Camp Hell
(2010/Lionsgate DVD)/Donnie Darko – 10th
Anniversary Edition Blu-ray/DVD set (2001/Fox)/Dylan Dog: Dead Of Night (2010/Fox Blu-ray)/Quarantine 2: Terminal (2011/Sony DVD)/Stake Land (2010/Dark Sky Films/MPI Blu-ray)/Stargate: Atlantis – The Complete Series (2004 - 2009/MGM Blu-ray
set)
Picture:
C/B+ & B-/C+/C+/B-/B- Sound:
C+/B+ & B/C+/C+/B-/B- Extras:
C/B+/D/D/C/C Main Programs:
C+/B+/C+/C/C/C
Two
trends can be seen in our next set of recent releases. You can see combinations of Science Fiction
and Horror at work and a new twist on a current cycle that is more political
than you might expect in a commercial genre situation.
George
Van Buskirk’s Camp Hell (2010) is
bold in portraying a ‘Jesus Camp’ uncompromisingly and though Jesse Eisenberg
is featured on the cover of the case, he is not in the film much, though his
scenes help emphasize the issues presented.
Yet again, we get the silly “inspired by true events” but that usually
means the makers are not confident in their work. In this case, the camp is run by Bruce
Davison (Willard) and the guests are told by an older-than-them lackey for
Davidson’s priest that pop culture is the devil (hmm) and they need to fight
their impure thoughts. Of course, this
does not work like it used to, but in all this there seems to be a killer demon
on the loose and religion might be feeding it instead of stopping it like it is
supposed to.
Though
not a great work, it can be a subversive work by simply being critical of
religion in a way we need to see more of.
It is bold and honest about the repression and that repression has taken
on increasingly proto-fascist (Christo-fascist) overtones slowly but surely
since the 1980s and especially since 2000.
Along with good performances by Dana Delaney, Will Denton, Andrew
McCarthy and an otherwise unknown cast, it is definitely worth a look. Deleted Scenes and a Trailer Gallery are the
only extras.
Fox has
combined the several versions (sans import) we have previously covered of
Richard Kelly’s Donnie Darko as a 10th Anniversary Edition
Blu-ray/DVD set including the original theatrical and reedited versions of
the film from 2001 in one convenient set.
This includes all previous extras and you can read about the whole set
by going to our separate reviews of each disc as follows:
Blu-ray
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/8285/Donnie+Darko+(Fox+Blu-ray)
Director’s Cut DVD
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/1883/Donnie+Darko+-+Director%27s+Cut
Original DVD
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/57/Donnie+Darko+(First+Theatrical+Cut/Fox
Besides
the nice Blu-ray case, we get one new extra; Digital Copy of the Director’s Cut
for PC and PC portable devices resulting in the ultimate set. For the record, the fine image transfer
(which looks best when there are no digital effects) is AVC @ 18 MBPS.
Kevin
Munroe’s Dylan Dog: Dead Of Night
(2010) proves that Brandon Routh has much more to offer than we saw in Superman Returns and that losing him
was a big mistake. Here, he plays a
supernatural detective who had stopped being a young monster hunter until this
new case changed things. He is even
joined by Sam Huntington (who was Jimmy Olsen in his Superman film) as an old
friend who has to help him and lands up needing help himself as dealers of
vampire blood for humans as a narcotic have crazier plans in mind, no matter
who gets killed or stays the living dead.
Most
mixes of horror and comedy since The
X-Files and the lesser Buffy The
Vampire Slayer have been very embarrassing, even when they have been hits
(think, Supernatural), but this
actually has some moments worth seeing and also suggests a certain element of
monster hunters who are as evil as the prey they go after. As a matter of fact, if some dumb jokes and
moments that did not work were cut out and this was cut down, this would have
been even more impressive. They should
try again with some kind of sequel if possible.
The 1080p
2.35 X 1 AVC @ 25 MBPS digital High Definition image has been stylized down on
purpose, but has some good shots, yet too many shots are limited to too
digital. At least it is not all gutted
out. The DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1
lossless mix is good, but not as wide-ranging as it could have been, but the
recording overall is not bad and some of the surrounds get active at times with
the .1 LFE effects. There are no extras.
