Dating Death DVD Region 3

Some dodgy CG aside, this is a fairly slick little effort; for a horror film, the whole thing is pretty tongue-in-cheek (Heman the magician!?!), although director Herman Yau thankfully never resorts to genre-parody for laughs. Of course, there's absolutely nothing scary in the entire 98 minute running time (except maybe the account given for the killer's behaviour, which is far more disturbing than the behaviour itself), and even the bloodier moments are in keeping with the comedic tone of proceedings. The score, too, is a great deal of fun, with the incessant screaming on the soundtrack (particularly noticeable at the most inappropriate times) used to great effect.

As the characters start to disappear, the film slows down into way too much talking as those left stand about and point fingers at one another, and the climax is a confused mess of endless staircase chase sequences, but otherwise Dating Death works rather well, thanks to some high energy direction (plenty of camera movement) and a good looking cast with reasonable comic timing. Worth a look, even if the garments on show will be out of fashion some time in the next...hour or so!

7 Lap-alikes out of 10

by Jonathan McCoy - heroic-cinema.com