Lady Death The Motion Picture - Underland Online
- Underland Online
- Mike
- 10/19/04
- click here
"For fans of Lady Death, I'm going to go under the assumption that the film isn't going to disappoint the expectations that they might have."
"Lady Death isn't your garden-variety comic to animation film, and her appeal should exend[sic] far beyond just the comic fans. This one is definitely worth a look."
A few years ago, I used to have this obsession with a certain female comic book character. It was lady Death, and anything I found that I liked the look of was purchased. I owned quite a few shirts with her image adorning them, had bought the action figures, and just about anything else that looked interesting, but ironically, I never read the comic book at all and had just barely even held one in my hand. No, my fetish for Lady Death was based purely on image. But, years passed, my fascination diminished, I had to sadly retire on of my well-worn shirts, and I had all but forgot about her.
But, as the saying goes, Death comes for us all.
Lady Death has finally made her way from comic character and merchandising icon to feature film, but this isn't a live action film, and undoubtedly any attempt to turn the dark heroine into such a feature would surely be met with failure. Instead, Lady Death is now an animated feature film, courtesy of ADV Films and the same Korean production team behind such works as Batman: The Animated Series and even Gargoyles.
A story of love, death, betrayal, and revenge, Lady Death has a bone to pick with her father, Lucifer, but this isn't some standard family quarrel. Lady Death has plans to murder her father, finally getting revenge for the death of her mother, but the one who would become the chalk white messenger of death was once a much different person.
The film takes a drastic turn almost from the beginning, showing us the origins of the woman who would be come Lady Death. Once known as Hope, she was a very kind and gentle person, and very much in love with her beau Niccolo. However, her father, in human guise, was amassing solider for his army, and the unfortunate Niccolo was enlisted as the surgeon for the troops. However, a village priest knows the truth, and after Lucifer leaves the mortal realm, Hope finds herself accused of witchcraft and being in league with the devil. Chanting her fathers sacred rite, Hope then finds herself in Hell and is unwilling to submit to her fathers wishes. Cast out of his palace, she soon finds friendship in Cremator, a former blacksmith of the dark lord who, like many other demons of the infernal realm, want to overthrow the Lord of Flies, and thus the legend of Lady Death is born.
It's been quite a while since ADV first gave fans a tease of their upcoming animated film, but now, Death is finally upon us. Most animation in the United States is created around children, but that isn't the case with Lady Death. This was created with adults in mind, much like the comic book as, but even if you're new to her realm, much like how I am, you needn't fear being confused. Even in the opening scene I was contemplating what led her to become how she is, and that question was answered very early.
There is a sense of irony in the film however. We see Hope go from being very compassionate to giving to the dark side to save herself, and then a complete evolution, or perhaps de-evolution, into a being that hungers only for revenge. This brings in something of a dark a brutal side, filled with epic battles as Hell's legions go head-to-head. The film is filled with gore or one nature or another, but it's not necessarily done in a gratuitous way. Think of the epic battles from the Lord of the Rings films (Return of the King in particular.) There was blood and gore, but given the nature of the incidents, it was necessary, and the same is more or less true here as well. Of course, you may see quite a few more decapitations in Lady Death, but that's not really a bad thing. But, Lady Death, as far as the character goes, isn't some cardboard cutout of a female hero, nor is she the cliché that you see time and time again. She is strong, but she does show signs and emotions from time to time that remind us that she was in fact once human. It's her desire to vanquish her father and free both her mother and Niccolo's souls from his imprisonment that drives her.
Cremator serves as more or less Hope's mentor as she makes the transition from her human self into Lady Death. You can think of him as being an Obi-Wan type, teaching Hope how to fight with her sword as well as fully utilize her powers. The only thing with the character however that I'm not fond of is the voice. It seems a bit bland of the most part in my opinion. But, the character is very memorable though, and works well for the series.
One of the more entertaining characters though is Pagan, a court jester for his Infernal Majesty. Pagan comes across as being somewhat of comic relief, but in a very dark way. He's designed a little like The Joker from Batman: The Animated Series, and for a slight moment I even could have sworn that it was Mark Hamill doing the voice (it's actually Andy McAvin however.) Pagan though is Lucifer's spy and will do anything nt only to get Hope to convert to her father's ways, but also to please Lucifer, though it does seem that he may have his own motives for doing so.
Lady Death also has a very impressive soundtrack. ADV could have went the path of having some heavy metal influenced music, and there was that slight fear that I had that in fact, that might end up being the case. Luckily, it wasn't. Composed by Bill Brown, the soundtrack for Lady Death perfectly mirrors the dark landscape of Hell, and at times has some nice Latin chants thrown in, reminding me a little of what was heard in score for famous horror films from yesteryear like The Omen and The Exorcist. And, ADV has also been kind enough to release the soundtrack to coincide with the release of the film, so those that take a liking to it needn't worry about not being able to find it.
In the extras department, ADV has included a look at the production and design for the film. This is divided up into two different sections. One of them looks primarily at the backgrounds used through the film. The other focuses on the different characters that color the dark world of Lady Death. There is also a behind the scenes features that examines Lady Death from the initial concept to the production of the film. This encompasses interviews with the films director, Andrew Orjuela, as well as some of the members of the Korean production team. Overall, it's quite informative and does have some very interesting information. I was hoping to have some thoughts from the voice cast included as well, but that was overlooked sadly enough.
For fans of Lady Death, I'm going to go under the assumption that the film isn't going to disappoint the expectations that they might have. I'm hoping that this film may very well pave the way for other Chaos Comic characters to make their way into animated features as well. Tow words: Evil Ernie. Anyone not already familiar with the ghostly white messenger of death will find that Lady Death is very easy to get into, and is somewhat like an animated version of Conan meets Hellraiser (hmmm . . . . Hellraiser: The Animated Series.) This is the part of the review where I could thrown in the cliché 'hell hath no fury' line or many of the other lines associated with Hell or Death, but let's just leave things at this: Lady Death is a fine step in the direction of adult animation, something that has been almost forgotten since the days of the feature film Heavy Metal, and ADV's effort to recapture those glory days certainly isn't in vein. Lady Death isn't your garden-variety comic to animation film, and her appeal should exend far beyond just the comic fans. This one is definitely worth a look.
Posted on Tuesday, October 19, 2004 (Archive on Friday, November 19, 2004)