American Horror Project Vol. 1 Blu-ray Movie
HomeAmerican Horror Project Vol. 1 Blu-ray Movie 
The Witch Who Came from the Sea / Malatesta’s Carnival of Blood / The Premonition / Blu-ray + DVDArrow | 1973-1976 | 3 Movies | 251 min | Rated R | Feb 23, 2016
Price
List price:Listed on Amazon marketplace
Movie rating
Movie has not been rated yetBlu-ray rating
| Users |  | 0.0 |
| Reviewer |  | 3.5 |
| Overall | | 3.5 |
Overview
American Horror Project Vol. 1 (1973-1976)
Everyone knows the classic American horror titles: Night of the Living Dead, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and A Nightmare on Elm Street, to name but a few. But we want to tell you a different story: a story of the unsung heroes of stars-and-stripes terror, films that have remained on the fringes of the genre either through lack of availability or else sheer obscurity. This is where American Horror Project comes in. Volume One of this series presents three tales of violence and madness from the 1970s. Malatesta’s Carnival of Blood (Christopher Speeth, 1973) sees a family arrive at a creepy, dilapidated fairground in search of their missing son, only to find themselves at the mercy of the cannibalistic ghouls lurking beneath the park. Meanwhile, The Witch Who Came from the Sea (Matt Cimber, 1976), stars Millie Perkins (The Diary of Anne Frank) as a young woman whose bizarre and violent fantasies start to bleed into reality – literally. Lastly, every parent’s worst nightmare comes true in The Premonition (Robert Allen Schnitzer, 1976), a tale of psychic terror in which five-year-old Janie is snatched away by a strange woman claiming to be her long-lost mother.
| Horror | 100% |
| Psychological thriller | 6% |
| Surreal | 4% |
| Thriller | 4% |
| Sci-Fi | Insignificant |
| Drama | Insignificant |
Specifications
Video
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1, 2.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.35:1, 1.85:1
Audio
English: LPCM Mono (48khz, 24-bit)
Subtitles
English SDH
Discs
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Six-disc set (3 BDs, 3 DVDs)
DVD copy
Playback
Region free
Review
Rating summary
| Movie |  | 3.0 |
| Video | | 3.5 |
| Audio | | 3.5 |
| Extras |  | 4.0 |
| Overall | | 3.5 |
American Horror Project Vol. 1 Blu-ray Movie Review
Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman April 14, 2016The acronym WEHT is typically utilized to wonder where stars of yesteryear have gotten to, and it may be perfectly applicable to at least a couple of people who show up in the three films included in Arrow Films’ American Horror Project Volume 1. But “what ever happened to” might also be used with regard to the films themselves, for this initial trio of offerings may be relatively little known to even some who consider themselves to be diehard horror fans. The Blu-ray era has been a boon to lovers of horror, with any number of cult items seeing the high definition light of day courtesy of a gaggle of licensors and/or niche labels. Many if not most of those offerings, though, were probably at a somewhat higher level of general public recognition than the three films included in this set, which is not to say that those films were automatically of a higher quality than the three collected here. Arrow nonetheless seems to be well aware that they’re dipping into a stratum of horror films that may be perceived as “lesser” material, but each of these initial three offerings has something unique about it, if only frankly some inherent weirdness.
Please refer to the following linked reviews for comments on each of the three films included in this set:
The Witch Who Came from the Sea Blu-ray review
The Premonition Blu-ray review
Malatesta's Carnival of Blood Blu-ray review
American Horror Project Vol. 1 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality
Video quality of each film is assessed in the above linked reviews.
American Horror Project Vol. 1 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality
Audio quality of each film is assessed in the above linked reviews.
American Horror Project Vol. 1 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras
Supplemental material for each release is detailed in the above linked reviews. Additionally, the set comes housed in a sturdy chipboard box which also includes a lavishly illustrated booklet with several interesting essays and production information.
American Horror Project Vol. 1 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation
It would be hard to argue that any of the three films in this initial American Horror Project is an undiscovered or underappreciated masterpiece, but there's some fascinating content here, at least for those who don't mind the patently weird. This release is by very definition a niche product and will appeal to a perhaps small(ish) demographic, and for those folks, technical merits are occasionally spotty but generally at least okay, and the supplemental package is quite impressive. Recommended.