Before I begin this review, I just want to apologize for the delay. Moving to a different apartment was more work than I have anticipated and as a result, I wanted to settle down before writing this review of the Mediabook for Deathcember. I still haven't received the personalized disc but I did get a link to the ISO and I hope to view it shortly. For now, this will cover the packaging and the 1st blu ray disc of Deathcember.
The Mediabook itself is well designed. The front has the title and the back gives off a brief synopsis of Deathcember plus the specifications like runtime, language and subtitles plus a brief listing of some of the bonus features. Inside the mediabook are 3 blu ray discs covering the international cut of Deathcember plus the 2 volume cut (1 volume for each disc) and a DVD cut with the international cut and exclusive bonus features. I'm not the biggest fan of how the discs were packaged as they are easy to fall off if you don't push them into the locks but maybe others won't mind.
For Personal Jebus owners (about 5 including myself), they will get a nice card featuring the signatures of various directors from the Deathcember shorts plus the photos for each director on the back of the card. There are also 3 cards featuring the producers of Deathcember dressed as Santa along with a card featuring the VHS artwork for Deathcember (with a brief synopsis on the back of that card. I also got a nice card with a nice message from the Deathcember producers wishing for a much better 2021 (which so far is shaping up to be better although uneven at the same time).
The book itself gives a description of each short along with plenty of photos both from the film, and behind the scenes photos. It also gives a description as to how the project was conceived and funded including Kickstarter plans and the touring of the film. It then goes into a description of what the mediabook contains and also contains a wish to play the film every year. Overall, it is a well designed mediabook with information regarding the shorts and movie despite not being a fan of how the discs were packaged.
Disc 1 of Deathcember contains the international cut of Deathcember [with crappy christmas] and was fun to watch again. A teaser and regular trailer are both included and do a good job in the short time they have about selling the film. The making of featurette contains behind the scenes footage of 7 of the shorts in the following order.
1. A door too far.
2. Kill Santa
3. Joy to the Girls
4. Before Sundown
5. Hunchback
6. Pig
7. Xmas on fire
The footage is quite fun to watch, especially in the case of hunchback where everyone seems like they are having a great time!! The scoring Deathcember featurette is included and consists of Andrew Scott Bell composing the Deathcember suite. It is like getting a mini concert because I love the theme that plays throughout the framing segments.
Also included are the poster gallery and team screening gallery each containing poster and photos from the screening respectively. Speaking of the Team Screening, the video of the premiere at the end of August 2019 is included and is enjoyable to watch the producers answer questions from the audience plus interact with some of the cast members through skype.
Finally, there are audio commentaries for the following shorts, A Door Too Far, Villancios, Family Matters, Milk and Cookies Pig, December 19th, Getting Away From It All, Family Feast, Before Sundown, Cracker, Operation Dolph, and They Used to Laugh and Call Him Names. There was also an audience reactions track for Crappy Christmas.. Most of the commentaries were quite informative although I had a hard time understanding what Andreas Marschall said. Not his fault but I do wish there were subtitles to the commentaries and bonus features since some of the interviews are not in English. I took down notes during the commentaries and I will copy and paste them here. I do apologize if they seem messy but these more accurately reflect the thoughts as I watched them.
1. A Door Too Far:Director was inspired by advent calendars, talks about film, mentioned a location in which it was about to be shut, he was happy about the anti good guy's performance, kid had to be covered in liquid chocolate by frank in 3rd day of shooting. Shooting the girl eating chocolate used a go pro camera and was hard to shoot
5. Villancios: took a while to explain opening to vfx artists with little money. He praises actors and notes how hard the long shots are. Issac mentions they were lucky to find the house. Took 11 takes to follow girl through staircase. He notes passage of time in each period.
8. Family matters: the thanks audiences for supporting physical media. They noted a gay subplot that was removed and talk about 1 drink of alcohol. They talked about achieving a sexual undertone. The scalpel dropped and broke before the intended shot of the scalpel in box. They love practical effects. They said david croenberg was their inspiration. The worm in eye was the 1 cgi effect.
9. Audience reaction track to Crappy Christmas
16. Milk and cookies: he talks about gender identity. He talked about leaving letters to Santa. Kid actually cried after dad breaks toy. Lighting system was old school instead of LEDS. Actor who played dad is actually nice in real life. Director owned TV set as a kid and was influenced by black Christmas. He talks about "santa" wanting to help kid out.
17. Pig: Director was influenced by disco, built set. Heavy accent made it a bit hard to understand
19: December 19th: Director notes a tradition of food parties and getting drunk. He talked about finding an ice rink and why its pivotal to the story. He noted the incest and lesbian theme. He notes how the cold affected the actresses. He cut part of the ending
20. Getting away from all: Exteriors shot before interiors. She listed her influences for certain shots. She listed the crew for their hard work. She noted the cabin is the home for the lead actor and marveled at the prop for the sawed off foot.
21. Family feast: director and writer commentary. They noted the symbolism. They shot the short at the writer's parents place. They shot certain shots at the directors place.
22. Before Sundown: Beginning scene was the hardest scene to shoot because of long shot. They shot all the way to sunset and last take was used in film. Second hardest scene was the bike home. Lights went off at one time and they got unexpected Christmas shots. Producer plays the role of monster and was the house was the directors parents house. Final blueprint finger shot was cut due to fears of getting cursed.
23. Cracker: Reveal of crackers was directors favourite shot. He wanted to play with expectations. He notes the fathers demanouer and notes the tradition of handing out Christmas crackers. He wants people to be tense during the pulling of the crackers. Head explosion was practical. One of the directors favourite shot was the reveal of the moon. He thanks the cast.
24. Operation Dolph: shot on the afternoon 12/18/18 in Joshua California. His son played the kid playing the switch. His other son plays the teen and his friend played the mom. He notes the most difficult shot is the house scene. All the effects were practical. Stuntman plays the guy with a machine gun and gets a fake head crushed. The shed was dressed up. Reindeer shot was added 3 weeks later.
25. They Used to Laugh and Call Him Names: Was shot in star's backyard during a polar vortex in Ohio. The star's grandmother is in a photo shown in the film. The son of the actor played the son of the dad (played by the lead star)
So that was an enjoyable disc filled with nice bonus features. And this is just the first disc!! My next posts will cover the remaining discs.
Great review!
ReplyDeleteThanks for making it!!
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