- Aspect Ratio: 1:78:1
- Video Codec: AVC MPEG-4
- Resolution: 1080p/24 (23.976Hz)
- Audio Codec: English Dolby TrueHD 5.1
- Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish
- Subtitles Color: White
- Region: A (Region-Locked)
- Rating: PG-13
- Run Time: 89 Mins
- Discs: 1 (1 x Blu-ray)
- Digital Copies: None
- Studio: Anchor Bay Entertainment
- Blu-ray Release Date: November 13th, 2012
- List Price: $24.99
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Overall
[Rating:2.5/5]
The Film
[Rating:3/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:4/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:0/5]
Click thumbnails for high-resolution 1920X1080p screen captures
(All TheaterByte screen captures are lightly compressed with lossy JPEG at 100% quality setting and are meant as a general representation of the content. They do not fully reveal the capabilities of the Blu-ray format)
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The Film
[Rating:3/5]
In yet another sci-fi mega disaster film, Snowmageddon tells the story of a little town in Normal, Alaska. Everything is, well, ‘normal’ about this town from the inhabitants to the daily events. For the Miller family, Christmas is around the corner and, as one might expect, youngsters Rudy (Dylan Matzke) and Jennifer (Magda Apanowicz) are excited, but for opposite reasons. Rudy loves his Dragon fantasy game, while Jennifer is anticipating the possibility of meeting the two world-class snowboarders her mother Beth (Laura Harris) is transporting up the mountain. For father John (David Cubitt), a strange package containing a globe depicting the town of Normal, has piqued his interest. Now initially, the globe sits on their mantel with no real problem, that is until a sudden fissure crack in the middle of the town (of which the same crack is found in the little globe), makes John wonder if the globe is forecasting the impending doom of his little town. Now it’s up to John to figure out exactly how he (yes – he) can save his family – and, of course, his town. What results is your average, run-of-the-mill, sci-fi disaster romp.
Akin to that of other sci-fi over-the-top films like that Ice Quake, Snowmageddon is as good a film as you might expect. The effects are quite cheesy at times, the plot does require us to stretch our imagination and the characters are as paper thin as a made-for-TV film requires them to be. Yet, we never seem to want to turn off the movie. Why is that exactly? The answer may lie in that films like these know they aren’t anything great. They all know they’re made for pure escapist thrills, not for the quality of the genre. I suppose that, in the end, is what this sort of filmmaking is all about.
Video Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
Snowmageddon arrives with a 1:78:1 framed, AVC MPEG-4 encoded transfer, which offers a mostly satisfying presentation. The film itself has a kind of muted color palette, full of grays and blues, all of which are meant to capture the cold, bleak Alaska locale. Flesh tones are accurate, as are detail levels (particularly textures in clothing). There is a slight layer of grain, but nothing that becomes too obtrusive on image. All in all, this is an adequate transfer for what was a film made for TV.
Audio Quality
[Rating:4/5]
Featuring an English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 track, I found this lossless offering to be just fine for the material at hand. Dialogue is well reproduced throughout, with no real instance of drop out. Atmosphere, surprisingly, can be quite limited at times. There are notices of discrete effects that have been added in (like sounds of an earthquake, screams or an impending storm approaching). LFE hits the low-end well, but nothing that we demands we demo this disc out. All in all, like that of the aforementioned video, this is a suitable track that gets the job done.
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:0/5]
There are no features included in this release.
The Definitive Word
Overall:
[Rating:2.5/5]
Snowmageddon is yet another escapist, run-of-the-mill genre film that is over-the-top – yet we can’t stop watching it! View this one as the kind of film you watch on a rainy, dreary day when you have nothing better to do.
Additional Screen Captures
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[amazon-product]B00A6ZQC6A[/amazon-product]
[amazon-product]B0090EDEIC[/amazon-product]
Purchase Snowmageddon on Blu-ray at CD Universe
Shop for more Blu-ray titles on Amazon.com
Overall
[Rating:2.5/5]
The Film
[Rating:3/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:4/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:0/5]
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