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Black Water Vampire
R2 - United Kingdom - Image Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Samuel Scott (7th February 2014). |
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The Film
 ***This is a technical review only. For reviews on the movie from various critics, we recommend visiting HERE.*** Who or what is responsible for a series of brutal killings, where the victims’ bodies have been found drained of blood in Black Water Creek? A young journalist and her team investigate in Black Water Vampire. Raymond Banks, has been locked up and certified criminally insane for the murders of four women whose bodies were brutalised and dumped in the woods, but Andrea Adams thinks the police have got it wrong and she’s taking her film crew to find out the truth. What they find there can only be told by the footage left behind. There are darker forces at work than anyone outside of Black Water can know…or will ever live to tell. Blood wrenching, soul-shattering terror waits for those who dare enter these woods in search of the Black Water Vampire. Black Water Vampire is a first for found footage as vampires invade the genre in this slick, atmospheric horror that builds to a truly chilling climax.
Video
Image Entertainment release the low budget, found footage horror movie "Black Water Vampire" into DVD in the United Kingdom with an anamorphic transfer at an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 (though the opening scene is 1.33:1). As far as the sub-genre goes, the transfer is pretty good. For those that are familiar with the found footage sub-genre, you'll be more than aware that the picture quality can be hard to describe. Often, these movies purposely have lower grade video quality in order to give the impression that the found footage is of home video condition. "Black Water Vampire" is no different, and uses some faux damage to increase the tense nature and student documentary feel of the film - but, at the same time - details and colours are still strong. When our students set up interviews with residents of Black Water, the transfer is at its best; sharp colours and good clarity, along with some fairly impressive facial and hair details. Blacks could be deeper, but are unproblematic, and reds could've been more vivid. Overall though, there is no damage that isn't faux, and I was more than happy with this transfer. The disc is PAL, and the feature runs 79:04.
Audio
There are two audio options available on the disc: - English Dolby Digital 5.1 - English Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo For the purposes of this review, I viewed the feature using the English Dolby Digital 5.1 track. As per the transfer, there are similarities between most found footage movies when it comes to 5.1 tracks, and again "Black Water Vampire" is no different. To give the feeling that we are watching an actual found tape, the surrounds and LFE are very rarely used, are kept almost exclusively for the score and cheap jump scares. Dialogue is clear at all times, but there are some occasional synching issues, most notably at 35:30. There are no signs of any damage to the track such as drop outs or scratches, yet there is some very minor background hiss at times. It's not noticeable enough to be an issue though. No subtitles have been included.
Extras
None.
Overall
It's a typical found footage horror movie that seems to have borrowed more from The Blair Witch Project than similar cash-ins have. It's not a bad attempt at the sub-genre, with a surprisingly cool looking vampire. I wouldn't go out of my way to recommend it to anyone, but fans of found footage films will certainly enjoy it.
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