MovieChat Forums > Deadlands 2: Trapped (2012) Discussion > My Honest Review

My Honest Review

posted 14 years ago by rogerdemarco30
5 replies | jump to latest

Let me say that I love the zombie genre and I pretty much buy every (zombie) movie that comes out. Now I've seen the original "Deadlands" and while I wasn't impressed, I watched the sequel with a clean slate and an open mind. Both the story and the acting is serviceable. They are neither bad nor good, both simply propel the movie along. The special effects are definitely the film's weakest point, because it just seems like the cheeks and eyes were painted a dark color to make them appear sunken in. But luckily, the director has enough skill to either use numerous long shots of the zombies, or have them run by the camera to make up for this. The director is also smart enough to utilize what so many others fail to do --- have 'featured zombies'. Every zombie movie that comes out, must have certain (or all) zombies stand out. I saw a zombie in a wedding gown and I believe a fireman as well. It's that attention to detail that helps make the movie stand out. Getting Jim Krut to be in the film was a stroke of genius, because he is a popular guy in the horror community, yet would be somewhat inexpensive to cast. He's a great guy (I met him this past March) and I was extremely glad to see him in the film.

I still have a very hard time on what to grade the movie. I'm well aware of the movie's small budget and there in lies the problem. When I couldn't find a copy of the movie on Ebay, I went to Amazon, and the cheapest copy I could find was $18.97. Later on I learned that there was a link on the movie's website, that took you directly to Amazon, where all of the available copies were over $22 bucks. Now while most people rate a movie solely on the film's quality, I'm a little different. Essentially, it's all about time vs. money. Simply, was it worth picking up for that amount. I'm not sure who decides how much the movie should be (director or distributor), but this price is extremely high. I know that it was miraculous that someone made a film for $6,000 and got it released on DVD (major kudos), but you shouldn't expect someone to pay that for the type of quality involved. I think I read a post on this board where someone said "Well what did you expect for 6 grand...."2012"? Nobody expects to see major special effects like that in a low-budget movie like this one, but when both movies are the same price, it makes the bigger budgeted movie seem like a winner, while the other seems like a disappointment. Imagine if you went to McDonald's and bought a double cheeseburger for a dollar, you know what to expect, so you aren't disappointed with your purchase. Now let's say you went to a steak house like the "Outback", and you buy the same double cheeseburger for $20 bucks. You will definitely go home disappointed. If you have the same type of meal, but with different price points, then you will get different results. The same principal applies to movies. If you had $20 bucks, would you buy "Land of the Dead" or "Deadlands 2"?

Based on the film's quality, I could recommend renting/buying this film as a $4.99 digital download on Amazon, maybe even as a $9.99 DVD purchase if it was jam-packed with special features and autographed by Jim Krut. I know making a movie isn't cheap and the people behind the film have to recoup their costs, but it just seems a bit excessive to pay a high price for something, when there are better options available. With all that being said, the people behind the film crafted a better film then something like "The Zombie Diaries" ($800,000 budget), with considerably less resources. If the people behind this film ever read this and need a couple thousand dollars to help make a film, then I would gladly give it to them out of my own pocket.

[–] DjfunkmasterG 14 years ago

Roger,

First let me say... cool screenname. If that doesn't scream DAWN fan I don't know what does. =)

Ok, let me say thanks for giving this low budget flick a chance and being objective in your thoughts and opinions when it came to the overall picture/package. I also appreciate the fact you mention wanting to give us money, which we will gladly take. =)

As far as the price of the DVD... Yeah it is a bit high, but I don't get to set the prices, the distributor does, and they do this based on the amount of features, content of the film, track records on films of this nature etc etc. I honestly believe this should be a $12.99 DVD, but that isn't up to me.

However, i have noted seeing stuff from Asylum on Blu-Ray for like $10.00, so its not like anyone is losing money here. The DVD's cost the distributor about $1.25 per disc maybe $1.50 tops (Blu-Ray $3.00-$3.50) This is retail ready mind you. They wholesale them out for about $5.00-$6.00 per disc. the filmmaker and distributor split the difference between cost and wholesale profit, split 50/50

At Conventions I sell the disc for $15.00 signed simply because it saves people $5.00 plus its signed. I know I am no George Romero, but signed is still some added value over unsigned.

Anyway, again thanks for the comments, glad you enjoyed the flick and hope you check out Deadlands 3

Thanks

Gary Ugarek

________
"Deadlands 2: Trapped" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1103262/

[–] rogerdemarco30 14 years ago

Thanks for the reply. I think I read somewhere that you were from Maryland and I too reside in that state. So if you were ever in my area and did indeed money or help, then I would gladly give both.

[–] sr-755-160368 14 years ago

I stumbled upon this movie for the 4th or 5th time (I forget, I normally avoid dvd cam horror) and finally decided, what the hell? And gave it a go.

I have to admit, Deadlands 2, when put into the proper perspective, was in my view, rather exceptional! This is coming from someone that watched Frog-g-g all the way through (think lesbians and a monster being a guy in a large trash bag pretending to be a rapist frog vis a' vis http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0308281/ really terri-bad and worth a look- Joe Bob Briggs Style).

I created an account today just to say kudos, good work with the budget, constructively, actor dialog could be improved dramatically by the addition of lapel mics (Audio Technica PRO-88W isn't a bad choice for budget), as sound for me didn't come out so balanced for each scene that involved outdoor shots or lots of movement. Lighting was good and interesting, as was the suggestion of violence (we need more of that, less daylight full gore, the brain will always do a better job of filling in the scene).

Overall zombie makeup was decent, however the look of them coupled with the sharp/harsh night angles and lighting immediately carried me WAAaaaaay back to the 1970s drive in theaters, around the time of Death Race 2000, your cinematography is very nostalgic for those that "get it" and were fans of movies during the 70s (if you don't rent Panaflex, the 70s is still a hot motif to hop on right now).

I thought after Frog-g-g I was done with VHS/Beta/DVD cam, I am happily proven wrong, and rather happy that I was! It's a fine movie that stands on it's own merit, however you *MUST* watch the complete movie to digest it correctly, it's a story after all.

[–] DjfunkmasterG 14 years ago

Thanks for checking it out SR. I am very proud of the flick and it is a leaps and bounds improvement over Deadlands 1.

In terms of the camera/over all look. I was aiming for what i remembered as the 80's video nasties, and some of that drive-in style cinema. I always remembered those films being very hard to see, and having a sort of film-noir look, but after seeing them re-mastered and on DVD recently they don't seem to hold the same feel they did back in the day, but I asked my cinematographer to try capture it the best he could.

Something else I noticed about the film recently, which was a lot of fun for me, was that Deadlands 2 is really a kind of summer style popcorn action flick with a horror/zombie element. I know many people don't like popcorn action flicks, but they very much a part of cinema.

I agree in terms of dialog the script needed more work,and it is something I constantly try to work on. I wish i could have had one more pass at the screenplay before we started shooting, but oh well, I will chalk it up on the next one.

thanks again for your comments

Gary

________
"Deadlands 2: Trapped" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1103262/

[–] sr-755-160368 14 years ago