Dead Shack - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Dead Shack



Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:


​

Movie
The zombie sub genre is pretty much on the down and outs as of this moment. It WAS the hottest new craze a few years back (we got through cycles. One year we like werewolves, another vampires, another zombies), but right now about the only mainstream show/movies that really are ongoing is The Walking Dead, which is kind of on its last legs as we speak. However, the idea of undead brain munchers chewing up poor humans is a tried and true cinematic trope, and I was kind of curious about Dead Shack when I watched the trailer for it. Especially since it was billed as a horror comedy instead of straight up horror flick. I wasn’t exactly expecting much from the fledgling Shudder production company, but I’m an easy person when it comes to horror (and a bit of a masochist. The amount of awful horror movies I’ve watched over the years JUST because it was a horror movie is staggering) and I like zombies. Color me a bit surprised when I actually really liked Dead Shack, and was having a good time with the “splatstick” style humor. Besides a few bad lines in the third act (the “neighbor” gets the most of those sadly), the movie is a goofy, bloody good time.

Jason (Matthew Nelson-Mahood), and his best friend’s family are about to head out to the wilderness for a weekend camping trip. His buddy Colin’s (Gabriel LaBelle) family is a bit dysfunctional with father Roger’s (Donavon Stinson) recent divorce, but that’s kind of the setup for these types of films. Dysfunction, conflict and friendship. Colin’s bratty sister Summer (Lizzie Boys) isn’t too thrilled, and neither is Roger’s new girlfriend Lisa (Valerie Tian) isn’t either, but Roger, Colin and James are prepping for the weekend to remember. Sadly the cabin that Roger chose is a bit on the rundown side due to finances, but the boys are willing to make the best of it. While Roger and Lisa get drunk in the cabin, the three teenagers head out to explore, only to run across a house in the woods where they witness their neighbor (Lauren Holly) feed a few local teenagers to what appears like zombies.

Terrified and freaked out, Colin, Jason and Summer come running back to an unbelieving set of adults. However, after a little persuasion, Roger agrees to check out the cabin only to run into a cold blooded killer and her cadre of zombie minions. Minions who will gladly munch on anyone who gets in their way. Realizing that they’re out gunned, and over matched, the three teenagers do the only thing they can do. Arm up with makeshift weapons and hunt some undead munchers before they become lunch themselves.

Dead Shack is an extremely simple premise (kids surviving zombies), but it’s that simplicity that is it’s strongest point. The movie doesn’t try to be anything that it’s not, but instead just has fun with goofy humor and lots n’ lots of gore. The first 1/3rd of the movie takes a while to get going, with Jason and crew trying to bond (with Jason also hitting on Summer) before the fun starts, but once the zombie attack starts Dead Shack doesn’t take any prisoners. We get to sit back and watch the teenagers slice and dice our zombie friends, all the while trying to figure out how to stay alive and make bad one liners as well. Talking about lines, the movie does not even TRY to hide the fact that this is a dumb comedy wrapped in a bloody zombie veneer, but there were a few times where the writers really put in some cringe worth moments. Most of them came from “the neighber”, with her spouting off some pretty cringe worthy lines. Honestly, she was better as the silent killer. When she started whining about her family she proved why they should have kept her mouth shut (the line about cops and sexism, as well as the “who will love me?!” line really pulled the fun out of those particular scenes).

Acting wise, this isn’t anything wild, but still there were some decent performances. Lauren Holly was great as the hot older woman luring in teenagers to their death (you might remember her as Mary from Dumb and Dumber as well as the redheaded Director on NCIS), but opening her mouth was a bad decision as the writers gave her most of the bad lines. Matthew, Gabriel and Lizzie were solid enough, but most of the really funny moments came from Donavon Stinson’s performance as Roger. He was goofy, big, dumb and just good enough of an actor to elevate the film a good bit from where it COULD have been.




Rating:

Rated R for bloody violence/gore, language throughout, and some sexual references




Video:

According to what limited special features there are and a little digging it APPEARS that Dead Shack is a digitally shot film (not surprising for modern budget oriented movies), and the Blu-ray by Shudder Films is actually REALLY impressive. There’s a glossy and smooth look to the movie (again, not uncommon with a digital production), and the color grading tends to lean towards a flat and desaturated look. A heavy blue filter is employed along with a golden one (mostly for indoor shots) that really saps any major color out, but there are some bright spots in the dark film. Splashes of maroon blood blast off the screen, as does the outdoor diner shot near the beginning. Otherwise this is a very bleak and dark film that lives in the shadows. Fine detail is excellent, showing off intimate facial details for Roger, as well as magnificent black levels that don’t mar the general detail at all. Artifacting is near nil, with only a flicker of banding as the kids are walking through the woods to keep it from being GREAT.




Audio:

A single 5.1 DTS-HD MA audio track adorns the disc, and it acts as a very solid entry into the auditory world of zombies. Fidelity is fine, with vocals being crisp and cleanly located up in the center channel, while the film’s forest based ambiance adds some cool directional sounds. The rumbling and munching of zombies is kept fairly front heavy, but it’s more than capable of branching out to the surrounds when the banging and crashing gets to frenzied levels. LFE is punchy and heavy, but never really THAT powerful, adding weight to the gun shots and the pounding at doors. It’s a capable track, and one that is mixed rather well, but not one that really stretches the limits of the format.







Extras:

• Behind the Scenes Featurette
• Trailers

Final Score: ​

Despite not being a “typical” zombie movie, Dead Shack really surprised me. I wasn’t expecting the fun to be had from the splatstick horror comedy, nor the amount of sheer gore that it levied at us. Either way, it ended up being a great watch and one that actually opens up a bit on repeat viewings. The dynamics between Jason and his friends family is touching, and Lauren Holly’s twisted “mother” aspect of the film is great to watch. Luckily they didn’t spend a bunch of time giving us unneeded backstory to WHY there are zombies in our world, but rather just stuck with the nuts and bolts of the battle, making it a lean and fun watch. Shudder’s Blu-ray is amazing on the video front, and has a great audio track as well. Naturally we’re look SUPER slim on extras, but overall this is a fun watch.



Technical Specifications:

Starring: Matthew Nelson-Mahood, Lizzie Boys, Gabriel LaBelle
Directed by: Peter Ricq
Written by: Phil Ivanusic, Davila LeBlanc, Peter Ricq
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1
Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish
Studio: Shudder
Rated: R
Runtime: 82 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: August 7th, 2018

Recommendation: Fun Watch

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. Will keep an eye out for this one.