Lady Death (2004) (V)

User Rating:

4.4/10   

Director:

Andy Orjuela

Writers:

Carl Macek (writer)
Brian Pulido (story)

Release Date:

5 October 2004 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Animation | Horror

Plot:

Based on a comic book series. A woman burned at the stake in 15th century Sweden actually is Satan (Lucifer)'s daughter - and plots revenge against him. |

Plot Keywords:

Satan | Lucifer | Father Daughter Relationship | Breasts | Cleavage

Cast

Christine M. Auten	...	Lady Death / Hope (voice: English version) (as Christine Auten)
Mike Kleinhenz	...	Lucifer / Matthias (voice: English version)
Andy McAvin	...	Pagan (voice: English version)
Rob Mungle	...	Cremator (voice: English version)
Mike MacRae	...	Asmodeus, Large Torture Troll (voice: English version)
Chris Patton	...	Niccolo (voice: English version)
Dwight Clark	...	Father Orbec (voice: English version)
Maureen McCullough	...	Marion (voice: English version)
Ted Pfister	...	Elderly Man (voice: English version)
Marcy Rae	...	Elderly Woman (voice: English version)
Greg Ayres	...	Young Man, Additional Voices (voice: English version)
Jason Douglas	...	Matthais' Guards / Stable Demons / Additional Voices (voice: English version)
John Swasey	...	General Ahriman, Torture Guards, Sever / Demon Priest, Additional Voices (voice: English version)
James Faulkner	...	General Utuk Xul (voice: English version)
Laura Butcher	...	Lucifer's Concubines (voice: English version)

Runtime:

USA:80 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

Australia:M | UK:15

Company:

ADV Films

Trivia:

This movie took so long to produce that by the time it was released, Chaos Comics - the company that had given permission for this movie to be made - had gone out of business in the intervening time due to bankruptcy.

Let Death be a Lady tonight........

Well, I can honestly say that this is the first time that I experienced a film that had literally no meat or potatoes in it. The entire film felt like it was just the salad with no main course. The story line was fallible and laughable, the characters were one-dimensional, the realism was out the window, and the animation was done by four-year olds. Does that cover it? I have never been more embarrassed for a concept in my entire life. I have never read the comics or seen the other programs with this character, but from the looks of the other reviews I am not off base with my observation.

To begin, the story moved too quickly. For someone new to this character and situations, I needed more built into creating the reasons instead of finding the solution. I have seen other Anime (if you could call this one an Anime) that do great things with their characters because they take the time to develop them. There was nothing set aside for Lady Death. In a few short scenes, we see her train with Cremator and instantly become this aggressive she-beast of Hell. This was hard for me to swallow, considering moments before she was introduced as this weak and feeble woman controlled by her father. Suddenly, she is immersed with hatred and can do battle with an existence that has been around for millions of years. This was absurd. The presentation of Lady Death was poor, to say the least. I felt as if she was nothing more than an animated character instead of a desperate woman with revenge on the mind. For me, it just didn't work. She was nothing more than eye-candy for prepubescent boys wanting to ogle the mass quantities of skin that she suddenly grew on her chest when training with Cremator. Oh, I felt sick just watching her. The same goes for the character of Cremator. Who was this random person? The explanation they gave wasn't enough, and instead I was left with more incoherent babbling than actual development. It is a very sad day in Hell when we forgo characters to show more violence and action, especially in an animated feature.

Next, there was Lucifer himself. Let me just say that I think I could do battle with the King of Hell and survive. He was weak, his voice was laughable, and he just didn't represent the image that I had in my mind. It was as if Disney was in control and wanted to make him semi-PC. He lacked the darkness and corrupt nature that Lucifer embodies. He was not the ruler of Hell, but instead just a lackey that had a bigger place to live. Speaking of living or dying, how can you die again in Hell? That was a concept that definitely needed more explanation. Most of the characters were worrying about dying, when they didn't even consider the option that they were already dead. That is how they got to Hell. I think it was this level of thinking that ruined the film for me. I didn't quite capture the notion that your soul was still in a solid body in Hell, but that could just be me … or maybe it was because there was NO DEVELOPMENT in this story. There was nothing built, just preparing.

The battle sequences were hysterically bad. The animation in this cartoon felt like it was made in the early 90s. There was nothing impressive about the way that this film was drawn. Why are we, America, so behind on animation? It is huge in Asia, and it is creeping in hardcore here because we keep making films like Lady Death that do not challenge or use any part of imagination. We are cheap, and this film shows it.

Overall, this film was bad. The animation coupled with the horrendous voice work was cheap. I had head somewhere that this film as in production for a long time, which is hard to understand because I think I could have made this film on my credit card. The production was horrendous as well as the story. Nothing was developed, leaving huge gaping plot holes that nearly everyone fell into. The strength of the characters was missing, and nothing was explained. I wasted my time with this one and would like to warn others so that when Death does come, you don't find yourself in my state and regretting the fact that you wasted 80 minutes on this piece of garbage.

BLAH!

Grade: * out of *****