Announcement
Collapse
No announcement yet.
Dead 2, The
Collapse
X
Collapse
-
Dead 2, The
Released by: Anchor Bay Entertainment
Released on: September 16th, 2014.
Director: The Ford Brothers
Cast: Joseph Millson, Anand Krishna Goyal, Coulsom Sujitabh, Madhu Rajesh
Year: 2013
Purchase From Amazon
The Movie:
Not surprisingly, The Dead 2 (also known as The Dead 2: India) follows up on the Ford Brothers' African based zombie movie and moves the story to India where the population listens to radio broadcasts detailing the zombie outbreak that took place in that first movie. Not that long after, a sick man arrives in town - it doesn't take a genius to figure out that he's not only been infected with whatever it was that laid waste to the 'dark continent' but that he's now brought it back to India with him.
Enter Nicholas (Joseph Millson), an American in town to work on a wind farm. He hears about what's happening and decides to get out of the area while he still can in hopes of catching up with his pregnant girlfriend and getting them off to safety. The problem is that she's trapped near the slums of Mumbai and it's going to take him some time to get there. He makes the journey with the help of a boy named Javed (Anand Gopal) that he meets along the way, but getting there won't be easy, and if he does make it there without getting killed along the way, well, there could be even more zombies to contend with.
Channeling equal parts Nicolas Roeg and George A. Romero, The Ford Brothers' sequel to their internationally successful first feature doesn't deviate from the formula that picture established too much at all. In fact, you could very easily make the argument that this is simply more of the same, because in terms of the plot, it essentially is. Will relocating the concept to India be enough to draw in those not taken in by the first movie? Probably not, but it will likely be enough to appease those who were.
Despite the derivative, almost flimsy aspect of the central plot (guy finds out about zombies, freaks out about his girlfriend and decides to go try and save her), the movie does a lot of things right not the least of which is the casting of Millson in the lead. He delivers a pretty well-grounded performance, never going over the top and keeping a cool head, at least on the outside. You can tell through little quirks of character, however, that his concern is very real. He plays the part quite well, believable in the more dramatic aspects of the production as well as in the action set pieces.
The visuals are also impressive. Once again the Ford Brothers' collective appreciation of arthouse cinema tends to shine through, as the use some fantastic visuals to create mood and atmosphere showing more concern for composition, color schemes and interesting contrasts than in plotting. The film is all about mood, about creating an atmosphere of dread and about capturing both the beauty and the horror inherent in the Indian locations used for the film. More character would have gone a long way towards creating some truly lasting horror here, and we don't really get that and are instead pulled in by the visuals but the movie offers plenty of decent zombie attacks and some good gore alongside the great camera work and fascinating locations.
Video/Audio/Extras:
The Dead looks about as good as can probably be expected in the AVC encoded 1.85.1 widescreen transfer, a 1080p high definition offerings from Anchor Bay that presents the film in its original aspect ratio. Shot on high end DV, detail varies from shot to shot but is generally good as is color reproduction. Some softness is forgivable given the film's modest budget but overall things look decent here, better than what standard definition can provide, even if it's not demo material. There are no problems with print damage, dirt or debris (obviously) and only what appears to be mild shimmering visible in a few scenes.
Likewise, the English language Dolby TrueHD 5.1 track is also quite good. The score sounds nice and strong and there are no problems with hiss or distortion. Surround activity isn't always a constant and the mix is a bit front heavy at times but dialogue is clean, clear and easy to understand. Optional subtitles are provided in Spanish with an English closed captioning option provided as well.
The main extra on the disc is a half hour long featurette entitled, appropriately enough, The Making Of The Dead 2. Here a guy named Billy Chainsaw talks to Howard J. Ford and Jonathan Ford about what it was like shooting this one on location in India, some of the themes and ideas explored in the film, some of the trickier aspects of getting this movie made and quite a bit more. It's a decent piece worth watching if you enjoyed the feature. Aside from that we get a pair of deleted scenes running two and a half minutes, animated menus, chapter selection and some previews for other Anchor Bay Entertainment properties.
The Final Word:
The Dead 2 won't necessarily win The Ford Brothers any new fans but it should appeal to those who enjoyed the first movie because it does a lot of the same thing and it does them just as well, if not better. It isn't the most original film and it does fall short in the character development department but the visuals are fantastic and there are some neat ideas at play here even if they don't get fleshed out as much as they should have been. Anchor Bay's Blu-ray looks and sounds good and offers up a couple of extras. Worth seeing for zombie fanatics with a taste for artsy world cinema stylings.
Posting comments is disabled.
Categories
Collapse
article_tags
Collapse
- album review (218)
- album reviews (274)
- arrow video (272)
- blu-ray (3225)
- blu-ray review (4162)
- comic books (1392)
- comic reviews (872)
- comics (988)
- dark horse comics (484)
- dvd and blu-ray reviews a-f (1969)
- DVD And Blu-ray Reviews G-M (1711)
- DVD And Blu-ray Reviews N-S (1757)
- DVD And Blu-ray Reviews T-Z (878)
- dvd review (2513)
- idw publishing (216)
- image comics (207)
- kino lorber (391)
- movie news (260)
- review (318)
- scream factory (279)
- severin films (300)
- shout! factory (537)
- twilight time (269)
- twilight time releasing (231)
- vinegar syndrome (497)
Latest Articles
Collapse
-
Released by: Kino Lorber
Released on: February 22nd, 2022.
Director: Gianfranco Parolini
Cast: Lee Van Cleef, Jack Palance
Year: 1976
Purchase From Amazon
God’s Gun – Movie Review:
Directed by Gianfranco Parolini in 1976, quite late in the spaghetti western boom years, God's Gun (Diamante Lobo in Italy) introduces us to a bad, bad man named Sam Clayton (Jack Palance) who, along with his gang of equally bad, bad men, start wreaking...-
Channel: Movies
04-17-2024, 12:10 PM -
-
Released by: Kino Lorber
Released on: October 8th, 2019.
Director: Mario Bava
Cast: Christopher Lee, Reg Park, Leonora Ruffo, Gaia Germani
Year: 1968
Purchase From Amazon
Hercules In The Haunted World – Movie Review:
Directed by Mario Bava in 1961 and featuring a screenplay by Bava (and Sandro Continenza, Francesco Prosperi and Duccio Tessari), Hercules In The Haunted World (also known as Hercules At The Center Of The Earth and...-
Channel: Movies
04-17-2024, 12:08 PM -
-
Released by: Cinématographe
Released on: March 26th, 2024.
Director: Jack Nicholson
Cast: Jack Nicholson, Mary Steenburgen, Christopher Lloyd, John Belushi
Year: 1978
Purchase From Amazon
Goin’ South – Movie Review:
Made at the height of his career as an actor, 1978’s ‘Goin’ South’ sees Jack Nicholson once again in the director’s chair, seven years after his directorial debut, ‘Drive, He Said,’ failed to set the...-
Channel: Movies
04-17-2024, 10:29 AM -
-
Released by: Radiance Films
Released on: April 20th, 2024.
Director: Noburo Nakamura
Cast: Miyuki Kuwano, Mikijiro Hira
Year: 1964
Purchase From Amazon
The Shape Of Night – Movie Review:
Directed by Noburo Nakamura for Shochiko in 1964, ‘The Shape Of Night’ follows a young woman named Yoshie Nomoto (Miyuki Kuwano). In the opening scene, she’s working as a streetwalker on the outskirts of town and soon enough, she’s picked...-
Channel: Movies
04-17-2024, 10:26 AM -
-
Released by: Film Masters
Released on: April 23rd, 2024.
Director: Bert I. Gordon
Cast: Richard Carlson, Juli Reding, Lugene Sanders, Susan Gordon
Year: 1963
Purchase From Amazon
Tormented – Movie Review:
The late Bert I. Gordon’s 1963 horror film, ‘Tormented,’ is an effectively spooky ghost story made with an obviously low budget but no less effective for it.
The story revolves around a professional piano player...-
Channel: Movies
04-17-2024, 10:19 AM -
-
Released by: Grindhouse Releasing
Released on: March 12th, 2024.
Director: William Grefé
Cast: William Shatner, Jennifer Bishop, Ruth Roman, Harold Sakata
Year: 1974
Purchase From Amazon
Impulse – Movie Review:
Directed by the one and only William Grefé, 1974’s Impulse is one of those rare films that allows you to witness what it would be like if a really sweaty William Shatner got mad at a lady carrying balloons. Before that...-
Channel: Movies
04-15-2024, 01:20 PM -