DVD Review: CONDEMNED (2015)

CONDEMNED
Directed by  Eli Morgan Gesner
Distributed by RLJ Entertainment

 I watched a movie the other night that I had never heard of before.  I knew nothing about it and had seen no reviews/comments on it in any of my online browsing.  The film is called CONDEMNED and I have a felling the more people start seeing this movie, the more you will begin to hear about it.  Here is the plot synopsis from the RLJ Entertainment website:

  Fed up with her parents’ bickering, poor-little-rich-girl Maya (Dylan Penn) moves in with her boyfriend, who is squatting in an old condemned building on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. With neighbors that are meth heads, junkies and degenerates, this depraved hell hole is even more toxic than it appears: After a virus born from their combined noxious waste and garbage infects the building’s residents, one by one, they succumb to a terrifying pathogen that turns them into bloodthirsty, rampaging killers and transforms their building into a savage slaughterhouse.

  The film is in the same vein as the REC and QUARANTINE films.  It's a claustrophobic nightmare of disease and filth.   While obviously a lower budget film than the ones just mentioned, CONDEMNED managed to entertain me just as much as those bigger budget films did.   While not exactly a zombie film, it has that feel to it as a people get sick and turn into flesh eating creatures. 

  One thing that really stuck out was the use of practical effects in this movie.  In fact, I don't remember seeing any CG at all, but if it was used it was mixed in with the practical effects so well that I didn't notice them.  Practical effects are very rare these days, and they just look so much better overall.  I always appreciate when a movie goes that route over the cheaper, yet inferior, CG effects.

  CONDEMNED kept me entertained the entire running time.  The film was shot well and the acting was great with all involved.  I highly recommend this film to all my horror loving fans.  CONDEMNED is available now on DVD and Blu-ray from RLJ Entertainment and contains the following special features:

*  Cast Interviews and Script Readings
*  Watch in "42nd Street Mode" with a live audience commentary
*  TV's "Entertainment Tonight Canada" On-Set Interview with Dylan Penn


CLICK HERE to watch the trailer
CLICK HERE to purchase the DVD or Blu-ray