Doomsday: Unrated Combined Blu-ray Disc And DVD Review

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Title: Doomsday: Unrated Blu-ray Disc & DVD Editions

Media: Blu-ray Disc & DVD-Video

Blu-ray Disc Region: A

DVD Region: One

Genre: Sci-Fi Action

Stars: Rhona Mitra, Bob Hoskins, Adrian Lester, David O’Hara, Alexander Siddig, and Malcolm McDowell

Writer: Neil Marshall

Director: Neil Marshall

Unrated Version Feature length: 1 hour and 53 minutes

R-Rated Version Feature length (DVD Only): 1 hour and 49 minutes

Blu-ray Disc Extras: U-Control Reaper Virus Files, Tech Specs and Picture In Picture, Audio Commentary With Director Neil Marshall and Cast Members Sean Pertwee, Darren Morfitt, Rick Warden, and Les Simpson

DVD Extras: Anatomy Of Catastrophe: Civilization On The Brink, The Visual Effects of Doomsday, Original Theatrical Film, Audio Commentary With Director Neil Marshall and Cast Members Sean Pertwee, Darren Morfitt, Rick Warden, and Les Simpson, Previews

Blu-ray Disc Languages: English DTS Digital 5.1 HD Master Audio Theatrical Surround Sound

DVD Languages: English and Spanish (Theatrical Cut Only) Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound

Subtitles: English Subtitles For The Deaf And Hearing Impaired and French and Spanish Language Subtitles

Blu-ray Packaging: Elite Blue BD Case

DVD Packaging: Keep Case

Chapter Stops: 20

Blu-ray Disc Sound: DTS Digital 5.1 HD Master Audio Theatrical Surround Sound

DVD Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound

Year of Theatrical Release: 2008/Blu-ray Disc & DVD Release: 2008

Theatrical Distributor: Rogue Pictures

Home Video Distributor: Universal Studios Home Entertainment

MPAA Rating: Not Rated (R Rated For Theatrical Cut On DVD Only)

Reviewer: Mark A. Rivera AKA The Brooklyn Critic

I like to call this film, Escape From Scotland because besides being influenced by Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior, Writer & Director Neil Marshall (The Descent/Dog Soldiers) was extremely inspired by John Carpenter’s Escape From New York. 25 years after Scotland was walled off to contain the deadly reaper virus, the disease resurfaces in London and now a handpicked team must enter the hot zone and find a scientist left behind who may have a cure. Rhona Mitra’s character was a child when Britain left the rest of Scotland’s people to die. She was one of the last to get out, but she lost an eye and her mother in the process. Now sporting a patch when she is not wearing a sophisticated ocular implant, she has a desire to see what happened to those left behind, but what her and her team discover are the decedents of immune survivors broken into two camps. There are the Punk cannibals of Glasgow and Slains Castle, where survivors have embraced a fanatical rule that has placed them in a pseudo dark age. These two societies are at war over whether or not there really is no life beyond the wall that has kept most of the populace sequestered for all their lives. The arrival of the team from outside the wall proves there is life beyond the wall and now one group wants to snuff out all evidence in order to keep there way of life going while the other wants to use the team members as hostages to cross through the armed barricades. The team in trying to fulfill their mission soon finds themselves overwhelmed and caught in the middle of a deadly situation as the future of humanity beyond hangs in the balance.

Among the many trends to have occurred over this decade is the resurgence of British sci-fi and horror on film and television finding a large audience in the U.S. whether it is the new Doctor Who and it’s spin-off Torchwood, which air stateside on SCI FI and BBC America respectively or Danny Boyle’s Sunshine and 28 Days Later as well as the hit horror comedy Shaun Of The Dead and Neil Marshall’s films The Descent and Dog Soldiers, which is something along the lines of a quasi-Aliens type action horror with werewolves. Not since the glory days of the Hammer Studios in the 1950s and early 60s have there been so much quality genre films and television produced across the pond finding success in the States. I welcome it.

Doomsday is Universal Studios Home Entertainment’s first day and date theatrical feature released on both DVD and Blu-ray Disc and it is a solid effort that gave me a whole new appreciation of the Blu-ray Disc format. It took a while but Blu-ray Disc has surpassed the interactivity options HD DVD had and I think it is only going to get better. On PlayStation 3 the disc runs so smooth that I would have thought it was an HD DVD had I not known upfront. If you are familiar with Universal’s high definition releases on HD DVD, in terms of the menu layout and so forth then you know exactly the style of the fluid seamless interactive menus here, which include the Universal screensaver too. Presented in 1080p full high definition, Doomsday looks fantastic with a widescreen (2.35:1) aspect ratio presentation that is simply gorgeous. The English DTS Digital 5.1 High Definition Master Audio Surround Sound truly takes charge of one’s sound system that it can makes one’s floor shake at times and give the feeling a breeze was emanating from your subwoofer. Both the Blu-ray Disc and DVD versions include English Subtitles for the Deaf and Hearing Impaired and French and Spanish Language Subtitles encoded as options. Exclusive to the Blu-ray Disc release is Universal’s U-Control picture-in-picture interactivity feature that enables full manipulation of sound level between the motion picture and open windows as well as the ability to determine which windows interest you and which do not and you can turn off the feature and turn it on again effortlessly without stopping the motion picture. Among the information that enhances the viewing experience are Reaper Virus Files that detail character background, information on the virus, and much more. Technical specifications on all the gadgets and weaponry regardless if it is futuristic or a throw back to the distant past is also included here along with lots of behind-the-scenes video shot on the set detailing the film’s production.

The production video is actually taken from several traditional featurettes that are found on the DVD edition that include a look at the devices and gadgets (20:10), visual effects (8:33) and behind-the-scenes footage from the set (17:24). All of it is 16 by 9 enhanced too. An informative, but quite informal audio commentary with Director Neil Marshall and cast members Sean Pertwee, Darren Morfitt, Rick Warden, and Les Simpson supports the extra value materials on both versions. Please note that the commentary is only available on the unrated version for the DVD and the theatrical version is not included on the Blu-ray Disc, but through seamless branching is available as a viewing option on the dual layered DVD edition.

The theatrical cut on the DVD also features a Spanish Language Dubbed Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Soundtrack. A reel of letterboxed previews for In Bluges, Saturday Night Live: The Complete Third Season, and Hellboy 2: The Golden Army (3:49) precede the main menu on the DVD edition. The picture quality of the DVD edition is complimentary to the release given the limitations of standard definition video when compared to high definition. An English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Soundtrack is included for both versions of the film on DVD and the film is presented in an anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1) aspect ratio presentation for both versions too. The main menu features the same basic animated set up as the Blu-ray Disc version in terms of using scenes from the film and so forth, but without the seamless interactive features found only on the Blu-ray Disc version. The subsequent menus on the DVD release are all standard interactive still frames that are easy to navigate.

Doomsday: Unrated is available on Blu-ray Disc and DVD-Video now courtesy of Universal Studios Home Entertainment.

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Buy This Blu-ray Disc And/Or DVD Edition By Clicking On The Icons Below!