least, which was interesting.

As a zombie film State of Emergency (2010) is pretty low on gore but quite strong in the areas of atmosphere, characterization and creating small tense moments, depending n what you're looking for from an infected film you're either gonna enjoy it or hate it. Going in I didn't expect a lot from it, the DVD artwork is beyond generic and when I slapped it on I was anticipating quite a dull experience, and depending on what your tastes are you might think it a bit slow. It's not action-packed, not blood soaked but it's a nice claustrophobic story of survival punctuated with some nice moments of violence and fear, a decent weekend rental. 2.5 Outta 5 

DVD Review: DEAD SEASON (2011)

DEAD SEASON (2011) 

Label: Image Entertainment
Release Date: July 31st, 2012
Rating: Not Rated
Duration: 88 Minutes
Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1
Video: 16:9 Widescreen (1.78:1)
Director: Adam Deyoe
Cast: James C. Burns, Scott Peat, Marissa Merrill, Corsica Wilson

Tagline: On this island, survival is no game.


The Film: Personally I don't need a zombie film to be necessarily epic or even to rewrite the book of the well familiar zombie lore we've seen so many times before. Nope,  I prefer to keep it simple and rooted in the mythology established by George A. Romero's original Trilogy of the Dead. What I do need is some decent moments of gut-munching and a compelling human drama unfolding amidst the zombie apocalypse with some in-fighting amongst the survivors - it's a pretty simple formula. The last zombie film that really stuck with me was the Ford Brother's African set gut-muncher The Dead (2010) which was a great entry in the zombie canon that I heartily recommend.  Now let's take a bite out of the latest indie-zombie thriller Dead Season (2011) from director Adam Deyoe (Psycho Sleepover) and see how it stacks up amongst the countless zombie hordes streaming on Netflix and on the shelves at your local Walmart...

We get a well familiar set-up which succinctly lets us know that a planet-wide viral  outbreak of unknown origin has ignited a plague of flesh-eating zombies upon the Earth decimating the population in just under a year. The creature comforts of modern day are but a thing of the past leaving survivors to scavenge for food and shelter. Elvis (Scott Peat, Transformers) is a former EMT who's wife and daughter were lost in the early days of the plague, he now  survives on a steady diet of scavenged cans of food and booze - slightly drunk really does seem the only way to properly survive the zombie apocalypse. He's a nice guy and it's easy to like him, along the way he aligns himself with another survivor named Tweeter (Marissa Merrill, Photographic). The two flee the mainland for the island of Desoto off the coast of Puerto Rico with the help of a fellow survivor (Danny Hicks, Intruder)  who arranges for a boat. They're hoping for fresh start away from the zombie hordes, however, once they arrive on the island what they discover is quite less than an island paradise. On the island all animal and plant life have been made toxic by years of military ordinance testing and a small group of ex-military men have taken refuge at a former Naval base located on the island. The men are led by the steely-eyed Conrad (James C. Burns, Dinocroc vs Supergator) a man consumed by the well-being of his 17 year-old daughter Rachel (Corsica Wilson, Veer!) after the tragic death of his wife and daughter. To my eyes he seemed a bit like a more redeeming version of "Rhodes" from Romero's Day of the Dead (1985) and while Conrad certainly makes some questionable decisions he's a more likable character than "Rhodes".


Both Elvis and Tweeter are allowed to join the ranks of the military men after proving their worth to the small community. Elvis as a trained EMT proves most useful with his medical skills and it turns out Twitter is a major ass-kicker. Marissa Merrill is a fanboys wet-dream and if there's ever a zombie apocalypse I want her on my team. She's not just a machete-wielding zombie killer but a rather attractive young woman that brings to mind a pleasant mixture of Breakfast Club-era Molly Ringwald with her fiery red hair with a just a splash of Toni Collette - she's very easy on the eye as they says. 

The island scenery is gorgeous and is a great backdrop to the zombie carnage and human drama. The setting brought to mind Lucio Fulci's Zombie (1979) with lush jungle scenery and ocean vistas though not as nearly well-shot but the HD-shot film does look quite good. Add to that some use of existing locations, including a unused set built for Clint Eastwood's Heartbreak Ridge (1986) , and you have a low-budget film with some decent production value, definitely a film that stretches it's dollar for maximum effect.


