Dead Space: Downfall and Dead Space: Aftermath are two direct-to-video animated films based on the Dead Space first-person-shooter video games.

Downfall is a prequel to Dead Space and ends just as the game starts. In the film the USG Ishimura, a mining ship, is sent to retrieve a newly discovered holy relic on a distant world. But it turns out the relic turns people into zombies!

The action centers on Alissa Vincent (Nika Futterman), head of security, and her team. At first it seems they're trying to contain a riot somewhere on the ship and then it's zombies who quickly overrun the ship. The security team barely makes it back to the bridge but then they have to head out to destroy the artifact...

Aftermath takes place between Dead Space and the sequel video game. A marine team rescues four survivors from the USG O'Bannon, a ship sent to investigate the derelict USG Ishimura.

Each of the four survivors has a tale about how the O'Bannon was overrun by zombies. The four tales are done in four different animation styles plus the wrapper story is in a different style. Kind of neat except that a couple of the styles are pretty amateurish.

The four different perspectives is interesting, especially because two of the survivors are mad so the way they saw it and the way the other two survivors saw it are quite different. Like the first film this one has a dark ending which I guess keeps to the genre of the video games (which I haven't played).

The first film is pretty good. The second is ok with some really cool bits. Even if you haven't played Dead Space the movies do a good job of being standalone. Deep space action plus zombie horror is a good combination.