Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		3.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		2.0

Audrey Rose Blu-ray Movie Review

Pea soup will cost you extra.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman October 22, 2014

The legendary Robert Wise will probably be forever most associated with his twin musical film triumphs of West Side Story and The Sound of Music, this despite the fact that Wise’s long and varied career included everything from editing Citizen Kane to directing films as disparate as The Day the Earth Stood Still and The Sand Pebbles. Even with this inherent virtuosity, 1977’s Audrey Rose seemed like an odd choice for Wise, especially to critics and audiences of the day who saw the film as a slightly warmed over version of The Exorcist. Though perhaps not that well remembered then (or indeed now), Wise had trafficked in horror (or at least quasi-horror) previously, with 1944’s Val Lewton produced The Curse of the Cat People and later with The Haunting. Interestingly, both The Curse of the Cat People and Audrey Rose deal with a young girl experiencing a “possession” of sorts. In the 1944 film, it’s the unwelcome influence of a supposed “imaginary friend,” while in Audrey Rose it’s the spirit of a deceased little girl which has ostensibly transmigrated into a new body.

Part of the problem with Audrey Rose is that it wants to pretend to be something other than The Exorcist while also attempting to cash in on some of the then in vogue tropes instigated by the Friedkin film. Spooky, minor keyed sixths on a keyboard a la “Tubular Bells”? They’re here, albeit in a slightly sanitized form. A helpless girl exhibiting signs of possession with attendant hysteria, not only on her part, but especially her distraught mother? But of course. And an ultimate reliance on religious salves to cover both real and imagined burns? Yes again —though it’s notable that in Audrey Rose’s case that assuaging comes courtesy not of Roman Catholicism but Hinduism and the Bhagavad-Gita.

Audrey Rose starts out viscerally enough, with a horrifying car accident which culminates in one of the cars bursting into flames. That segues into an almost sitcom opening credits worthy sequence of a happy family biking through various New York locales. That turns out to be little Ivy Templeton (Susan Swift) and her doting parents Janice (Marsha Mason) and Bill (John Beck). Janice seems to have nearly a part time job photographing her little girl, and she and Bill are obviously rapturously happily married, as evidenced by the sloppy kiss he plants on her in her darkroom.

Janice starts getting freaked out, though, by the recurring presence of a mysterious bearded man, who is ultimately revealed to be a distraught father named Elliot Hoover (Anthony Hopkins). Audrey Rose starts down its perilous path of increasingly strained credulity with this very beard—it turns out it’s a supposed “disguise” Hoover has taken on to—well, to what? When he finally reveals his hidden agenda, which involves his long dead daughter Audrey Rose, whom he insists has been reincarnated as Ivy, he avers that all of his subterfuge, including wearing disguises and acting furtively for no good reason, was “necessary.” As inquiring minds are perhaps apt to ask: why?

Janice and Bill are of course sympathetic to Hoover’s plight, but they just as obviously feel they’re dealing with an emotionally unbalanced madman. Audrey Rose continues to navigate a frankly hard to believe course where Janice and Bill’s attempts to get the “goods” on Hoover backfire when Ivy starts manifesting bizarre behaviors that seem to be reenacting Audrey Rose’s final moments in that vehicle conflagration seen in the film’s opening moments. That in turn leads to a whole host of ridiculous consequences, which ultimately end up in an absolutely stultifying court sequence where Hoover is put on trial for attempting to kidnap Ivy.

The film then descends into almost self-parody levels with the inimitable Norman Lloyd dangling a shiny object in front of Ivy’s eyes while intoning “your eyelids are growing heavy” (I swear I’m not making any of this up), which supposedly enables little Ivy to regress back to her former state as Audrey Rose. Things do not go swimmingly, to say the least.

Audrey Rose might have worked with a less melodramatic approach and certainly without the looming shadow of The Exorcist influencing reactions, whether or not that is really fair to the film. Marsha Mason is certainly compelling and anchors the film in some very real feeling angst. But much of Audrey Rose is undercut by little Susan Swift, who mugs instead of acts. Wise needed to find a little girl with the adult acumen of a juvenile Patty Duke or even Mary Badham. Instead he’s saddled with a lackluster center of a story that is simultaneously crumbling around the edges.

Audrey Rose Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Audrey Rose is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Twilight Time with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.84:1. Unfortunately this is one of the more ragged looking releases we've seen from Twilight Time, one that admittedly betters the rough (and non anamorphic) DVD, but not by much. The overall look here seems artificially brightened, resulting in a pale appearance. That may only exacerbate what looks like a not very well saturated palette to begin with. Contrast fluctuates as well, at times defeating close-ups which are struggling to provide fine detail. The biggest issue here, and one that is readily apparent in many screenshots accompanying this review, is grain management, which is all over the place. The entire film is quite grain heavy to begin with, but here grain hangs and clumps unnaturally, sometimes with a slightly yellow ambience. That tendency tends to swallow detail and give the film an almost thatched look which increases the appearance of softness. It should be stated that in motion things aren't quite as bad as they may appear in some of these screenshots, but this is still far from an ideal presentation.

Audrey Rose Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Audrey Rose's lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track is much less problematic than the video component, providing sure and stable support for the film's dialogue and Mike Oldfield-esque score by Michael Small. Fidelity is excellent and dynamic range has some agreeable spikes courtesy of the rampant hysteria that ultimately sets in.

Audrey Rose Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Original Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 1:37)


• MGM 90th Anniversary Trailer (1080p; 2:06)


• Isolated Score Track is presented in DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0.

Audrey Rose Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Audrey Rose is a rare misfire by the esteemed Robert Wise, one that tries to invest an Exorcist-lite milieu with a supposedly more thoughtful presentation involving reincarnation. Mason does fine work here, but even she seems to flounder given the film's increasing set of improbabilities. The video component of this release is also problematic, though fans will most likely find it watchable if not stellar.