 Thanks for checking out this show review video. This is for the 2020 show the deadlands. It is a shutter original When I'm putting this review up. It's not yet finished Because the Thursday the 5th is when they're well 5th of March is when they are dropping that final episode I have seen all the episodes at this point though because shutter has been kind enough to give me all the screeners for it I didn't do episode by episode reviews because I figured it's just one story I'd rather just see the whole story through and then give my opinion at the end. So this is that now I'm gonna say up front I'm a little conflicted on this because there's some things I really like about this and there are some things I really don't like about this so as I talk about it with no spoilers There will not be spoilers you can kind of formulate your own opinion on if you want to watch it or not so The writer for this one Glenn Standring did a movie called deadlands in 2014 and it kind of looks like it's a similar thing So I don't know if this is kind of like the TV show version of what he was putting together, but you know I don't know the director Peter Berger did mainly TV episodes. That's mainly what I found for him on IMDb The Maori this is kind of focused on like a Maori culture from New Zealand So I wanted to look into it a little bit and see like what Maori is Maori are actually an indigenous Polynesian people of New Zealand who created their own culture through being kind of like an isolated culture So they kind of had a lot a lot of their own things now for me As an outsider, I don't know if it's you know, the show is Faithful to Maori culture or how much of Maori culture actually seeps into the film I know that Shutter's been kind of pushing this as a Maori horror show And this is like a big deal because it's kind of like the first one So I assume that there's a lot of cultural stuff kind of pulled in but like I said, you know as an outsider To that culture like I don't know for sure How it plays out it seems like it could be legitimate, but I don't know so Lot I don't know Excuse me a lot. I don't know plus apologies if I end up coughing or have to take a drink of water still fighting something So the intro music for this is really good. The music is very well matched in this They have a lot of kind of like intense music there are some fight scenes in this actually a bunch of fight scenes throughout the show and The music like keeps the intensity up for the fight scenes. I think it matches. Well It's a great mix of heavy tribal drums and orchestral dread at least in the beginning of it So the music is quite good. It's it's well well done The show looks looks extremely crisp. It has a great looking set This is the thing about one of the things I love most about this show is it looks awesome The directing is quite good. The cinematography looks outstanding It just looks great and the other thing is the environment the sets where they're shooting is beautiful It's gorgeous and the cinematography and the directing just increases that so Even though and I'll talk about a little bit more even though it is a little bit slow We're actually a lot a bit slow It's it looks great And that's a thing like are you a person who just really loves the environment the ambiance in a in a film? And if things are going slow, that's fine because you have a lot of nice beautiful things to look at Do you want to be immersed in that kind of environment? I? Think visually this does that and that's the thing like it looks like I'm saying it looks really good Really good, so from a technical standpoint quite good the backstory seems to move fast And the entry point But the entry point for the actual story I feel like is a little bit off and I feel like that gets There's a reason for it at the very end But when you first start the show you're kind of like why are we entering the story at this point? Like it seems a little odd It seems a little off now like I said in the end it it makes more sense But in the beginning you're kind of like But they they move things along relatively quick in the beginning of it and it kind of feels like oh You know we're we're hurrying up a little bit But then it's a situation where we're kind of hurrying up real quick and then we're slowing down a lot and it's like So it feels uneven. I'm not sure how true any of this is the Maori culture, but it appears legitimate It's like I was saying the dialogue becomes kind of repetitive And there are a bunch of things that are rehashed a lot in this and it seems like that this should actually have been a Lot less episodes in my opinion. It is eight full episodes. It's a total of eight episodes I might be Okay, I want to say you can cut it down to four and that's how slow this ends up getting and I don't mean just slow as in there's a lot of Just taking their time with scenes and shots. I mean, there's a lot of repetitive Dialogue they rehash a lot of dialogue. They rehash a lot of things that have gone on multiple times it feels super repetitive with a lot of this stuff and It just feels slow like the story stagnates many times Even though there is a pretty good story there, but it just I don't know the pacing is so off with the show And it's like I said like if you're huge into the visuals and you're okay with this does a show being really slow But looking amazing then you probably will quite like this because like I said, there is a good story there It's just very slow to get this story out The main characters bicker a lot which actually sometimes is very charming But at other times gets kind of annoying and once again seems like one of those things They just keep rehashing rehashing rehashing it gets repetitive because it's just constant like bickering back and forth back and forth Yeah, and that's how I felt about it like at times I was like, oh, that's kind of funny I kind of like this back and forth and other times. I'm like, we're still doing this and we're bickering the same way like It seems like the relationship doesn't develop the way maybe I wanted it to between these main two characters It's a it's a male lead and a female lead on a journey together and I Like I like the characters individually, but together It's a mixed bag. Like I said, there are some moments where like together It's a great combo and other moments where it just gets kind of annoying, but And There are fighting