February 22, 2010
Last month marked the conclusion of BOOM! Studios first arc in its ongoing "28 DAYS LATER" saga following the journey of Selena and journalists Derrick and Clint as they struggle to survive the infection and find some semblance of safety in the aftermath of the apocalypse. Inside you'll find the review of the first issue in the second arc of the series as we once again find ourselves riding shotgun to the three leads in "28 Days Later" Issue #6.
In issue #5 we found ourselves stuck in pseudo-prequel to the events that we have been reading through now for the better part of a year as we were introduced to the back story behind journalists Clint and Derrick. I wasn't a huge fan of the issue, and I had a lot of reservations on some of the reasoning and logic behind the issue. My main problem with the issue (one could say I had issues with the issue hahaha coughcoughahem) was the odd placement of an origin story to wrapup an arc that was moving at such a break-neck speed, and doing a pretty good job of it to boot. So now that we are back up and running in issue #6 all should be well, right? Err not exactly...
We pick up with Clint and Selena staving off a group of infected (narrowly saving the blinded Derrick) and seeking refuge inside an abandoned home. Faced with the revelation that Derrick's wounds have become infected (not THAT kind of infection) with no medication to be found for his failing health, they must come to terms with the idea of putting the poor sap out of his misery. Of course Clint still feels responsible for his partners' condition, and rightfully so, and so killing his already near death buddy isn't something that he can bring himself to do.
This part works very well using a lot of very good character emotions to drive the struggle between the guilty conscience of Clint and the ice cold heart of Selena. The latter of which thinks that it would be putting the man out of his misery as there is very little hope in finding him the needed medications as well as greatly improving their own odds of survival. Clint wins out in the end and they decide that the next plan of business should be to find help for Derrick.
And then the issue goes off the tracks. While traveling through a small town the survivors run out of daylight and decide to camp under a tarp in the flatbed of a truck. Wait, double take that. Yep. It still says that they take refuge in the back of a flatbed truck with their only cover being a tarp. A turn that is not only wildly out of character for Selena, but completely irrational. If you surrounded by abandoned houses and store fronts why in Gods name would you decide to hide in the back of a truck with a blind guy (who is slowly dying by the way) and the possibility of imminent 'zombie' (coughcoughnotreallyzombiescoughcough) death?!
But maybe they are sure the town is safe, maybe they will just have a good nights sleep, with Selena dreaming about her past, and wake up to do it all over again in the morning? If only.
Of course they are awoken from their sleep by a huge horde of infected swarmed around the vehicle. Derrick stirs in his fevered sleep causing the infected to pile onto the truck, tearing the thing to pieces for the source of the sound. The result? They never once looked in the back of the truck and the group gets up the next morning to hot-wire said truck and drive away from town. Illogical? Yes. Tense? Yes. Wasted potential? Hell yeah.
The good news is the issue ends with a nice little cliffhanger, and the art is stellar as always. Declan Shalvey does a great job of presenting readers with some great money-shots, marking the only real standout traits for the issue. Coincidentally the best piece of art in the entire issue is during the 'jump the shark' portion of the issue where the horde is circling the hiding survivors. Not only is it a beautifully drawn piece, but it also causes a real sense of shock for the readers as one would think that there is no chance of escaping the situation. To bad it was wasted.
When all is done and read the 6th issue of "28 Days Later" from the guys and gals over at BOOM! Is another huge stumble for the series. There are certain things that one can forgive a story for doing, but when something so glaringly illogical comes down on your toe like a jackhammer you can't help but scream. Oh well, there's always next month...
2 Out Of 5 Skulls
READ MORE
February 02, 2009
Arriving on Blu-ray February 3rd from Paramount Home Entertainment is the high def uncut Blu-ray release of the infamous Friday the 13th. Beyond the break you can check out David Harley's review of the release and see if the high def release is worth picking up instead of the normal DVD, which also arrives at retailers February 3rd.
Inspired by the Ten Little Indians premise of Bava's BAY OF BLOOD - a film Sean Cunningham lied about watching until recently, making its American release title, THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT PART II, ironic - and HALLOWEEN, FRIDAY THE 13TH started out as nothing more than Cunningham's desire to make a quick buck in the horror genre. After changing the name from "A Long Night at Camp Blood" to FRIDAY THE 13TH, Cunningham immediately put an ad for the film in Variety, in an attempt to gather investors and find out if the newly christened title was copyrighted. It was a risky move, considering all he had at that point was a name and a few pages of a script, but it ended up being the right one. In the fall of 1979, FRIDAY began principal photography in New Jersey with a cast of unknowns, except for Betsy Palmer, and opened to huge box-office numbers in May 1980, going on to become one of the highest grossing independent horror films of all-time and spawning 9 sequels, a crossover with Freddy Kruger and a reboot. At the time of its release, FRIDAY was lambasted by critics and campaigned against by Siskel and Ebert, who thought it was reprehensible garbage that couldn't be topped - and then the rest of the 80s happened.
Even though Cunningham is a rather lazy director (point-and-shoot seemed to be the special of the day while making FRIDAY), he did manage to craft a film that, often times, seems to have ideas at play that are too good for its hollow and unoriginal premise. Soon after its opening sequence, where some teens are slaughtered for their promiscuous activities, we're introduced to Annie (Robbi Morgan), who's trying to hitch a ride to Camp Crystal Lake. Stopping in at a small town diner, the locals warn her about the camp, recanting the events of the film's opening, before Enus, a trucker, reluctantly offers her a lift. Annie is introduced as the main girl and we assume that it's through her perspective that we'll see the rest of the film play out, yet she's killed just minutes later. Cunningham managed to trick the audience and kill off a safe character at the same time, setting an ominous tone for the film.
