Product Description

On a deep space mining mission to a remote planet, an ancient religious relic - thought to be proof of the existence of God - is unearthed and brought aboard. When the unholy artifact unleashes a long-dormant alien race, its glimpse of Heaven transforms the ship into a living Hell. Prepare yourself for the disturbing opening chapters of the EA game that takes adult animation to graphic new levels of bloodshed and terror.
Includes portable digital copy

Special Features
Deleted Scenes, Movie trailer, Game trailer, Photo Gallery, Isolated Soundtrack, Cheat Codes.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11814 in DVD
• Released on: 2008-10-28
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Formats: Color, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 74 minutes

Amazon.com

Stills from Dead Space: Downfall (click for larger image)

Beyond Dead Space: Downfall

On DVD

Dead Space, the PS3 game

More from Anchor Bay - Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer

Customer Reviews

Okay horror, but not Dead Space
Downfall is supposed to be the prequel to the Dead Space video game that was released prior to the video. There was a series of preview comics that were downloadable off the XBox marketplace that, and I assumed that the movie was going to be a base for the movie. However, this was not the case.

Ther movie primarily follows the Chief of Security of the Ishimura, who tries to contain the outbreak of violence and the necromorphs on the mining ship. The sequence follows a predictable path of disbelief, followed by a dug-in resistance. Several scenes are badly handled. Namely, a officer sees his own wife decapitate herself, and reacts as if she dropped a carton of eggs on the carpet. The ending is very dark and in line with the games tone. That was probably the only scene that reminded me of the Dead Space game.

Downfall was written and produced by someone who was told the plot of the video game, and maybe saw it played, but had no opportunity to play it themselves, and also had only cliff notes on the backstory. None of the scenes from the movie that appeared in game are remotely similar, and were well done in the video game, so it was disappointing to see them mess with it. None of the weapons of equipment from the game even makes an appearance, though one that does show up prominently, I wish had been in the game.

If the movie had had another title, it would've crawled up to 3 stars, as I wasn't a fan of the srtwork, but the name Dead Space raised expectations, which weren't met on almost every front.

Where is the relation?
I was a huge fan of the Dead Space video game and thought the story line was drawn very well. The graphics were intense along with the creepy suspense that followed you throughout the entire game, which can be very difficult to do with a video game. The prequel on the other hand was a different story. ///SPOILER\\\............It explains that the whole crew is dead but I ALREADY KNEW THAT. It never went off any of the auido logs or the written logs, didn't explain anything and was very poorly drawn. The characters were unbelievable and where were the weapons that were used in the game. I was expecting the prequel also to give background on clarke's girl. That was a very interesting story and would have been great if they included it.///END SPOILER\\\

Summation: Get the game, not the movie.

Decent bridge between the DLC animated comics and the game.
For those of you who aren't aware, there's significant story arcs precluding the Dead Space game. They come in the form of animated comics released an "issue" at a time on both XBL and PSN. These are free downloads and even if you don't purchase Downfall, I strongly recommend downloading the comic series.

Downfall takes place in the space between the animated comics and the game. It's a decent story about how a seemingly routine "planet crack" goes awry when a "marker" is found on the planet being excavated. There's a nice story here but I don't think it's absolutely necessary to watch to fully enjoy the game. I feel that although the animation was well done and the gore was on par with the game, the story just wasn't creepy or deep enough to really make it a hit.

The creepiness in the animated comics was largely lost in the feature film. Don't get me wrong, it's no Disney movie, I just don't think it was quite on par with its predecessor. Unfortunately, it seemed like one of the major climax/action sequences exists only in the deleted scenes and even then it only exists as an animatic (meaning a series of uncolored rough sketches displayed in succession with audio tracks overlayed, for those unfamiliar with the term.)

Finally I wasn't really impressed with the quality of the blu-ray format. There's some extras in the BluRay live section that I imagine don't exist in DVD form, but I still don't think that the Blu-Ray version is worth the extra $5. The promised cheat codes exist as easter eggs within the movie. Not a big deal for me, but just wanted to give a heads up to those who expect a card with codes listed on it when they open their case.

Honestly, it's not a bad movie by any means. I just think they could've pushed the creepiness a little more as well as putting higher highs and lower lows in the story arc. If you're really psyched about the franchise it's worth getting (again, I'd grab the DVD version and save your five dollars.) If you're on the fence, you may want to rent or borrow it first. If you have no intention of playing the game and are just looking for a good horror anime, I would look elsewhere.