The Revenant opens with a young soldier, Bart Gregory (David Anders, Once Upon a Time), getting killed in the line of duty. One month later, shortly after being buried, he awakens as a mysterious vampire/zombie hybrid. It's not long before Bart realizes that, in order to stay alive, he must drink human blood. With the help of his old friend, Joey (Chris Wylde, Joe Dirt), Bart becomes a sort of nighttime vigilante, offing thugs and other bad guys in order to quench his undying thirst.
Despite being built around a few worn out genre cliches, The Revenant actually manages to offer quite a bit of slick originality and character. The film moves at a somewhat lax pace, allowing audiences to get to know our two leads, who often walk the line between being completely morally corrupt and often goofy and likable. And the picture injects just enough offbeat humor to keep things light and amusing, even when the film is treading dark territory. There's also a brooding undercurrent of tragic drama that perfectly complements the film's moody tone.
Much of this is thanks to writer/director Kerry Prior's sharp script which keeps you on your toes, dodging the more obvious story routes and rarely taking the easy way out. That said, the film does get a little too dark toward the finale. It also drags just a bit, especially after one particular twist involving Joey.
The film's principal leads (Anders and Wylde) also inject quite a bit of lively humor, emotion and realism into the characters. Their chemistry together drives the picture, often playing a lot like a warped variation of Bonnie & Clyde, by way of The Boondock Saints, An American Werewolf in London and Return of the Living Dead Part III (the one where the guy resurrects his dead girlfriend).
The film also adds a sly dash of social commentary, a bit of playfully nasty gore, plenty of brutal mayhem and surprisingly decent effects. While some might not have a taste for the twists and turns The Revenant makes, the ride is quite fascinating, fun, a little tragic and almost always refreshing.
The Revenant finally comes to DVD in the U.S. courtesy of Lionsgate Home Entertainment. The film is presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen, mixed in 5.1 Dolby Digital. Sadly, Lionsgate opted against a Blu-ray release.
To say that the transfer is awful really doesn't put into words how genuinely shoddy it is. Right off the bat the image shows signs of heavy ghosting on text, snow and noise during low light scenes and a genuinely distracting amount of artifacting. And it doesn't get better from there. Depth is virtually nonexistent, as are textures and details. And color is a mess of flat, ugly browns and muted yellows. In fact, the transfer is so bad that it very nearly ruins the impact of the whole movie! It almost looks like a bootleg.
I'd point the finger at the low-budget production, but The Revenant was shot on Red One cameras, a traditionally very reliable shooting medium. Unfortunately, despite a few other regions getting a Blu-ray, The Revenant isn't getting a U.S. Blu-ray release anytime soon. Perhaps the HD streaming release is the way to go with this one, because the DVD transfer is certainly not praise-worthy in the slightest.
Audio, thankfully, is quite a bit better. Surrounds are fairly aggressive, giving life to virtually every scene. Dialogue sounds good, with no crackles or distortions, though there is quite a bit of hiss at times and also some echo in certain scenes. Bass is also a little subdued, but does chime in to punctuate a few key moments. The transfer might be nearly unwatchable, but at least the film sounds decent.
Extras consist of two commentary tracks (one from director Kerry Prior, the other from the cast), a making-of featurette, deleted scenes, a photo gallery and trailers. The commentaries are quite fun and informative. If you like party tracks, stick with the cast track. But the more rounded of the two is easily the director track. The candid 13-minute featurette is also well made and interesting and the 13 minutes of deleted scenes are well worth watching.
The Verdict
The Revenant is a clever, refreshing and fun horror-comedy destined for cult status. If only the transfer weren't one of the worst of the year. Seek this one out, but try to track down a high-def copy.
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