Country: USA
Genre: Action / Crime / Thriller
Direction: Paul Etheredge
Cast: Zoe Bell, Lucy Lawless, Doug Jones
In the tradition of Grindhouse, Kill Bill and Sin City, award winning comic book writer Ed Brubaker (Incognito, The Death of Captain America, Daredevil) teams up with stuntwoman - turned cult star Zoë Bell (Death Proof, Lost) to deliver a stark, stylish pulp thriller about a very bad girl gone "good." Eve (Bell) is a sexy assassin who kills without remorse - until one botched hit changes everything. Caught off guard, Eve is stabbed in the head and inadvertently murders a young girl. The blade is removed, but the damage is done: Eve's mind is now filled with visions of past victims. The hunter becomes the haunted and this killing machine is plagued with remorse. Unable to "work," this mob asset has become a liability. Eve's only chance to survive is to track down her ruthless bosses before their new hitman finds her.
Download Angel of Death (2009)
Movie Review:
Written by comic book crime noir super-genius Ed Brubaker (Criminal), and directed by Paul Etheredge, it stars Zoe Bell as Eve, a sexy assassin for hire. The job is botched. She gets stabbed in the head with a military style knife, and in turn, out of sorts, kills a child. From there everything in her life changes.
The blade is pulled out. She survives But now she’s seeing nightmares of past victims, and the child she killed. She now turns to what can only be described as vengeance. She goes after the “bad guys” without remorse, even though she has it now. Of course the mob can’t let themselves be taken out so they go after Eve. The hunter becomes the hunted in more ways than one.
There’s cameos galore in this noir tale with a mix between the 1940s style and 70s, and yes it works fantastically to say the least. Think of Road To Perdition mixed with a 1970s vibe and you got it. Lucy Lawless plays a semi-crazy next door neighbor, former “dancer”, Doug Jones a heroine addicted mob doctor, and there’s even an appearance by Ted Raimi who’s head explodes like a watermelon.
From day one I was in love with the idea of this crime serial. From production right down to how it was presented online. Often you’ll near me talking about it on Twitter with other fans or the people at Crackle. As the extras say on the DVD, it’s really the beginning of what entertainment will eventually turn into. And as I’ve said in the past it’s about damn time. But what separates this from the herd is the fact it wasn’t treated like a b-movie serial. It was never an afterthought. Even thought it was a low budget production it was made with a big budget mentality, without all of the baggage that comes with it.
The one thing I was worried about with the DVD, and it wasn’t a real worry per se but more so curiosity, is how the 10 episodes were going to be edited together. Part of what I loved about the web serial are the introductions and the great design, and thought that went into it. Some of the scenes were filmed twice just for this purpose and what we get is a seamless movie. The only way you’ll be able to tell the difference is if you actually went back and compared the two.
The extras on this DVD are packed with commentary, the making of featurette that we saw some of online, and even a talk with writer Ed Brubaker. Zoe Bell is of course at the forefront of most of the extras and it’s nice to see the creative side of her, rather than just punching and action. We get to see the casting feature, as well as Zoe’s screen test footage, and some of the little shorts made to market the film…Eve’s tips for killing.
All quality extras. But I have one gripe. I would have loved to see, on this UNRATED AND UNEDITED DVD, the original 10 episodes as they were presented online. If we’re going to be at the forefront of this kind of entertainment I really think that the original production should be persevered. A minor gripe I have with this but for me it’s a big one and I hope that Crackle, Sony, and other companies think of this in the future. Personally I’m a big fan of the behind the scenes features for movies, how they’re made, and just the entire process. I’m the same kind of guy that likes the extra concept sketches in the back of comic books. So that was a little bit of a let down.
Hands down my favorite part of this whole thing was the Making of Angel of Death featurette. I have a high respect for Paul Etheredge and John Norris in their way of thinking, and how they go about production. It goes beyond the source material into the realm of art and just all around respect. With these two guys at the helm I can only say if this is the future of entertainment, and I think it is, then we’ve got very little to worry about.
The DVD design, as well as the promotional design in general, is very well done. As a designer myself I have to say that this is one of the better DVDs that I own in terms of the packaging. It never goes overboard. There’s a simplicity with intended impact be it images or color. It’s that 40s mixed with 70s kind of feel and everything right down to the font choices makes sense. With the introduction of the Blu-Ray format I’ve noticed a very severe decline in thought behind the package designs. This one does not disappoint.
Angel of Death is for the permanent collection that any fan of hardboiled noir and crime should own. Sure it started on the internet but that doesn’t mean it’s below par. In this case it sets the standard. I can’t recommend it enough.
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