Directed By Paul Andrew Williams
Starring Rachael Blake, Tom Butcher, Jumayn Hunter and Ashley Chin

A middle-class, unhappily-married suburban couple sit down to forced conversation over dinner. A ring of the doorbell signals their worst nightmare come a-knocking as a trio of knife-wielding teenagers barge in and take the family captive. They’re bent on revenge against the couple’s son, who evidently ratted out the lead hoodlum’s cousin, resulting in ten years of prison rape and bad conversation for one unhappy chappy. The son won’t be home for another hour though, so the youths pass the time rifling though the house for food and DVDs, before indulging their more violent and despicable impulses. Events occur in real time. Kiefer not included.

If that sounds vaguely familiar to anyone who saw Michael Haneke’s Funny Games, you’re not wrong; Cherry Tree Lane is Haneke’s film remade, but stripped of his ingenuity. While Haneke’s home invasion film was a tricksy, audience-baiting film that twisted genre expectations and sought to question our relationship with horror films, Williams has nothing at all to say. Though the film touches on ‘Broken Britain’ thematic issues surrounding the morally-desensitized decay of the country’s youth and an expansive generation gap, the insight is limited to trite, surface-level observations. Early scenes of darkly comic culture-clash humour as the invading youths are baffled by the subtitled films in the middle-class DVD collection suggest Williams might have some incisive class warfare up his sleeve, but the humour runs no deeper than a few early ‘What’s the deal with rich people?’ observational gags.

At the mid-point of the movie, lead captor Rian starts to eye up bound housewife Christine, the audience surely squirming with dread as he seedily compliments her body, the dialogue cribbed wholesale from a similar scene in Haneke’s film, with a few added instances of “…y’feel me, blood” and “…and ting” to add a ‘Sarf Lahndan’ flavour. I began to think Williams might take the opportunity to subvert racial politics and toy with the audience’s expectations, especially as Rian chides husband Mike, asking, “Did you think I’d do something to your lady? What do you take me for?”. Rian does the expected anyway.
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It serves to highlight the glaring issue running through the film as Williams jettisons depth and originality, adopting every conservative stereotype of urban youth, embracing scaremongering Daily Mail headlines in a hollow, predictable bit of exploitation. The racial stereotypes at play are astoundingly primitive; the criminal invaders are a duo of young black kids, one of whom is illiterate, the other a savage rapist (there’s a token dopey white lad in the gang, but he’s absent for 95% of the film, as are the other racially diverse additions to the group, who appear late enough to seem like a jarring afterthought in the writing process).

Discounting the alarming racial stereotyping and cheap, hollow scaremongering, Cherry Tree Lane’s biggest problem is that it’s simply tired and predictable. Every moment of tension is deflated by the fact that everything plays out as expected, without surprise, insight or ingenuity. Instead it’s merely an unpleasant, awkwardly paced film that rehashes ground amply covered by films like Haneke’s Funny Games, Straw Dogs, The Strangers, Ils, Harry Brown and the painfully overrated Eden Lake, without anything new or worthwhile to offer. Williams seems to be awkwardly caught between genres, delivering a social realism film with nothing to say and an exploitation film without gratification.

The film’s inherent failings are made all the more disappointing by the technical craft on display; director Paul Andrew Williams has an impressive command of the frame and is clearly a talented filmmaker, with graceful style at play in a couple of early slo-mo shots soundtracked by an amazing score from Unkle. The cast is also across-the-board fantastic. Rachael Blake and Tom Butcher have tough jobs and are called upon to act with their eyes for most of the movie, but do an amazing job. It’s Ashley Chin, though, who makes the strongest impression as the film’s Cubby Barnes equivalent. It’s just a shame that the hollow, threadbare story isn’t deserving of the talent assembled. Here’s hoping Williams’ next film is a better use of the potential that goes to waste here.
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On the DVD:

Metrodome have put together an impressive stack of extras for the film, starting with an audio commentary from writer/director Paul Andrew Williams. He’s an interesting guy to listen to, and the commentary is certainly more engaging than the film itself. Though he mostly falls into that familiar commentary trap of simply recounting what’s happening on screen, there’s some interesting discussion on the technical aspects of the film and his choice of shots and visual motifs. Sadly, those hoping for a little insight into the thematic issues or what he was trying to accomplish with the film will be left wanting.

A 25 minute feature entitled ‘Behind Closed Doors’ contains interviews with Williams and the cast as they explain what drew them to the project and how they prepared for their roles. There’s also a look at the rehearsal process and behind-the-scenes footage of the cramped conditions during filming as a hundred crew members cram into tiny rooms.

‘Rehearsing the Horror’, a second behind-the-scenes segment, offers an interesting glimpse at Williams and the young cast as he puts them through some pre-production method acting improv exercises to get them into character. The second half of the featurette focused on the cast and crew running through rehearsals for the film’s stunt work. Also included are two trailers and a short, but rather funny outtake.

Rating:

Cherry Tree Lane is available to buy in the UK on DVD from 13th September 2010.
Click here to order the DVD from Amazon.co.uk.

Directed By Dmitriy Kiselev and Aleksandr Voytinskiy
Starring Grigoriy Dobrygin, Ekaterina Vilkova and Sergey Garmash

Young Peter Parker Dima is a down-on-his-luck, nerdy student who isn’t quite as fortunate with attracting the girl of his dreams as his rich pal Harry Osborn Max. When a freak chance of fate lands him with mutant superpowers a flying car, he takes it as an opportunity to earn a stack of cash in hopes of wooing his unrequited love Mary Jane Watson Nastya. When an act of selfishness causes him to lose someone he loves, though, he opts to don a superhero persona and use his newfound powers to become a sign of hope for those in need of rescue – a choice that’ll soon bring him head to head with wealthy industrialist villain The Green Goblin Victor Aleksandrovich. Yup, Black Lightning is Spider-Man remade with airborne automobiles instead of arachnid superpowers. The film importantly borrows one more element from Spider-Man’s cinematic DNA, though: it’s a ridiculous amount of fun.