scenes that are actually pretty solid in this. Yeah, the choreography of the fight scenes are good I enjoyed that whenever you actually get to an action moment, which is More than you would think based on the pacing of it. It's it's pretty engaging They did quite a good job of that and not only did they do a good job with the choreography But actually capturing it on screen because those types of things aren't super easy to do and I felt like they did a good job with that There's a pretty good explanation for why the main characters face looks the way it does you will Immediately understand the main male character You will see that he's got a particular Design carved into his face and it looks cool. It looks really good And that's one of the things the costuming and the makeup in this Quite good practical effects are pretty solid too But I liked the explanation that they give in the final episode of why his face looks the way it does that was pretty cool And the ending had some pretty solid twists for me I thought there was some solid twists in the end. It sets things up to be good It does leave the possibility for a second season, which You know because I said I feel conflicted on this I feel conflicted as to if I would watch a second season or not. I think I would give it a shot I think I would start a second season, but if it seems like it's still super slow I might abandon it But if they kind of tighten it up for a second season I would be very happy with that because I would like to see where the story is going I feel like they left it in an interesting place The music is really good and the sound design is quite good as well I already talked about the music a little bit But the sound sound design is good and it helps with off some of the off-screen kind of gruesome moments that happen in it There are on-screen gruesome moments with some good gore and violence But there's some off-screen ones and the good sound design really helps with driving home What's going on without seeing it. So good job Good job on that I think the strongest acting in this overall the acting is actually pretty good There are a few people here and there where they're acting But for the most part good acting the lead female I think does a solid job the lead male does a very good job I think he kind of steals the show and I think that's a combination of how his character is written and how his acting is But very engaging with the way he does his acting Yeah, like I said the show slow it's really slow at times, but the scenery is so beautiful It looks so great and you know being someone who doesn't seem like I've never been to New Zealand I see it in shows of movies here and there. It's always kind of awe-inspiring. It's just like oh my gosh, it's so beautiful In the beginning at least this film or the show seems like a veiled Zombie Apocalypse show like it feels like a veiled zombie thing that kind of changes a little bit as it goes on But at least for the first few episodes it felt that that way to me then as it goes on further I feel like I saw a lot of inspiration Taken for this from evil dead, which is a good thing because evil dead is phenomenal, so I don't know if if anyone Excuse me if anyone is watching this and has already seen the show or a portion of the show Do you think that it seems inspired by evil dead at times? I especially towards the end like the last few episodes in particular I felt like felt evil dead inspired and like I said, that's a good thing This is kind of the age-old story of setting out to right the wrongs of older generations It's not a super new story, but there's an interest like there's a new twist to it the whole culture I'm not aware of aspect is obviously a new twist to it It's it's its own take, but it's a kind of old story that's been used before It's also about redemption and kind of finding one's true self Not just for well for a few characters Yeah, I'll just put it that way. It's not it's not just like one character on this one this journey of self-discovery There's you know a few characters that have that going on and Like I said set up for my second season could be interesting now this kind of leaves me It's tough for for my rating at the end of this because It's hard for me to figure out how to weigh these things like the things that I love like I said The music's really good. The sound design is really good. It looks phenomenal cinematography directing overall The acting is quite good the costuming and practical effects and everything are quite good So but it's so slow. There's a decent story too, but it's so slow And like I said, I feel like eight episodes could have easily been or should have easily been just four episodes It seems like they really messed up by really stretching this thing And it just for me became kind of painful at times so to just get through it There's good stuff there. There's so much good stuff there though So out of five stars with half stars in play I feel like I got to give it a two and a half at the moment just because I feel so conflicted on it It puts me smack dab in the middle whether or not I would tell someone to watch this because of that But if you watch this review, you should have enough information to kind of make your own mind up Does it sound like something you want to watch? Hopefully yes, hopefully no depending on who you are if you have time or not But you know, I want to love it, but I can't say I love it a season two If they fix the pacing and they make it way more compact put out less episodes could be really awesome Especially where they left the story just saying but thanks shutter for sending me the screeners. I appreciate it Thank you everyone for watching this. Please do me a real quick favor. Hit that subscribe I'm just doing these videos for for reaching out to the horror community and starting some conversations So the best way you can thank me for anything you like that I do is just a thumbs up If you've already subscribed and a subscribe if you have not subscribed the majority of people who watch my reviews have not subscribed to My channel so it means a lot if you could take that quick second subscribe Also hit the notification bell if you want to see all my reviews as they're coming out That would be great, but let's talk about this the dead lands put some comments down there and thanks for checking this out Until next time keep it brutal