Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Undead Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.5
Audio		2.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.0

Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Undead Blu-ray Movie Review

A mildly amusing indie-comedy experiment in revisionist sequeling...

Reviewed by Kenneth Brown May 22, 2011

Looking for a supernatural adaptation of Tom Stoppard's absurdly witty, nonsensically ingenious 1966 stageplay, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead? Or the subsequent 1990 film adaptation of the same name written and directed by Stoppard and starring Gary Oldman and Tim Roth? Keep looking. Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Undead cashes in on Stoppard's title and metatheatre playfulness but little else. Instead, writer/director Jordan Galland's horror-comedy curiosity is more of a direct, play-within-a-play sequel to Hamlet; albeit one with a convoluted, 2,000-year backstory, pulpy bits of genre escapism, a coven of bloodthirsty vampires, Daniel LaRusso (minus some much-needed crane kicking), secret societies and conspiracy theories, Grail lore and an immortal rivalry with roots in ancient Rome. If the possibilities tickle your spine though, you've come to the right place.

Theo wants more than Julian's talent...

Unemployed ladies' man Julian Marsh (Jake Hoffman, Barney's Version) doesn't have much love for life until he nabs a job directing a bizarre black-box theatre stageplay, "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Undead" by an eccentric, porcelain-skinned thesp-turned-writer named Theo Horace (John Ventimiglia, The Sopranos). But soon after casting his ex-girlfriend Anna (Devon Aoki, Sin City) and his best friend Vince (Kris Lemche, Final Destination 3) in the roles of Ophelia and Hamlet, Julian begins to suspect Theo isn't who, or what, he claims to be. Before he knows what hit him, Julian stumbles into a hive of bloodsuckers embroiled in a feral feud that spans the centuries. How he has to contend with Theo and his fellow vamps, a mounting pile of bodies, a pair of homicide detectives (Jeremy Sisto and Lou Carbonneau), a secret society dedicated to tracking Horace through the ages, and Anna's current beau, brash businessman Bobby Bianchi (Ralph Macchio, The Karate Kid).

Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Undead is genuinely funny... at times. Macchio hams it up to tedious (but admirably energetic) ends, Galland would have been better served had he sent Aoki to a nunnery, and many of the supporting players are, pardon the pun, downright lifeless, Sisto included. Luckily, Hoffman grounds Julian with clever sitcom-disinterest and victim-of-absurd-circumstance aloofness, even if it's impossible to buy the patchy bearded, lovelorn loser as as an out-of-work, off-Broadway Casanova. (Hoffman conjures up the still-kicking spirit of Josh Radnor's Ted Mosby on more than one occasion to amusing effect.) Lemche nails Vince's snarky sharp-shooting, igniting more on-screen chemistry than the rest of the cast combined. And Ventimiglia? Ventimiglia drains every last drop of his swank vampire prince's blood, making the most of every hedonistic hiss, savage seduction and tasty kill he sinks his fangs into. Gone is Tony Soprano's favorite chef, replaced by a shadow-stalking hybrid of Steve Coogan's Dana Marschz (Hamlet 2) and Javier Bardem's Anton Chigurh (No Country for Old Men). Together, Hoffman, Lemche and Ventimiglia go for the jugular and raise Galland's game, despite whatever missteps he makes as the film bumbles its way into a borderline incomprehensible third act.

When Undead clings to its humble indie roots and Shakespeare's not-so-humble tragedy, it works. But when Galland tries to tear off the roof and shoot for the heavens, it all comes tumbling down. On the stage and behind the curtain, Galland's cheesy scares and tongue-in-cheek references score laughs; the lower his budget the better. But once he drags Undead through history, he loses touch with the cardboard trappings that make the first act of his film such a treat. He wants it to be big, grand and ambitious. Instead, Galland's budget burns the man who, for a solid forty-five minutes or so, had complete control over the production and its dollar-store design. Even the script seems to drift off course, abandoning the simplicity of Theo's hunt in favor of cumbersome, plodding plotting and wild twists and never-ending turns. Worse, the performances become strained, Galland's dialogue gets clunky, the visual effects falter and the director's endgame collapses under the weight of its own outlandish subplots (among them the arrival of Theo's surprise arch-nemesis, a grating egomaniac who derails Julian's play). Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Undead doesn't quite jump the shark -- at least no more than a Hamlet sequel with vampires already has -- but it doesn't live up to its early potential. It throws in the towel, limps toward the end credits and never delivers the killing blow horror-comedy fans long for in their favorite cross-genre pics.

Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Undead Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

And thus the native hue of resolution is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of... a commendable but flawed 1080p/AVC-encoded video presentation. Punny Hamlet quotes aside, Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Undead actually looks pretty good, barring a number of technical issues. Artifacting, banding, crush, aliasing and other ghosts of Blu-ray past, minor as each one may be, haunt the proceedings and knock the transfer down a full notch. Otherwise, Galland's comedy makes a rather graceful leap to BD. Shot with Red One ultra-high definition cameras, the film boasts intentionally chilly, keenly saturated colors, vivid contrast, appropriately life-and-deathlike skintones, and reasonably deep blacks. Detail doesn't disappoint either, even if budgetary constraints take their toll. Edges are generally crisp and nicely defined, textures defy the film's direct-to-video disposition, and delineation is surprisingly revealing considering how crucial a role night and shadow play in Galland's comedy. Long story short, if you enjoy Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Undead, you'll enjoy Indican's encode in spite of its shortcomings.

Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Undead Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Undead shuffles off this mortal coil with a tame, decidedly basement-budget Dolby Digital 5.1 surround track. It isn't terrible per se, just merely passable; a lossy letdown that doesn't distinguish itself from its DVD counterpart. Dialogue is clear and intelligible on the whole, but it doesn't hold up to the rigors of Galland's more involved sequences. Effects are rather thin and stagey, and LFE output is dull and unfulfilling on the whole. Moreover, the rear speakers allow too much to slip through the cracks, making the resulting soundfield a flat, front-heavy, uninvolving bore. Directionality is decent at best, pans are serviceable, and dynamics are anything but dynamic. Granted, Undead isn't the kind of flick that demands a lossless boost, but a DTS-HD Master Audio mix couldn't have hurt.

Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Undead Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The Blu-ray edition of Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Undead doesn't dust off many special features, nor does its cast and crew rip back the curtain on Galland's quirky horror-comedy. Factor in the extras' bargain-bin presentation and there just isn't that much, if anything, to get excited about.

• Cast and Crew Interviews (HD/SD, 18 minutes): Nine interviews are included, among them a behind-the-scenes discussion with director Jordan Galland and on-set and film-premiere chats with actors Devon Aoki, Waris Ahluwalia, Jake Hoffman, Kris Lemche, Ralph Macchio, John Ventimiglia. Galland's interview is worth watching, short as it may be, but the actors offer little insight into the production.
• Actors on Jordan Galland (HD/SD, 2 minutes): Galland's cast describe their director's approach to filmmaking just before attending the movie's premiere.
• Deleted Scenes and Outtakes (HD, 6 minutes): A mix of cuts and gaffes, all crammed into one poorly encoded video reel.
• Indican Pictures Sneak Previews (HD, 7 minutes): Trailers are available for Circle, The Grind, Shanghai Red and Bonnie & Clyde vs Dracula.
• Theatrical Trailer (HD, 2 minutes)
• TV Spot (HD, 1 minute)

Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Undead Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Undead isn't the mad prince of Hamlet adaptations it could be, but it has a few fun ideas and unexpected laughs up its doublet sleeves. If only it were as crafty and cunning as Galland seems to think. Indican's Blu-ray release isn't half bad either. While its Dolby Digital mix is cut from the DVD cloth and its supplemental package doesn't amount to much, its video transfer is solid enough to make up for both. I wouldn't go so far as to recommend a blind buy, but a rental doth deserve some measure of thought.