Gallowwalkers (2012)

This review is sponsored by

BUY IT

General		Extras
Category	Action / Horror	Trailer-x 6 for other Eagle releases
Rating
Year Of Production	2012
Running Time	88:30
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Ads Then Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Andrew Goth
Studio Distributor	Eagle Entertainment	Starring	Wesley Snipes Kevin Howarth Riley Smith Tanit Phoenix Simona Brhlikova Jenny Gago
Case	Amaray-Transparent
RPI	?	Music	Andrew Glen Stephen Warbeck

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English dts 5.1 (768Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

     Gallowwalkers is a western and a zombie movie all in one and is a clear case of style over substance. And plot as well, for it is over 30 minutes into the film before we get any information at all as to what is going on and it is almost the end before we get the rest. For what it is worth, years ago the love of Aman’s (Wesley Snipes) life was raped by five men led by Kansa (Kevin Howarth). Aman vowed revenge, and set out to track the men down, finally finding them in an isolated prison. Breaking in Aman kills the men, but is shot in the process, escaping to die in the desert. Aman’s mother makes a pact with the devil: Aman is resurrected, but the trade-off is that all he has killed are also brought back to life, to become the living dead - Gallowwalkers. Now Aman, with the help of Fabulos (Riley Smith), must find a way to kill them again in a way that they will stay dead. Meanwhile Kansa is unsure why his son Troy is the only one who has not been resurrected, and carries his desiccated body around with him seeking the entrance to the gates of the dead where he will perform a ritual to bring Troy back to life.

     Gallowwalkers has received some indifferent reviews, but it is a lot of fun: it is stylist, gory, colourful, loud and action packed with spectacular scenery. The film is very derivative, but if you are going to steal you may as well steal from the best, and Gallowwalkers steals a treat from Sergio Leone. So right from the opening we get wide shots of barren, desert landscapes juxtaposed with extreme close ups of faces, and as a man stands in the middle of railway tracks awaiting the arrival of (in this case) a pushcart, there is no music and only the natural sounds of carrion birds in the distance. Director Andrew Goth, in only his third film in fourteen years, does not have the courage to hold the shots for as long as Leone in, say, Once Upon a Time in the West, but he certainly gives it a good shot. The music throughout the film does have traces of Morricone trumpets, although it does also add some nice themes of its own using Indian pipes, and the final shootout could have come straight out of For a Few Dollars More.

     That said, Wesley Snipes is no Clint Eastwood and Kevin Howarth does not convince as the main villain. Goth is no Leone either, but then again there are very few directors in that league but Goth does provide good looking tableaux and decent action sequences that are actually very gory as heads – attached to spines – are ripped from bodies amid copious sprays of vivid red blood. Forget the plot and the acting; just enjoy the style and the visuals. Think of Gallowwalkers as a spaghetti western with zombies and you will have a lot of fun.

Video

     First the bad news: Gallowwalkers is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, cropped from the 2.35:1, the original ratio. It is 16x9 enhanced.

     I am sorry to say that this is criminal. The film, shot in Namibia, incorporates the widescreen photography of Henner Hofmann to depict the wide open desert landscapes, often with a lone horseman silhouetted in the distance which the cropping from 2.35:1 to 1.78:1 butchers. There are often faces half out of frame, or conversations between characters in which one participant is unseen, or partially seen. Sigh.

     That aside, the print is sharp and crisp, with deep natural colours except in the flashback sequences which are more washed out and hazy. Indeed, the red blood is bright and vibrant, the yellows and browns of the desert beautiful. Skin tones are natural, brightness and contrasts consistent.

     There was occasional motion blur with movement against the desert rocks but no marks. There is also a fair amount of digital noise reduction is some darker scenes, where detail could be indistinct – see 34:59 for one example.

     There are no subtitles.

     The layer change at 42:44 was slightly after a scene change and created a slight pause.

     A good print with exceptional colours, spoiled by the incorrect aspect ratio. In accordance with site policy, the video has been deducted one star.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     Audio is a choice of English Dolby Digital 5.1 at 448 Kbps or English dts 5.1 at 754 Kbps. I listened to the dts and sampled the Dolby Digital but could not hear a lot of difference.

     Dialogue was clear and centred, and in fact this was predominately a front oriented audio track, although there was some use in the rears of music, horses hooves, gunshots and weather effects. I did not notice any panning effects. The sub-woofer added bass to the thunder, rock falls, music and horses’ hooves.

     The original music by Andrew Glen and Stephen Warbeck referenced Ennio Morricone in places but added some nice themes of its own to provide good support to the visuals.

     There were some lip synchronisation issues, especially from Jenny Gago, but nothing distracting.

     This is a good audio track although nothing special.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Trailers

     On start-up there were trailers for Chicks Dig Gay Guys (2:20), Poseidon Rex (1:35), The Colony (2:18), Eve of Destruction (1:40), Outpost III – Rise of the Spetsnaz (1:40) and The Machine (1:36). These trailers can also be selected from the main menu.

     The Region 1 US release of Gallowwalkers is in the correct aspect ratio of 2.35:1 and includes a short (10 minute) behind the scenes interviews. There is not currently a Region 2 UK release. The aspect ratio alone makes the US version the best option.

     Think of Gallowwalkers as a spaghetti western with zombies. Gallowwalkers has received some indifferent reviews but it is stylist, gory, colourful, loud and action packed with spectacular scenery. The film is very derivative, but if you are going to steal you may as well steal from the best. However, the Australian release is in a cropped aspect ratio, which is criminal given the widescreen photography of the wide open desert landscapes.

     The audio is fine, trailers for other films are the only extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall