Deathlands - Ritorno verso casa

I was not expecting much from Deathlands, but got better than anticipated even if the end result was still very flawed. It does get some plaudits for the acting being better than average, Vincent Spano has never been a big favourite but still does a decent job in the lead, the female lead is also more than a pretty face at least, while Cliff Saunders does what he can with some of the weakest material. As well as some slick editing and authentic scenery. On the other hand the colour filtering is very distracting, so much so at first I wasn't sure whether it was the film or whether my television had broken. The dialogue is really tepid, I am sure they are in the books too(I haven't read them though) but this could have been an opportunity to improve on that and they missed it. The music is generic with nothing memorable sticking out, and the action is unexciting with the last one in particular having none of the relentless adrenaline-rushing thrills you'd expect. What's just as bad is that I just wasn't convinced by the story or any of the characters. The story despite a reasonably intriguing idea was dull and seemed structurally thin, with no sense of suspense or genuine surprise, while the characters are clichéd and just never seem to come to life, you don't learn much about them and in the end you don't care about them or their motivations. Overall, Deathlands is not a terrible movie, I've seen much worse, but it could have been far better as well. 4/10 Bethany Cox

It's always a gamble when a book is adapted to screen. It's more of a gamble when a popular book is adapted to screen.

However, when you take a book that's got "CULT" written all over it, that's where your real problems begin.

I've only read a few of James Axler's "DEATHLANDS" books, but enough to know they definitely took some liberties. A major character from the group was completely omitted (Doc Tanner), and a good deal of the backstory was changed, but not really enough to ruin the movie for me. Oscar-worthy, it ain't, but it's nowhere nearly as bad as a lot of people are making it out to be.

What puzzles me is people who claim to read the series are complaining about the rather tepid dialogue. Well, what books HAVE you been reading?! The dialogue in the "DEATHLANDS" series is about as sophomoric as any adventure series (barring "THE DESTROYER" and DL's "sister" series, "OUTLANDERS"). The terms "fireblast", "nukesh*tting", just to cite a couple of examples, pepper the prose throughout these books. Not exactly Henry James.

But, I digress...

Vincent Spano, never one of my favourite actors, actually did a passable turn as Ryan Cawdor, 'though I would've preferred him to be more like the introspective "Snake Plissken" clone the character was created to resemble. Jenya Lano was admirably cast as Krysty Wroth, even if the on screen version was a bit too timid. Cliff Saunders, physically a bit too Phil Collins-esquire to accurately portray the gaunt Armourer, JB Dix, did a good turn, though a bit more talkative than his literary counterpart. A lot of other complaints were that the characters were too "goody-goody". Well, that's as may be, but it's also one of the primary reasons why the "DEATHLANDS" series has a C U L T following instead of mainstream. If these characters were constantly as ruthless on screen as they are in the books, the creators of the movie / proposed TV series would be hard-pressed to get as large a viewership as they'd be aiming to attract.

The villains (and some of the protagonists) were over-the-top, but no more so than in any of the books I've read thus far. While some of these people gave shuddering performances, it strikes me as pretty much spot-on in comparison to the the four books in the series I've read thus far. The violence was toned down SEVERELY, as was the obligatory sex scene between Ryan & Krysty, but, as it's a made-for-cable movie, it's about what I expected, and actually, some of the more graphic scenes they left in really surprised me.

The cinematography was visually startling and very effective, giving the edginess to the Deathlands that the books convey. It's unfortunate that their budget was only around $2 million, but given that's all they had to work with, they have my kudos in spades for even getting it made, let alone seen by anyone.

"HOMEWARD BOUND", the 5th book in the "DEATHLANDS" series, was the director's personal choice from what I read. It was a nice idea, but I think it might've been a bit too ambitious for a debut movie. As far as post-apocalyptic scenarios, the first book in the series, "Pilgimage to Hell", prob'ly would've made a much better choice. The readers are still introduced to the characters one at a time, but there's still some mystery to them, whereas "HOMEWARD BOUND" tries to explain way too much at one time. Had this gone to series, "HB" would've been more apropos as the first season's cliffhanger / second season's opener.

All-in-all, however, it's somewhat heartening to see that the writers and director actually drew from the source material instead of merely paying lip service to it. It gives me hope that they may one day re-do a DL movie, or move on to "OUTLANDERS" with better results.

Yes, this movie could've been a lot better, but it also could've been a lot WORSE.

When I heard that there was a movie based on one of my favourite book series, I had to see it. Sadly I have to say I needn't have bothered.

I understand that in the land of low budget films, changes have to be made to stay under the salary cap. A few tweaks to certain events or the storyline which are relatively subtle are fine. But when a story is already set out, like that of Deathlands: Homeward Bound, these changes just lead to disappointment. Where was Doc, and that girl Lori Quint who was with them in the novel? Could they not afford to pay the actors? They didn't even mention the MAT-TRANS systems from the novels, but I won't dwindle on that. It's better unmentioned then completely changed, like Jak for instance. What was going through the screenplay writers head when he turned the albino youth into a raging mutant.

I thought the acting was quite good, not how I imagined but that's understandable. Except for J.B, but that's probably because his character is so different to that of the novels.

The sets were impressive and I was delighted to finally see a "wag" portrayed outside of literature.

The soundtrack was great, fit the theme perfectly. The camera work however didn't live up to that standard, the angles and movements just didn't seem lively enough. Some of the effects were completely unnecessary, such as the chemical haze, which I don't believe was in the books at all, it just gave the film a dull and dreary feel. I actually enjoyed the intro more than any other part of this film.

All in all it was mildly entertaining. It has that never meet your heroes mentality about it, although I remain hopeful that one day, a fully fledged well budgeted series based on Deathlands is made. I give it four out of ten.

Well, I've never read the book or anything, but it's probably a given that it's better than this clunker of a movie adaptation. The film suffers badly from a low budget and just silly villains. Let me get this straight: 100 years after a nuclear war, and these uneducated, primitive survivalists will let two nutcases "rule" them like a king and queen, when any one of them could shoot the "rulers" in the head if they so chooses to? Yeah, right.

Some groovy editing work can't save it. This is just a poor movie, and should never have been made. Really, really bad.

I watched and taped this movie because i thought it would be great to spend "time" with Ryan and the others. Unfortunately, the person who did the screenplay can't possibly have read the books and could therefore easily convince someone unfamiliar with them that they're not worthy of reading. First of all, Krysty doesn't get wild-eyed when she calls on the Gaia power and would never show fear before it as she did in the movie when Jabez was going to attack her. Jak is not crazy. In the books, being an albino gives him a crazy look to some people and he has long white hair, adding to the effect. JB is not chubby and doesn't look like a geek. I like Vincent Spano as Ryan. He did a great job, although I'd mention to the writers that I don't remember him ever calling Krysty "baby" or refusing to argue with her. They're a true team, but he's not under her control in any way. As to the other writer's comments about how people wouldn't let themselves be ruled by a crazy baron, I ask you to remember "Baron" Hitler and his sec force, also known as the SS; "Baron" Kruschev and his sec force called, the KGB and let's not forget "Baron" Castro although I don't know the name of his sec force. Fear and intimidation rule well. Everything in Deathlands is not red either. There are places that are quite nice. In short, if you didn't like the movie but think that it may have had some interesting moments, try the books. They've been around a long time and are very popular with a strong following. In the books, you'll also meet Dr. Mildred Wyeth, a 'freezie' and JB's lover, and 'Doc', aka Dr Theophilus Tanner, a time traveler, made crazy by too many experiments by the 'white coats'. When he returns from being kidnapped by his mother, Sharona, you can meet Dean, Ryan's 11 year old son. Hope Ryan kills the bitch when he gets the chance. But i do enjoy the movie just for the fun of being with the group. You have to suspend your disbelief long enough to get past the mistakes. And it should have been longer to do it justice.