The Dustwalker Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		3.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		2.5

The Dustwalker Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman August 17, 2020

What if aliens came to Earth, inhabited human hosts, and then just moped around like zombies? That's a question Writer/Director Sandra Sciberras chooses to tackle in The Dustwalkers, a painfully slow exercise in flawed moviemaking that struggles to get beyond the "buildup" phase of the story, at least until it's too late to really care about what's going on and who's impacted by it all. The film is as sleepy as the small Australian town in which it is set, using the low budget technique of drawing the story out with drip-like exposition rather than diving into action that was probably too expensive to implement. The film toys with a few decent ideas and shows some potential but doesn't much elevate beyond its floor.

Something crashes from outer space in the middle of nowhere, Australia. Nearby is a small, dusty town populated by a handful of people, all of whom know each other, each of them a vital part of the community fabric. Things are upended when a man is quickly and painfully transformed into something...else. Weird things begin to happen around the community. People behave strangely, animals are found mutilated, and it's up to local law officer Joanne Sharp (Jolene Anderson) to piece it all together. As more and more people behave strangely, as the number of dead animals and bloody humans mount, it takes little time for the townsfolk to figure out that they're up against something alien. They'll have to band together if they're to survive a grisly invasion.

The Dustwalker takes its cues from several more familiar films, blending together components from Tremors and Invasion of the Body Snatchers and adding in a fairly generic grab-bag of Zombie-inspired content. The result is an interesting premise that is not without potential but a lethargic script and a low budget simply cannot capitalize on it, at least not to any lasting effect. The film's flirtations with narrative quality come frequently, and it seems that the film is always just on the cusp of turning the page and offering something more substantial, but alas a first act exposition seems to turn into a two-act exposition and a third act thud that offers little payoff. Sciberras gives it an honest effort but it's ultimately for naught as the film simply becomes too overburdened by the light load it has to offer.

The cast does little to add to the film. The actors foster a basic sense of urgency and uncertainty and fear of the fantastical and the unknown but the characters are flat by definition and the assembled players can't do much either individually or collectively to bolster the movie on their end. They're tasked with little in terms of character growth and even the physical demands are relatively few for a movie of this variety. The location is nondescript -- look at the aforementioned Tremors as an example of a movie almost miraculously transforming a dirt strip with a few flimsy structures into a character of its own -- and there's no willingness to use it in any meaningful way. The visual effects are not terrible for a movie of this caliber but expect the usual barrage of lower rent CGI, whether for the various bloody signs of aliens inhabiting humans or for the big monster reveal towards film's end.

The Dustwalker Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Dustwalker trots, or maybe better said meanders or shambles, onto Blu-ray via a burned BD-R disc, standard practice for Gravitas Ventures releases. The picture looks quite nice at a glance. It was digitally photographed and, generally speaking, yields a nice looking image that features reliable clarity and details. It's adequately sharp and capable of bringing out the finer details around the dusty town, including sand and terrain, trees, weathered structural accents, dusty automobile interiors, battered jail cells, and the like. Facial details are reliably complex, as are clothing elements. Even the digital effects show a good bit of gory complexity. Colors are even-keeled throughout, offering good balance and output intensity. Red blood is one of the highlights, of course, particularly as it's fresh and slathered all over skin where it has an opportunity to offer some real punch. The earthy tones around town -- all the dusty roadways and rocky landscapes -- likewise hold true. Flesh tones are appropriately rendered but black levels fluctuate a bit between excellent (the opening outer space shots) to poor (a followup shot on earth, pale and littered with macroblocking artifacts). Unfortunately, macroblocking is a regular companion throughout. When it's not present, the image looks fairly good. But as it appears with some frequency and density, some scenes are challenged at best and near ruined at worst. Additionally, banding appears in places (25:27, 1:23:15 for two examples) and aliasing is infrequent but seen in a handful of spots. Don't let the low-ish video score be a total deterrent; more scenes than not look fairly good, but anyone with a macroblocking sensitivity will find this one a tough watch.

The Dustwalker Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Dustwalker meanders onto Blu-ray with a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack. The presentation is rather good in the aggregate, offering fluid soundstage extension and plenty of width and depth. Discrete effects are present and the track offers some good examples of nicely imaged movement, fluidly flowing around the stage to impressive effect. The track is obviously lower budget than would be a major Hollywood production and the limitations in fidelity and extravagance are obvious, but there's some good stuff here that even in less than perfect source elements manages to offer a bit of flair and fun. That extends to action and atmosphere alike, both of which make good use of every speaker in the configuration. Clarity is strong for both music and effects, the former of which also spreads nicely out to the front edges. Dialogue is clear and well prioritized as it emanates from a natural front-center location.

The Dustwalker Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This Blu-ray release of The Dustwalker contains only one supplement, the film's Trailer (1080p, 1:07). No DVD or digital copies are included with purchase. This release does not ship with a slipcover.

The Dustwalker Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Dustwalker is not without potential but suffice it to say the movie never does elevate the material to anything beyond lower end time-wasting escapism. The story is flimsy at best, the acting is flat, the script is rote, and the pacing is sluggish, to be kind. Watch Tremors again instead. Gravitas Ventures' burned Manufactured on Demand Blu-ray gets the job done. Video is plagued by artifacts but looks good otherwise. Audio isn't at all bad. Supplements are limited to a trailer. Skip it.