Why So Blu?

Ejecta (Blu-ray Review)

From the writer of Pontypool and Septic Man comes Ejecta, the tale of William Cassidy, a man haunted by a lifetime of  alien encounters, searching for answers while evading  menacing  government agents. With an ingenious structure that stylishly interweaves William’s past and present, this sci-fi horror feature will makes its Blu-ray debut on August 18^th, 2015 from Scream Factory, in partnership with IFC Midnight. Directed by Chad Archibald and Matt Wiele, this nerve-shredding film stars Julian Richings in a tour-de-force performance and Lisa Houle and Dee Wallace.  Ejecta was produced by Jesse Thomas Cook, John Geddes and Matt Wiele through their genre production company Foresight Features.

Film 

A horrific alien invasion forces two men to fight for their lives during one universe-altering night of terror. William Cassidy, a man who, following decades of frightening extraterrestrial encounters, is now trapped in a living hell of fear and paranoia. On the evening of a massive solar flare, Cassidy invites paranormal researcher Joe Sullivan to his secluded home in the woods. What occurs there will change both men—and possibly the Earth—forever.

This “ingenious structure” ends up being the use of two different found footage aesthetics and traditional narrative filmmaking for another portion of the film.  I guess its the 80s kid in me, but the promotional photos, synopsis and box art had me excited for this one.  Then, a couple minutes in when it was quite evident this would be found footage, I felt a little bummed.  It wasn’t the end of the world, but it was just that “tired of this same routine” feeling.  It goes away after away, but the initial run in isn’t favorable.

I know this movie was likely very low budget (hence the found footage route).  It should be given credit that it does look very slick.  However there’s not a whole lot of “showing” in this movie and I felt it did its damndest not to show us anything.  They had creatures, gore and the like in effects, but the shots are always very vague and short up until the very end.  Its almost as if they weren’t confident with what they had.  But, you have to roll that dice and flaunt it unless you’re the next Steven Spielberg.

One thing I did love about this movie was its score.  Its got this neat little electronic theme song that was stuck in my head from the moment the menu started up all the way until the credits ended and the menu returned.  Throughout the film its got a neat little compliment in this score a and it really does elevate the film.

I found this film to be both entertaining and boring at the same time.  The stuff with the military felt very “also ran” as did a lot of the found footage interview stuff.  There’s a captive sequence that’s part of this and that one never leaves the room but always feels on the verge of something greater.  The final act of the film kicks into gear and does make it worthwhile to have stayed for the most part if you’ve stuck around to catch it.

Video 

Encoding: MPEG-4 AVC

Resolution: 1o80p

Aspect Ratio: 2.00:1

Clarity/Detail:  This modern film from Scream Factory looks pretty delicious on Blu-ray.  The image is sharp and crips.  Detial flies very high, even in some of the most dark and shadowy sequences.

Depth:  Everything is loose.  Movements come across very smooth.  Everything looks free and loose in their environments.

Black Levels:  Blacks are deep and rich.  No crushing witnessed and detail still stands through on black colored clothing and hair.

Color Reproduction:  This isn’t a palette extravaganza of color popping.  Most of this is blacks, greys and browns.  Green does stick out though through leaves or military uniforms/night vision.

Flesh Tones:  Skin tones look very natural and stay consistent throughout.  Detail such as sweat beads, wrinkles, scars and stubble all poke through here from just about any distance.

Noise/Artifacts: Clean

Audio 

Audio Format(s): English 5.1 DTS-HD MA

Subtitles: English

Dynamics:  This is a solid track that gets the job taken care of.  Its a lively track featuring some solid work in terms of action sounds and keeping with the found footage aesthetic in presentating genuine home video effects.  There is a nice even quality on the vocals, music and effects in this mix.

Low Frequency Extension: There are some nice jumps, hums and rumbles that benefit from the subwoofer.

Surround Sound Presentation:  Some good spooks come from the rear speakers, which are primarily regulated to creating a creepy atmosphere through ambiance.  The front speakers keep busy going left to right and back and forth.  Volume is also accurately portrayed here.

Dialogue Reproduction:  A hair low in the mix, but it is clean and crisp.

Extras 

The reverse side of the cover contains an additional image.

Theatrical Trailer (HD, 1:54)

Summary 

This is a bit of weird one.  At times I was interested in this and at times I was bored.  Its a low budget film that looks slick, but you can tell they’re doing their best to keep away from truly showing or doing anything.  This presentation is terrific, but when it comes to extras you’re pretty much empty handed.  This is definitely a film you should check out on IFC, streaming or rent before making a purchase.