The plot is quintessential comic book stuff – a young boy struggling with his identity in the face of otherworldly new powers, clear-cut ‘good versus evil’ morality, the protagonist avenging the death of a father figure by becoming a champion for the fearful masses, and a cackling adversary whose nonsensical evil scheme would give a Bond villain pause. And while the film’s biggest crime is its overwhelming familiarity (aside from being a thinly-veiled retread of Spider-Man, there’s a dash of Transformers and Back to the Future in there, too – the design of a second superpowered car is just begging for a Robert Zemeckis lawsuit), in the process Black Lightning nails the crowd-pleasing fun of the Marvel movies with surprising conviction.

The action is fun, stylish and filled with impressive effects, with a huge high-flying, rocket-firing chase through Moscow being especially memorable. Like Spider-Man though, there’s a healthy balance between spectacle and character. Grigoriy Dobrygin isn’t exactly the most charismatic lead actor, but it serves the film in much the same way Tobey Maguire worked as Peter Parker, adding to the nerdy, mundane everyman vibe the character needs. Sergey Garmash does a great job as Dima’s father, the moral centre of the film, exuding a perfect blend of stoic authority and fatherly warmth. He’s essentially Ben Parker, only gruffer, more Russian and looks moderately more likely to down a breakfast of vodka and spend the day punching wild bears in the face. It’s a nice added bonus that love interest Ekaterina Vilkova is infinitely more appealing than Kirsten Dunst’s M.J. Watson, too.
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It’s undeniably daft as hell, less content with making a lick of sense than entertaining the audience, but the goofy comic book logic (or lack thereof) and sillyness only adds to the fun; Spidey’s agile, precise rescues replaced with merely crashing a car into things to somehow save people, a flying Russian Volga fighting the DeLorean (well, a Mercedes, but you really wouldn’t know it) and the most gleefully fun despatching of an archnemesis in recent memory are all moments worth rejoicing.

The derivative, predictable nature of the film keep it from being anything truly great, but Black Lightning is nonetheless an incredibly fun popcorn flick filled with well-staged, exciting comic book action and an entertaining, breezy plot. Those mourning the relative lack of big-screen superheroics this summer would do well to give Black Lightning a look; it’s a Marvel superhero movie in all but name and credits.
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On the Blu-ray:

The main attraction on the special features is a 30 minute ‘Making Of’ feature. There’s interview footage with involvement from the main cast and crew, but most of the feature is focused on the mechanics of the car stunts and CGI work. It’s an entertaining watch, with some fun behind-the-scenes anecdotes, screw-ups and interesting insight into the practical effects work.

There’s also a 9 minute selection of deleted scenes. They mainly give more screentime to Dima’s boss at the flower delivery shop and add more to a recurring gag surrounding a trio of drunks. There’s nothing really essential to the plot, but it’s certainly fun to see.

Audio-wise there’s a Russian DTS-HD Master Audio track, along with DTS 5.1 dubs in English, Italian, German and Spanish, with subtitle tracks in English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Swedish, Portuguese, Norwegian, Chinese, Japanese and Korean. Phew.

Rating:

Black Lightning is available to buy on DVD and Blu-ray in the UK on 6th September 2010.
Click here to order the Blu-ray from Amazon.co.uk.

(Note: The images above were captured and saved at a reduced quality, and though they give an idea of how the film looks, they might not reflect the true quality of the Blu-ray image itself.)

Before regaling you with a lengthy list of the wonders that Mafia II has to offer, the best place to start a review of Mafia II would be to point out what the game isn’t. Picking it up with misguided expectations is the quickest path to disappointment, and a sure-fire way to overlook what’s actually great about the game. Mafia II is not Grand Theft Auto; though it offers an expansive city to roam and the potential for player-created chaos, it isn’t a game filled with a daunting array of side-quests, mini-games and other optional distractions, nor does it try to be. Mafia II instead uses its sandbox go-anywhere world as a gorgeous, immersive backdrop on which to project a linear, epic, engrossing narrative.

That’s not a bad thing either, by any stretch of the imagination. As wonderful as it is to have sandbox games filled with a dizzying collection of voluntary sub-quests and as much as I adore Rockstar’s output, their wealth of choice and activity often comes at the expense of the main storyline’s pace. So tempting is the desire to get lost in the world laid out before you that it’s not unusual to get swept away wrapping up dozens of optional side-missions while the main story languishes, neglected and unfinished for long enough to dent the plot’s momentum. Mafia II offers a welcome, structured change of pace from the sprawling distractions of similar open-world games, striking a harmonious balance between crafting a living, breathing, inviting world and giving the player a focused, tightly-plotted and propulsive storyline.

At the centre of both is Vito Scarletta, young Italian-American soldier fresh off the boat on leave after a military stint during World War II. He returns home to Empire Bay to find his mother and sister indebted to loan sharks to the tune of $2,000 thanks to his late, deadbeat father. After scrambling to find work at the docks (complete with a Shenmue-esque crate-carrying gameplay scene) and finding it pays a pittance, he ditches it and catches up with childhood buddy and small-time mafioso Joe. In an effort to get his family out of debt and avoid the life of drunken poverty that befell his dad, he’s soon swept away into the prototypical life of a gangster – a career as an organised crime middleman that’ll span much of the ’40s and ’50s.

The setting of Empire Bay is a bustling wartime metropolis filled with life, character and immaculately-presented period detail. As you first step into the city, it’s covered in a light blanket of winter snow as you guide Vito back to his family’s ratty apartment, the whole scene scored to Dean Martin’s ‘Let It Snow’. If you detour and explore a little, you’ll find optional touches of in-game life sprinkled around; stopping into a diner filled with pedestrians avoiding the snow quickly found an NPC calling out to Vito – an old friend wanting to welcome him back from the war. Stepping into the alley behind Vito’s apartment sees a set of china sail out of a 4th storey window, crashing at your feet, and while wandering upstairs you’ll hear a heated domestic dispute behind closed doors – seemingly the cause of the airborne crockery.

