Dead 7 Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		1.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.0

Dead 7 Blu-ray Movie Review

Hardly Magnificent.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman June 8, 2017

Dead 7 is emblematic of the way The Asylum, the studio that makes its living by imitating rather than creating and working on shoestring budgets and copious amounts of cheese, does things. Here's a movie that's a play on The Magnificent Seven, here with zombies (and the corresponding bad digital, and some practical, gore) and an assembled cast of has-been names from the entertainment business, in this case the music industry. The movie is a labor to watch, a collection of scenes that collectively go nowhere and individually fail to entertain in any but an unintended manner. It's throwaway moviemaking certainly not at its worst but certainly at its most generic, offering enough blood, guts, zombies, and cleavage to satisfy the most primitive, carnal of desires one might crave from a movie but obviously it offers nothing for the more demanding connoisseur.

The plot offers little of interest. The world has gone to hell, or hell has come to the world. Either way, the dead are walking the Earth. The plague has ravished the land and only bands of survivors, making do with whatever they find of use, are the only step between salvation and total destruction. The survivors are, oddly enough, comprised largely by a number of boy band remnants from the 1990s and early 2000s. They contain a cross-section of members from Backstreet Boys and 'N Sync, amongst some others. They wield guns, blast zombies, and come together to put an end to the reign of terror begun by Apocolypta (Debra Wilson) who has taken leadership over the living dead and is organizing her army to put an end to the world once and for all.

Dead 7 doesn't seem to have an audience. Are the screaming thongs of then-tweens and teens who loved boy bands back in the 90s, and who are now probably mothers and/or career women, really the target audience for a brutal, bloody Zombie/Western hybrid? Probably not. Will macho men looking for the latest Zombie blood-soaker care if the faces under the sweat and hats and blood once performed on stage and probably have a collection of gifted panties larger than most people's home video library? Unlikely. It's an odd combination to be sure, boy bands and zombie Western. Granted, Nick Carter of Backstreet Boys fame did conceive the story, but this cast mixed with this movie doesn't exactly gel, and it probably isn't going to attract the desired audience, namely anyone who can name all of these performers and probably had their posters all over their walls 20-some years ago. Eh, whatever. It's a junk movie anyway, unsurprising coming from The Asylum.

Beyond the attraction of its cast -- that is, if the seemingly disparate blend of cast and substance is going to attract anyone -- the movie stumbles through its paces without really going anywhere or offering anything of substantive value, even if the value is limited to the visceral action and violence. The film is poorly structured, separated into chapters, each of which receives an identifying on-screen title card. The plot is razor thin and the movie goes nowhere with even the minuscule dramatic ebbs and flows at its disposal. It's simply a collection of transitions from one action scene to the next or one character moment to the next, though even the characters lack depth or interest and are distinguished only by the most threadbare of qualities, like what weapon they carry. The movie does try to overcome with an abundance of style in something like a poor man's Quentin Tarantino meets the Borderlands video game universe. Everything is gritty, grungy, sweaty, messy. It's all been done before, here without the benefit of any reason to care or watch beyond a mindless excursion into yet another zombified world. Stylistically, the movie is very banal, packing on that aforementioned sweat and grunge and calling it "post apocalyptic."

Dead 7 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Dead 7 was digitally photographed, and it looks terrific at least at-a-glance and in a meat-and-potatoes sort of way. Image clarity is outstanding through and through. Details are ridiculously crisp and well defined. Whether dusty and rocky terrain, razor-sharp pores and facial hair, wear on guns and clothes, or most anything else in-frame, The Asylum's 1080p transfer never wants for greater quality of texturing. The movie's color palette is deliberately drained of any sort of cheerful color, favoring something of a mildly bronze, earthen, and maybe even a little gray, scheme. Even red blood lacks vitality. However, several issues arise. Highlights are frequently blown out and a bit of noise, aliasing, and banding are evident, the latter trio of concerns never seriously bothersome. Black levels don't stray too far from the norm and flesh tones are merely reflective of the movie's color scheme.

Dead 7 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Dead 7 features a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack as opposed to a more studio-standard Dolby Digital 5.1 offering, not a one-off from The Asylum but certainly more of a rarity than many fans would like. The track is much like the video, very aggressive in what it has to offer but more about that kind of dominant front end and less about a more graceful, nuanced listen. Indeed, musical elements are sharp, widely spaced, and very aggressive when spilling into the stage. Clarity is very good, but the bombardment of sound somewhat negates the finer points. Much the same can be said of action. Gunfire is ridiculously energetic, slamming into the stage with authoritative punch and vigor. Clarity is fairly good, reverberation through large open spaces comes naturally, and other bits of chaos, like screaming combatants and moaning zombies, are nicely balanced and interspersed with gunfire. Ambient effects aren't consistent or dominant, but the track never feels empty outside of action. Dialogue is clear and well prioritized in its natural front-center home.

Dead 7 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Dead 7 contains two featurettes, a gag reel, a VFX comparison, and a trailer. No DVD or digital versions are included.

• Dead 7: Behind the Scenes (1080p, 10:42): A basic piece that offers raw on-set footage and clips from the film mixed with interviews that cover cast and characters.
• Dead 7: A Look at the All-Star Pop Music Cast (1080p, 4:07): Just as the title suggests, this piece runs through some of the music celebrities that appear in the film.
• Dead 7: Gag Reel (1080p, 2:24).
• VFX Before and After (1080p, 1:12): Juxtapositions of originally photographed and finished film footage.
• Trailers (1080p): Additional Asylum pictures, including Dead 7 (1:51).

Dead 7 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Dead 7 may not be the worst film ever made or even the worst in the Asylum catalogue, but it's a chunky, mindless movie with an attraction in its stars. However, fans who devour this sort of movie might not care that aging boy band heroes are in it, and those who might recognize and enjoy their work may be turned off by the blood and guts and storyline. Either way, the movie isn't worth watching. It's a bottom feeder Zombie film that satisfies core requirements but expends little effort to rise above the flotsam and jetsam the genre is so apt to produce. The Asylum's Blu-ray does offer very sharp video, intense audio, and a few supplements. Worth a look if it's dirt cheap and nothing else sounds good.