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Review
Archives
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Today's
Date is:
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Deadly
Species
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Reviewed
by: |
David
Litton |
| Genre: |
Horror
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| Video: |
1.33:1
fullframe |
| Audio: |
English Dolby
Digital 5.1 and 2.0 |
| Language: |
English
|
| Subtitle: |
English,
Spanish |
| Length: |
88
min |
| Rating: |
R
|
| Release
Date: |
04/22/2003
|
| Studio: |
Artisan
Home Entertainment |
| Commentary:
|
None |
| Documentaries:
|
None |
| Featurettes:
|
None |
| Filmography/Biography:
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None |
|
Interviews: |
None |
| Trailers/TV
Spots: |
Trailer, sneak peeks
|
| Alternate/Deleted
Scenes: |
None |
| Music
Video: |
None |
| Other:
|
Photo gallery |
| Cast
and Crew: |
Pete Penuel,
Allison Adams, Brian Minyard |
| Written
By: |
Rory Penland,
Bill Suchy |
| Produced
by: |
Rick Warren, Tracy Frenkel,
Bill Suchy, Daniel Springen |
| Directed
By: |
Daniel E.
Springen |
| Music: |
N/A |
| The
Review: |
I
guess it goes without saying that the cover art for this direct-to-video
clunker is mute testimony to its B-movie status. "Deadly Species"
takes us to that most popular of horror movie settings: the
forest, where a group of young men and women have come for a
camping trip, only to discover that there is something lurking
in the woods, a creature so horrifically envisioned that it
would make Stan Winston wince in agony. The story is the tried-and-true
path of people dying, baring breasts, suffering gruesome injuries
(surprisingly enough, there is a relatively low amount of gore),
and all the trappings of the conventional trash flick. The Internet
Movie Database recently ran a poll concerning which direct-to-video
movie titles were the worst? Those containing the word "deadly"
ranked very high that day; "Deadly Species" is proof of that.
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| Image
and Sound |
Not the horrid transfer that I was
expecting, actually. The 1.33:1 fullframe image is quite nice,
in fact, with some good clarity and edges that are generally
sharp, though tend to lean towards the softer side. Colors
are mediocre and bleed in a few places, but contrast is generally
pleasing and shadow detail, although wanting, not as bad as
other titles like it. ***
The sound is mastered in Dolby
Digital 5.1, and while it's not quite as aggressive as big-budget
flicks, it still manages to please. The score is given over
to the entire soundfield, including the surrounds, while sound
effects remain somewhat muted. The dialogue can be hard to
hear at lower volume levels, so be sure to crank that decoder
up. The .1 LFE is largely unnoticed by the track, with only
some slight enhancement here and there for good measure.
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| The
Extras |
Not
much in the way of extras... we have some promo trailers for
other Artisan titles, as well as a photo gallery with some stills.
|
| Commentary |
None |
| Final
Words: |
Admit
it: you know you want to watch it just to see how bad it is.
Trust me on this one: if bad were a small, circular disc that
shines on one side and has a custom-made label on the other,
this would be it. |
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