Doomsday (Blu-ray) (2008)

"...more blood-splatter than a dozen zombie movies...Doomsday's drunken mash-up of futuristic and feudal is surprisingly satisfying.  David Hiltbrand, Philadelphia Inquirer
"...those with a taste for revved-up, splattery fantasy thrills won't be complaining.  Dennis Harvey, Variety
"Marshall delivers what he promises and Mitri makes for a cool, kick-arse heroine in the Ellen Ripley mold.  Ken Fox, TV Guide
"...as a guilty pleasure, it's spectacularly entertaining...  Stina Chyn, Film Threat
"Marshall reveals himself to be a terrific showman of chaos and comic savagery. This is Baz Luhrmann's "Mad Max."  Wesley Morris, Boston Globe

Editor's Note Writer/director Neil Marshall earned the respect of horror devotees with his first two features, DOG SOLDIERS and THE DESCENT, refreshing and scary twists on the werewolf and expedition-gone-wrong genres. Where those works exemplified a respect for pure horror, devoid of the tension-spoiling comedy that infects most fright films, DOOMSDAY is Marshall's love letter to the post-apocalyptic action-exploitation films of the 1980s. Bubbling over with action, gore, and dark humor, his third film has all the bases covered for a fun, knowingly corny viewing experience. After a deadly plague results in the quarantine of the entire country of Scotland (in a scene reminiscent of I AM LEGEND), a wall is built around the country preventing anyone from going in or out. Thirty years later, the British government believes everyone within the wall to be dead, but when they find signs of life and learn of the possibility of a cure, a team of specially trained agents led by Eden Sinclair (Rhona Mitra) become the first outsiders to venture inside the country since the epidemic. They discover that there are plenty of survivors who have splintered into fierce, warlike tribes, living in a lawless society where cannibalism and murder are the order of the day. Astute viewers will have a blast playing "spot the influence," with loving, obvious nods to ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK, ALIENS, 28 DAYS LATER, and the MAD MAX films. At the film's halfway point, Marshall switches gears, transforming the film from a punk-informed futuristic action film into a medieval-style chase film, utilizing Scotland's castles and sumptuous green landscapes to the fullest. Mitra is an exciting physical presence as Eden, a female version of NEW YORK's Snake Plissken, and the great supporting cast includes Bob Hoskins and Malcolm McDowell.

	Rhona Mitra
	Alexander Siddig
	Sean Pertwee
	David O'Hara
	MyAnna Buring
	Malcolm McDowell
	Nora-Jane Noone
	Adrian Lester
	Bob Hoskins
	Neil Marshall - Screenwriter
	Jeff Abberley - Executive Producer
	Steven Paul - Producer
	Marc D. Evans - Executive Producer
	Sam McCurdy - Director of Photography
	Tyler Bates - Composer
	Benedict Carver - Producer
	Peter McAleese - Executive Producer
	Trevor Macy - Executive Producer
	Julia Blackman - Executive Producer
	Neil Marshall - Director

Total Film
3 stars out of 5 -- "In terms of scale this is unlike any British action film you've seen before....DOOMSDAY emerges kicking and screaming from its bloodlust." 06/01/2008 p.52

Sight and Sound
"Frequent, well-staged action scenes typically combine high-speed chases, shootouts, hand-to-hand combat, squishy gore effects and James Bond gadgetry..." 07/01/2008 p.54

ReelViews 6 of 10
Take Mad Max, add elements of Escape from New York and I am Legend, insert a kick-ass heroine to rival Sigourney Weaver or Linda Hamilton, and employ strobe-like editing for the action sequences, and you have a fair approximation of Doomsday. Derivate to a degree that's distracting, this movie gleefully pilfers from just about every apocalyptic motion picture made in the last 10-15 years. In fact, Doomsday tries to cram so much into its limited 105 minutes that aspects end up feeling rushed and confused (especially the political situation in England) and the ending is perfunctory. There's certainly enough material here to pursue in a sequel but it's hard to imagine anyone liking the film enough to demand a return installment...Doomsday typifies the kind of movie that gets dumped into theaters during the late winter - a regurgitated storyline, no big stars, and no real prospects at the box office. It's no better or worse than a half-dozen similar motion pictures to arrive in multiplexes this year. The niche it fills isn't a large one and the movie isn't sufficiently compelling to encourage those who are not fans of zombie-free apocalypse stories to see this one. In the end, Doomsday feels more like the outline of a computer game than a fully developed motion picture. - James Berardinelli

Reel.com 9 of 10
Doomsday is the kind of dazzling schlock fest that Shaun of the Dead turned out to be for the zombie genre a couple of years ago. It's an homage to the post-apocalyptic action movies of the 1980s, but it's executed with much more zest and vigor than the movies it copies from. Director Neil Marshall, who proved his knack for making terrific genre films in the past (Dog Soldiers, The Descent), embarks on an artistic tour-de-force and ignores the conventions of modern filmmaking. Doomsday is an anarchic trip down memory lane. It's trashy, violent, agile, and oh so refreshing...In Marshall's film, Great Britain once again is the setting for a deadly viral outbreak that claims the lives of thousands. In a brief recap, Escape from New York-style, a narrator explains that Scotland has been hermitically sealed off from the outside world in order to contain the virus...[Marshall] liberally borrows from John Carpenter, George Miller, and others, and creates a dystopian mix-tape that is refreshingly innovative and exhilarating. But don't let the bad rep deter you from seeing this old-fashioned, dirty, and well-choreographed splatter fest. It's a fun ride, worth the price, and will surely end up being a cult classic one day. - Rudy Joggerst