6.4 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
An 18th-century doctor must rely upon the disreputable duo of Robert Fallon and Timothy Broom to provide fresh cadavers for his teaching hospital. When they cannot dig up corpses fast enough to suit the demanding doctor, Fallon and Broom decide to streamline their methods via murder.
Starring: Timothy Dalton, Jonathan Pryce, Stephen Rea, Twiggy, Julian SandsHorror | 100% |
Dark humor | 4% |
Period | Insignificant |
Crime | Insignificant |
Drama | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Mention “19th century serial killers in the United Kingdom” to most people and you’re apt to get one and only one response: Jack the Ripper. The Ripper’s exploits have so entered the public consciousness that many folks can list off potential suspects as well as the names of the unfortunate victims. Among the suspects in the Ripper case are men with medical backgrounds, since many of the victims seem to have been vivisected with (no pun intended) an inside knowledge of anatomy. Several decades before the Ripper murders became such a tabloid sensation, another part of the United Kingdom was rocked by a series of disturbing murders which were undeniably tethered to a medical professional and his desire to learn more about anatomy courtesy of post-mortem dissections which were still at that time largely illegal. The so-called Burke and Hare Murders provide fodder for 1985’s well crafted The Doctor and the Devils, a film which rather incredibly boasts an original screenplay by Welsh poet Dylan Thomas, a man most famous for two iconic verses about mortality, “Do not go gentle into that good night” and “Death shall have no dominion.” Death definitely does have dominion over several hapless Scottish lowlifes in The Doctor and the Devils, though this film is decidedly less overtly Gothic than 1945’s The Body Snatcher, the Robert Wise directed (and Val Lewton produced) effort starring Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi (in their last on screen pairing) which was based upon a Robert Louis Stevenson tale also culled from the sordid story of Burke and Hare. Here, in Ronald Harwood’s reshaping of Thomas’ original conception, there’s a dialectic between the horrors of two patent grave robbers and the pursuit for medical knowledge. It’s a somewhat uneasy balancing act, perhaps a bit too high-falutin’ for such a premise, but rather surprisingly The Doctor and the Devils manages to be both creepy and intellectually provocative quite a bit of the time.
The Doctor and the Devils is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Scream Factory, an imprint of Shout! Factory, with an AVC encoded 1080p in 2.35:1. Elements are in generally very good condition, with minor anomalies like dust and speckling occasionally showing up. The film has a somewhat brown tinge throughout the bulk of its running time, something that tends to slightly tamp down detail and fine detail, especially in the many darker scenes. That said, colors look accurate and can pop quite convincingly when, for example, Rock cuts into either living or dead bodies. Grain is natural looking and provides a nicely organic depth to the image. There are occasional examples of crush in the darkest sequences, but nothing too troubling. There are no issues with digital intrusion into the image harvest and similarly no issues with artifacts.
The Doctor and the Devils features a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mix that nicely supports the sometimes overwrought dialogue of the film as well as its evocative score by John Morris. Crowded scenes like several sequences in a bar never suffer from poor prioritization, and dialogue is always easy to hear. None of the actors really go overboard with Scottish brogues, but there are optional English subtitles for those requiring a bit of assistance. Fidelity is excellent and there are no issues of any kind to report.
The Doctor and the Devils has a hard time making the case for the advance of medical science requiring murderous thugs to assist in that effort, but it's an unusually thoughtful examination of a moment in time where religious sentiments easily held sway over supposedly more rational scientific desires. Performances are uniformly excellent by this pretty starry cast, and Francis keeps the story moving well enough, even if the quasi-Grand Guignol elements involving the body snatchers (and especially Jennie) are needless additions. Handsomely mounted, The Doctors and the Devils isn't a traditional horror film by any stretch of the imagination, but for those wanting a little something different, it provides an often fascinating examination of dueling philosophies, all wrapped up in Dylan Thomas' often incredibly evocative language. Technical merits are generally very strong, and The Doctor and the Devils comes Recommended.
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2014-2016
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2016
2020
2013
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