The streets teem with people, while apartment building hallways house loitering couples, snooping landladies and cops banging on doors. From the stunningly-designed neighbourhoods which brim with diverse character, the staggering attention to detail paid to everything from street signs, clothing and vehicles to the sublime selection of music on the soundtrack and the wartime ads on the radio, Empire Bay projects a seamless period aesthetic, bristling with life and immersive atmosphere.

It’s a life that strangely extends to the police system, too. The law we’ve come to expect in cops ‘n’ crooks games are twisted pixelpiles of unrelenting rage, triggered by crimes as severe as sneezing or peacefully obeying the rules of the road while a squad car plows into you, leading you to be suddenly and inexplicably marked for death. The police of Empire Bay are decidedly more nuanced; cops will check your ID and issue verbal warnings for minor altercations or pull you over and write you a ticket for traffic offences, providing more realistic and varied options to avoid a stint in the clink or a bullet in the noggin. If a cop issues an arrest warrant though, they’ll send a description of your car or physical appearance out over the wire, requiring a change of clothes or vehicle to shake them. If they catch you, there’s always the handy option to bribe them or, if you’re feeling scrappy, resist arrest.

You can often spot the after-effects of your crimes as well. Rob a diner or gas station and the owner will grab the phone the second you leave, warning that they just called the cops if you step back inside. If you come back later, a couple of officers might be interviewing the owner, who’ll quickly shriek “That’s him!” if you wander within their sight. If you engaged your homicidal impulses during the robbery, you’ll return to the scene to find the shop is now sealed with police tape, while snooping around the crime scene will immediately attract the attention of any nearby officers.

Cops will actively enforce the law amongst NPCs, too, pulling over cars, writing tickets, chasing, shooting or being bribed by fleeing suspects and blowing away gun-toting gang members. It all lends to the game’s sense of realism and life, and is only hampered by the cops being oddly blind to you running red lights (even though your passenger will comment on it often).

Of course, as a mafioso, you’ll be engaging in more than your share of violence, so it’s handy that Mafia II has a robust combat system at its heart. Hand-to-hand combat treads a similar path to GTA IV, with fighting comprised of a 3-hit light combo, a skull-rattling one-two heavy punch, while holding ‘X’ covers your blocking ability and doubles as a directional dodge. It’s a simple, brutal and satisfying system, made that bit more fun by the addition of counter-punches and a small selection of finishing moves which differ depending on your enemy’s position.

The game’s gunplay is tight and accurate, too, and shoot-outs are often intense and always immense fun to engage in, with a welcome array of period-specific weapons to aid you as you lay waste to mafia goons, cops and rival gangs. The controls are simple, responsive and familiar to most third-person shooters, with the ‘X’ button sending you sliding towards the nearest point of cover, the shoulder buttons allowing you to pop up, take aim and obliterate some unfortunate foes. Everything from pistols, rifles, Thompson machine guns to explosives are at your disposal, all of which affect the environment with impressive destructive force, shattering glass, chipping away at concrete cover, splintering tables or sending enemies tumbling realistically.

The driving system follows suit, controlling perfectly, with a refreshing sense of weight to the impressive selection of lovingly-detailed period vehicles, and a tiered choice of speedy tune-ups to upgrade your car with. While driving around is fun and controls like a dream, the game has an unfortunate trend of setting every new mission way-point at the farthest point of town from your position, so you’ll almost always have to traverse the entire length of the map with each new mission. However, just when I started to get frustrated at seeing the distance I’d have to drive, I’d pass through some new gorgeously-designed patch of the city’s scenery, or a fantastic choice of music would come on the radio and make the journey a joy to experience. Your metaphorical mileage may vary, of course, and it’s a shame there isn’t more variety in distancing, with a few more missions placed a block or two away instead of at map’s end.

Despite being a generally wonderful gaming experience, the gameplay isn’t without its nagging fundamental foibles. Attract enough cop attention and they’ll barrel behind you at 120mph, guns blazing, their wailing siren a harbinger of doom as their desire to enforce law is now replaced with an insatiable need to relocate your innards to the sidewalk. In those situations, it’d be handy to be able to shoot back. Alas, the game forgoes allowing you to fire weapons from cars, rendering a lot of the high-speed chases frustratingly unfair, especially if your car comes to a stop, taking a good few seconds to kick into gear as bullets riddle your anatomy. The cover system’s lack of a blind-fire ability can also leave you at a disadvantage against waves of enemies who often simply wander past your point of protection while you’re momentarily locked to cover. When the developers neglect to include gameplay elements that should be genre requisites, it sometimes feels like a fundamental regression that betrays the care put into the game around it.

There’s also a slightly imbalanced divide between driving and combat missions, with gunplay elements nudged aside as lengthy vehicular quests take precedence for a large chunk of the game. It’s a flaw off-set by an action-centric third act, though, and the sheer variety of criminal escapades on hand throughout is incredibly impressive. The missions themselves are largely varied and original, occasionally covering similar territory to the GTA series, with a familiar ‘tail a car without getting too close’ mission popping up, amongst others, but throwing a surprising amount of diverse and fresh gameplay elements and settings into the mix.

An early chapter adopts a military motif, following Vito’s last operation in the army, while a later, unexpected change of venue (that I won’t spoil here) ushers in a wonderful surprise in the story and covers material that’s rarely tackled in open-world crime games. Also vying for attention as the games highlights are a couple of stealth assignments – one with Vito and Joe posing as window-washers to carry out a bombing, with another seeing Vito staging the theft of gas ration stamps in a deceptively non-linear mission with multiple avenues of completion. There’s a commendable amount of variety on display, all of which keeps the game feeling fresh without cramming in any jarringly unfitting segments.

Though the gameplay and mission design are impressive and entirely entertaining, it’s the narrative that’s the driving force of the game, and the most memorable, enjoyable and most satisfying element of Mafia II. It’s stacked with a cast of mobsters who are well-written and brought to life by splendid voice acting, but even more notable is the wonderful use of the game’s amazingly expressive character animation. Rendered in stunning detail, the games cut-scenes convey added layers of character with little more than a few subtly-performed CG facial expressions.

