House of the Dead DVD Review:

Film adaptations are not a new concept. In fact it's a concept that has been around since the beginning of film itself. Stage plays were turned into
films, and then eventually books as well. But who would have thought that one day theme park rides, and video games, would be turned into a full
length film. House of the Dead is based on the video game franchise from Sega, and if the film succeeded in one way, it was making itself as simple as a video game where zombies are violently shot with an assortment of weapons.

House of the Dead starts with a group of friends on their way to a huge rave party held on an island. Only, when they miss the boat over, they have to
hire a boat captain Victor Kirk to take them over. What they don't know is how much they are going to need the illegal cargo that Kirk is storing in
his vessel, because once they arrive at the party, nobody is the way they were when they arrived. Now they are all blood thirsty creatures living in
the woods. The group of friends and Captain Kirk must band together to get out alive.

The film is being advertised as combining traditional horror storytelling with Matrix action. This is a true statement, and with audiences these days,
it probably sounded like a good idea at the time, but the result is a confused melting pot of many genres. It actually starts somewhat promising,
almost as if it was meant to be a B film, or a kind of throw back to old 50's horror films. The creatures have eyes that just look like lightbulbs,
and you can pretty much tell that they are just wearing costumes, but it just adds to the feeling.

This is where the film begins to get lost. Instead
of just sticking with one concept, they feel the need to add in a huge amount of artillary, which brings extreme gore. This alone is not unusual
for a horror film, but once the bullet time action insues, the film has basically turned into something different. It went from a bad B-film horror,
to a full out bloody action film that just happens to have monsters as the enemy. Perhaps the worst mistake the film makes though, is to try and
explain why everyone is a zombie. This takes the film into even more complicated territory, with unnecissary sub-plots.

It's unfortunate that a film which could have been entertaining turns into something horribly stupid and yet complicated. On top of that it's nearly unwatchable at points because of the high level of gore, which some fans may actually see as it's saving points. Then there is also the obligatory sex
and nudity, which a B-film like this must have even if they have no point.

The DVD itself is actually quite impressive for a film of this calibur. It contains a director's commentary, and a producer's commentary, and an assortment of featurettes. They must really know their audience, because one of the featurettes is 'Women of HoD'.

There is storyboard comparison, theatrical trailers, deleted scenes, and not to mention the menus are
impressive themselves, looking like a video game screen which is continuosly bleeding.

Most award winning films don't get DVD's with this
many features. If only the film could match the DVD.

Ryan Izay

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