Stars: Jean Claude Van Damme, Thomas Arana, & Laura Harring
Genre: Action
MPAA Rating: R (Violence & Language)
Runing Time: 89 Mins
Tagline: "The deadliest disease ever discovered is about to be unleashed on the world"
Synopsis:
{According to IMDB}
"On an out of control train holding hostages and high-tech bio-weapons agent Kristoff (Van Damme) becomes a one man army to derail the terrorists and save the lives of everyone on board! "
Discussion:
I really feel bad for Van Damme. The guy has so much potential, and they hand him crappy scripts which all tend to be shot in Bulgaria. This time around terrorist are on board a train, they have a bio weapon which if unleashed can kill everyone on board. It is up to Van Damme to save the day. How original, right?
Plain simply this is just an Under Siege 2 rip off, only with a little outbreak thrown in there for the hell of it. Like I said I wasn’t expecting anything out of this flick. I know how these Straight to DVD flicks are. I was actually laughing during most of the ludicrous plot and horrible green screen effects. You can tell Van Damme was just waiting for the paycheck to get the hell out of this production. I really think this is perhaps his worst film, even more so than Knock Off.
DVD:
I bought this movie back in 02 in VHS, like any tape, the quality was just average. At Best Buy I saw in a 4.99 bin a copy of Derailed in a triple Van Damme Feature. Bringing”Derailed" “In Hell", and “Wake of Death". I got the copy only for the later two; I didn’t really care for Derailed. So I will be reviewing the copy I got in the triple feature.
Video:
Presented in 4x 3 Fullscreen and no special features. This copy of Derailed is no different to the VHS. There are no extra features, not even a trailer.
Audio: 2 channel Souround Sound.
Bottom Line:
Skip it. Even for Van Damme fans like me, you will be snoozing in less than 10 min. I was really disappointed in this effort
Stars: Derran Sarafian, Beatrice Ring & Ottaviano Dell' Acqua
Genre: Horror
Running Time: 96 Mins
MPAA Rating: Unrated
Tagline: None
Synopsis: {According to IMDB}
When a terrorist's body, infected with a stolen chemical, is recovered by the US military, the corpse is cremated, unintentionally releasing the virus/bacteria into the atmosphere over a small island. Soon the infected populace mutates into flesh-hungry zombies, and a trio of soldiers on leave must team up with a group of tourists and board themselves up in an abandoned hotel as they try to fend off the agile and aggressive living dead.
When I began to watch this flick I was expecting garbage...and that’s exactly what i got: Garbage.
This supposed sequel to Zombie 2 has no connection whatsoever to the previous film. Then again the first one had nothing to do with Dawn of The Dead (see review on Zombie 2) this movie is directed by the same dude who did Zombi 2, gee what a surprise.
This time we have military dudes escaping from an infection caused by some stupid ass scientists. These "clever" scientist (yes, I am being sarcastic) are about to cremate a zombie they created. The ashes go into the atmosphere and voila you have a perfect recipe for bringing back the dead.
This movie is actually even worse than the predecessor, utterly boring from start to finish. Yeah, there is gore, actually plenty of it. But the movie is so freaking stupid and badly dubbed that I could barely pay attention. I saw myself multitasking many times through the film. Even for gore hounds don’t get too excited about this one. The gore mainly consists of bad make up, and weird green goo WTF?
I would seriously avoid this one at all costs period.
DVD:
Video:
Presented in widescreen 1:85:1 this DVD is no different to the VHS. The only speacial feature is an intro by two of the stars of the film.
Audio:
2ch Souround Sound
Bottom Line:
I would say avoid it. there really isnt anything of redeming value here. However, if you are still curious to see how horrible it is..I have posted a video below with a much better re-edit of the 96 min film summed up in only 20 min. Enjoy!