James A.
Pogue’s Quarantine 2: Terminal (2011)
could have been just another lane sequel and though I have not sent he
original, I was surprised how amusing this could be at times, being a sequel to
Quarantine, (by its own admission in
the end credits) [REC] and turning
out better than the recently released (and reviewed) [REC]2. Passengers enter a
small commercial airplane (the kind with 3-seat rows) and everything seems fine
until people start getting sick. The
pilots are asked to land the plane early, but all are greeted by locked doors
and officials with weapons, all while the outbreak expands.
This is
never stupid/jokey or condescending, though not very original either, yet it
has some interesting moments for something we have seen before and at one point
it becomes so unintentionally funny that it is a shame it did not have more
such moments or this could have been a camp classic. The mostly unknown cast is not bad and genre
fans will be at least amused, or more than usual considering how glutted the
market is for such releases.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image is a mix of HD and low def video, but it
is shot better than expected and the results are more watchable than you might
think with the [REC]-style night
vision not being overdone. Still, this
is soft and limited, though sometimes to its advantage. The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix has some surrounds
at times, but is a simple stereo effort most of the time and nearly monophonic
when some of the night vision kicks in.
There are no extras, but that would have been interesting if any had
been included.
Jim
Mickle’s Stake Land (2010) revisits
the same material that started with Richard Matheson’s I Am Legend book, was permanently engraved in cinema with Romero’s
original Night Of The Living Dead
(1968, on Blu-rays elsewhere on this site) and all the post-apocalyptic and now
post-modern Horror and Sci-Fi since. The
U.S.
is ended here by a vampire plague and that leaves humans traveling to find a
better place like an oasis to survive.
However,
like Camp Hell and Dylan Dog in their own ways, Stake Land is the most explicit in
reflecting changes in our society for the worst as an ultra-Right Wing
Christian/Fascist movement has entered the fray and they are actually hunting
the vampires for game or to use against other humans who do not agree with them
that gives us some of the most interesting scenes in the genre in a while that
hit home very well. The film cannot seem
to go all the way in this capacity and still wants to stick to genre
conventions (including its phony ending), but it is interesting enough to see
and fans will enjoy it.
The 1080p
2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image is also a victim of its own stylized
approach, but has more detail and depth than the likes of Dylan Dog, yet the
semi-monochromatic approach has its limits and is somewhat clichéd. The DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix
(shockingly uncredited on the case!) is decently recorded throughout, but the
soundfield is music-based and some location audio is not as good as other
parts. Extras include 7 shorts that
serve as character prequels, two feature-length cast/crew audio commentary
tracks, making of featurette entitled Going
For The Throat, Toronto International Film Festival Premiere w/Q&A and
four part video diary by Director Mickle.
Finally
we have Stargate: Atlantis – The
Complete Series (2004 – 2009) which we have partly covered over the years
on Blu-ray and DVD. I recently covered a
compilation Blu-ray of this series with links to other coverage of the Pilot, Seasons Two & Three
on DVD:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/8885/Stargate:+Atlantis+%E2%80%93+Fan
That
gives you three points of view on the show, with mine being the most
critical. I am not the biggest fan of
the show and never could get into the show (or any of the TV spin-offs of the
original feature film), but the reason the show is coming out on Blu-ray like
this is because full-time cast member Jason Momoa is the new Conan The Barbarian and MGM has rightly
issued the whole series on Blu-ray in timer for this as this is as good a time
as ever commercially, making this a pricey curio.
The 1080p
1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer has no MBPS listing, though the
single I previously reviewed claimed AVC @ 37 MBPS and that likely is at least
the maximum you get on this set. The
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix has the same soundfield limits as the
single, but never dips into sounding worse or gets much better between seasons,
so at least this set is consistent.
All the extras
from the DVD sets we covered are here and much more, including extras on each
disc. The Extended Episodes,
Behind-The-Scenes Extras, Season Lookbacks, Audio Commentaries on all the shows
and many other featurettes (including the Mission: Directive series) equals 50+
hours. Hope MGM has similar plans for
their other TV shows like the original Outer
Limits and some TV sitcoms, as they likely are planning the same for the
other Stargate series.
- Nicholas Sheffo