There's tons of zombie carnage with loads of of flesh-tearing fun over-flowing with intestines, splatter, vehicular obliteration, gunshots to the head, machete whacks and a soda machine that splats a zombie real nice. There's definitely some decently grotesque splatter onscreen for the gore-hounds to enjoy.


The acting from the three main characters is pretty decent throughout and the supporting cast perhaps not so much - Conrad's band of soldiers are pretty weak  but adequate, nothing was ruinous to the overall enjoyment of the film. Scott Peat and James C. Burns are definitely the stand apart performances here with some nice touches of pathos and complexity and each get a few nice character moments.

The look of the zombies were pretty uneven in my opinion running the spectrum from pretty great to just sorta lame.  The undead here are of the slow shambling variety but the filmmakers mix-it up a bit with some runners late in the film and while I'm not against fast-moving zombies I didn't feel it was needed here and it felt kind of just tossed into the mix for no real reason. 


There's a nice selection of special features including a spirited and informative audio commentary with the filmmakers, a behind-the-scenes making of featurette, trailer, outtakes  and 16 minutes of deleted scenes that include an alternate opening with a bunch of gore fx not seen in the film.


Special Features:

- Audio Commentary with director Adam Deyoe, producer/editor Loren Semmens, actor Scott Peat and director of photography Jeffrey Peters
- The Making of Dead Season (9:05) 16x9
- Deleted Scenes (15:55) 16x9
- Outtakes (5:45) 16x9
- Trailer (1:29) 16x9


Verdict: Dead Season is an gritty  zombie-chomper with plenty of action and a decent amount of pathos and gore. It gets a medium recommend, it's not gonna blow your mind but it's a fun weekend watch.  2.5 outta 5 

DVD Review: Dawn of the Dead (Arrow Video 4-Disc Edition) DVD

George A. Romero's
DAWN OF THE DEAD (1978)

Arrow Video


REGION: 0 PAL
RATED: 18 Certificate
RUNNING TIME: 694 Min.
DIRECTOR: George A. Romero
CAST: Ken Foree (Peter), Gaylen Ross (Fran), David Emge (Stephen), Scott H. Reiniger (Roger), Tom Savini (Blades)
TAGLINE: When There's No More Room in Hell, the Dead Will Walk the Earth

SUMMARY: A National Emergency grips the US as the zombie population grows at an alarming rate. Two S.W.A.T. officers, a helicopter pilot and his girlfriend escape the city and take refuge in an abandoned shopping mall after securing it following a series of flesh-shredding confrontations with the undead. Their survival is threatened when a band of looters leave a door open allowing the zombies access to the mall once more and a final stand-off for survival must play out.

FILM: Dawn of the Dead, it's the scripture of zombie films in my eyes. Night of the Living Dead (1968), Dawn of the Dead (1978) and Return of the Living Dead(1985) - these were the undead trifecta that informed my youth. I came of age during a time when the pop-utopia that was the VHS-era made zombie and slashers films ever accessible to the developing minds of young horror-geeks everywhere. In 1985 I was 12 years old, my parents didn't pay too much attention to what I watched, and the video clerks didn't care that I was a bit too young to be watching violence and gore flicks. From a young age I'dbeen fed a steady diet of slashers like Friday the 13th (1980) and Halloween (1978) on the late-night chiller programs not to mention awesome tele-films like Dark Night of the Scarecrow (1981) and Gargoyles (1972). By age 12 or 13 I found myself looking for something more extreme and visceral. That's when I discovered Dawn of the Dead.

It's sometime after the events of Night of the Living Dead and the mysterious plague of zombies has spread worldwide. At the start of the film we meet Fran (Gaylen Ross) a  producer at a Philadelphia television station. We see society very much falling apart within the studio as talking heads debate the zombie apocalypse, it's a cacophonous shouting match. Her boyfriend Stephen (David Emge) aka "Flyboy" is the stations traffic helicopter pilot. He has the idea to take the chopper and fly North in an effort to find somewhere to start over. Stephen comes across as a bit of an over confident jerk while Fran seems conflicted but likable.

