Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.0

I'll Take Your Dead Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Brian Orndorf July 3, 2019

There’s a decent premise in “I’ll Take Your Dead” that’s struggling to survive during the run time. Director Chad Archibald and screenwriter Jayme Laforest work with a fine idea for a horror picture, examining the troubled life of a man (Aiden Devine) who gets rid of dead bodies for criminals, trying to build a small fortune to help buy a better life for his 12-year-old daughter (Ava Preston). However, one of the deceased (Jess Salgueiro) being prepped for dissection isn’t actually dead, with her presence raising all sorts of problems for the newly alert butcher. Sadly, instead of leaning into the macabre aspects of the plot, the production tries to go warm with the concept before it slides into cliché.

There’s promise in the first act of “I’ll Take Your Dead,” which utilizes wintry Canadian locations and a creepy introduction to the butcher’s lifestyle, where he sucks on lollipops and casually pulls apart the recently deceased, frying the evidence in an acid bath. Domestic protection is established, with the widower determined to keep his child safe, and there’s unrest with the arrival of a corpse that’s no corpse at all. Sadly, tension doesn’t increase as “I’ll Take Your Dead” unfolds, with the screenplay striving to redefine family unity with unexpected relationships, giving the child a mother figure she’s always wanted. But even that subplot is dismissed in the third act, which becomes a home invasion actioner, making the movie about guns and chases, which is a decidedly underwhelming way to conclude the endeavor. Not helping the cause are the performances, which fail to reach the level of sincerity Archibald is aiming for.

I'll Take Your Dead Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The AVC encoded image (2.39:1 aspect ratio) presentation provides satisfactory detail, delivering an understanding of gory encounters and pained faces, with skin surfaces appealing, showcasing a range of concern and decomposition. House interiors are equally textured, delivering a feel for different rooms, including the body disposal basement, which surveys all sorts of tools and fluids. Colors are stable, with cinematographic moods preserved, offering warmer domestic hues and colder surgical ones. Skintones are natural. Delineation is passable. Some mild banding periodically pops into view.

I'll Take Your Dead Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The 5.1 DTS-HD MA sound mix handles the feature's limited sonic reach comfortably. Dialogue exchanges are direct, with strong emotionality and emphasis. Scoring is precise, offering sharp instrumentation and presence in the surrounds, offering agreeable immersion. Atmospherics are also acceptable, picking up on wood floor movement and wintry exteriors. Low-end is minor but some weight is captured. Sound effects retain power, identifying the sawing of flesh and the snap of gunfire.

I'll Take Your Dead Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Behind the Scenes (8:58, HD) is a short overview of production achievements, utilizing interviews with cast and crew (conducted on-set). Script origins are recalled by director Chad Archibald, who needed a freezing location to help sell the winter isolation found in the film, ending up in Canada. Story points are inspected and characterization is highlighted, delving into motivations. Weather challenges are most interesting, backed up by BTS footage of heavy rains and high winds. Love for Archibald is ladled on, and a brief summation of stunt work is included.

• Deleted Scenes (11:06, HD) are offered.

• Script to Screen (4:23, HD) takes a scene from "I'll Take Your Dead," matching footage with a scrolling section of the screenplay.

• And Trailer #1 (1:46, HD) and Trailer #2 (2:25, HD) are included.

I'll Take Your Dead Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

There's a supernatural element stuffed into "I'll Take Your Dead" as well, and it often feels incomplete, playing like the remnants of an old draft of the screenplay that managed to make it into the final cut. The last thing this unfocused movie needs is a ghostly presence, especially when the rules surrounding specter sightings change as the feature rolls out. Archibald doesn't show the strongest command over "I'll Take Your Dead," and while there's an attempt to disrupt expectations for something simplistically gruesome and aggressive, the production bites off more than it can chew, trying to be the grisly event/family ties/shoot-out experience few are likely to be looking for.