Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		2.5

Feral Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman February 22, 2019

Where there's a will, there's a Feral. Writer/Director Mark Young's (Wicked Blood) Horror film finds itself ensnared in the jaws of genre mediocrity and insignificance, playing like a fully recycled Horror picture with zero creativity to its name. Young, yes, wills the movie to completion, it seems, content to build his own wheel, not reinvent it. The picture doesn't seem concerned with breaking new ground, and Young, to his credit, crafts the film fairly straight, relishes the opportunity, the blood and guts, and the predictable cadence with unwavering dedication to following formula. The film can boast serviceable production values, quality gory prosthetics, and workable acting (the cast includes Halloween's Scout Taylor-Compton). But in terms of plot creativity? There isn't any. This is a by-the-books, paint-by-numbers, etc., etc. sort of movie built around tried-and-true components that Young puts together with just enough effective effort and infectious (literally) enthusiasm to satiate genre fans but probably at the expense of winning over any new converts.

Before the madness.

The film introduces six college students with aspirations to join the ranks of the high paid medical professionals. They include Jules (Olivia Luccardi), Alice (Scout Taylor-Compton), Brienne (Renee Olstead), Gina (Landry Allbright), Jesse (Brock Kelly), and Matt (George Finn). Their trek through the woods, on vacation away from the rigors of school, unfortunately leads them to a camping site that will prove to be the death of them. When one of their own is eaten alive and another is gravely wounded, the survivors hunker down and huddle up and live through the rest of the night. But when they meet a man of the land named Talbot (Lew Temple) who offers to help, it might just be an offer they probably should have refused.

The main issue here, which might not be much of an issue for the target audience -- i.e. gore hounds just looking for a new fix -- is that the film is basically a repeat of so many other genre pictures that focus on a handful of teens/young adults who find themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time deep in some wooded area. A time of togetherness, sex, and escape from the rigors of school and modern life becomes one of horror and survival and so on and so forth: most anyone reading this review knows the drill. The film is a repackage of any number of movies that have done this before and done it better, essentially a mishmash of The Cabin in the Woods, Wrong Turn, and The Evil Dead. It's not as good as any of those, but it's also not at all bad for what it is. It's one of those movies that jut sort of is, done well in a vacuum but held back by that absolute lack of originality, which may be a fatal flaw to some or an easily ignored trivia for others.

Are more forgiving fans in for a treat? Not really. The film is serviceable in everything it does. The characters are instantly forgettable and generic, they're not particularly bright (which if this film is any indication, Heaven help the future of the medical profession), and the film's plot accomplishes little more than dragging out the runtime to an acceptable number and filling in the time in between kills with enough random information to keep things moving at a modest pace. Young builds the film as a classic "Jack of all trades, master of none" type, accomplishing what needs to be accomplished with enough clarity and production quality to legitimize the film without stepping out of any comfort zones or veering away from familiar territory. This review might sound like a broken record, but that's really the only point of entry to the film. Everything is done to reasonable success in isolation, from the acting to the bloody special effects, but none of it is the least bit original or memorable. It will appease its target audience but it won't go down in any history books or find its way onto any top 10 lists, unless that is a list of the most generic genre films of its type (and it would still have a lot of competition).

Feral Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Feral's 1080p presentation offers impressive command of detail and color alike. The digital source yields a more than satisfying Blu-ray picture, both in the bright daytime woodland scenes and in the nighttime exteriors and low light interiors. Outside during the day, particularly in an early establishing sequence, the image reveals crisp natural textures, showcasing nicely defined skin and clothing intimates with complexly revealing pores, pimples, scars, and other blemishes, all presenting on-screen with very impressive clarity and command. There is ample definition to trees and terrain as well as furnishings and old wooden planks in Talbot's cabin. Colors are appropriately saturated and dialed in to a natural contrast. Red blood is deep when seen during the day, natural greens pop, and various examples of clothes, blankets, and tents present with impressive health and depth. Black levels are fairly strong, critical in the film's many nighttime exteriors and low light interiors. Skin tones appear accurately reproduced. The image gets a bit noisy in the lowest light scenes but the source and encode are otherwise without significant flaw.

Feral Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Feral bites onto Blu-ray with a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack. The film opens with terrifying screams and gives way to nicely immersive natural woodland ambience, both by day as the six trek through the woods and particularly at night as the students huddle around a campfire. The track offers big and small, forgettable and slightly worrisome, elements in every speaker that give them the chills, at first, and become portending sonic terrors as they realize that every rustle might be something out to get them. The track produces well defined Horror sounds, too, including growls, screams, tearing flesh, and gunshots, each with appropriate depth, stage placement, and clarity. A few discretely positioned effects are effective in building the film's atmosphere. Music is fine, with good front-end width, some low end depth, modest surround engagement, and fine fidelity. Dialogue is clear, center focused, and well prioritized for the duration.

Feral Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Feral's Blu-ray release contains no extras beyond the film's trailer (1080p, 1:47). No DVD or digital copies are included. The release does ship with a non-embossed slipcover and contains reversible cover art.

Feral Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The market for Feral is limited to Horror hounds who don't mind watching the same movie they have seen umpteen times before. The picture innovates in no way, shape, or form, but it's competently put together and bloody enough by any measure. It won't win over anyone who is otherwise uninterested in this genre and it's just low budget and obscure enough that only those seeking out movies like this will probably stumble across it, anyway. Horror fans can rest assured that Young has put together a perfectly acceptable film; just don't expect it to rewrite the rulebook. Shout!/Scream's Blu-ray release is unfortunately devoid of extras beyond a trailer, but it does feature perfectly good video and audio. Recommended to undemanding genre fans only.