Blu-ray Review: The Deadly Spawn - Page 2

What is pretty surprising about the story and the acting is that, despite it not being all that great, the screenplay does a pretty good job of being somewhat believable. Yes, I know that appears to be a backhanded compliment, but I do not mean it as such. When you have a movie whose star attraction are slugs with teeth, it is fairly clear that the human characters and whatever they have to say is going to take a backseat to getting to some monster mayhem.

That brings me to the creatures themselves. They are pretty impressive. They are certainly menacing and they have a great and simple design. The attacks are well executed and they are used effectively to build tension, such as when the boy stumbles across the breeding chamber in the basement. Now, combine the excellent creatures with some blood and gore effects and you have a pretty strong combination. If you are a fan of practical and do-it-yourself effects, this is a good one to watch.

Audio/Video. Presented in it's original ratio of 1.33:1 and with a Dolby Digital 2.0 audio track. Let us just say that this is a less than ideal presentation, but then to give it some perspective, this was shot on 16mm on the cheap and I suspect the source prints have not been treated all that well over the years.

The video shows plenty of damage, is soft, seems scrubbed of all fine detail, and suffers all sorts of focus issues. I believe the overall softness was done while making this disk to try and hide some of its more glaring problems, but most of the problems come right from the source (something the producer Ted A. Bohus and editor Marc Harwood do not shy away from in the commentary track).

As for the audio, well, it can be understood for the most part. It is a muffled and not terriblly clear track; sometimes you have to listen pretty close to discern what is being said.

This is probably the best it has looked in a long time, but that is not saying much as it can hardly be accused of taking advantage the Blu-ray format offers.

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Article Author: Chris Beaumont

Christopher Beaumont spends much of his time writing about music and movies when he isn't indulging in them. He is always ready to talk about his favorite form of entertainment and offer up recommendations. Follow: Twitter and Tumblr. Visit: Critical Outcast. …

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