Death Do Us Part - Blu-ray

Movie: Despite being in the middle of wedding preparations, Kennedy (Julia Benson) allows herself to be talked into a joint bachelor party with her sister Hannah (Christine Chatelain), his best man Chet (Kyle Cassie), his cousin Derrick (Benjamin Ayres) and Kennedy's girlfriend Emily (Emilie Ullerup) by her future husband Ryan (Peter Benson). The party is to be held in the middle of nowhere, at a house on a lake. When they get there, after meeting the creepy caretaker Bo (Dave Collette) and discovering dozens of dead birds on the porch, the bride is sure she wants to get back home as soon as possible to continue taking care of her wedding. With much difficulty, Ryan manages to persuade her to stay. A fatal decision, as it soon turns out. Because when the power is suddenly gone during the exuberant celebration in the evening and then also Derrick disappears, pure horror breaks over the friends...

After numerous short films, Canadian filmmaker Nicholas Humphries tries with Death Do Us Part on his first feature film. The result is a very conventional horror film that adheres so strictly to genre-standard clichés, especially at the beginning, that it's almost unintentionally hilarious. Of course the friends have to hold their party in the middle of the wilderness, of course the caretaker is an extremely creepy contemporary and of course the protagonists ignore every sign of mysterious occurrences that would have made any rational thinking person immediately turn around. But in film, and especially in the horror genre, logical, comprehensible behavior just isn't always mandatory.

The tensions between the characters aren't exactly originally constructed either. There's a secret affair, large debts, a secret from the past, and obsession. It's not really new, which wouldn't be a bad thing if the execution worked. But Humphries fails to put his own spin on it or create a gripping atmosphere. And since he takes a long time before anything really close to exciting happens, cultivated boredom dominates the first 50 minutes.

When the obligatory masked killer shows up, however, the entertainment value increases significantly. Admittedly, there are hundreds of very similar films that have implemented this scenario better and more exciting. But overall, the production here is absolutely solid and satisfying for a low budget slasher. Finally, in the last act Humphries even tries to offer something like surprising twists. Sure, if you pay close attention you won't be very surprised by the identity of the killer. Nevertheless, the ending still leaves a very conciliatory impression.

First here, Humphries seems to have understood exactly what horror fans want to see. Had he presented what he offers in the final minutes a little earlier, more viewers would surely have looked favorably on many a weakness. As it is, Death Do Us Part is fine as a simple-minded low budget horror film, but nothing more. If you expect a lot of blood, naked skin and some good shock moments from a typical slasher, you will be disappointed here, unfortunately. But if you want to see solid B-movie horror fare without any big surprises with a successful finale, you can safely take a look here.

Picture + Sound: The Blu-ray's picture is very clean and also features good image sharpness in the bright scenes, where even smaller details are easily recognizable. In the numerous dark sequences, on the other hand, there are some visible drops in overall sharpness quality. The audio is only available in a German DTS-HD MA 5.1 track. Lovers of original versions are left empty-handed here. The German audio track is mixed quite powerfully, with dialogue clearly dominating the proceedings. Smaller ambient noises and sound effects do provide a bit of movement in the surrounds, however, as does the music. Not an audiovisual revelation, but perfectly adequate for a low budget production. Good!

Extras: The Blu-ray unfortunately has no bonus material to offer.

Conclusion: Death Do Us Part is a rather conventionally knitted low budget horror thriller that serves numerous clichés, especially at the beginning, and then at least tries to provide a few nice surprises towards the end. Even though the acting performances aren't exactly at award-worthy levels and the dialogue is occasionally very flat, the film works pretty well as what it wants to be, all things considered. The Blu-ray presents the film in decent picture and sound quality, but does without the original English audio. And there's no bonus material either. This is not enough for a purchase recommendation, but who appreciates solid horror fare according to a known scheme, can definitely risk a look here

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp