Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		2.5

The Brotherhood of Satan Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman August 20, 2021

Do you ever wonder about unusual initials in people's names? If so, and you've stumbled across the name L.Q. Jones before and questioned what his middle name might have been (Quincy? Quentin?), the answer is: nothing, although the fact that Jones' birth surname was McQueen might at least indicate that the "Q" had some kind of meaning for the actor and writer. In fact one Justus McQueen, Jr. took the stage name "L.Q. Jones" after he played a character with that name in the 1955 film Battle Cry (his credit in that film is under his original name). If you don't even recognize L.Q. Jones' name, a quick internet search of images may remind you rather quickly of an actor with (according to the IMDb) close to two hundred acting credits in both film and television, as well as a handful of writing, producing and directing credits. Jones' best known effort in writing, producing and directing is arguably A Boy and His Dog, a film which has at least one interesting connection to The Brotherhood of Satan, at least insofar as both feature Jones' frequent collaborator Alvy Moore also a producer and actor in that enterprise as well. A figurative "third Musketeer" in the form of Strother Martin is also on hand here, and as some of the supplements get into, Martin was another friend who regularly hung out with both Jones and Moore, making this, as one of the erstwhile kids in the film mentions in an interview included on this disc as a bonus feature, a "family affair".

The Brotherhood of Satan had a prior release on Blu-ray courtesy of Mill Creek Entertainment in the "two-fer" Mr. Sardonicus / The Brotherhood of Satan. For those wanting a plot recap, I recommend reading my colleague Martin Liebman's The Brotherhood of Satan Blu-ray review. I once again repeat my unending mantra that "different reviewers means different opinions", and you'll note that I'm somewhat more tolerant of some of The Brotherhood of Satan's unabashed lo-fi goofiness than Marty evidently was, as evidence by the somewhat higher overall score I'm giving to the film. Marty's review is also a good resource for screenshot comparisons, though there's no need to see if bonus features stack up, since the Mill Creek release had none.

The Brotherhood of Satan Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Brotherhood of Satan is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.40:1. Arrow's insert booklet contains only the following fairly generic verbiage about the transfer:

The Brotherhood of Satan is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1 [sic] with mono sound. The High Definition master was produced and supplied by Sony Pictures.

Judging solely from screenshots (which has some obvious built in dangers), this looks substantially similar to the Mill Creek release, though it does look to me like the palette is just very slightly warmer in this Arrow version, with a tendency toward (again, slightly) more natural flesh tones and less of a somewhat brown skew. Detail levels are quite good throughout the presentation, and potential problem areas like mist strewn evening scenes don't present any real challenges for compression. The film is quite stylish and a number of extreme close-ups offer excellent fine detail levels. There are minor but recurrent signs of age related wear and tear. My scores is 4.25.

The Brotherhood of Satan Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Marty wasn't overly impressed with the audio on the Mill Creek release, and while this low budgeted affair doesn't ever really offer anything too ambitious in its sound design, I found the LPCM Mono track on this release to offer more than capable support for the film's dialogue and a kind of fun score by Jaime Mendoza-Nava, which in some ways presages some of the choral elements of Elmer Bernstein's Oscar winning work on The Omen, and in other ways offers things like a slightly spooky music box cue that is relatively effective. Dialogue is presented cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

The Brotherhood of Satan Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary by Kim Newman and Sean Hogan is an entertaining and informational discussion, as the two get into some of the cast and crew backgrounds while also addressing this film as part of the post-Rosemary's Baby cycle of "satanic panic" outings. I might quibble with their assertion that this came relatively early in the "kids are scary" cycle, as Village of the Damned, which they themselves cite, came out more than a decade earlier than this film.


• From the Dark Past (HD; 15:05) is actually called Satanic Panic in the short itself, and is an interesting visual essay by David Flint that places the film in the context of 1970's Satanic Cinema.


• The Children of Satan (HD; 18:16) offers interviews with the now all grown up Jonathan Erickson Eisley and Alyson Moore (daughter of Alvy), both of whom were kids in the film.


• Trailer, TV & Radio Spots

  Original Theatrical Trailer (HD; 2:27)

  
  

  TV Spot #1 (HD; 1:02)

  
  

  TV Spot #2 (HD; 1:02)

  
  

  Radio Spot (HD; 00:54) plays to key art from the film.

• Image Gallery (HD)

Additionally, Arrow provides a reversible sleeve for the keepcase insert and its typically well appointed insert booklet.

The Brotherhood of Satan Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

If The Brotherhood of Satan had done a bit more artful job weaving together various plot elements, it might have been a real sleeper in terms of shock value, but as it stands, it's intermittently creepy and has a surplus of style, along with some really fun performances. That said, Strother Martin may simply be a bit too on the folksy side to pull of his characterization as a marauding Satanist. Technical merits are generally solid and as usual Arrow has compiled some great supplements, for those who are considering a purchase.