I've just finished watching this and i must say i really had low expectations for it as it has been released directly to DVD. However, it has proved to be quite entertaining, it deserves a 7 mark as far as i'm concerned.
The plot: in the distant future, due to interstellar space travel advancements, humanity has started setting up massive mining operations on other planets. Alien life has not been discovered yet, but a certain mining site uncovers a ancient and mysterious artifact which seems to be related to a religious current that places a similar object at its base. The massive artifact is being prepared to be transported to Earth on a transport ship but upon its arrival strange events take place involving the personnel of the mining facility. Paranoia, delusions and a unexplained wave of violent incidents among the miners. The source of these increasingly strange events starts pointing more and more towards the alien object, and the senior security officer on the ship is the only one that seems to foresee the danger.
Animation is decent, if a bit too choppy at moments but it makes up for it on the action scenes where it appears to get noticeably better.
This is not Japanese so don't expect some impressive "camera" (this is animation) movements but with pretty skilled use of CG here and there it manages to pull of some exciting stuff.
The story could of been a bit more elaborate, but they do throw in some details and explanations. Horror fans will be pleased with the amount of gore and blood, but those expecting a solid intrigue and story will be left somewhat unsatisfied. I'm saying this not because it is confusing or bleak but because along the way it promises some nice twists and does not get into details, maybe due to the fact that the movie is pretty short (1hr 14mins).
Overall, a decent animation flick well worth watching on DVD and for those interested, a horror survival video game has been released at the same time (the movie is a back-story to the events in the game ), named simply Dead Space and taking place in the same setting as the movie.
The plot: in the distant future, due to interstellar space travel advancements, humanity has started setting up massive mining operations on other planets. Alien life has not been discovered yet, but a certain mining site uncovers a ancient and mysterious artifact which seems to be related to a religious current that places a similar object at its base. The massive artifact is being prepared to be transported to Earth on a transport ship but upon its arrival strange events take place involving the personnel of the mining facility. Paranoia, delusions and a unexplained wave of violent incidents among the miners. The source of these increasingly strange events starts pointing more and more towards the alien object, and the senior security officer on the ship is the only one that seems to foresee the danger.
Animation is decent, if a bit too choppy at moments but it makes up for it on the action scenes where it appears to get noticeably better.
This is not Japanese so don't expect some impressive "camera" (this is animation) movements but with pretty skilled use of CG here and there it manages to pull of some exciting stuff.
The story could of been a bit more elaborate, but they do throw in some details and explanations. Horror fans will be pleased with the amount of gore and blood, but those expecting a solid intrigue and story will be left somewhat unsatisfied. I'm saying this not because it is confusing or bleak but because along the way it promises some nice twists and does not get into details, maybe due to the fact that the movie is pretty short (1hr 14mins).
Overall, a decent animation flick well worth watching on DVD and for those interested, a horror survival video game has been released at the same time (the movie is a back-story to the events in the game ), named simply Dead Space and taking place in the same setting as the movie.