6.2 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
A rebel high school girl becomes a cheerleader to seek vengeance on the captain of the football team, but a supernatural turn of events thrusts the entire squad into a different battle.
Starring: Caitlin Stasey, Sianoa Smit-McPhee, Brooke Butler, Amanda Grace Benitez, Reanin JohanninkHorror | 100% |
Comedy | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English SDH
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
USC film school classmates Lucky McKee and Chris Sivertson first made All Cheerleaders Die on a shoestring, shooting it themselves on video cameras during four weekends in 2001. Over the next decade, the partners often worked on separate projects. McKee directed The Woods and May, while Sivertson made the Lindsay Lohan bomb, I Know Who Killed Me, and the little seen but much superior Brawler. By the time the pair reunited to remake their early student film with a professional cast and crew and a genuine budget, they had become experienced filmmakers. Until they'd finished the remake, they refused to show their producer, Andrew van den Houten (In the Family), their initial effort, perhaps out of embarrassment (which may explain its omission from the Blu-ray, though it would have made a terrific extra). The 2013 version of All Cheerleaders Die has the technical sheen of a professional product, but it retains the anarchic spirit of the beginners who initially conceived it. Like many concoctions cooked up in film school, it's intensely aware of genre conventions, which McKee and Sivertson pick up, spin around and frequently toss away just as casually as they grabbed hold of them. The approach is risky, and most writer/directors don't get away with it. A Joss Whedon or a Quentin Tarantino can smash genre boundaries and subvert conventions, because they seem to have precise internal alarms that warn them whenever they're about to go too far—and they never lose control of their story, no matter how often it twists back on itself. With McKee and Sivertson, you're often unsure whether they really intended to shift gears as abruptly as they often do in All Cheerleaders Die. There are moments when it feels like a scene or even a whole sequence was dropped in editing (or maybe they forgot to shoot it). Still, the backstory does eventually get filled in, and the enterprise has a hypnotic fascination, like being inside the mind of a pop culture junkie having a bad trip that's still an interesting ride.
Detailed information about the shooting format of All Cheerleaders Die was not available, but the cameras shown in the "Behind the Scenes" featurette are obviously digital, and the film's end credits suggest that they were the Arri Alexa. The cinematographer was Greg Ephraim, whose prior experience was mostly in short films. After post-production on a digital intermediate, including some critical digital effects, the result on Image Entertainment/RLJ's 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray is the typically superior image we have come to expect from digitally originated projects delivered on Blu-ray without any intervening analog conversion. People and objects are sharp and clear, detail is excellent, blacks are solid and noise and artifacts are almost entirely absent. The colors of All Cheerleaders Die tend toward the bright and oversaturated, consistent with the turbulent, overheated emotions of adolescence and the gothic horror aesthetic that becomes its main focus, as the film zig-zags along its path. Hot hues predominate—the school color, appropriately enough, is red—and they're accentuated. Image/RLJ still favors tight compression and BD-25s. All Cheerleaders Die is no exception, at an average bitrate of 21.98 Mbps. Given the digital origination and the black letterbox bars, the bitrate is sufficient, and there were no artifacts.
The film's 5.1 soundtrack, presented on Blu-ray in lossless DTS-HD MA, provides an intriguing combination of teen beats suitable for dancing, workout and partying, with appropriately dark horror motifs courtesy of Danish composer Mads Heldtberg (You're Next and Cheap Thrills). The surround array immerses the viewer in the maelstrom, whether it's cheerleading practice, the football team's workout room (with the sounds of various weight machines all around), one of several angry confrontations or various supernatural events. Dynamic range is broad, although the bass extension has no occasion to reach for the lowest possible registers. The dialogue is always clear, even when the speaker happens to be possessed by some kind of spirit.
All Cheerleaders Die may be messy, but it benefits from an unmistakable enthusiasm, especially from the cast, who are fully committed to these goofy caricatures they've been given to play, treating them with utmost seriousness and never playing down to them. In the featurette on making the film, producer Andrew van den Houten espouses the increasingly old-fashioned philosophy that actors are the best special effect. They certainly are the best part of All Cheerleaders Die. It's no masterpiece, but it's worth watching for genre fans who want to see something different. The Blu-ray presentation will not disappoint.
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