6 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Dr. Henry Armitage, Sandra Dee and another girl who wasn't in the book visit the library of the Miskatonic University where they are studying, and find a mysterious young man named Wilbur Whateley trying to borrow the Necronomicon (a book containing ancient rites to bring alien gods to our planet), and as it is a public library they let him. Sandra Dee offers to drive the moustachioed warlock back to his home in Dunwich, where he drugs her and makes her stay to be a part in his evil ceremonies...
Starring: Sandra Dee, Dean Stockwell, Ed Begley, Lloyd Bochner, Sam JaffeHorror | 100% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 4.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Quite a few people have felt that the film version of Rosemary's Baby was a prime example of, if it's "not nice to fool Mother Nature", it's even less wise to make a movie about the devil, and that the cinematic adaptation of Ira Levin's disturbing novel might have made more than one kind of a deal with the devil (so to speak). The assumed result of this ostensibly injudicious behavior was that the production was supposedly cursed. Those subscribing to this idea bring up the horrifying murder of Roman Polanski's wife Sharon Tate and the subsequent headline making issues Polanski himself faced as evidence, and some of them also mention the mysterious death under still disputed circumstances of the brilliant composer for the film, Krzysztof Komeda (whose name was somewhat Americanized as Christopher for the film's credits), as further proof of this thesis. There doesn't seem to be any analogous dissection of what happened to several people associated with The Dunwich Horror (a film which probably owes at least part of its existence to the success of the Polanski movie) in the wake of that production, but it's curiously kind of tragedy ridden as well, though perhaps with a somewhat longer span of time and with less instantly fatal aspects than the relatively quick demises of Tate and Komeda after Rosemary's Baby wrapped. While co-stars Dean Stockwell and Sandra Dee had decades to live after The Dunwich Horror, , Dee in particular had rather well documented bouts with various emotional and mental issues which her son with Bobby Darin, Dodd, detailed heartbreakingly in his memoir about his famous parents. Supporting player Ed Begley did die within just a couple of months of this film finishing shooting, at the relatively young age of 69. This film's composer, the inimitable Les Baxter, also lived a good, long life after this film wrapped, but his later career was also somewhat rocky, including some patently bizarre accusations by lyricist and music journalist Gene Lees that Baxter had had many of his most famous arrangements and even compositions ghosted by others without credit (accusations which have been pretty definitively questioned if not outright disproven, it should be added).
The Dunwich Horror 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:
The Dunwich Horror is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 with mono audio.This film had a previous release on Blu-ray as part of Murders in the Rue Morgue / The Dunwich Horror from Shout! Factory, but as of the writing of this review, we haven't covered that release and one way or the other, it looks like it's going for pretty steep amounts of moolah. I have never seen the Shout! release, but I can't imagine it giving this presentation much of a run for its money, as this is a generally beautiful looking transfer, with secure detail levels and a nicely saturated palette. There are some noticeable variances in color temperature that struck me as a little odd, but a lot of the film's almost lurid psychedelic moments really pop incredibly well. Grain can also occasionally look a bit gritty or yellow, especially during opticals (which are fairly frequent), but the good news is there certainly appears to have been no digital filtering. There is some very minor age related wear and tear which has survived whatever restoration gauntlet was undertaken, some of which the most eagle eyed screenshot surveyor may be able to spot in a couple of the screenshots I've uploaded to accompany this review.
The original 35mm camera negative was scanned in 4K resolution at Company 3, Los Angeles.
The film was graded and restored in 2K resolution at Dragon DI, Wales. The original audio mixes were remastered by MGM.
All the materials for this new restoration were made available by MGM.
The Dunwich Horror features a nice sounding DTS-HD Master Audio Mono track that admittedly has a bit of boxiness which my hunch is stems (no soundtrack pun intended) from the film's probably less than huge budget. That said, sound effects like the heartbeat that start and end the film, and Les Baxter's score, are generally full bodied and problem free. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.
The Dunwich Horror may not have the same decidedly disturbing subtext that Rosemary's Baby does because this film is actually more overt in terms of offering the audience a "view" of what's actually going on. If it frankly may not reach the frightening heights of the Polanski film, it's rather interesting in its own regard, and the often hyperbolic Stockwell is fun, if on the hammy side. This disc's supplements are first rate, and the off the wall commentary is probably one of my recent favorites. Technical merits are solid, and The Dunwich Horror comes Recommended.
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