Malignant
(2013/ModernCine/MVD Visual DVD)
Picture:
B- Sound: B- Extras: C Film: C
The
concept behind Malignant is simple. A grieving alcoholic
named Allex (Gary Cairns) falls prey to a mad scientist's (Brad
Dourif of Lord of the Rings and Child's Play fame )
experimental - and maniacal - treatment. The film's premise seems
like an interesting turn for Dourif, to whom is a respected actor in
the horror community and is very expressionistic and spot on with
work. Here, however, we hardly get enough screen time with him and
mostly hear his voice over phones and etc. That leaves us with our
boring lead and a cookie cutter plot that doesn't quite raise the
stakes enough to garner the attention that it craves.
After
he drinks a drink at a bar that he shouldn't, Allex soon realizes
that a chip was implanted within him that has turned him into a mass
murder and out of control maniac being controlled by the Mad
Scientist Dourif. While the film has decent production value and the
creepy moments featuring Dourif are scene stealing it proves as being
a mediocre fare. I will commend the cinematographer though as the
film looked great.
Presented
in standard definition with a 16 X 9/1.78 X 1 anamorphically enhanced
widescreen aspect ratio and a lossy 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround track,
the presentation is fine for the DVD format but could obviously
benefit from a Blu-ray upgrade/presentation.
Extras
include:
-
Exclusive Interviews with Gary Cairns and Brad Dourif
-
Never Been Seen Behind The Scenes Footage
It's
nice to see that the Mad Scientist genre isn't completely dead but
it's still lacking that film of Re-Animator or The Fly
caliber to get it back on the map and out to a wider audience.
-
James
Harland Lockhart V
www.facebook.com/jhl5films
