29 February 2008

On November 13th 1990, in the idyllic town of Aramoana, quiet local David Gray took a high-powered automatic weapon and inexplicably shot dead 13 of his neighbours. It remains the worst mass murder in New Zealand's history. As emergency services scrambled desperately to reach the town, a handful of local policemen risked their lives trying to apprehend the gunman. Terrified residents were trapped in their homes for 22 hours, not knowing where David Gray was – or if they were to become his next victim.

It is inevitable that such tragic true stories eventually make their way into book form – in this case Aramoana: Twenty Two Hours of Terror by Bill O'Brien – and as movies, but Out of the Blue has met with widespread acclaim for its intelligent and sensational handling of of its subject and was described by Tim Wong in the New Zealand-based Lumière Reader as "the most hardened New Zealand film to emerge since Once Were Warriors."

Not widely seen outside of its native land and the festival circuit, Out of the Blue is coming to UK DVD on 7th April from Metrodome, yours to buy for a reasonable £15.99. The disc will contain the following extra features:

• Audio commentary from director Robert Sarkies and author Aramoana: Twenty Two Hours of Terror Bill O'Brien;
• The Tragedy featurette;
• Honouring Aramoana featurette;
• The Making of Out Of the Blue;
• Cast and crew interviews – Including Karl Urban (Lord of the Rings);
• Audition interviews;
• Original news footage covering the tragedy;
• Photo Gallery.

UPDATED: The release date has now changed to 28th April.