Antisocial (2013)

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General		Extras
Category	Horror	Audio Commentary-Director & DP Featurette-Behind The Scenes Theatrical Trailer Trailer-x 4 for other films
Rating
Year Of Production	2013
Running Time	85:40 (Case: 92)
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	Cody Calahan
Studio Distributor	Gryphon Entertainment	Starring	Michelle Mylett Cody Ray Thompson Adam Christie Romaine Waite Ana Alic Ry Barrett
Case	Amaray-Opaque
RPI	?	Music	Steph Copeland

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.85:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

     During the opening credits of Antisocial two teenage girls in a room are blogging, showing off their day’s clothes purchases. Without warning, and still on the live blog, one girl violently batters her friend to death.

     After the credits we meet Sam (Michelle Mylett). She is not having a good day: her boyfriend has broken it off with her, making the announcement on the networking site The Social Redroom so Sam is about the last to find out. It is New Year’s Eve, and Sam has been invited to a party at the house of her friend Mark (Cody Ray Thompson) so she reluctantly drops in; others already there include Jed (Adam Christie), Steve (Romaine Waite) and his girlfriend Kaitlin (Ana Alic). But before the party can even start the group sees on the news that a plague like virus has broken out in their town and across the country; the first signs that people have been infected is that they start bleeding from the nose and ears, then suffer hallucinations before turning violent and attacking others. People are urged to stay indoors and lock their doors. Before long the group in house come under attack but when it seems that the virus is being transmitted via the internet, and in fact germinated in The Social Redroom site, it becomes apparent that locked doors are not going to guarantee anyone’s safety.

     Antisocial is directed and co-written by Cody Calahan, his cowriter being Chad Archibald who was the writer / director of the interesting psychological / horror film Neverlost (2010) which I enjoyed and reviewed on this site last year. Antisocial is another interesting entry into the low budget horror genre of a small group of people trapped inside a house by, say, zombies or other creatures outside;. The film offers little that is new except for the idea that the virus is being transmitted to social network site users via the internet. However, the film mostly works and holds our interest as it speeds along: the plotting is simple, the small cast passable, there is one principle location and there is a fair amount of gore and blood that is, however, not overdone although parts of the film are quite brutal, but not without humour: watch out for one unusual use of a laptop! The film also does not quite go in the end where one might have expected.

     Antisocial takes warnings about the dangers of using social media to a whole new level! Overall it is a tense horror film that is tightly scripted and well executed, delivering a number of scares along the way and an interesting ending.

Video

     The DVD cover states that the film is in a ratio of 2.35:1 but Antisocial is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1. The IMDb does not give the original aspect ratio, but the presentation on this DVD does not look cropped so I think that 1.85:1 is the original ratio. It is 16x9 enhanced.

     The film was shot using the Red Epic digital camera and all but a couple of scenes take place at night. It is reasonably sharp and while there was some evidence of noise reduction it was generally not excessive and blacks and shadow detail were good. The colour palate is muted, with nothing vibrant, and the colours have that digital glossy look, while lights do look yellowy. Skin tones are light and sometimes lips looked purple. Brightness and contrast were consistent.

     There was some slight motion blur but no marks. Some footage, that shown on video screens, was deliberately interlaced and without colour.

     The layer change at 52:17 was in the middle of a scene and created a slight pause.

     There are no subtitles.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

     Audio choices are an English Digital 5.1 track at 448 Kbps, English Dolby Digital 2.0 at 192 Kbps and a Commentary track. I listened to the 5.1.

     This is an effective audio track. Dialogue was mostly clear although there were times when it was delivered softly and was hard to hear, although I doubt anything important was missed. This audio track is very front oriented with dialogue and music, which means that when there are effects in the rears, such as gunshots, bangs or thuds as those outside tried to get into the house, they were noticeable and very effective.

     The original music by Steph Copeland was primarily synthesizer with some orchestral cues towards the end. It sometimes called attention to itself, but generally worked OK.

     I did not notice any lip synchronisation issues.

     The audio did what was required.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Commentary

     Cody Calahan (director / co-writer / co-editor) and Jeff Maher (DP) sit together and discuss the film. The commentary is scene specific. They talk continuously about technical issues such as lighting, the location, some of the challenges and point out things they do not like, although they do not offer any insight into plot points. It is reasonably informative, but they are not very animated and the score and film dialogue is so loud in the mix it is sometimes hard to hear what they are saying; Calahan in particular can be indistinct.

Behind the Scenes (16:04)

     Pretty much EPK with some on-set footage and interviews with Cody Calahan (director / co-writer / co-editor), Jeff Maher (DP), Jason Brown (production designer), Christopher Giroux ( associate producer), Chad Archibald (co-writer / co-editor) and cast Ry Barrett, Cody Ray Thompson, Michelle Mylett, Adam Christie, Romaine Waite and Ana Alic. Topics include their character, working with the director, favourite scenes, the location and social media. Nothing essential.

Trailer (1:34)

     Film trailer.

Trailers

     Trailers for other Monster releases: All Superheroes Must Die, Fallow Field, Muirhouse and Midnight Son.

     As far as I can tell the releases of Antisocial in other regions are similar to ours.

     Antisocial is another interesting entry into the low budget horror genre; it is nothing particularly new but it is a tense horror film that is well executed, delivers good tension and does not quite go in the end where one might have expected. It is certainly a film that those interested in the genre should enjoy.

     The video and audio are reasonable and the DVD comes with extras including a commentary and making of.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall