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Released by: Well Go USA
Released on: 10/8/2013
Director: K. King
Cast: Martin Copping, Danny Trejo, Clare Niederpruem
Year: 2013
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The Movie:
Well, per usual a zombie apocalypse has taken over the planet and only a few humans still survive. One of them, a Mad Max type called The Hunter, drives around the wasteland picking off zombies, dispatching them with his various skills and weapons. He meets some trouble when he's forced into an accident and taken into the hands of a group of survivors under the protection of Jesus and a priest (?) named Danny Trejo. That's not his character's name but who cares. Some dialogue ensues in the attempt to set up a story, which basically equates to their finding their way to some promised land without zombies.
Among the group are a couple of chicks, both looking for the affections of the Hunter. One, the skank, is a pole dancer, a profession that certainly would come in handy during an end of the world crisis. The other girl is a girl-next-door type. Guess which one lands The Hunter? Yes, that's correct. And you just know the skank is going to die. There are some other people thrown in there, basically zombie food, and no one really worth noting. Honestly, the story is that threadbare.
With Zombie Hunter it seems less about the story and more about the “stylistic†visual end of it. Well, that and the fact that it has Danny Trejo, with top billing, even though he's not in it much. Told with that tired “grindhouse homage†nonsense, complete with corny narration and name titles flashing on the screen to introduce characters, the show feels more like a video game than a drive-in movie. Tons of color correction doesn't help it along on that front either. Marginal CGI up the butt makes it seem even less like a drive-in movie, complete with blood splattering on the screen and a demon monster thing. Aside from the CGI effects, the physical makeup is pretty clunky but passable - wait, what? Demon monster thing? Yeah, there seems to be some demon leading the zombies. Maybe it has to do with the idea that the zombies come from a highly addictive drug called “Natas†(so clever). Sure, why not? Hell caused the zombie apocalypse and now Danny Trejo has to fight this hell-spawn cartoon with a mammoth axe. Okay, sounds good in general.
The movie in general isn't very good. But it moves along fast, and makes for a great brain screen-saver. Simply turn it on and drift off into a zone. Just don't expect to find the next great zombie movie (will there ever be another?) because this isn't it. It has a little merit, though. Trejo is always great playing pretty much the same role over and over again (even though he's barely used), and the movie works hard to be something bigger than it is. Thus, it's mildly entertaining.
Video/Audio/Extras:
The movie looks nice with an AVC encoded 1080p image, and the digital photography comes across the screen with pretty deep black levels, and some sharp images. As mentioned, color enhancement is prevalent throughout the running time, so things tend to look unnatural, such as skin tones and the lack of bright colors. But the disc delivers a pleasing image despite the forgetful contents.
The audio is a 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track as can be expected from a movie of this sort; it's loud and has lots going on. The track uses the surround technology pretty well, but it seems like mostly it's just loud noises. But the balance is good, there's some solid heavy metal music to be heard, and all is well.
Extras are limited to trailers.
The Final Word:
Hard to say give it a whirl, unless you just want some dumb time to yourself.
Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!