We are then taken to an inner-city tenement where a SWAT team is gearing up to raid an apartment building. This is when we meet Peter (Ken Foree) and Roger (Scott H. Reiniger), two of the more likable SWAT team members. The raid prove disastrous from the get-go as blue/grey skinned zombies start chomping on SWAT and tenement dwellers left and right. Adding to the chaos is Wooley (James Baffico) a racist trigger happy SWAT team member with an itchy trigger finger and a mouthful of racial slurs. Some great flesh-tearing gore and explosive head-shot kills are presented during this encounter. Peter and Roger end up in the basement where they discover the tenement residents have been keeping their zombified loved ones. They open fire and destroy the undead in a hail of gunfire. Deeply affected by the hopelessness of the situation the men decide to flee the city. One of them knows of Stephen's plans to commandeer the traffic chopper and make their way to the meeting point.

After a brief introduction the quartet take flight and head north. They make a brief stop at an airfield in search of fuel where the group is attacked by several zombies that prove to be unforgettable film moments including the iconic zombie that adorns nearly every DVD edition of Dawn of the Dead, the infamous flat-top chopper death and the unflinching killing of zombie children. Stephen is shown to be innefectual when it comes to killing the undead and it is during one of these encounters that he and Peter begin to go at odds of each other. Barely escaping the airfield the foursome continue north and fly over groups of hunters and National Guardsmen in rural areas on zombie-hunts that strongly recalls events from Night of the Living Dead. Further on they come across a shopping mall and the decision is made to stop for supplies. Once inside they realize that the mall would make for an ideal sanctuary to wait out the zombie plague. It is during this phase of the film that the dark-comedy and satire of American consumerism come into play in full effect further bolstered by wacky montages of zombie-killing and looting set to a zany musical score.

I can't speak of Dawn of the Dead and not mention the fantastic technicolor blood and gore effects by Tom Savini. The kills are fantastic and loaded with gorgeous splatter and a great cast of memorable zombies.  Add to that the great film score from Goblin who are best known for scoring numerous Dario Argento films and you have a potent mix of horror, black-comedy, visceral gore and an iconic film score that makes for most enjoyable and iconic zombie film of all time, and that's no lie.

George A. Romero established himself as one of the Masters of Horror with Night of the Living Dead (1968), and he would go onto direct other non-zombie genre fare in the interim prior to Dawn of the Dead. He touched on occult with Season of the Witch (1972), a prescient viral-plague film The Crazies (1973) and the atmospheric vamp film Martin (1977) - but these films were underfunded and received little distribution. It wasn't until Dawn of the Dead (1978) that Romero would cement his place as one of the greatest horror filmmakers of all time. The period following brought about a quick succession of genre classics including Knightriders (1981), the classic Stephen King-Romero anthology team-up Creepshow (1982), the 3rd installment of the trilogy Day of the Dead (1985), Monkey Shines (1988) his Edgar Allen Poe fueled team-up with Dario Argento Two Evil Eyes (1990). After The Dark Half (1993) it would be seven years before Romero made another film, the underwhelming Bruiser (2000) and another five years before beginning a new ...of the Dead trilogy - Land of the Dead (2005), Diary of the Dead (2007) and Survival of the Dead (2009)  - none of which neared the glory of the initial trilogy. It's an unenviable place to be for Romero, to be judged against your own filmography and in a market that won't fund your non-zombie related projects.

DVD: Arrow Video's 4-Disc edition of George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead features three versions of the film. The U.S. Theatrical Cut, the Director's Cut and the Argento Cut plus a fourth disc of bonus features. All three versions of the film are presented in anamorphic widescreen. They each look brilliant though I think the theatrical cut gives the best image and audio quality overall. Aside from the blu-ray versions of the film this is as good as its gonna get. Each film includes 2.0 mono audio, the exception being the U.S. Theatrical Cut which gets 5.1  and 2.0 stereo mix as well as the original mono. English subtitles are only available for he Director's and European Cut.


