Portraits of the Apocalypse (DVD Review)
Director
Nicanor Loreti, Fabián Forte, Luca CastelloRelease Date(s)
2024 (July 14, 2026)Studio(s)
Boikot Films (Cleopatra Entertainment)- Film/Program Grade: B-
- Video Grade: B-
- Audio Grade: B+
- Extras Grade: B
Review
Portraits of the Apocalypse is a collection of four short films by Argentinian filmmakers Nicanor Loreti, Fabián Forte and Luca Castello focused on the end of the world by zombie invasion. They are somewhat linked, each of the filmmakers doing solo work and joining together for one of the shorts. Chapter One: Murder at the Crime Scene by Loreti is an interesting character riff following a police officer who shows up to a crime scene talking with herself about how to play the event as a hero making moment even though she has nothing to do with it. When someone, unseen previously, shows up on scene she accidentally shoots him not knowing, as we do, that he was a zombie and she tries restaging the scene to make it seem like she didn’t do the headshot. All the while, her back up is getting closer and closer. Forte’s entry, Chapter Two: Rats, has a bickering husband and his wife dealing with her mother’s crippling fear of rats and her belief that there is one in the pantry. The husband is dealing with a hurt leg that we learn happened when one of his friends bit him during a football match. He’s a ticking time bomb and of course it goes off. Chapter Three: Ruby is the group short and is a found footage film of a woman leaving a video for her daughter that she’s currently carrying while dealing with her husband who doesn’t think they should be bringing life into this world. Family drama happens. The final chapter, King of the Damned, somewhat rewrites what we saw before staging the zombie apocalypse as something more demonic (?), where a father whose son has been “eaten” by a zombie uses religious black magic to communicate with his son through the captured zombie, instead unleashing a tricksy demon onto the world.
The film isn’t really scary, nor does it redefine the genre making it a must watch. Considering there are three distinct filmmakers with differing voices, they end up making something quite consistent. It doesn’t feel like a V/H/S styled community film where one of the films is a standout because of someone’s amazing filmmaking talent—all of these are equally watchable: well-acted and well written. If you’re a fan of zombie movies or new international voices—Portraits of the Apocalypse is for you.
Presented on exclusively DVD in Region A, video is in 2.35:1. It has an overall DVD look, which isn’t surprising considering that’s its format. It’s fine, but it’s not crystal clear. Blacks are weak and there are some distracting artifacts. Sound is in English and Spanish, each with Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 with English and Spanish subs. The English is a dub and it’s more dynamic and has more production value. However, some of the performances aren’t as strong as the original Spanish, so if you don’t mind reading, you’re better served by listening to the Spanish track. Extras include a slide show, the trailer in English and Spanish and the Cleopatra Entertainment home video trailer. There are also some Cleopatra Entertainment trailers for The Behemoth, The Mutant, Red Book Rituals: Gates of Hell and The Withering. Finally, there are alternate credits in English and Spanish because the final credits are set up for each of the shorts, so if you can’t read Spanish, you’ll want the English credits (and vice-versa).
- Todd Doogan