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Tragedy Girls (Gunpowder & Sky) Blu-ray Review

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    Ian Jane
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  • Tragedy Girls (Gunpowder & Sky) Blu-ray Review

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    Released by: Gunpowder & Sky
    Released on: March 29th, 2022.
    Director: Tyler MacIntyre
    Cast: Brianna Hildebrand, Alexandra Shipp, Jack Quaid, Kevin Durand, Timothy V. Murphy, Craig Robinson
    Year: 2017
    Purchase From Amazon

    Tragedy Girls – Movie Review:

    Directed by Tyler MacIntyre, who co-wrote with Chris Lee Hill and Justin Olson, 2017's Tragedy Girls is is a darkly comedic take on slasher film clichés and the social media age that follows two high school senioers, Sadie Cunningham (Brianna Hildebrand) and McKayla Hooper (Alexandra Shipp).

    When the film opens, Sadie is steaming up the back of a vintage Barracuda with some lucky guy when the two hear something outside. He gets out to investigate and learns that his luck isn't so good after all when a serial killer named Lowell (Kevin Duran) puts a machete into his skull. Sadie, with help from McKayla who has been watching from the sidelines, subdues Lowell and then two pair basically holds him hostage in a small shack somewhere on the outskirts of town. It seems that the rash of killings lately has been done by Lowell's hands, but the girls have got a different idea.

    See, the two of them run a Twitter feed and a website called 'Tragedy Girls' where they report on murders in the area, and the more murders that happen, the more likes, follows and favorites they'll get. With Lowell squirrelled away, the two girls set out to creatively off whoever they deem fit, starting with McKayla 's motorcycle-obsessed boyfriend, followed by the pesky leader of the cheerleading squad that they're on, and then later even the town's Fire Marshal, Big Al (Craig Robinson of The Office). As The get bolder and bolder, their video editor, Jordan Welch (Jack Quaid), whose father just so happens to Sheriff Blane Welch (Timothy V. Murphy), starts to clue into what's really going on, though the fact that he's got a pretty serious crush on Sadie clouds his vision just a little bit. But of course, the big prom is just around the corner, and as it gets closer, Sadie and McKayla’s friendship becomes very strained indeed.

    Complete with references to horror films as varied as The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Halloween, Carrie, Cannibal Holocaust and the European fare like Martyrs and the work of Dario Argento (at one point McKayla can't remember his name and calls him 'Mario Wario'!), Tragedy Girls definitely owes a debt to Heathers and, during the film’s final reel, Carrie, and more often than you can tell where it’s all headed, but there are a few twists that help to keep things interesting. Despite the derivative elements of the story, the film does do a pretty good job of pointing out the ridiculousness of social media obsessions and the shallowness of the culture that it’s spawned and it manages to do so with some effective moments of humor.

    Tragedy Girls – Blu-ray Review:

    Gunpowder & Sky brings Tragedy Girls to Region A Blu-ray famed at 2.35.1 widescreen and presented in AVC encoded 1080p high definition with the feature using up 28.1GBs of space on the 50GB disc. As this was shot digitally there can’t be any print damage or dirt to note, the image is spotless. Detail is generally really strong and color reproduction looks excellent. There’s solid depth and texture to the image, skin tones look good and the picture is free of any obvious compression. All in all, the movie looks excellent.

    The sole audio track for the feature is an excellent 24-bit DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio offering in English, with optional subtitles in English only. Audio quality is also really strong. There’s good surround activity throughout the movie, not just in the more active, action intensive scenes but in some of the more subtle moments as well. The score and music used in the film also sounds really strong here. Dialogue is clean, clear and easy to follow throughout, though, oddly enough, the subtitles would freeze every few minutes on my player.

    Extra features are very plentiful, starting with an audio commentary with director/co-writer Tyler MacIntyre and co-writer Chris Lee Hill. Lots of good information here about working with the different cast and crew members, putting together the story, casting the film, location and effects work and more. A second commentary features authors and academics Kat Ellinger, Lindsay Halam and Miranda Corcoran. This one is more analytical, going over what they feel works well in the picture, examining the themes and ideas that it explores and giving some social context to it all.

    There are also a load of featurettes here, starting with an interview with director and co-writer Tyler MacIntyre, recorded in 2021 titled Bulldozing Through Reality, that runs for twelve minutes. He talks about the state of the horror industry when he started working in the industry, trying to bring something fresh and unique to the slasher film, creating strong female characters, what influenced the making of the movie, integrating social media into the story and more. Gateway Horror is an interview with co-writer Chris Lee Hill, recorded in 2021, which covers how the story evolved from a boiler plate slasher film into the finished product we see on the disc.

    Movie Magic: Raw footage vs finished sequence is a quick two minute bit that shows off the raw footage of the opening murder with finished footage from the feature. From there, we get forty minutes of additional footage that starts with some material shot on set during the opening murder and then goes on to show off the girls tying up the killer, the cheerleading scene, a few of the murder set pieces (the scene in the gym being particularly interesting) and quite a bit more. Along the way we get some comparisons to the finished scenes as featured in the film.

    A fifteen minute Q&A at Screamfest sees the principal cast and crew members on stage fielding questions from the audience about the making of the movie. We also get eight minutes of Red Carpet interviews shot at Screamfest.

    Behind The Scenes: Cheerleaders, Hottie Deaths, And Cars gives us five minutes of BTS footage showing off the cheerleading scene and the motorcycle stunt death scene while Behind The Scenes Of Tragedy Girls' Most Gruesome Death spends eight minutes covering the murder that takes place in the wood shop and in the gym by way of some footage shot on set.

    A Super Serious Convo With Director Boss-Man Tyler MacIntyre is a thirty-five minute piece that goes over the development process for the film, the writing process, working with the film's producers, trying to do something different with the slasher movie idea, how they prepared for the shoot, creating a slow build for parts of the movie, shooting the gym scene, influences that worked their way into the movie, the character development in the movie and lots more.
    Finishing up the extras are a green band trailer, a red band trailer, storyboards for eight sequences, a gallery of costume and mask sketches, a second gallery of behind the scenes SFX stills, menus and chapter selection options. This release also comes packaged with some reversible cover sleeve art.

    Tragedy Girls - The Final Word:

    Tragedy Girls won’t be for all tastes, but it’s quirky and interesting and a pretty entertaining mix of horror and comedy. Gunpowder & Sky have given it a really nice Blu-ray release with a disc that looks and sounds great and is loaded with extra features.

    Click on the images below, or right click and open in a new window, for full sized Tragedy Girls Blu-ray screen caps!

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