Pandorum

Best of the New Releases: Pandorum
I was not expecting to like Pandorum. I presumed it would be just another generic sci-fi/horror hybrid with Paul W.S. Anderson's name attached as a producer. Thankfully, it is not. Pandorum is actually a surprisingly effective, worthy entrant to the arena of films about space madness. Dennis Quaid kind of dominated the trailers, but the real star is Ben Foster, a gent I wish I saw in more leading roles, as a man who wakes aboard a massive, barren spaceship wondering where all the crew and passengers have gone.

It's got a lot of enigma to it, and while parts of the ending may not be as unforeseen as director Christian Alvert may have wanted, it still goes out on an impressive bang. Good production design avoids feeling like other claustrophobic spaceship movies where people keep running down narrow corridors; though the creature design is a little reminiscent of the Reavers from Serenity. Still, it's an entertaining, above-average genre hybrid that should satisfy those who typically like such things.

Nothing quite says "holiday cheer" like a movie about people stranded on a spaceship with mutated monsters, which is why it makes perfect sense that Pandorum will be landing on DVD and Blu-ray this December 22nd.

DVD Active has the early news on the Ben Foster/Dennis Quaid film's home theater debut, and aside from the release date, they've uncovered some other interesting details about what we can expect in terms of supplemental material.

According to the site, "extras will include an audio commentary, a World of Elysium: Behind the Scenes featurette, a Flight Team Training Video, deleted and alternate scenes, and still galleries. The Blu-ray release will also include a digital copy of the film."

Suggested retail price is $29.98 for the DVD and $39.98 for the Blu-ray. Rest assured you will be able to find it cheaper at various retailers. Pandorum didn't do well at the box office (where it grossed roughly 10 million dollars against a 40 million dollar budget), but here's to hoping it finds an appreciative audience on disc.

Moviefone is hosting a new, exclusive clip (embedded conveniently below) that takes a peek inside the deep space paranoia of Overture Film's upcoming sci-fi/horror chimera, Pandorum. Don't worry, there's nothing spoilery found within, just a pusher's taste of the fears to be found aboard an inexplicably abandoned spaceship.

Personally, I don't know why Dennis Quaid finds Cam Gigandet's character to be so untrustworthy. He's only laying down the not-at-all maddening symptoms of the titular space...disease. Then again, maybe Quaid has already seen whatever weirdness is going on in that poster to the right. If that's the case, I sure as hell wouldn't trust anyone, either.

- I think the coolest thing I've seen today is also the most ambiguous. But hey, that's what teaser trailers are for and the teaser for Hypothermia from Glass Eye Pix has me jonesing to know what is under that ice.

- Dread Central has compiled for your ease six new boob-tube spots for Rob Zombie's Halloween 2. Note: since I don't care about any of these, I can neither confirm nor deny the actual appearance of boobs.

- The long unavaiable-but-still-beloved Australian murderous giant pig film Razorback recently snuck onto US shores by way of Warner Brothers new archival DVD shop.

- Happen to be in Hollywood, CA on October 2nd for the start of this year's Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios? If so, be prepared to see these maniacs running at you. If not, just enjoy some cool costume concept art.

Looking at the filmography of Impact Pictures one can't help but notice an affinity for making horror movies that pit humans in a confined space with something, well, not so human. Joining the barracks of the Resident Evil series, AVP, and Event Horizon is Christian Alvert's space bound enigma Pandorum, starring Dennis Quaid and Ben Foster (who stole the show as the doom bringer in 30 Days of Night).

It must suck to wake up alone on a spaceship with no memory of who you are or why the barren hulk of steel built to hold 60,000 you're floating in now only holds a handful of people running from what looks like a handful of once-people. Yet these are the woes of Quaid and Foster in the new trailer for their Sci-fi / horror hybrid available at Apple in HD with an embed below.

Fortunately for us the film looks to reside closer in Impact's quality corner to Event Horizon than AVP, though I suppose I need not point out to horror fans how relatively unfortunate such a comparison is. Personally, I gravitate towards any horror story confined to one locale, particularly if it's in space. Yes, I can even find the good in Jason X. But not Leprechaun 4. Let's be realistic, folks.

By William Goss

A little more waiting, a little less waiting. That's just how this game goes.

Bad news first: Overture's space-set sci-fi/horror Pandorum has been bumped back a fortnight to September 18th, now putting it opposite the horror comedy, Jennifer's Body, written by Diablo "Juno" Cody and starring Megan Fox. I haven't heard the best things through the grapevine about either film, but I suppose it's slightly less competition than Carriers and Gamer on the 4th.

Better news then? Summit slasher Sorority Row has brought itself up three weeks from October 2nd to September 11th, although it now contends with Kate Beckinsale thriller Whiteout (which probably won't draw as much, now that I think about it). I'm not sure who's going to fill that prime October 2nd spot, or maybe Scorsese's Shutter Island is going to score across more demographics than I had previously considered.

Seriously, though, from the last weekend of August with Halloween 2 and Final Destination 4 on through Halloween, it looks like there'll be no shortage of genre offerings around this fall (even with Lionsgate's Daybreakers moving back to January 2010 and Paramount's long-shelved Case 39 disappearing yet again).