Review of Dead Space: Downfall (2008) by Edward B — 07 Feb 2009

A prequel to the incredible action horror video game. If you haven't played it yet, and are a fan of survival horror or shooters, you're missing out on one of the best games to hit all platforms in the last several years.

This useless movie does nothing for fans of that game or anyone new to the Dead Space universe. The animation is lousy. The story exists only so that heaping amounts of blood and gore can be sprayed across the screen. You actually learn more about what happened on the Ishimura from the game. You see the artifact being extracted and how the alien species gets on board the ship. But without having played the game, you won't understand why the relic was brought on board, or its religious significance to the unitologists (a religion that the film assumes you're familiar with). There are some allusions to the game, but even as a fan of the game, they didn't make me at all giddy.

The focus is on a security team sent to investigate why so many colonists are being killed, and the result is what Aliens would have been if it sucked.