The story propelling those characters forward is great, too; archetypal without being overly familiar or boring, the plot offers up rich, well-developed characters with a wealth of personality on a journey that’s tightly-scripted, engrossing and wonderful fun to experience. The swift, driven momentum of the epic plot makes the absence of side-missions that much easier to understand and appreciate as it barrels forward at an enthralling pace, only hindered by a rather abrupt ending.

Minor flaws aside, Mafia II is an impressive achievement in atmosphere, gameplay and story, dragging players into a gorgeously-designed ’40s setting that’s every bit as detailed and immaculately-presented as an episode of Mad Men with about 2,859% more bloodshed. There’s undoubtedly a lack of discretionary missions and activity (PS3 owners do get a free added expansion offering a more arcade-style action campaign though), but those who can embrace the linear nature of the plot will be rewarded with a driven, engrossing and entirely rewarding story that’s incredibly entertaining and propelled by wonderfully rounded and satisfying gameplay. While you won’t spend hundreds of hours lost in arbitrary extras, every moment you do spend in the world crafted by Mafia II is an incredibly memorable, enthralling joy to experience.

Mafia II is out now for PS3, Xbox 360 and PC.

Click here to buy the game from Amazon.co.uk.

Directed By Sandy Collora
Starring Damion Poitier, Clark Bartram and Erin Gray

A military ship carrying a dangerous alien captive crash-lands on an uncharted, barren desert planet. The prisoner escapes during the crash, leaving the three surviving members of the commando team stranded with orders to capture the fleeing alien alive at all costs. With dwindling resources, harsh terrain and 100 hours until a rescue ship will be within range, the squad might not last long enough to be picked up as their deadly prey turns the tables, picking them off one by one.

Anyone who has seen Sandy Collora’s fanfilm Batman: Dead End will know that he has a keen eye for visuals and can accomplish a lot with little, so it’s no surprise that his first feature length project is an impressive visual feat, one that defies its tiny budget to look like a film far beyond its pay grade. With stunning desert vistas and lush cinematography by the awesomely-named Edward A. Gutentag, it takes average and ten-a-penny sand dune settings and manages to make them visually stunning for a fraction of the cost of most major Hollywood films.

The film’s lovely scenery doesn’t impress as much, though, as Collora’s retro sci-fi aesthetic; the director set out to ape the science fiction movies of the ’60s and ’70s, back when creative ingenuity made light work of budgetary constraints and physical, prosthetic effects reigned supreme. Too often when films attempt a retro throwback, their tact is to just aim for an intentionally campy tone, half-parodying the films they’re paying homage to, or to slap together a half-baked effort and throw some faux film scratches and print damage over the top for a lazy retro effect, but never really nailing the spirit of the originals. It’s great, then, that Collora shrewdly aims for the core of old-school films he admires and uses some fantastic practical costumes, amazing make-up design and lovingly-crafted props to create a tangible, grimy, lived-in sci-fi world similar to that of the original Star Wars – an aesthetic that’s been largely jettisoned even by George Lucas with the advent of sterile, generic CG.

The film’s steeped in borrowed visual cues and nods to seminal genre flicks, too, with sly homages to everything from Star Wars, Predator, Enemy Mine, Pitch Black to Blade Runner. There’s a clear, loving affection for the genre from Collora, and it’s commendable that he weaves it in without becoming too glaring or cluttered. In fact, the whole narrative has a lean, minimal character-based drive to it that calls to mind the aforementioned Pitch Black, and while not nearly as good or as focused, Collora does a pretty great job at making a film that’s often just two characters isolated from each other and braving the elements feel driven and entertaining. There’s a nicely-handled rapport between commando Centauri 7 and the AI nav system Clea, who talks to him through a small computer device via a spacey bluetooth headset, and it’s made all the more effective by Collora’s practical approach, with his beat up little device adding an odd sense of character to the computer.

But while Collora is an impressive and resourceful visual film-maker, but it’s sadly evident that screenwriting isn’t his forte. While he successfully conjures up an entire fascinating world with just a handful of expertly-constructed props and some gorgeous cinematography, that world suddenly rings rather hollow and bland as soon as it’s presented through dialogue. The 3rd act brings heated discussions about a war between planets and a race of Dracs (a nod to similarly-plotted Enemy Mine), but it’s all rather trite, simplistic and generic nonsense that could’ve been lifted from any number of fantasy RPG games or SyFy Channel cast-offs. The actors’ lack of professional experience becomes especially evident here, too, as they appear especially stilted when called upon to deliver more than a line or two, especially when it’s a bombastic diatribe.

There’s also the overwhelming feeling that Collora hasn’t left the short film mindset. As a filmmaker whose entire filmography consists of advertisements and shorts, he struggles to find quite enough ideas and character to sustain a feature-length runtime. Even for a lean, pared-down film, it’s disconcerting just how much padding there is, from the overuse of lengthy (but pretty) low-angle shots of characters jumping from ridge to ridge and reams of early dialogue that amounts to: “Follow orders, soldier! Are you following orders, soldier? Soldier, orders are there to be followed! Order up on table four, soldier!” As it stands, Hunter Prey feels like a killer 45 minute episode of The Outer Limits stretched to an unnecessary 90 minutes.

But flaws and all, Hunter Prey’s an impressive achievement. Visually beautiful and a stellar work of resourceful ingenuity on the cheap, it’s not just a sign that Collora’s deserving of bigger things, but proof of just how misguided Hollywood’s overuse of expensive and abysmal CG is when practical magic can be conjured up wonderfully and inexpensively by the right filmmakers. As a film it’s far from perfect, but it’s undeniably a fun, pulpy throwback filled with character and creativity, and one that captures the spirit of the retro sci-fi it pays homage to quite wonderfully.

On the DVD:

The review copy that Kaleidoscope kindly sent along was a promotional screener without extras, so I can’t comment accurately on the visual/audio quality or the special features on the retail release. The DVD apparently comes with a behind-the-scenes feature and an audio commentary from the director, which is surely worth a listen.

Rating:

Hunter Prey is available to buy in the UK on DVD from 6th September 2010.
Click here to order the DVD from Amazon.co.uk.

