6.4 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 2.5 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
A young girl is accidentally run down by a car driven by a careless city slicker. This careless injustice provokes the girl's grandfather into summoning his mystical powers and placing a death curse on the young man. Desperate to stave off the dire consequences of the hex, Barry seeks the counsel of a local psychic medium.
Starring: Kim Hunter, J.J. Barry, Carolyne Barry, Kate McKeown, Frank BongiornoHorror | 100% |
Mystery | 12% |
Supernatural | 8% |
Thriller | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: LPCM Mono
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 2.0 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 3.0 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
Note: This film is available as part of
American Horror Project Vol. 2.
American Horror Project Vol. 1 offered
an
object lesson in what I called “WEHT” syndrome, by which I meant that the “whatever happened to” query that is often aimed at people might be
targeted at films themselves. This second volume of offerings from curator Stephen Thrower courtesy of Arrow Films is another “WEHT”
extravaganza,
though in this case it may indeed also refer to performers, and in fact might be subtitled “hey, actors gotta work, too, you know,” as two of the
three
films in this set feature late career work by two fairly iconic and Academy Award winning stars, appearing here in what might be charitably termed
less than Grade A material. That said, all three of the films in this set offer
at least some of the same patent weirdness as was found in the first American Horror Project release, though even diehard genre fans
may not
consider any of this trio to be undiscovered masterpieces.
Dark August is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. Arrow's insert booklet contains the following verbiage on the restoration:
Dark August has been exclusively restored by Arrow Films and is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 with mono audio.This is another transfer whose clarity and grain structure is highly dependent on lighting, as is the case with Dream No Evil, though in this instance the prevalence of dark sequences doesn't always support excellent detail levels. As can be made out in several screenshots accompanying this review, the darker interior scenes often have a somewhat mottled appearance, with a gritty and at times chunky or clumpy looking grain field which can mask fine detail levels (see screenshots 2 and 19 for some examples). The outdoor material looks excellent almost all of the time, but even here there's a soft quality, especially in frequently utilized midrange shots. While this transfer doesn't have some of the anomalies like huge reel change markers that are visible (and potentially distracting) on Dream No Evil, it does suffer from some considerable crush in the darkest scenes, something that Dream No Evil was able to largely avoid. My score is 3.75.
The original 35mm camera negative was scanned in 2K resolution at OCN Digital Labs.
The film was graded on Digital Vision's Nucoda Film Master and restored at R3Store Studios in London.
The mono mix was remastered from the original optical negative at Deluxe Audio Services.
Dark August features an LPCM Mono track which delivers the film's dialogue cleanly and clearly. The film features a somewhat abrasive score from William S. Fischer which features stabs of early synths combined with more traditional instruments, for a somewhat uneasy and overpowering fit at times (at least to this listener). Fidelity is fine for the most part, though there is what sounds like some slight distortion at higher amplitudes (it's a bit hard to tell since some of the patches are on the "rough" or "gritty" side of things).
Dark August is probably not a film for those wanting a traditional slasher or something with more of a regular dose of adrenaline jolts. This is a character study, but one that's infused with a certain occult aspect. It's never really very scary, but it is unsettling at times. Technical merits are generally solid, though video quality is pretty widely variant depending on lighting conditions. The supplemental package is very enjoyable, for those considering a purchase.
(Still not reliable for this title)
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