lemmy caution
Flesh Eater
Reged: 03/25/02
Posts: 1567
Loc: Neenah Wisconsin USA
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Down To Hell (1997)
Sorry about the delay. The next few weeks are going to be a little busy for me, but hopefully I will be able to continue these posts on time or only a day or two late.
For this week we have a 47 minute short film that the later zombie classic Versus was based upon, Down to Hell. Its to Versus as Within the Woods is to Evil Dead, that is a short film that was later expanded into a feature by its director.
The story begins when a Japanese youth group picks up a random person to help with their outdoor activities. They place him in the trunk, probably to give him extra security on their journey.
Upon arriving in the woods the rules of their game are explained to the young man. They are similar to The Most Dangerous Game in that they are identical. Basically they give him a head start, then split up and begin hunting him.
The young man begins the game, running through the woods in what looks like a state of panic. He meets a large group of other young men who played the same game, only now they are partially rotted corpses half buried in a shallow grave. This seems to agitate him even more.
He romps around with one of the men who happens to find him, only to fall down a hill, seemingly all set to join those in the shallow grave.
Now for whatever reason the forces of evil have reanimated his body and now he decides to explore a little role reversal with the youth group.
Despite the micro budget Down to Hell is fairly well done as student films go and it easily manages to hold the viewers attention for its short running time. Its nowhere on par with the later film, but it does shed some new light on what the director might have been thinking while making Versus.
This one is unfortunately a little hard to come by on DVD. Unless I am missing something, its only had an official release as a stand alone Japanese DVD and the German special edition tin for Versus. If anyone really wants to see it, you can definitely find it if you start searching online.
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MEMBERS FOR THE ROMERO REPEAT KILL CORPS WANTED!
Men, Pick Up Weapons!
Kill Your Daughters Yourselves!
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Dr Peligro
Voodoo Master
Reged: 05/25/00
Posts: 7645
Loc: Québec City
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Pretty good no-budget short. Don't go in expecting something anywhere near as good as Versus, obviously  , and you should have a fun time.
And yeah, there are torrents of it around. I guess it's not much of a sin to see it that way, given the total absence of a North American release.
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We're all champs when we're drunk.
-Paul Kemp
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