5.9 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 2.5 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
In this clever homage to 80's slasher films, a group of teenagers looking to party get stranded when their ride breaks down, and end up being stalked by a cannibalistic killer.
Starring: Sarah Fisher (XI), Mark Wiebe, Jesse Camacho, Kendra Leigh Timmins, David LipperHorror | 100% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.78:1
English: Dolby TrueHD 5.1
English SDH, Spanish
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 2.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 0.0 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
Lost After Dark isn't an homage to 80s Horror films but rather a lifeless regurgitation of them. It's an imitator rather than an innovator, a movie that exists to replicate a style rather than revere it. The entire film is a near painful reminder of all of the 80s Slasher movie flaws, of all the wrongs the good ones make joyously right. Rather than try and work around them with a wink and a nod to their greater importance in the genre, the film chooses to make them the centerpiece. And it's not like Lost After Dark is the first to go the iffy homage route. Movies like Hatchet and Muck have done it before. Hatchet goes about its business without being so obvious about what it is, blazing its own path while respecting the genre rather than just dumping every last bit of tried fan service into the blender. Muck is the worst kind of copycat drivel there is, a film that lacks spirit, cohesion, and identity amidst the regurgitation. Lost After Dark is much better than Muck, even if they share some of the attributes, but it's also much closer to that clunker than it is to superior fare like Hatchet in terms of how well, or not, it succeeds beyond embracing type.
They're lost and it's after dark.
Lost After Dark doesn't just play like an 80s Horror movie, it tries to look like one, too, showcasing a rough and worn drive-in quality. It's nowhere near as artificially decayed as the Grindhouse films, but Lost After Dark does see its fair share of manufactured speckles and debris throughout, particularly at scene transitions but obvious throughout to be sure. Otherwise, it looks very good. The image enjoys a filmic quality to it with a light grain structure apparent throughout. Details are sharp and precise with nicely defined skin and clothing textures readily apparent in the brighter opening act. The early scenes reveal some nice, but lightly faded (and deliberately so), colors, including a yellow dress, red bedroom accents, and orange lockers inside the school. After the first act, the movie transitions to a near constant state of black and gray where colors are reduced to a bare minimum vitality and the dreary and dreadful hues take command, and again with some deliberate fading, which is very obvious in black levels. Outside of the intentional wear, there doesn't appear to be any other issues at play: no banding, no noise, no macroblocking. Considering its rough-by-nature look, it's tough to find any real flaws with this transfer.
Lost After Dark slashes onto Blu-ray with a solid Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless soundtrack. Dialogue is the front-and-center element here, and everything from piercing screams to hushed whispers play with confident clarity and center-front placement. Ambient effects are nicely supportive and well defined, including those false alarm (or are they?) creepy elements or some heavier details that come into play as the teens explore the house or run for their lives. More innocuous, common details like an idling bus engine prove effortlessly realistic. General thumps and slashes and gushing blood and other gory sound details are nicely presented, too, with good gushy definition to seeping blood and ripping flesh. Music is well defined with quality spacing across the stage. A barrage of gunfire and other effects near the end are the most aggressive and dominant the track has to offer, producing a high yield heft to an otherwise straightforward genre listen.
This Blu-ray release of Lost After Dark contains no supplemental content.
Kudos to the Lost After Dark team for trying. As an old school mindless Slasher the movie satisfies very basic requirements, but the entire picture is one giant wink-and-nod rather than its own entity with those qualities interwoven into its unique essence. It lacks subtlety and precision, instead bludgeoning the audience with a regurgitation of the simplest elements 80's genre fare ever produced. It just tries too darn hard, never achieves anything other than copycat silliness, and feels more like bottom-feeding drivel rather than spunky homage as a result. Anchor Bay's featureless Blu-ray at least presents the movie very well, with a rock-solid transfer and a strong audio track. Rent it.
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