Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		2.5

Dark August Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 21, 2019

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.

Thomas Tryon followed up his surprise best seller The Other with a somewhat lesser remembered Gothic horror outing, Harvest Home, a tome which posited an urban type relocating to an isolated northeastern community where he finds himself ensnared in occult shenanigans. While Harvest Home offered Connecticut as a supposed refuge for modern day pagans, Dark August “moves over” a bit to Vermont, but in some ways echoes Tryon’s basic plot underpinnings of a “city boy” encountering forces he may not understand, and certainly can’t control, in a more rustic and rural setting. In this case, though, there’s a rather interesting subtext of guilt and unassuaged conscience which in its own lo-fi way is at least a bit reminiscent of Don't Look Now. Dark August is a bit of an outlier in this second volume of American Horror Project in that it doesn’t really go for any significant gusto in terms of standard horror tropes, and instead invests in what the back cover of this release defines as a “slow burn chiller”. The results are often moody, but the film probably won’t deliver enough of an adrenaline jolt for many modern day horror aficionados raised on quick cut (in more ways than one) offerings.

As curator Stephen Thrower mentions in his appreciation of this film included on this disc as a supplement, Dark August was something of a family affair, with married couple J.J. Barry and Carolyne Sheylne co-writing (along with director Martin Goldman) and co-starring as couple Sal and Jackie. While it takes a while to “get there”, it’s ultimately revealed that Sal is suffering from what amounts to post traumatic stress disorder after having sadly hit and killed a little girl while driving around in his Jeep. Even more unfortunately, the little girl’s grandfather (William Robertson) holds a demonic grudge, and invokes a curse against Sal, one which evidently is working on any number of levels. Dark August might have worked a bit better, or at least a bit more unsettlingly, had it offered a bit more ambivalence about what exactly is going on, i.e., is Sal really cursed or is it just his overactive guilty conscience playing tricks on him? Instead, things are depicted in a pretty overt, literal fashion, meaning that some of the more “mystical” elements, like an enigmatic cowled figure who seems to haunt various characters (mostly but not exclusively Sal) can seem out of place.

In a plot development that might provoke laughter in more jaded types, Sal consults his “local witch” (as you do), who is a matter of fact, salt of the earth type (and chain smoker to boot) named Adrianna Putnam (Kim Hunter, who evidently was enthused about making this for whatever reason, at least according to some of the supplemental material). Adrianna confirms that Sal is under the thumb of some occult force (in another element that arguably could have used a bit of ambiguity), and so the eternal fight between good and evil is supposedly ready to be fought.

Dark August has some really evocative cinematography (it was shot in Stowe, Vermont and has a real feel for that region), but the story kind of lurches along without ever really developing much momentum. By the time there’s a death and then later an attack, it may be too little, too late, at least for diehard horror fans. The film’s final sequence is truly mind boggling and may leave many viewers with significantly more questions than answers.

Dark August Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

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.

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.

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.

Dark August Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

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 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Revisiting Dark August (1080p; 10:35) offers series curator Stephen Thrower with an appreciation of the film. He mentions that this is a rare example of a film having been shot in Vermont, which conflicts a bit with another supplement (see below).


• Mad Ave to Mad Dogs (1080p; 15:06) is a career spanning interview with Martin Goldman.


• Don't Mess with the Psychic (1080p; 9:15) is an interview with producer Marianne Kanter.


• The Hills Are Alive: Dark August and Vermont Folk Horror (1080p; 34:23) is for my money the best supplement on the disc, and is a really engaging overview of quite a few films with some kind of Vermont connection, at least somewhat putting the lie to Thrower's assertion that there haven't been very many. Bissette grew up around Stowe, Vermont, and he has a number of fun (and funny) anecdotes about the "hippie culture" there and the prevalence of witches.


• Audio Commentary with Director Martin Goldman is moderated by Brandon Daniel and Joe Luke.


• Original Press Book is accessible as BD-ROM content.

Dark August Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

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.