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Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray A - America - Shout! Factory Review written by and copyright: Anthony Arrigo (8th August 2015). |
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The Film
 If there’s one subgenre of horror that could stand at least a decade of retirement, it is the zombie film. Done to death a hundred and one times over, there are very few filmmakers doing anything of interest with the undead these days. And, really, even fewer have any hope of standing tall among the upper echelon of gut-munching fare. The best option? Genre mashups. Inserting zombies into worlds which they normally do not inhabit is just about the only novel concept left to mine. In the case of “Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead” (2014), that would be a post-apocalyptic universe. The film comes from The Land Down Under, Australia, and was done on a micro budget of around $160,000. You wouldn’t know that from watching the picture, however, because first-time helmers the Roache-Turner Brothers (Kiah and Tristan) have made a film that is slick looking – both in terms of the technical process by which it was shot, and because it is absolutely slick with buckets of blood. Pulling together wild ideas and using a production design style heavily reminiscent of “The Road Warrior” (1982), “Wyrmwood” brings a respectable level of freshness to a long-rotten corpse. A meteor shower is spotted over Australia one night, and not soon after a majority of the country’s residents have turned into bloody, aggressive, screeching zombies. Two who haven’t are Barry (Jay Gallagher) and his sister, Brooke (Bianca Bradey), though they’re currently separated by hundreds of miles. Barry is in the Outback with his family, who he is forced to kill when they turn. Brooke, meanwhile, is attending a photo shoot when her crew turns undead, attacking her. Concerned for his sister, Barry hooks up with a few remaining survivors on a quest to rescue Brooke, who has now been taken captive by a disco-loving mad doctor who uses the zombies as test subjects for his experiments. Barry and his hard-hitting bunch learn that zombie blood and breath are both flammable; convenient, since all known fuel sources have been rendered useless. They hook up a zombie to a modified engine and hit the road, looking like extras from a “Mad Max” movie. Brooke, chained up in the doctor’s lab, has been injected with various serums which have given her unique abilities, like being able to mentally control zombies nearby. By the time Barry finally makes it to Brooke, many people have been eaten and the roads are oozing with blood. As much as I was hoping to really dig what the Roache-Turner brothers have delivered here, there was no connection with the material for me. Putting aside the requisite standard zombie elements that are beyond overused nothing much clicked; although, I will again give some praise for introducing new ideas like flammable zombie blood and mind control. My biggest gripe might sound ridiculous, but it grated on my nerves big time: screeching zombies. In my opinion, zombies really shouldn’t make any sounds outside of muffled grunts and groans. Screaming sort of defeats their strategy of slowly ambling up and taking a bite out of some dude’s neck. In “Wyrmwood” the zombies yell and screech and make so much noise it overpowers the entire sound mix. And they almost never stop. It is exceedingly annoying, to the point where I just sort of… tuned out whenever zombies were on screen. It really is incredible what these guys were able to do with so little money, though. The production design and effects work are expertly handled, making the film look like it cost ten times as much. The cinematography is slick and the editing isn’t rapid-fire, headache-inducing nonsense, either. This may be a modern movie, but due to a retro aesthetic and the use of mostly practical FX work it feels more like the films that clearly influenced it, rather than being another contemporary slice of forgettable cinema. Virtually none of the IFC films Scream Factory has released have been winners; “Wyrmwood” appears to be a sole exception, and while it didn’t exactly work for me it’s far from terrible.
Video
Shot digitally using the Canon 5D camera, the film’s 1.78:1 1080p 24/fps AVC MPEG-4 encoded picture looks unsurprisingly sharp, although levels of definition can change based upon the scene. The film’s look was altered in post, with colors heavily graded depending on the scene, and as a result visuals can vary wildly. Still, colors look strongly saturated and definition is often exceedingly clear. A few scenes look too hot or under-saturated or soft, but since the look was tinkered with so much all of these instances are likely intentional.
Audio
Sporting an English DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 surround sound track (48kHz/24-bit), this is an active track that will fully engage viewers. Right from the opening moments this rowdy effort roars with gunfire and heavy action, all of which are perfectly spaced out amongst all seven (or five) speakers. There’s a lot of variety in the effects, too, keeping the track fresh and alive. Rears are utilized constantly, proving a great sense of immersion. There is also an English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo track included. Subtitles are available in English SDH and Spanish.
Extras
This disc comes stacked with a host of goodies, including an audio commentary, featurettes, deleted scenes, theatrical trailers and more. Director Kiah Roache-Turner and screenwriter Tristan Roache-Turner are on hand for a lively, informative audio commentary track. “The Wyrmdiaries: Behind the Scenes of “Wyrmwood”” (1080p) is a featurette that runs for 49 minutes and 29 seconds, this very in-depth piece is broken up into chapters and covers all of the production’s big moments. “The 7 Minute Teaser Scene” (1080p) featurette runs for 8 minutes and 14 seconds, this is a different take on the armored truck attack. “Crowdfunding Video 1” (1080p) clip runs for 6 minutes and 1 second, the brothers talk about the film and show off a little of it. “Crowdfunding Video 2” (1080p) clip runs for 4 minutes and 14 seconds, this one is hilarious. Storyboards by the director (1080p) features 19 images. Theatrical trailers (1080p) features three, running for 4 minutes and 23 seconds. Finally, some deleted scenes (1080p) run for 19 minutes and 30 seconds.
Packaging
The single disc comes housed in a standard Blu-ray keep case. The cover art is reversible and first pressings include a slip-cover.
Overall
It may not have been for me, but I can see where “Wyrmwood” would appeal to many viewers and it is definitely welcomed to see someone trying to do something different and fun within the zombie genre that hasn’t been aped to death… yet.
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