Fulvue Drive-In.com
Current Reviews
In Stores Soon
 
In Stores Now
 
DVD Reviews, SACD Reviews Essays Interviews Contact Us Meet the Staff
An Explanation of Our Rating System Search  
Category:    Home > Reviews > Comedy > Satire > Camp > Horror > Stage Play > Supernatural > Western > Tyler Perry's Boo!: A Madea Halloween/Madea On The Run (Lionsgate Blu-rays)/Dead West (RLJ DVD/all 2016)

Tyler Perry's Boo!: A Madea Halloween/Madea On The Run (Lionsgate Blu-rays)/Dead West (RLJ DVD/all 2016)



Picture: B/B/B- Sound: B/B/B- Extras: C/D/C+ Main Program: C-/C/C



Has the Horror genre become so mainstreamed and watered down that we get too many bad and derivative works in the genre? Two of the following releases point to that problem...



Tyler Perry's Boo!: A Madea Halloween



Tyler Perry continues to rake in the bucks with his Madea character, which originated in theater and now has an immense library of films, which of course include holiday specials. Marking another holiday off the list is the recent Boo! (2016), which is a home run for Perry as the films must be relatively cheap for him to produce and end up making back the budget three or four times over theatrically. While I can't say that I'm a fan of the material, it accomplishes what it sets out to do and no doubt satisfies its target audience.


Boo: A Madea Halloween stars Tyler Perry (in multiple roles), Cassi Davis, Yousef Erakat, Diamond White, Bella Thorne, and Jimmy Tatro.


Madea is tasked with looking after a group of misbehaving teens who are planning a wild Halloween night party in a haunted house. Spooked by ghosts, killers, paranormal poltergeists, zombies and frightening spirits, Madea must make it through the night and keep the kids in line at the same time.


The film is presented in sharp 1080p high definition with a widescreen aspect ratio of 1.85:1 and a great sounding, lossless DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 track that does the lower budgeted film justice and doesn't leave too much to be desired. Due to the nature of the content, I don't see anyone clamoring for a future 4K release or anything. Much of the cinematography and look of the film is natural and the contrast seen here sells pretty well. Also included is a digital HD copy.


Special Features...


Why We Love Madea


Boo! From the Crew



Madea On The Run: The Play


Fans of Perry's material that have only seen his films, will be interested to check out this play that features the character and many of her family and friends in a romp that plays more on typical black stereotypes that have made the character so famous in pop culture. A Play that might eventually become a feature film tends to get issued along with the current movie release as a clever way to keep promoting the character and franchise, though nothing Horror-genre like is here in this case.


After Madea has a run-in with Police and is on the run, she decides to hide out at Bam's house where she encounters other family and friends. Soon after, several insane antics ensue.


Presented in 1080p high definition with a widescreen aspect ratio of 1.85:1 and a lossless DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 track, the show is filmed well and looks and sounds fine for the format with little to complain about. A digital copy is also included.


No extras.


Dead West (2016)


Last but not least, Jeff Ferrell's modern day western Dead West (2016) has all of the makings of a classic western/revenge story with a hint of inspiration from the Coen Brothers and Tarantino, though isn't as impressively cinematic as films by those auteurs. The film centers around an Outlaw who is killing young women in search for his soulmate. Low, a victim's brother, tracks him down and said Outlaw learns quickly that there are some people's families that you shouldn't mess with.


The film stars Brain Sutherland, Meagan Karimi-Nasar, and Jeffery Arrington.


Dead West is presented in standard definition with an anamorphic widescreen aspect ratio of 2.35:1 and a lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 track that looks and sounds fine for the format but could definitely use some sharpening in High Definition, specifically for the nice locations used in the film.


Special Features...


Audio Commentary with Director Jeff Ferrell, Actor Brian Sutherland and Composer Semih Tareen


The Making of Dead West



Not without some decent moments and set pieces, all in all Dead West feels like most of the same in the revenge/vigilante genre and could have been more effective had it been a period piece.



- James Lockhart

https://www.facebook.com/jamesharlandlockhartv/


Marketplace


 
 Copyright © MMIII through MMX fulvuedrive-in.com