HORROR DVD/BLU-RAY REVIEWS

A group of five people working to stay alive in a post-apocalyptic future discover what they think is a safe, abandoned farmhouse, but they soon find themselves fighting to stay alive as a gang of bloodthirsty predators attack.

The post-apocalyptic thriller has really gained steam in the past few years, with some awesome entries into the genre (like The Road). WWE Films throws their hat into the ring (LOLOL) with The Day, and casts capable actors like Aaron Ashmore, Shannon Sossamon (who's unusually terrible in this film) and Dominic Monaghan (who's basically just there for an extended cameo) as their survivors. Can WWE films (arguably) make their first decent movie?

Well, yes and no. First, know that this is a dark, depressing and downright mean movie. No one is safe, not even women and children, and the movie seems to take joy in offing anyone they possibly can. The flick starts off well enough, with a tense scene taking place where a seemingly desolate farmhouse turns out to be rigged with heavy security, which causes suspicions to arise. From here, things tend to slow down quite a bit, by becoming dull and predictable. There's no origin for this apocalypse, and these folks are mostly all pals from school who have stuck together.

It doesn't take long for the evil cannibals to show up, and they are of course led by some sort of culty-religious leader known cleverly as "The Father". Never mind that we have no idea why people are eating each other when the land seems fertile, or why there's still so much military ammunition sitting around.

There's a big focus here on conserving supplies (this point really gets hammered home), but by the time the group runs into the evil group of cannibals, they seem to pump a ton of lead into them. Bizarre.

This is a movie that takes itself seriously, and hardly ever laughs. I had a feeling when I saw it on my desk that it was going to be a chore to watch, and I ended up being right. This is not an easy movie to watch- it's full of endless cursing and plot holes and some stupid looking CGI blood during the frequent torture/death scenes.

There just isn't enough going on here to make this movie stand out. We've seen people trapped in a farmhouse before. Is this movie watchable? without question, but even at 85 minutes it seems overlong. It drags on in its despair. The flick is dark and practically always black and white and just lacks substance and originality altogether. Sure, there are some cool effects, but I just felt depressed, bored and empty when the flick ended. When you really don't care who lives and dies in a movie as violent and specific as this, that's a bad sign.

The Day is presented in 1.85:1/1080p and looks great, although the movie itself is fairly ugly on purpose.

Audio is Dolby TrueHD 5.1 with another excellent mix for the most part, although some explosions seem to lack the bass necessary to really rock you. Dialogue comes through loud and clear.

The only extra presented here is a Commentary with Executive Producer/Director Doug Aarniokoski, Producer Guy Danella and Writer Luke Passmore and it's fairly standard and a little dry, though quite technical. If you're a film student looking for a few pointers, look no further.

Also, a trailer.

I'm a huge, huge WWE fan (even going to Wrestlemania this year!) and I had mild hopes for this one. If you've seen better films like The Road, 28 Days Later, or to a different extent, The Hills Have Eyes, you don't really need to see this one. It's presented well technically and features some violent scenes, but it's dark, depressing, somewhat pointless and all too familiar to really be worthwhile.