Day Zero Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.5
Overall		2.0

Day Zero Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman July 6, 2023

A lot of videophiles are probably chomping at the bit that The Last of Us: The Complete First Season is about to hit both 1080 Blu-ray and 4K UHD disc in just a little over a week as this review is being written, but for those who simply can't wait that long and want a little, um, appetizer, Day Zero may suffice, albeit in a pretty lo-fi way. This is yet another zombie-fest, and about the only thing that sets this apart from countless other similar (maybe even identical) properties is its setting, which might be jokingly referred to as "The Walking Dead in the Philippines".

The fact that even this film's title has been recycled innumerable times for other productions may give credence to the feeling that this is in too many ways what used to be called a Xerox copy. In this particular iteration, we get a former "elite soldier" named Emon (Brandon Vera) who has been imprisoned for several years. While he does attain freedom, he is not "released" in the traditional sense as the back cover of this disc alleges, but one way or the other the big, wide world outside of stir has been infected with a deadly virus that turns people into, well, you know. Can Emon find his beautiful wife Sheryl (Mary Jean Lastimosa) and adorable daughter Jane (Freya Fury Montierro), who just for added angst is deaf, in time? What do you think?

There's a recurrent meme featuring zombies begging for "brains", and some wish this film had a bit more in that department as well. This is by the numbers filmmaking, and it provides Vera with a chance to strut his action stuff, even if the surrounding noise and fury follows Shakespeare's dictum and basically signifies nothing.

Day Zero Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Day Zero is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Well Go USA with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.25:1. The IMDb lists the Red Monstro and a 2K DI as the relevant datapoints. I've frequently been on record as stating my appreciation for the look of Red captures over some other cameras, and this presentation offers the same crisp detail and well articulated palette that Red captures typically do, at least when aggressive grading and some very dim lighting choices don't intrude. Per zombie film tradition, there are a lot of shadowy environments with shambling undead lurking in the shadows, but occasionally some of the really dark material can look noisy. A lot of the film has been graded rather coolly, with an emphasis on blues, greens and teals. My score is 4.25.

Day Zero Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Day Zero has a nicely immersive DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track in Filipino. The film's sound design often emphasizes washes of low frequency effects that kind of reminded me of thrash metal as "played" by a construction crew. The action sequences have a number of well designed effects that populate the side and rear channels very effectively. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

Day Zero Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer (HD; 1:48)

Additionally, packaging features a slipcover.

Note: As tends to be the case with Well Go USA Blu- ray releases, the disc has been authored to automatically move on to trailers for other Well Go USA releases after the trailer for this film plays. Those trailers for other Well Go USA releases also play automatically at disc boot up.

Day Zero Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

This is a trip down a very well travelled road, and as such Day Zero can't help but feel derivative. There are some spectacularly gruesome kill shots for those who like such things, and Vera handles the action element well enough. Technical merits are solid for anyone who may be considering making a purchase.