Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Necrosis Moves Full Steam Ahead: A Movie Review



Director: Jason Robert Stephens.

Writer: Robert Michael Ryan, and Jason Robert Stephens.

Necrosis is a Brink DVD release that stars James Kyson Lee (Heroes), George Stults (7th Heaven), Tiffany, Penny Drake, and Danielle De Luca (Naked Fear). Already close to an April 20th, 2010 DVD and cable release Necrosis utilizes pacing effectively in this indie thriller. Action abounds in the film, which only mildly stumbles in the sound department.

The film attaches itself the the legend of the Donner party who were a group of 1800s travellers that were westward bound. Unfortunately, the Donner party became trapped in the Sierra Nevada Mountains and fed upon each other in a bloody orgy of cannibalism. Many of the characters in Necrosis do not fare much better as character Jerry becomes possessed by either the ghosts of the Donner party or by his paranoid schizophrenia. Either way few come out of this picture alive!

Unknown Productions Inc. casts efficiently. James Kyson Lee, George Stults, and Danielle De Luca display believability in their characterizations with Lee showing a knack for the delusional. Even horror legend Michael Berryman delivers some class acting in this few scenes. But what about the action, you say?

This ninety minute film blows by very quickly as each scene delivers something necessary to keep this horror train moving (plot). Necrosis chugs along at a decent clip with only a few continuity errors obstructing the tracks. Almost every scene is either action oriented or character driven as this locomotive reaches a final destination in record time. Only one or two flaws take away from an exciting and entertaining experience.

In a few hazy spots automated dialogue replacement is used to tighten up some of the poorly recorded vocals. The syncing of the adr to the action on screen is almost unnoticeable, but does take the viewer out of the viewing experience in a couple early spots. If not for the dubbing Necrosis would be on a top ten pick for 2009.

Shot in Big Bear, San Bernadino, Dead of Winter aka Blood Snow aka Necrosis is a shuttle ride through the back woods of one writer's twisted mind. The blood flow, and terror spill across the screen in this excellently produced DVD/Blu-ray venture. Check this one out in the spring of 2010!

More info' on Necrosis (Blood Snow) here:

Necrosis Official Webpage

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2 comments:

Josh Waterman said...

Great review! Well said. Not sure it was THAT good, but it was pretty good. I'm surprised it isn't getting more buzz. Yeah the adr really bugged me, but overall not a bad flick

Unknown said...

We actually did very little ADR. Hopefully the sound quality is a little cleaner with the dolby digital on the actual dvd release, compared to the screeners that were sent out. Not trying to make excuses, just did the best we could with the budget we had and our on location sound recorder getting snow logged pretty early on.

Jason Stephens