I've mentioned it in my Inferno - 20th Anniversary Edition review and I'll state it again - Arrow Video is the Criterion Collection of cult and horror cinema. Their releases are brilliant from the ground up. Loaded with special features, fantastic packaging, and they give the transfers the love and care they need to pop on the HD television sets. No exception here. The films are presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic aspect rations, very good looking transfers all three cuts of the film. Aside from the audio/visual supplemental material we get the typically stunning Arrow Video deluxe packaging. Two 2-disc digi-pak edition DVD's housed in a gorgeous slipcase.

While the above image is of Arrow Video's Dawn of the Dead blu-ray the DVD features the same deluxe packaging, poster and art art options.

- 4 Sleeve Art Option including newly commissioned artwork from Rick Melton
- Double Sided Fold-Out Poster
-'For Every Night There is a Dawn' 16-page Collector's Booklet written by Calum Waddel


SPECIAL FEATURES
DISC 1 - U.S. Theatrical Cut (122 min.)
The U.S. Theatrical Cut is the film as presented in theatres in the U.S. in 1979. It features a score comprised of original music from Goblin and library music tracks.
Disc 1 Extras:
Commentary with George A. Romero, Tom Savini and Chris Romero
Commentary with producer Richard Rubenstein moderated by DVD producer Perry martin


DISC 2 - Director's Cut (139 min.)
Also known as the Extended Version it is not an actual Director's Cut as Romero prefers the shorter running Theatrical cut. This Extended Version premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 1978. This version of the film contains additional scenes and gore plus a music score comprised of library temp tracks.
Disc 2 Extras:
The Dead Will Walk Documentary (75 min.) Documentary featuring interviews with Claudio Argento, Dario Argento, George A. Romero, Caludio Simonetti, Toma Savini, Ken Foree, Michael Gornic and more.


DISC 3 - Dario Argento Cut (119 min.)
The Argento cut of the film was edited by Dario Argento himself for the European market. It contains several extended scenes and omits several from the U.S. cut. This version also features additional music from Goblin not found on either the U.S. or Extended versions
Disc 3 Extras:

US Trailers (2:37 min)
German Trailers (0:58 min.)
TV Spots (1:28 min.)
Radio spots (2:23 min.)
Reviews Gallery
*Giallo Trailer (Macabre, Sleepless, House by the Cemetery
*Scream Greats (53 min.)


DISC 4 - Special Features
Document of the Dead (84 min.) - The original documentary filmed during the making of Dawn of the Dead by filmmaker Roy Frumkes.
*Commentary with writer and director Roy Frumkes (84 min.)
*Document of the Dead: The Lost Interview and Deleted Scenes
*Fan of the Dead (52 min.)


* Denotes features not found on Anchor Bay's 4 Disc Dawn of the Dead Ultimate Edition

For comparison here is an exploded view of Anchor Bay's Region 1 Ultimate Edition of Dawn of the Dead

The Anchor Bay 4-Disc Ultimate Edition of Dawn of the Dead contains several features not found on the Arrow Video edition. They are...
- George A. Romero Bio
- Comic Book Preview
- 5.1 DTS Surround Sound on the U.S. Theatrical Version
- Monroeville Mall Commercial (0:27 min.)
- Memorabilia Gallery
- Production Stills
- Audio Commentary with actors David Emge, Ken Foree, Scott H. Reiniger and Galylen Ross found on Anchor Bay's European Version
- On-Set Home Movies with Audio Commentary from zombie extra Robert Langer (13 min.)
- Monroeville Mall Tour with Ken Foree (11:28 min.)
- Comic Book


So, each edition has it give and take. The actor Commentary on Anchor Bay's Ultimate Edition is pretty great, but the Tom Savini episode of Scream Greats is equally awesome.


VERDICT: Simply a wonderfully comprehensive deluxe-edition of George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead in it's varied versions here. What can one say about this film thats not been said already? I say it's Romero's finest moment. Arrow Video's immaculate attention to detail and deluxe packaging make this a no-brainer must-buy. As someone who own's Anchor Bay's Ultimate Edition I can tell you that this is worth a double-dip. Keep in mind, it's Region O PAL formatted DVD. I've treated myself to all three cuts of the film and poured through the extensive supplemental  features several times over, Dawn of the Dead is really one of my favorite films of all time. ****1/2 (4.5 out of 5 stars)




- McBASTARD