Directed By Brad Watson
Starring Kelly Adams, Lucy Evans, Jonathan Rhodes and David Horton

It’s Hollyoaks horror by way of The DaVinci Code as a duo of beautiful young college students get roped into a night of sci-fi, psychics and psychos. After sleeping with her schlubby lecturer Malcolm (David Horton), flighty and impulsive Zoe (Lucy Evans) decides to quit college in hopes of being with him. Dashing off to his apartment building to declare her love, she drags supportive friend Sarah (Kelly Adams) along to act as wingwoman.

When they get to his penthouse flat, they find out that Malcolm’s been helping shock-jock ‘net radio host Declan (Jonathan Rhodes) and his sullen Asian sidekick Kendra (Calita Rainford) hack into the Vatican’s archives in hopes of unlocking The Bible Code – a complex correlation of words in the Torah that predicts every event ever. But to paraphrase Uncle Ben Parker (no, not the rice guy), with great power comes craziness and psychic shenanigans, and it becomes apparent that they’ve unleashed powers more sinister than intended.

It’s a straight-to-video flick with a generic sci-fi title and a cast of former Brit soap actors, and it likely only cost about half of Doctor Who’s bow tie budget to make. It’s a nice surprise, then, that The 7th Dimension is actually a surprisingly fun little film. It is, of course, still a hokey B-movie by-and-large, but it’s one with a solid cast, decent writing and a wealth of ideas and imagination. When 99.9997% of home-grown horror movies go for the easy out and drop an attractive cast into a generic slasher or monster film, it’s commendable that Brad Watson and writer Debbie Moon shoot for something more original and ambitious, even if their execution doesn’t quite match their ideas.
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With its Dan Brown religious conspiracy plot and supernatural sci-fi leanings, cramming in everything from remote viewing to ESP while still tackling a little theological musing alongside its broader horror beats, it’s pretty damn impressive just how much the film manages to juggle cohesively. Feeling ambitiously epic for a film confined to one room, it speeds along at a fast pace as Watson navigates the budget constraints well, avoiding any urges to throw in cheap effects and instead focusing on human horrors. Thankfully the writing and the cast are a few notches above the usual DTV fare; Kelly Adams is especially likeable and impressive, Lucy Evans manages to be amiable if occasionally screechy, while Jonathan Rhodes is hyperactive and showy, but chews scenery effectively as the radical antagonist.

The film isn’t without glaring issues though. Despite the rest of the cast being engaging, David Horton serves as a black hole of acting talent, actively sucking the energy from those around him and leaving the film a lifeless void whenever he called upon to speak. The script’s frequent dalliances with existential ideas come off like an A-Level student rattling off quotes from an Intro to Theology textbook; self-important and ultimately not remotely as intelligent as it thinks, but might just pass for truly clever if you’re drunk enough. After a brisk and ambitious build-up, the film fails to follow through on its initial promise, becoming lazier and more nonsensical before stumbling towards a half-hearted anticlimax that feels like it’s missing a final act.

Ultimately, Watson aims for thought-provoking, mind-bending sci-fi but lands at about the level of a decent Torchwood episode. Which is a pleasing enough compromise, as The 7th Dimension still delivers a fun, breezy late-night horror flick that’s a great deal more entertaining and original than the usual straight-to-video dreck, even if it doesn’t deliver on its lofty ambition.
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On the DVD:

The review copy that Kaleidoscope kindly sent along was a promotional screener without extras, so I can’t comment accurately on the visual/audio quality of the retail release. The DVD apparently comes with a ‘Making Of’ documentary and 5.1 Dolby Digital audio.

Rating:

The 7th Dimension is available to buy in the UK on DVD from 23rd August 2010.
Click here to order the DVD from Amazon.co.uk.

Directed By Robert David Sanders
Starring Barbara Streifel Sanders, Joseph Dunn and Ian Malcolm

It’s Christmas Eve in L.A. and it’s unfortunately neither Die Hard nor a Shane Black film. An apartment building high rise is home to a lively party of young dysfunctional go-getters, while down the hall the Pierce family are settling down to dinner. Festivities are cut short, however, when tremors and quakes begin to rock the city and the power soon flickers out. The darkness brings with it a battle for survival as a species of bloodthirsty, subterranean nasties burrow up through the earth and pop out in the basement.

You know a film’s off to a bad start when the first “shocking reveal” of its monsters are what appear to be kids’ toy remote control armadillos. Thankfully, more fearsome foes shamble along later, though unfortunately they’re also a combination of half-priced Halloween costumes and CG rendered using technology from 1993. Things take a downward spiral from there as we’re subjected to bickering stock characters borrowed from a Z-grade daytime soap opera played by actors who just flunked their first semester of drama school.

Interpersonal conflict is the dramatic through-line of any ‘trapped in close quarters’ story, as evidenced by the gut-wrenching human drama skilfully offered up by similar monster movie The Mist. But The Blackout isn’t even within miles of the quality of that film, dramatically or otherwise, and never finds anything worthwhile, coherant or entertaining for its characters to say or do. When a film’s braindead cast of universally unlikeable morons spend 30 minutes engaging in an endless cycle of tedious arguments about whether to brave the hallway stairs or not (conveniently forgetting the building has a fire escape), it’s just a chore to endure.
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The Blackout’s narrative is a cacophony of baffling, half-written nonsense. Parents send their child alone to explore a dingy, darkened basement to retrieve their Christmas present(!). Monsters somehow emit an elecromagnetic field which kills the city’s power, but only causes flashlights to flicker dramatically. The opening act is half spent setting up that the nerdy agoraphobic has a ham radio and a hand-held which “may work on the roof!”. Said radios are never used or mentioned again. An elevator explodes when it falls to the bottom of the shaft. Because elevators in L.A. are constructed from C4.

