A struggling older brother must escort his young sister across a desolate country to find safety with their father after a mutating virus wipes out most of the population. Harry (Dean Michael Gregory) and Lily (Melissa Worsey) must survive against feral, infected humans, as well as the greater danger of other survivors. After Lily is injured in an animal trap, they seek refuge with a father and son pair, pushing Harry to put his trust in strangers. As Lily recovers, Harry struggles to decide between moving on to finding their father, or staying in the seemingly safe home of Karl (George Newton) but the closer Lily gets to the pair, the more distrustful Harry becomes.

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Video Quality

Among The Living makes its Blu-Ray debut with an enjoyable 1080p video presentation that showcases these rural locations well. This is a film that takes place primarily in brightly lit nature, but it holds up fairly well when it comes to the darker environments. Black levels impress when it comes to depth, but there are traces of banding in certain moments. The film employs some vibrant colors within the natural world which are handled quite well. The presentation shows off an impressive amount of depth as our characters trek throughout the woods. The makeup effects along with the fabrics of clothing provide crystal clear textural details. The skin tones are natural with a tremendous amount of detail present in close-ups. The image is clear with the natural color palette popping off the screen with immediacy. There are a few small areas where this disc could be improved, but overall this Blu-Ray provides a nice experience.

Audio Quality

Epic Pictures continues their trend of giving their Blu-Ray a Dolby Digital 5.1 lossy audio track instead of a DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio track. While far from a disaster, it is always disappointing to know this track could likely provide greater response with a lossless track. Dialogue comes through clearly without being overshadowed by any competing sounds. Environmental sounds of the world flow through the surround speakers in noticeable ways. There are some intriguing ambient details when traveling through the woods which enrich the situation. The music chosen to accompany this journey provides a strong atmosphere that is balanced well with crucial fidelity. There are very few intensive moments in the narrative, but the texture is there when needed. The audio track accomplishes the base level of what you want it to, but it likely could have been a richer experience with a full lossless track. This disc provides English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles.

Special Features

Audio Commentary: Director Rob Worsey and Actor Dean Michael Gregory provide an entertaining and informative commentary track in which they discuss shooting this movie in the midst of COVID, the background elements of the production, amusing stories from set, the collaborative nature of the production, what it was like directing a sibling and more.

Behind The Scenes: A really thorough 71-minute behind-the-scenes piece which gives you ample amounts of fly-on-the-wall footage and interviews from the beginning stages of cast read-throughs to the production of the film and beyond. More movies should be documented as thoroughly on the physical media release.

Bee Sting – Short Featurette: A five-minute short film is provided here which shows the two young stars of Among The Living are shown bonding over an air rifle.

Trailers: This disc provides a minute-and-a-half trailer for Among The Living. There are also trailers provided for other Dread titles including Tiny Cinema, Midnight, Bad Candy and Tin Can.

Final Thoughts

Among The Living is not a groundbreaking take on the zombie/virus genre, but it is effectively held together as a labor of love. This independently constructed tale has a point of view and a consistent vision behind the camera which comes through in exciting ways. The plot can be a little light, but the emotional underpinning is effective when the more terrifying elements come to the forefront. Hardcore genre fans will likely be disappointed by the lack of carnage all around, but those who gain more from the emotional impact of surviving in a decaying world should find this a fine investment of your time. Epic Pictures had released a Blu-Ray featuring a pretty decent A/V presentation and some terrific special features. If you are open for a reserved zombie tale, you should check this out. Recommended

Among The Living is currently available to purchase on Blu-Ray.

Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.

Disclaimer: Epic Pictures has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.