Dead Space: Downfall (2008)

A prequel to the hit video game chronicling the discovery of the Red Marker and the first Necromorph outbreak.

Director:

Chuck Patton

Writers:

Jimmy Palmiotti (screenplay), Justin Gray (screenplay)

Stars:

Nika Futterman, Keith Szarabajka, Jim Cummings

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Nika Futterman	...	Alissa Vincent (voice)
Keith Szarabajka	...	Dr. Kyne (voice)
Jim Cummings	...	Captain Mathius / Farum (voice)
Kevin Michael Richardson	...	Samuel Irons / Pendleton / Miner (voice)
Kelly Hu	...	Shen (voice)
Bruce Boxleitner	...	Colin Barrow (voice)
Lia Sargent	...	Jen Barrow / Walla (voice)
Hal Sparks	...	Ramirez (voice)
Jeff Bennett	...	Leggio / Dobbs / Jackson (voice)
Jim Piddock	...	Chic (voice)
Phil Morris	...	Hansen / Glenn (voice)
Grey Griffin	...	Heather / Donna Fawkes (voice) (as Grey DeLisle)
Maurice LaMarche	...	White / Bavaro (voice)
Bob Neill	...	Cartusian / Walla (voice)
David Zyler	...	Walla (voice) (as David Allen Kramer)

Storyline

The USG Ishimura, a miner spaceship, is transporting a strange artifact called the Red Marker. In the Aegis VII colony, where the Red Marker was found, there are some suicides and murders and the people are slowly going mad. The people are being infected by something. Barrow, the foreman, finds the body of his wife having committed suicide. Barrow decides to escape the colony's madness and, taking his wife's body, goes on board the Ishimura. But something happens to Barrow's wife on board the Ishimura.

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Plot Keywords:

bloodbath | body horror | evil | brutality | captain | 

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Taglines:

Meet Your Maker.

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Genres:

Animation | Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

28 October 2008 (USA)

Also Known As:

Beživotni svemir: Propast

Company Credits

Production Co:

Electronic Arts (EA),Film Roman Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

74 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The blonde survivor that Alissa asks whether or not she has a boyfriend is Nicole, Isaac Clarke's girlfriend from the "Dead Space" videogame, which takes place after "Downfall".

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Goofs

It is clearly seen about 18 minutes into the movie that Jen slices her throat; a large gash is shown with blood spilling out. A few moments afterwards, Barrow is seen rushing down the hallways with Jean's body in his arms. It is shown that Jen's throat has no blood - in fact, it's not even cut.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Alissa Vincent: My name is Alissa Vincent. I may be the sole survivor. We've encountered an alien life form. They have taken over the bodies of the crew. The colony was lost. My team is dead. It is my belief that the artifact we discovered on the surface is somehow responsible. If you find this recording, the Ishimura and the artifact must be destroyed.

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Connections

Followed by Dead Space: Extraction (2009)

User Reviews

Dead Space: Downfall

While I'm writing this review the current IMDb rating is 6.2 and I find it quite fare.

First of all let me say - I have no idea about the DEAD SPACE game and I'm not a fan of the game, but I am a hardcore animation fan and I follow pretty much everything that comes out. So when I got my hands on this one I was pretty excited - a brand new mature oriented animated feature!! And when I say mature oriented I mean that it has some swear words plus animated violence and blood, which we don't see every day, especially when it comes to western animation (cause if you're into anime you can't complain from the lack of these elements) "Dead Space: Downfall" is above average, but far from brilliant. And the reason for this is mainly the screenplay. The characters lack depth and emotional charge and the story itself is somehow ripping off key elements from John Carpenter's "The Thing" (the designs of the creatures...), Ridley Scott's "Alien" (the intro on the distant planet, the strong female lead, the ship sent by some corrupt institution we never really see...). There's nothing wrong in borrowing already tested classic elements, some fan-service is always welcome. The problem is that the story itself just fails to grab you. There's no background of the characters, too little information about the aim of their trip and the institution that sent them (some kind of a new religious organization... maybe it's the dystopian future when Scienthology rules the Earth?!? OMG!! I can hear Charlton Heston screaming "Damn you all to hell!", we'd prefer the rule of the Apes). The story lacks drama and suspense.

The voice cast is doing more or less OK, I guess that you can't expect them to put into their characters something that's not really there in the script and make them more interesting, so...

The music - during the movie I hardly noticed any music, but the ending credits were quite good I can say. And the use of "Twinkle, twinkle Little Star" is creepy for sure! The character design is very well done, nothing that will totally amaze you, but it fits perfectly well into the atmosphere of the movie. Everything from faces and expressions to clothes and hairstyles is neatly done.

The backgrounds are detailed and not in contrast with the coloring of the characters and the animated objects (unlyke some other animations where you can "feel" what moves and what doesn't just because the animated objects are colored differently). Even the CGI doesn't break the unity and doesn't feel out of place when it's there (mainly for the 3D models of the spaceships) The animation and the directing itself are quite good, well done boys! The perspectives and the camera angles are nice, the movements as well. It's a mixture of traditional western animation with some elements taken from the Japanese school (when it comes to the blood being splattered or the shrinking of the eye-irises for example).

I enjoyed the film, but I Felt disappointed by the story. The animation is stylish enough to accomplish more than that and with better writing it could be something of the class of "Heavy Metal" or "Titan A.E.". STill worth watching, though! Check it out if you have the chance.