Death Trance (2005) |
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Death Trance (2005) |
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| General | Extras | ||
| Category | Adventure |
Featurette-Making Of Interviews-Cast-Tak Sakaguchi Theatrical Trailer Gallery-Photo Trailer-Madman trailers x 3 |
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| Rating |
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| Year Of Production | 2005 | ||
| Running Time | 89:12 (Case: 91) | ||
| RSDL / Flipper | Dual Layered | Cast & Crew | |
| Start Up | Menu | ||
| Region Coding | 4 | Directed By | Yűji Shimomura |
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Studio
Distributor |
 Madman Entertainment |
Starring |
Tak Sakaguchi Honaka Asada Kentaro Seagal Takamasa Suga Yoko Fujita |
| Case | Amaray-Transparent | ||
| RPI | $29.95 | Music |
Dir en Grey Rui Ogawa |
| Video | Audio | ||
| Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None |
Japanese Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) |
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| Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 1.85:1 | ||
| 16x9 Enhancement |
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| Video Format | 576i (PAL) | ||
| Original Aspect Ratio | 1.85:1 | Miscellaneous | |
| Jacket Pictures | No | ||
| Subtitles | English | Smoking | No |
| Annoying Product Placement | No | ||
| Action In or After Credits | No | ||
A man (Tak Sakaguchi) (none of the characters are named in the film, only in the credits) breaks into a temple, kills the monks and steals a coffin, the contents of which are said to be able to grant wishes. Now he travels across the countryside accompanied by a young girl (Honoka Asada) pulling the unopened coffin, fighting off bandits, ninjas, vampires and zombies on the way. Also after the coffin is another man (Kentaro Seagal), who has a wish he wants granted, and a woman (Yuki Takeuchi) who knows more than she reveals. The temple has also sent a novice monk (Takamasa Suga) after the coffin man, because, in reality, if the coffin is opened the Goddess of Destruction (Yoko Fujita) will be unleashed upon the world. The lives of the characters intersect as the coffin is pulled towards the western forest where the coffin is to be opened and the destiny of the world decided.
Death Trance has no back story and the film immediately propels us into a twilight world of action. Indeed, the film is set in a time indeterminable: the costumes are samurai-ish, and there are swords but these are combined with guns, a bazooka and a motor cycle, plus zombies, vampires and an enchanted forest. None of it makes any sense, but then again it is not supposed to. Instead director Yuji Shimomura and star Tak Sakaguchi have opted for style and cool over substance. The colours are vibrant and garish, with red, blue, silver, green and brown colour grading used at various times to enhance the scenes. The action is frenetic and frequent, utilising both wire work and proper kung fu kicks, spins and punches in long takes. The result is, at least until the climactic battle against the Goddess of Destruction, that the fights actually have a real, old fashioned, feel that is great to watch. Tak Sakaguchi is charismatic (and very cool); the pick of the rest being Yuki Takeuchi as the woman. All this is augmented by a pulsating soundtrack that switches effortlessly from traditional sounding Japanese flutes and drums to heavy metal. The film also has a wry sense of humour and never for a moment takes any of the insanity seriously!
The end result is that Death Trance is full on, demented, frantic, great fun – and in the end it sort of makes sense. The film looks and sounds great, never takes itself seriously, has a charismatic star, robust action sequences and a throbbing heavy metal soundtrack. Death Trance is hugely entertaining and very, very “cool”.
Death Trance is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1, which I think is the original ratio, and is 16x9 enhanced.
This print looks wonderful. It is as sharp as one would wish, with excellent detail apparent. Colours cannot really be judged on normal criteria: in some sequences they are natural, in others deliberately garish and vibrant, other sequences are colour graded with red, blue, silver, green and brown used at various times. Yet, for all the vibrant colours I noticed no instance of colour bleed. Skin tones are excellent (I’ll not say “natural” as, for example, the bandits are very white), contrast and brightness consistent. Blacks are fantastic (in the climactic battle they are absolutely solid) and shadow detail excellent.
Other then a slight shimmer on the sand during motion (starting 80:32) I noticed no film or film to video artefacts. Grain is natural.
Lip synchronisation is fine in the Japanese dub (even when Kentaro Seagal is speaking). The synchronisation of the English language dub is as poor as one would expect.
The English subtitles are in a yellow font in American English. I did not notice any spelling or grammatical errors, but there was an authoring issue. On numerous occasions when the subtitle was meant to be in italics (such as a voice off screen) the subtitle has the coding displayed at start and end.
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Audio is either Japanese or English Dolby Digital 5.1 at 448 Kbps. They both rock but the English voice acting is flat and poor and really should be avoided.
This is a very aggressive sound mix. Dialogue is clean and centred and right from the start the surrounds are used for effects such as punches and music giving a good enveloping feel. The score by Rui Ogawa (his first film score) plus four heavy metal songs, including “Deity”, from Dir en Grey are ever present and well represented in the mix, never drowning out the effects. The sub woofer was always noticeable, but really burst into loud and vibrant life when the Goddess of Destruction is unleashed. A very nice audio mix indeed.
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| Overall | |
Not really a “making of”, this is more an extended film trailer with a small amount of behind the scenes action set ups and a few sound bites from actors Tak Sakaguchi, Takamasa Suga and directorYuji Shimomura. Very superficial.
Made during the filming of Death Trance, the actor answers questions posed by an unseen interviewer about his character, working with the director, his style and working as action director. Interspersed with some film clips, behind the scenes footage and stunt practice footage.
38 film stills. Silent, use the remote to advance.
Trailers for other films from Madman: The Myth (2:22), Aragami (0:52) and Rashomon (3:27).
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
The Region 1 UK release has the same “Making of”, the interview and trailer but misses out on the stills gallery. The Region 2 Japanese release includes an audio commentary, preview, costume design featurette, cast and crew profiles, the “Making of”, an action demo and promotional footage. However it has no English subtitles so Region 4 is the best available for English speakers.
Death Trance is full on, demented, frantic, great fun – and in the end it sort of makes sense. The film looks and sounds great, never takes itself seriously, has a charismatic star, robust action sequences and a throbbing heavy metal soundtrack. Death Trance is hugely entertaining and very, very “cool”.
The video and audio are excellent, the extras light-weight.
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| Review Equipment | |
| DVD | Sony BDP-S350, using HDMI output |
| Display | LG 42inch Hi-Def LCD. This display device has not been calibrated. This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 1080p. |
| Audio Decoder | NAD T737. This audio decoder/receiver has not been calibrated. |
| Amplification | NAD T737 |
| Speakers | Studio Acoustics 5.1 |