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: THE DEAD AND THE DAMNED (2010)

THE DEAD AND THE DAMNED (2010)

LABEL: Inception Media Group
REGION CODE: Region 1 NTSC
RATING: R
DURATION: 85 mins
AUDIO: Dolby Digital 5.1
VIDEO: Anamorphic Widescreen (1.78:1)
DIRECTOR: Rene Perez
CAST: David A. Lockhart, Camille Montgomery, Rick Mora, Robert Amstler
TAGLINE: It's Clint Eastwood meets George Romero as undead, flesh-eating gun-slingers roam the Wild West.

Mortimer (David A. Lockhart, MINTY THE ASSASSIN) is a bounty hunter in the old west on the trail of a Native American named Brother Wolf (Rick Mora, TWILIGHT) who stands accused of raping a white virgin, as opposed to a virgin of non-Caucasian persuasion. Morty buys himself a would-be blonde bride by the name of Rhiannon (Camille Montgomery) from a shady entrepreneur selling "hostesses, not whores". He has no intention of marrying her but instead takes her to the highlands and stakes her to the ground in an effort to draw Wolf down from the hills, you know, by the allure of a white woman to rape, how could he possibly resist, natch. The portrayal of Brother Wolf is your stereotypically stoic, white woman raping native American, the only thing missing was perhaps for him to shed a lone tear at the site of someone littering in the town square. This is a lame plan of capture but of course it works and Morty escorts the white virgin-raper back to town.

At about the same time two local yokels mining for gold discover a meteorite embedded in the earth. The meteor emits an unearthly green glow, the two suppose there must be wealth of emeralds inside and schlep the hefty space rock back to town where a crowd of curious onlookers gather around for a look-see.  When one of the miners takes a sledgehammer to the rock  it ruptures and spews forth a cloud of green spores which infect everyone, turning them into ravenous, fast-moving zombies. The creatures head for the hills where they prove to be quite a nuisance to Morty, Brother Wolf and Rhiannon.

The zombie-western is not too shabby a premise for an indie horror film, it's an appealing genre mash-up, but the execution  lacks passion. Not helping the production is that the sets look super-flimsy, and it lacked that dusty, rustic aesthetic that sells westerns, there's just no atmosphere. It's also hamstrung by some pretty amateur acting. Star Lockhart begins strong as the silent but deadly gunslinger but as soon as the dialogue spills forth from his lips it's game over. There's a lot of CGI blood in this film, nothing takes the piss outta a zombie flick like a shitty digital headshot. Note to the effects team, bullets don't spark when they strike a tree, they splinter, just saying. The film wants to be an action-packed zombie genre mash-up but the action sequences are poorly executed with no kineticism, it's very flat, case in point a protracted shootout at the top of the film. The nail in the coffin is a very flaccid final 3rd that gets bogged down in needless back story and exposition, it was too little too late by this point and I was zoning out.

On the plus side the film has some decent cinematography, plus a few bits gratuitous nudity, the ace up the sleeve of indie horror, it didn't save the film bit it didn't hurt either. The natural setting is also attractive. Not sure where this was shot but the rolling hills, open plains and lush forests provided some gorgeous scenery. The non-period rock soundtrack features tunes ranging from Southwestern tinged rock to eerie mood pieces, great stuff but the film doesn't live up to either the score or the cinematography.

DVD: The film is presented in anamorphic widescreen (1.78:1) with Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound, no subtitles are offered. The image looks decent, it's a bit soft and lack fine detail, but well lit with some good lensing. No noticeable compression artifacts but some edge enhancement is visible throughout. The score and effects fare well in the mix but the dialogue is uneven and suffers a bit. The lone special feature is an extended theatrical trailer.

SPECIAL FEATURES:
- Original Extended Trailer (2:07)

VERDICT: THE DEAD AND THE DAMNED promises a zombie-western mash-up where Eastwood meets Romero but it does not deliver. Don't be fooled by the admittedly great boxart, there are no zombie gunslingers, no red-eyed zombie horses nor outlaw zombie lynchings anywhere in this film. Skip it or wait for it to air on Syfy. 1.5 outta 5    

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