Amidst Annie's hitchhiking adventures, we're introduced to the rest of Camp Crystal Lake's counselors, who are fixing up the campground before their kids arrive. The great thing about all these characters is that they're perfectly average looking. A lot of slasher films tend to go for an entire cast of GQ-quality actors, assumedly for "skin showing" purposes (of which they usually don't follow through on), but not FRIDAY THE 13TH. Sure, they might be stock characters without a lot of depth to them, but they actually look like a random group of kids thrown together at a camp, rather than the remnants of a Playboy Mansion after-party. Even after the storm hits later that night, during which camp owner Steven Christy (Peter Brouwer) is in town getting more supplies, the teens continue to impress by never looking for trouble. No one has any idea there's a killer running around the campground, offing people one-by-one, so checking out a cabin or taking a peek in a shower stall never seems like a bad idea to these kids and it builds up tension quite effectively. Even up until the last two teens find a bloody axe in a bed, it could've just been animal blood; there's still a viable excuse. If anyone could be considered dumb in the film, it would be Brenda (Laurie Bartram), who decided it would be a great idea to chase voices through the woods in the middle of a storm. I think some people might see Alice (Adrienne King) as being on the same level, but in her defense she was trying to get the hell out of Dodge when she stumbled upon the killer; she wasn't snooping for clues.
Paramount's Blu-Ray release of FRIDAY THE 13TH left me with mixed feelings. The 1080p 1.78:1-framed transfer looks crisp and colorful, while retaining the gritty feel that the film is suppose to have. The only real beef I have with the grain is that it's unevenly displayed in the film, showing up heavily in some scenes and is almost completely absent in others. Basically, all of the nighttime shots look terrible. The sFx sequences, where all 10 seconds of footage that makes this version "uncut" lies, is where the film looks especially cheesy. The high definition makes the death scenes look like nothing but fake blood and latex, making the film that much less impactful. The Dolby TRUEHD 5.1 lossless soundtrack is good considering the source material, but not exactly reference material. Since there were budget limitations during the original production, some of the remastered sound effects still come off as somewhat subdued (there's only so much you can do with a cheap soundtrack recording), such as the thunderstorm sequences and some of the dialogue, which sounds muffled at times. While Harry Manfredini's score is the highlight of the soundtrack, it could've benefited from a remixing, so it could take advantage of all the sound channels properly and not sound so front-heavy.
At first glance, the abundance of extras Paramount has provided for the disc seems generous, considering the lack of special features provided on previous releases. There's a commentary, ported over from the WB International DVD, featuring Sean Cunningham, editor Bill Freida, composer Harry Manfredini, stars Adrienne King and Betsy Palmer, and moderator Peter Bracke; Fresh Cuts: New Tales From Friday The 13th features interviews with screenwriter Victor Miller, composer Harry Manfredini, sFx artist Tom Savini, and actors Robbi Morgan, and Ari Lehman; The Man Behind the Legacy: Sean S. Cunningham follows the director/producer through his daily routine at his production office, as he reminisces about the franchise and shows off some of the memorabilia he has; Friday The 13th Reunion, filmed at a convention held last year , features a panel with Manfredini, Miller, Lehman, King, and Palmer; Lost Tales From Camp Blood - Part 1 is a short film where Jason stalks and kills a couple; Crystal Lake Chronicles, taken from the box set bonus disc, features interviews with Cunningham, Savini and cast members; Secrets Galore Behind the Gore, also taken from the box set bonus disc, is a one-on-one interview with Tom Savini ; and finally, the film's trailer in HD. If you've ever read Peter Bracke's CRYSTAL LAKE MEMORIES, then you have no need to watch any of these extras or the upcoming HIS NAME WAS JASON documentary, since you've already learned everything worth knowing about the film. If you were going to watch something on the disc, I'd recommend the commentary, which contains all of the information given on the other extras and then some, and maybe the short. Even though Lost Tales is pretty terrible - the killer doesn't even look like Jason! - it isn't rehashing what's in the other extras.
The extra footage, totaling 10 seconds, isn't exactly a revelation like the recently released scenes from the original MY BLOODY VALENTINE and the extras are either pulled directly from the DVD box set or contain information that you probably already know, but if all you're wanting the FRIDAY THE 13TH Blu-Ray for is better picture and sound, then you won't be disappointed.
Film: 3.5/5
Blu-Ray: 3/5
READ MORE
Thus far the series from BOOM Studios has been pretty stellar, with the tie in to the first films characters the soul driving force behind my interest. But with this issue we are transplanted from the regular characters to the 2 journalists Clint and his buddy Derrek. Clint is trying to enjoy his vacation away from deadlines (oh yea, thought of that all on my own) and decidedly using the 2 weeks to drink himself into a comatose state. Sounds fair. Unfortunately the zombie apocalypse is ringing, and Clint decides to answer. (I’m on a roll here people) But first he has to stop by the bar and pay his alcoholic buddies tab, because after all what’s a journalist without his photographer buddy at his side? But it gets better. Derrek is not only an alcoholic (ordering 2 of everything he can get on the flight that has blood thinner in it.) But he also has post traumatic stress disorder from being a prisoner of terrorists who forced him to watch as his buddies were beheaded. Truthfully I can’t fault Derrek for drinking heavily. If my buddy pulled me out of the bar half drunk and told me we were hopping the next plane ride to Danny Boyle England then I’d be inclined to take a liquid wrecking ball to my liver too.