A guest at the party somehow brought a gun (with bulky light attachments) along, despite wearing a tight-fitting shirt, tailored pants and having no place to conceal a weapon. It’s suddenly just there in his hand, pulled from non-existence as if a magic pencil-wielding hand descended from the sky to draw it in like a Daffy Duck cartoon. He later pulls out another handgun of equal size. Where did they emerge from? Considering the limited options for a man to hide things on their person, it’s probably best not to ponder…

I could go on. What’s worse is that while it’s a monumentally stupid film, it never crosses over into the realms of being dumb enough to laugh at. Never attaining the ‘so bad it’s good’ badge of B-movie honour, The Blackout is just a shoddily-constructed, boring, tiresome slog to sit through. Populated with indistinguishable, personality-free characters, inept writing, horrendous acting and terrible effects which muddy any monster action to the point of indecipherable boredom, it’s a film best left to live unseen on the 4am schedule of bad cable TV.
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On the DVD:

The DVD comes with a clear, blemish-free video transfer and a decent 5.1 Dolby Digital track (or a 2.0 track, should you choose). The only real compliment I can pay the film is that the production budget that wasn’t used to hire actors or competent effects was clearly pooled towards a decent camera, as it looks sharp at all times. So you can endure the torment in crystal clarity.

The press kit lists a theatrical trailer, but one wasn’t present on the review copy I received. Instead there’s a handful of trailers for Kaleidoscope Home Entertainment’s other titles, all of which look infinitely more fun than The Blackout. There are no other bonus features, but the film itself is only 75 minutes long with credits; not having to suffer more of this dreck is the best bonus you could ever hope for.

Rating:

The Blackout is available to buy on DVD from 30th August 2010.

Directed By Tiwa Moeithaisong
Starring Mai Charoenpura, Anuway Niwartwong and Wiradit Srimalai

Middle-aged noodle restaurant owner Buss is left indebted to a shady group of loan sharks after her husband skipped town on his gambling debt and ran away with the babysitter. Rather than take her story to Jerry Springer, after a young activist winds up dead in her shop, Buss hacks the lad’s body up and uses the meat in her food. When her corpse-flavoured noodles start selling like proverbial hotcakes, it’s not long before she has to search for fresher meat to meet demand.

A gore-drenched Thai mash-up of Sweeney Todd and The Untold Story, Meat Grinder’s entire marketing campaign has been the standard for anything even close to the ‘gore porno’ sub-genre: plenty of comparisons to Saw and the usual hearty cries of “most violent movie ever!”. Sadly, to willingly compare Tiwa Moeithaisong’s film to Saw is to do it a hefty disservice; there’s infinitely more style, substance and talent on display in Meat Grinder than the entirety of the flimsy Saw franchise combined.

Moeithaisong (a cinematographer by trade) pulls out all the visual stops, gracing the film with an unusually beautiful visual style – a skillful blend of moodily-shot monochrome segments, dreamy sun-drenched saturated shots and the expected grimy, gore-splattered basement scenes. The playfully experimental visuals culminate in a gracefully-shot moment that intercuts a sensual lovemaking scene with Buss massaging and tenderly preparing her slaughtered meatpiles.
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Behind the stylish look of the film is a meaty (no pun intended) lead role impressively performed by Mai Charoenpura. Weaved throughout the film are weighty flashbacks that flesh out Buss’ backstory to impressive effect, detailing her harrowing parental victimization – a cycle of abuse that she perpetuates with her own daughter. Coupled with Charoenpura’s emotionally dense and substantial performance, it conjures up at least a sliver of sympathy for an otherwise reprehensible monster.

A sliver of sympathy is about the most you’ll find for Buss though, which is half the film’s problem; we’re never given ample reason to empathise with her, so for much of the film we’re left as uncomfortable bystanders to her icky crimes without anyone to root for. And despite the majority of the film taking gentle care laying out the backstory, the third act loses its tonal hold on the narrative, with the Buss flashbacks veering into convoluted and over-the-top daft territory (a newborn baby casually being punted across the floor like a hockey puck, for instance).

For those just in it for the gore, the film’s problems surely won’t be much of an issue, and there’s plenty of wince-inducing, eye-covering moments of stomach-churning violence to satiate the bloodlust of any gorehound. Be forewarned, though: it’s a slow burn treat of a film at heart, so those expecting a kill a minute will be disappointed. But it’s the measured pace and more substantial plot that sets it apart from the average gore flick. Despite some glaring flaws, horror fans will find in Meat Grinder a visually impressive, amazingly well acted treat. It’s a rare gore film with some meat on its bones, even if it does often require a cast iron stomach and nerves of steel to get through it.
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On the DVD:

The review copy that 4DigitalAsia kindly sent along wasn’t a final version, so I can’t comment accurately on the visual/audio quality of the final release. The DVD will apparently come with the film’s theatrical trailer and a ‘Making Of’ documentary.

Rating:

Meat Grinder is available to buy in the UK on DVD from 23rd August 2010.
Click here to order the DVD from Amazon.co.uk.

Originally released for the PlayStation back in the heady days of 1996 – a time when men wore sweater-vests and Pauly Shore’s Bio-Dome took the box office by storm – Revelations: Persona gained a cult following, but arrived in the US in sloppily-localised form (and never reached Europe at all). The dialogue was a cringe-worthy mess of typo-riddled Engrish, a large chunk of the game was removed and the ethnicity of a notable character was altered from Asian to African-American in an effort to appeal to the Western market.

The series went on to find an infinitely larger fanbase with the release of the sublime Persona 3 and 4, prompting the creative geniuses at Atlus to return to the original game and give it a full-body massage of loving attention, re-releasing it for the PSP with more accurate, faithful and coherant translation. With the addition of spiffy CG cutscenes, new music from the Persona 3 soundtrack team and all the deleted content added back in, Western gamers now have a chance to play the franchise-starter the way it was intended, with an added lick of paint, as it hits the PSP (its first time being released in the UK in any form).

Persona opens with a group of high school students playing a seance-type game called – you guessed it – ‘Persona’. They assume it’s all bunkum and childish urban legends until the phantom of a young girl appears and a handful of the group fall unconscious. Not long after they awake, the dead start to rise and the city is closed off, besieged by demons. Luckily though, the kids woke up with the gift of Persona – an ability that allows them to conjure up powerful manifestations of their inner psyche to aid them in their fight against evil. Together they’ll kick much demonic ass in hopes of finding the root of the undead uprising and save the town from certain doom.