Stars: Tisa Farrow, Ian McCulloch & Richard Johnson
Genre: Horror
Running Time: 91 Mins
MPAA Rating: X (Horror Violence/Gore & Nudity)
Tagline: We Are Going To Eat You
Synopsis:
{According to IMDB}
"Strangers looking for a woman's father arrive at a tropical island where a doctor desperately searches for the cause and cure of a recent epidemic of the undead."
I remember there were a lot of good reviews for this movie. Many claimed it to be the best Italian Zombie movie. So as a Zombie aficionado, I had to check this one out and see for myself. But before we get into the actual movie, let’s talk about the title itself “Zombie 2”. My first thoughts were “Where is Zombie 1?” Well, there is no Zombie 1, this isn’t really a sequel. Actually it was only given the title of “Zombie 2” to cash in the success of George A. Romero’s Dawn of The Dead (78). Yet there is little to no connection between this and Dawn of the Dead. Due to this confusion, I ended up buying an older DVD version titled simply "Zombie" thinking there was a first movie.
The movie begins in New York, which it seems to me it’s perhaps the only scene shot in the U.S. Anyways, two officers are searching an abandoned boat. One of the officers gets brutally killed by one of our beloved Zombies (a pretty big one actually) after this incident, we are introduced to Mia Farrow’s character: Anne, who I feel did this movie only for the paycheck, she seems bored to death as I was. Anyways, she gets questioned by the police after the cops’ demise. She gets questioned due to her father; he was in fact the owner of this boat. Not knowing anything, the cops leave her alone. Yet, she snoops around the boat to see what her father was up to, while snooping she stumbles onto a reporter (Ian McCulloch) they find a note from her father explaining he has a strange disease and that he is an Island, trying to find a cure. So both Anne and the reporter decide to get in their boat, and search for Anne's Daddy. Little do they know this Island is filled with Zombies! Yay!
I got to say that the film itself is pretty overrated for a Zombie flick. There are "some" gruesome scenes. But don’t expect anything over the top here. To me it just didn’t deliver what I would be expecting from a Zombie flick (Gore, Guts, etc). Aside from the Zombie Shark fight (yes, there is a Zombie Fighting a Shark) and a gut retching eye ball scene, the rest just drags…especially the Zombies, boy are these one’s slow. I know a Zombie isn’t supposed to run, but damn I think a snail can beat these guys any day, big time! There’s a scene where the zombies come up from the grave, the sequence alone is just sooo freaking slow!! I had to slap myself a couple times to stay awake in this turkey. Hard to believe this was in UK’s “Video Nasty” Like I said, it was gruesome in some scenes. But nothing overly nasty, just one of those flicks that have gained cult status only for the scenes mentioned earlier
DVD:
Like I said before, I ended up getting the DVD titled “Zombie” thinking it was the first film. The edition I’m reviewing here is the Anchor Bay 2002 release. This DVD contains no Special Features not even a trailer. In fact the movie just starts right away after putting the DVD in. If you are a fan of the film or are curious about it, get the Media Blasters 2004 release, or better yet the Anchor Bay 25th Anniversary 2 Disc Special Edition. That’s if you are crazy about the movie; personally, I wouldn’t bother.
Video:
The movie is presented in a non-Anamorphic Widescreen 2:35:1. Which to be honest looks really shitty. There is grain all over the place; colors are inconsistent, most of the time. Not to mention that the DVD for some reason felt compressed. There was pixilation all over the screen. Then again I was watching this on a 42” Plasma Screen in Zoom mode. So it makes sense for the pixilation; overall the picture quality was horrible. I’ve seen better quality from dollar store DVD’s.
Audio:
Not much better than the video, the audio is a 2 channel mono. So if you are expecting a good surround mix…it’s not here. Again, if you want the picture and sound quality in better optimum, get the other editions mentioned
Bottom Line:
I say just rent it, or borrow it from someone who has it. I wouldn’t pay the 25 bucks for it. Plus I don’t think this movie will be airing on TV anytime soon. If it does, then there’s your chance to see it. But frankly, either skip it, or just see it so you can get what all the fuss is about…which isn’t much for that manner
