I had been hearing about his film making the rounds at comic book conventions across the country. It has now been posted on ifilm.com, so I decided to take a peek. And damned if it isn't as good as I've been hearing. It's plain to see that the movie's director, Sandy Collora, is greatly influenced by the artwork of the legendary Alex Ross. This is evident in his use of minimal light, especially at the beginning as he shows Batman (Clark Bartram) putting on his costume. Bartram just might be as close to being perfectly cast as any of the big-screen Batmen. The eight-minute film centers around another escape from Arkham Asylum by the Joker (Andrew Koenig, looking very frightening). Batman catches up with our favorite homicidal maniac in an alley. A brief fight ensues and the two adversaries each give the old "You made me what I am" speech to each other (just like in the first film) before Joker is snatched away. All I'll reveal is that two creatures from a rival studio make appearances, both have appeared in the DC Comics universe before. But it's quite a shock to see them here, especially the first creature to show up. With this minimal budget, Collora (who works primarily as a special effects man) shows that a humongous budget isn't totally necessary to make a captivating film. From this effort, here's hoping that Collora can get more work behind the camera. No matter what the budget.
Review of Batman: Dead End
