"Death on Demand" DVD Review -- Written by Anthony Thurber

Death on Demand
Year: 2008
Director: Adam Matalon
Stars: Elizabeth Jamison, Jerry Broome, Krista Grotte
MPAA Rating: R
Studio: MTI Home Video / Evil Twins
Running Time: 90 Mins
Review Rating: 4 Stars

(Please note: This is an advance review).

Death on Demand is about an ice climber that goes insane, then kills his entire family prior to Thanksgiving Day. Twenty years later, a wealthy college student decides to organize a Halloween night event where three couples have to spend the night at the killer’s house while thousands of college students watch their every move. Soon, the couples move into the abandon house of the killer, but his spirit has come back to the house to exact more brutal killings. Now the couples must find a way to outwit this murderous maniac, before he brutally murders them all.

Death on Demand is a fun and gory horror film. Director Adam Matalon does a good job at making this very fun to watch. One of the main reasons why this film was fun were the way he directed some of the scenes. I liked how Matalon directed some of the scenes that gave it more of a voyeuristic view. It was like watching an episode of Big Brother where the hidden cameras cut to different parts of the house, as it gave more of a reality TV feel. The acting was good, as the actors did their best in parodying some of the most cliché reality personalities that is seen in the land of reality TV.

The screenplay written by Matalon, Kevin Burke and Brian O’ Hara was good. I thought that was a very fun screenplay. The screenwriters made this film interesting by adding elements of reality TV. They do that by creating characters that you would see on a reality show, such as the annoying bitch, the sweet innocent girl, the B-list celebrity, the macho guy, and the annoying host. Those are usually a recipe for disaster, but were perfect here, since part of the film’s story deals with reality TV. The writers also manage to put together some scares and a little humor to make this film fun. The other reason this film was fun was the fact that the film kept going back to the audience in the college dorm during some the voyeuristic scenes. It made it fun as you got some funny reactions from the college kids even though this psycho is terrorizing the couples. It also helped examine the current reality TV crazy and why young people are hooked on to this programming.

The film is up with Gutterballs as one of the year’s goriest horror films that I’ve seen. Death on Demand is one bloody reality TV show that will demand your attention.

Death on Demand hits stores this Tuesday from MTI Home Video.

DVD Extras:

Filmmaker’s commentary
Outtakes
Trailers