Sadly, the first thing you’ll notice about Shin Megami Tensei: Persona is just how ugly it looks. After a gorgeous new opening title sequence scored by a lovely new track by Persona 3 & 4 songstress Yumi Kawamura, as we creep into the game proper, things become significantly more dated. Like seeing Susan Sarandon in HD, some things just don’t hold up under close modern scrutiny no matter how well they might’ve aged.

Scratch the surface, though, and Persona is much like that sweater your grandmother knits you every Christmas: it might be an eyesore that you hold onto out of a sense of sentimentality or family loyalty, but try that thing on and you’ll find it fits like a glove and keeps you toasty warm through the long winter nights, even if it does itch occasionally. Beyond the murky, dated graphics lies a game that still holds countless hours of quality RPG entertainment and toys with gameplay mechanics that still feel fresh and unique even today.

The majority of Persona is played in a retro RPG style much like the Wizardry games, or Eye of the Beholder; you’ll wander corridors and dungeons from a first-person perspective, able to turn 90 degrees to the left or right or walk forward a quick, hefty step at a time. Entering doors will shift to a more isometric view of the room you’re in, where you can walk around, chat to whoever might be around or open any stray boxes in search of hidden goodies.

Controls are simple and effective, though can be a tad awkward from the overhead isometric view, where pushing left actually moves you diagonally north-west, and so on. Those familiar with the original release will be happy to know that the world map has had an overhaul – no longer an incomprehensible pixel explosion, Atlus have retooled the map into a clear and attractive Google Maps-style system where you walk ‘on rails’ along the streets. Also handy is that your previously-trodden path lights up on the mini-map as you explore buildings, with cute fading footprints appearing on the map as you walk, which cuts down on the chances of getting lost in generic-looking environments.

Unfortunately, unlike Persona 3 and 4, you can’t detect enemies on the map or see them coming – all battles are random, and pop up with alarming, often frustrating frequency. Ever tried to walk through the city centre to get some shopping done, but while you’re on your way with a clear purpose and destination in mind, people will simply stop dead in their tracks in front of you for no reason whatsoever, while salesmen and market researchers swarm you on the street every few seconds like locusts to prevent you from your goal? That’s the frustration you’ll feel as random battles swamp you both on the world map and in dungeons, often only after a couple of steps.

Considering how frequently it pops up, then, it’s helpful that the battle system is one of Persona’s massive strong suits. Familiar to anyone who has played the more recent Persona entries, battles are turn-based affairs all about summoning the Persona of your character and using its unique spells and attacks to exploit the enemy’s elemental weaknesses. You can attack blindly with a versatile range of attacks, of course, but it pays to figure out that, say, an enemy is vulnerable to ice attacks, then use a Persona that can deliver such a spell. Weapons can be equipped alongside your Persona, too, as you carry both a melee weapon and a gun.

Less familiar to Persona 3 and 4 players will be the battle formation system. Each character and attack has a certain range, so characters on the right of the battlefield might not be able to hit enemies to their far left, while certain weapons might only be able to hit near or far enemies, depending on their range. When choosing your character’s attack, a grid will be highlighted on the battlefield to show which enemies fall within your attack range. Changing the formation of your characters becomes an essential way to gain the upper hand in combat, and adds an additional layer of depth and versatility to a great battle system. With your group consisting of a party of five (none of whom are Matthew Fox or Scott Wolf, sadly), there’s always a wide array of weapons and unique skills to work into your strategy, making things that much more diverse and fun.

That’s not all the game has up it’s sleeve, though. Persona 3 and 4 players will notice a couple of obvious absences – the wonderful Social Links system hadn’t been invented yet, and there’s no end-of-battle card shuffle to gain a new Persona. Instead of winning added Personae at the end of fights and forging friendships and sparking romances to strengthen them, you’ll now need to negotiate with the enemy to gain those cards. You can stop at any point in battle to talk to your adversary, with a range of conversational stances, ranging from angry to seductive, all of which can alter the enemy’s status. Patronise an intelligent enemy and you might anger them, bully a timid demon and they may flee from battle, but encounter a playful elf and stare seductively at her and you could sway her affections enough to gain her spell card. It’s a bizarre, yet incredibly fun and brilliantly original system that also doubles as an added escape route from battle.

Stepping past the battle system, you’ll find that Persona holds a fantastic, involving story. While it lacks the charm, heart and character of Persona’s latest iterations, there’s still glimpses of it, with the entertaining option to wander the school, hearing random gossip as you chat to students. The story itself has aged gracefully, proving to be completely engrossing, wonderfully surreal and often creepy, offering up a wealth of alluring mystery and riveting plot to fuel your interest. With a lengthy main quest, a spiffy new translation and the substantial added optional ‘Snow Queen Quest’ adding a huge dose of replay value, it’s more enjoyable than ever to experience.

Unfortunately Shin Megami Tensei: Persona’s retrospective failings are to a large extent a by-product of just how wonderfully the series has evolved since, and after playing the later games, their added perfections, additions and tweaks feel noticeable in their absence here. The dated graphics and punishing amount of random battles can grate, and might mean that it’s a game more suited to hardcore RPG fans and series faithfuls than the casual fans who came on board for Persona 3 and 4. But for those able to look past the game’s less-than-beautiful visuals and difficulty foibles, Persona is an excellent old-school gem, packed with a riveting story, some truly original gameplay elements and a complex, deep and incredibly entertaining battle system. Atlus’ added makeover may not be the full facelift it could have used, but the necessary nips and tucks mean that Western fans of the series are finally getting a great game in its complete and faithful form, and one well worth their time.

Shin Megami Tensei: Persona is now available in the UK on PSP, exclusively for download from the PlayStation Network.

To celebrate ITV DVD’s release of Brit cop drama miniseries Identity on DVD (which we recently reviewed here), we have 3 copies to give away to lucky readers.

“Ed Whitmore’s series follows an elite police unit formed to combat the explosion of identity-related crime and tackles the darker side of reinvention: murders who literally take other people’s lives, criminals who create new personas to escape evil pasts and impostors who look, talk and sound just like us but would kill you in a heartbeat.

The unit, lead by DSI Martha Lawson, (Keeley Hawes – Ashes to Ashes, Spooks), works in situations where making an identification plays a significant part of solving the crime by outsmarting, hunting down and unmasking the modern day Jekyll and Hyde. DSI Lawson is also the founder of the unit – which she fought long and hard for – and its perilous fate is a constant source of anxiety to her. She knows she took a gamble in hiring DI John Bloom, played by Aidan Gillen (The Wire, Queer as Folk) – the secret weapon of the Identity Unit. Crucially, Bloom is an ex-undercover cop so he knows firsthand what it’s like to pretend to be someone you are not. He’s also only too aware of how easy it is to lose your own identity when you’re living a lie…

Holly Aird (Torn, Waking the Dead) is Tessa Stein, IT expert in everything from trawling databases to cracking security codes. Completing the team are DS Anthony Wareing (Shaun Parkes – Moses Jones, Harley Street), who has his eye on promotion and a stance on cases that can err on the self-righteous, and DC José Rodriguez (Elyes Gabel – Waterloo Road, Deadset), cocky and self-assured yet with a seriousness and sensitivity that gives him insight into cases. As the series unfolds, DS Wareing becomes more and more concerned about Bloom’s methods and frustrated by what he sees as Martha’s blind and foolish indulgence of him.

The series, an ITV Studios production follows a hugely successful DVD release of hit drama Spooks. Identity was directed by Brendan Maher (Spooks, Wide Sargasso Sea) and Andy Hay (Hotel Babylon, Trial and Retribution). It was written and created by Ed Whitmore (He Kills Coppers, Waking the Dead) and also written by Edward Bennett (Waking the Dead). Identity was produced by Lachlan MacKinnon (City of Vice) with Kate Bartlett (Gunrush) as the executive producer.”

To be in with a chance of winning a copy, simply email us here and include the following:

1. Your full name and mailing address.
2. The answer to the following question: In which HBO crime drama did Identity star Aidan Gillen play Mayor Tommy Carcetti?

(UK entrants only. One entry per household. Entrants must be over 15. Competition ends 30th August 2010.)

Directed By Derick Martini
Starring Rory Culkin, Alec Baldwin, Jill Hennessy, Emma Roberts and Kieran Culkin

A tremendously enjoyable slice of teen angst coming-of-age drama viewed through the filter of late ’70s nostalgia, Lymelife centres on fifteen-year-old Scott Bartlett (Rory Culkin) as he fumbles to navigate through the awkwardness of adolescence on Long Island. The escalating drama of his parents’ crumbling marriage is countered by the return of his rebellious military-enlisted brother (Kieran Culkin) and the seductive attentions of his crush-worthy neighbour (Emma Roberts), who’s suffering through family problems of her own beneath her confident façade.

Hitting all the standard hallmarks of the suburban indie movie (take dysfunctional families and divorce drama, add neighbourly infidelities, toss in adolescent apathy and baste with a retro setting for added flavour), Lymelife could hardly be accused of originality of concept. It helps monumentally, then, that a phenomenal ensemble cast armed with wonderfully well-written characters make the film feel incredibly fresh despite its genre familiarity; it may not be an entirely original film, but it’s one refreshingly well told.

Alec Baldwin is on great form, delivering volatile, boozy, smarmy charm and pride-masked vulnerability in equal measure as the Culkins’ overbearing father. Hutton is equally fantastic, offering up an impressive, heartfelt performance. Serving as the embodiment of the title’s ‘lyme disease as metaphor for life’s woes’ symbolism, he plays Roberts’ disease-stricken dad with a sympathetic weariness – an average, but fundamentally decent man left a hollow shell by illness and his wife’s infidelity. Jill Hennessy makes a memorable impression, too, as Baldwin’s downtrodden wife, while Emma Roberts once again proves she really deserves that upgrade from tween-friendly flicks to more substantial films.
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It’s Kieran Culkin who snatches the movie out from under his more seasoned castmates, though. As Scott’s army brother, who harbours a shed-load of Oedipal resentment towards dad Baldwin, he’s a minor marvel. Effortlessly natural, immensely charming, incredibly funny and often surprisingly intense, he’s the surprise unsung gem of the film, to the point where things would threaten to dim during his absence in the second half if it weren’t for the abundant talents of the ensemble.

It’s debatable whether Kieran’s brother Rory is actually a good actor, but all those minor quirks and niggles that could just as easily signify a bad performance elsewhere (awkward, unsure delivery and almost perpetually sullen demeanour) are oddly perfect for his role here, nailing the naturally cringe-worthy awkwardness of adolescence with ease. He and his real-life brother also channel that sibling synchronicity to great effect, too, conveying a page worth of dialogue in a few sarcastic glances across the dinner table.

The similarities to American Beauty and especially The Ice Storm might dilute the punch of Derick Martini’s film, but Lymelife is nonetheless an excellent film worthy of attention. Doing well to shirk the overwhelming melodrama, forced quirkiness and cloying sentimentality that most films of its ilk bathe in, it instead relies on depth of character and quality of writing. Boasting a cast of real, substantial and fascinatingly flawed characters brought to life through a collection of exceptional performances, Lymelife is by equal measure darkly comic and oddly touching – a bittersweet jolt of indie movie magic.
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On the DVD:

Network DVD’s release boasts an attractive visual transfer which handles the film’s autumnal colour palette and finer details well. The disc comes with a lone Dolby Digital 2.0 track, which does its job well, with all dialogue and music clear as a bell. There are no subtitles, sadly.

The DVD comes with a small offering of extras, the most substantial of which is a 5-minute-long interview with Emma Roberts. She covers the standard “I loved everyone and loved making this movie” spiel, but offers up more interesting titbits as well, like Derick Martini pushing her and Rory to ad-lib wherever possible.

Also included are the film’s theatrical trailer and a stills gallery.

Rating:

Lymelife is available to buy on DVD from 23rd August 2010.
Click here to order the DVD from Amazon.co.uk.