James Wan is one of the most recognisable breakout horror directors of the 21st century with enormously successful franchises under his belt like Saw and The Conjuring as well as standalone classics like Dead Silence and Malignant. With such an enormous horror legacy it was an honour to be able to illustrate one of his covers though I'd be lying if I said I wasn't expecting one of his 2000s thrillers. Death Sentence (2007) is a Death Wish-esque revenge movie starring Kevin Bacon avenging the murder of his son and standing in for a failing justice system against an organised crime syndicate. Scheduled to be released as a Mediabook by JB Entertainment this was the first time I got to see the movie and while I may not have appreciated it in 2007 (released the same year as Dead Silence) the movie has definitely aged well with an amazing cast and some shocking consequences to actions.
Calling this an all-star-cast is an understatement with Bacon as the lead, John Goodman, Aisha Tyler and Tron Legacy's Garrett Hedlund. Marvel fans can also enjoy seeing Kevin Bacon confront Edi Gathegi 4 years before he did the same in X-men: First Class.
James Wan definitely had fun with colour in this movie. I decided to keep the bright red colour pallettes that symbolised anger, rage and revenge contrasted with the blue colour of light and justice being pushed aside. The two colours also being the colours of police lights. Regarding a style I wanted to give the cover a seedy pulp feel to it. It could easily be the cover to a vintage crime book.
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