Wildside Cinema

Dead Space: Downfall (2008)
R1 / NTSC DVD
Anchor Bay / 2008
Directed by Chuck Patton
Written by Jimmy Palmiotti, Justin Gray
Cast: Nika Futterman, Bruce Boxleitner, Keith Szarabajka, Kevin Michael Richardson, Jim Cummings.
Review by Brian Harris

When a dangerous alien artifact with religious significance is removed from a dead planet slated to be mined and brought aboard the USG Ishimura, the planet’s original inhabitants begin possessing the bodies of recently deceased crew members. The personnel that aren’t transformed into creatures are driven mad with paranoia and turn on one another. It’s up to a small security team to assess the danger, rescue survivors and get the ship to safety before the alien undead take over.

This animated, feature-length prequel to the upcoming Electronic Arts third-person horror title Dead Space is an interesting and relatively entertaining release. Obviously, Downfall is fantastic promo for the game and no doubt has the attention of eager gamers but I think it’s fair to say that viewers uninterested in gaming are going to want to know whether this film delivers thrills, chills and blood spills without requiring a PS3 or Xbox 360. Never fear, it does indeed deliver and no love for consoles are needed.

Dead Space: Downfall isn’t scary, it’s rare to see animation that is, but it does offer up an incredible amount of impressive gore, strong language and a bleak, nihilistic story that offers not one single sliver of a glimmer of hope. The voice acting was solid and the animation was decent (nothing cutting edge); it’s dark, brutal and occasionally exciting. Whether you’re a gamer or not, Downfall is worth checking out despite imperfections.

I think, concerning imperfections, my biggest problem with the film was how very little background information we’re given on social classes, religion, planet mining and the very nature of the relic. Perhaps EA has plans to fill in those blanks with the video game or a comic series, who knows, all I know is a little more depth could have really helped me get my bearings. The film was interesting but just dropping viewers into the middle of a complex concept without giving up some expositional goodies created more questions than answers.

I enjoyed Dead Space: Downfall and would definitely recommend it to gamers and horror fans with a taste for carnage but be sure to rent first. It offered up tons of possibilities but very little specifics which left me feeling a bit dissatisfied. I wanted to know more about the religion of the miners, the other recovered relics and perhaps even a little more on the alien species that the relic seems to have incarcerated. It’s all entertaining enough but I don’t plan to purchase the game or anything so, unfortunately, my experience with the concept will end with this film.