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/