Dead Space: Downfall: an ultra-gory animated intro to the game

As promised yesterday, we've got a pair of "Dead Space" reviews for Variety readers, starting with the animated direct-to-DVD movie "Dead Space: Downfall," from Anchor Bay. It's essentially an introductory story to the game, telling the tale of the Ishimura up to the moment Isaac Clarke arrives (for true "Dead Space" fanatics, it actually bridges the comic books and game).

I asked one of Variety's film critics, Peter Debruge, to review the movie. He's not a gamer, though he's also not averse to games. His take? It's an all-out gorefest that fans of horror movie and the game might enjoy, but there's not much for anyone else to latch onto:

From the technique side, "Downfall" ain't half bad as small-screen animation goes, with the Film Roman team applying a macho "Venture Bros." style to the futuristic material. That said, it's hard to imagine non-gamers finding much to enjoy in watching the systematic wipeout of the Ishimura crew, which ends precisely when the game starts. Instead of treating this depressing no-one-left-standing story with the heroic-sacrifice bombast of "300" or "The Alamo," director Chuck Patton seems to have made "Downfall" if only to highlight all the ghastly ways humans can die.

Then again, this is a videogame tie-in. And while it's disconcertingly gory, Peter also says it's a step above many of its competitors, even ones with much bigger budgets and a theatrical release:

There's something fundamentally upsetting about a toon that expects audiences to cheer each time one of its human characters meets a grisly fate, although you've got to hand it to the "Downfall" team for the sheer variety of nasty ends they imagine. Likewise, the team deserves credit for the level of detail they've spent defining this world, making for an infinitely more satisfying experience than such retro-fitted vidgame adaptations as "Alone in the Dark" or "Doom."

You can read the entire review right here. And my review of the videogame is here.