I was sent a screener of Death Do Us Apart last night and it came at just the right time; since I was having a bad day and was in need of some cheering up. To me, the film looked like The Hangover meets Zombie Strippers with a dashing of Kill Bill thrown in for good measure. I anticipated a pleasant viewing and here’s my review having watched it in full.
Death Do Us Apart is the directorial debut of Shaub Abdul Miah based on the screenplay by Trevor Botorek and Michael William Smith. Cast members include Joseph Gale, Josh Myers, Sagar Radia, Wayne Gordon (“Gladiators”), Andy Mcleod, David Roden, Simon Warner and Lucinda Rhodes (The Final Haunting) as Leah. The film follows, “a right of passage for a young man named Jake who has never been out on the town and his friends decide to take him on a trip of a lifetime.”
Death Do Us Apart has some technical issues, but overall it’s a pretty solid directorial debut. My main issue is with the audio, which is kind of rough in the beginning. The stunt choreography is lacking in force and realism. And the editing has some tiny errors, too. Other then that, I don’t think I can criticize this movie from as a production because the rest is great; including fantastic actors, a fun story and – my favorite aspect – awesome special effects. At first I wasn’t a fan of the lighting and widescreen framing of this title, but eventually I grew to enjoy it as an old, grindhouse style of filmmaking. The plot may have been attempted before by a number of other director’s, but since this is a short film, it’s more compressed and concise and keeps you interested the whole way through.
Who do I think will best appreciate Death Do us Apart? Obviously fans of zombies and fans of strippers (which should be a requirement of everyone!) will get it and leave a screening with a positive opinion. I think the age demographic for this movie will definitely fall in the range of 16 to 28, but it will appeal to men more than women due to the story content. Finally, I think people who enjoy horror-comedies will be pleased with this one, too. Since I fit into all of these categories, it’s a positive review from me!
Final Score: 7 out of 10
