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State of Emergency (Blu-ray)
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray B - United Kingdom - Signature Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Samuel Scott (29th March 2014). |
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The Film
 ***This is a technical review only. For reviews on the movie from various critics, we recommend visiting HERE.*** Chaos consumes a small town when a chemical facility explodes releasing a deadly toxin. Moments after the leak, the town's residents show signs of mutation, causing the military to quarantine the area leaving any survivors helpless and trapped inside. The story follows Jim whose normal day turns into a walking nightmare as he fends for himself isolated within the red zone. Whilst he eludes flesh eating zombies he is discovered by and finds temporary solace with couple Scott and Julie and moody loner Alex. The group must now band together and defend themselves long enough, against those affected, in hopes of being rescued.
Video
Signature Entertainment have released low budget zombie horror "State of Emergency" onto Blu-ray for its worldwide debut, in the United Kingdom, at an aspect ratio of 1.78:1. The transfer is 1080p, and uses an AVC MPEG-4 encode. As far as low budget horror movies go, it looks fairly good. My main issue with "State of Emergency" is the colour scheme selected. There are heavy green and yellow tints used throughout the picture, which makes the film feel a little colourless. Whilst this is obviously the intention, and it has been well represented in this transfer, I just didn't feel it suited the tone of the feature. Because of these tints, many scenes look unnatural, particularly those that show the large rural landscapes and skylines. Blacks are deep but do exhibit some minor crush, though nothing too serious. Detail is average. Some facial close-ups look superb, as do some of the background objects in both indoor and outdoor environments, but often the detail feels a little lacking and subdued, such as in hair, or clothing. However, it should be noted that this lack of detail is contributed to by the colour scheme used. There's no aliasing, scratches, or other blemishes in the print - it's pretty clean. The feature runs 89:41.
Audio
There are two audio options available here: - English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 - English LPCM 2.0 Stereo For my viewing, I opted for the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track, which is in the film's original English language. When the film first starts, you get a reasonable taste of what you are in for. The surrounds and LFE get hit hard by the score, and the opening moments. There is a surprising amount of surround activity throughout the run time, especially for environmental noises such as birds chirping, or wind, but not always with the best clarity. On a couple of occasions, directionality of effects were incorrect, most notably in the warehouse, when a character walks towards the screen, yet the footsteps come from behind you. This inaccuracy isn't consistent, but is certainly noticeable when it happens. Although volume levels are consistent, the score was occasionally too loud in comparison with the dialogue. There are no signs of damage to the audio such as drop outs or scratches, and I noticed no signs of background hiss. No subtitles have been included.
Extras
None.
Overall
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