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Up All Night AKA Friday Download: The Movie
R2 - United Kingdom - Spirit Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Matthew Crossman (25th October 2015). |
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The Film
 The cast of television’s CBBC series Friday Download, Dionne Bromfield, Richard Wisker, Shannon Flynn, George Sear and Bobby Lockwood decided to go on a holiday road trip after the finish filming the last episode of their current series. They all pile into a dilapidated van and off they go. The gang finally arrive at a campsite which also doubles as a graveyard. The gang are not impressed with this and decide that it’s not for them. The group set off for more appropriate accommodation but their sat nav starts to play up and keeps telling them to turnaround. In all the confusion the gang and their van end up in a ditch. In an effort to seek refuge the group stumble upon a creepy old mansion called Hill House. Here they are welcomed by a creepy pair of siblings called Caleb (Tyger Drew Honey) and Clara (Louisa Connolly-Burnham). The Friday Download team are invited to stay the night and as they have little choice whilst their van is out of action they agree. What transpires during the night is a series of spooky adventures. With the aide of a ghost hunter (Ethan Lawrence) the gang, in proper Scooby Doo fashion, attempt to get to the bottom of the mysterious house and it’s resident spooks. Soon the group discover that Hill House is due for demolition and they devise a way help save the house with a music festival. Having never seen any episodes of ‘Friday Download’ or for that matter knowing nothing about the series or the ‘teen sensation’ band ‘The Vamps’ that appear in the film I decided to screen it with a couple of my Son’s friends. They had all heard of the above and seemed to be in the right age range (all four of them are eleven years old). I think it’s fair to say that the film seems to have something for all of them. The two boys in the group enjoyed the scare free hi jinks involving spooky houses and ghosts whilst the two girls enjoyed the pretty people with perfect teeth and the music of the bands at the end of film during the music festival sequence. Personally, as a forty seven year old man, this seemed to be the longest 90 minutes of my life. But this film was not aimed at me and the children seemed to enjoy it. David Mitchell makes an appearance as a policeman (one of the only people I did recognise in the movie) and the whole production is generally fairly slick in a very non offensive manner. If the youngsters in your household enjoy the TV incarnation of the film then they will surely enjoy this elongated version but for all parents out there you might want to have a book or newspaper handy. Children of a certain age will definitely get some enjoyment from the film with it’s safe scares and all the cast are wholesome and inoffensive. The Vamps are, apparently, a pretty big thing in terms of teen bands and the young girls that I watched the film with were eager with anticipation for their appearance.
Video
The film is presented anamorphically at 1.85:1. The picture is bright and clear with colours especially vibrant. Filmed on digital this will be as close to an accurate presentation as one would expect and would have seen in the cinema.
Audio
English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo sound is the only option. The sound is perfectly serviceable but given the spooky nature of some of the scenes and the main story it’s a shame that a 5.1 mix was not included. There are no subtitles available.
Extras
Nothing. Not even a trailer.
Overall
Fans of the television show will enjoy this big screen outing but for anyone over the age of fourteen will find the film hard going. Ideal, therefore, for parents to put on for their children and then go off and cook the dinner or a spot of gardening but the parents can rest assured that the film is good, wholesome fun and with the spooky theme ideal for this time of year, especially during this half term.
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