The Hatred Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		3.0

The Hatred Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman September 28, 2020

Note: This film is available as a bonus in the Limited Edition release of The Deeper You Dig.

There’s a famous song called What a Difference a Day Made that will probably be instantly recognized from its mere title by fans of artists as disparate as Dinah Washington and Jamie Cullum. Some viewers may want to slightly alter that title to read “what a difference a ‘d’ makes” when watching the two films aggregated in this release, since both The Deeper You Dig and The Hatred are products of a husband, wife and daughter(s) team known collectively as The Adams Family, which will of course evoke instant recognition of another kind, namely of Charles Addams’ inimitable comic panels, which then famously gave birth to The Addams Family on television and then all of the feature films which followed it (decades later, it should be noted, which is itself testament to how enduringly popular Addams’ creations have been). John Adams, Toby Poser and their daughters Zelda and Lulu have been making films together since 2013’s Rumblestrips, a film which was sparked at least in part (according to some supplements included in this set) by Poser’s dissatisfaction with the waning of roles being offered to her as she approached the age of 40. This particular Adams family has continued to produce a regular supply of indie fare in the intervening years, including Knuckle Jack, The Shoot and Halfway to Zen. The Adams basically do everything on their films, sharing acting, writing, cinematography, editing, scoring (and one assumes craft services) credits in various ways across their productions. The Deeper You Dig only features Adams, Poser and younger daughter Zelda in both acting and production roles, while The Hatred features John Adams working under the pseudonym John Law, with both Zelda and Lulu on screen and behind the scenes in various capacities, without any overt assistance from Poser.

As I discussed in our The Deeper You Dig Blu-ray review, part of that film's very existence was due to the fact that John Adams was rehabbing a spooky old house in snowy New York and thought it would make a good setting for a ghost story, which he and his family then developed into that film. In at least somewhat the same manner, The Hatred also seems like it has a bit of a "hey, we have some gorgeous snowy environments and a bunch of old timey costumes, let's make a movie" feel to it. While this film traffics in some of the same occasionally gory imagery that The Deeper You Dig does, the story here may not be as riveting. This is a "historical horror" film, one that takes place in the 1800s in the aftermath of the Civil War, where a young survivor of a horrific attack (Zelda Adams) is out for vengeance, recruiting the spectral presence of a soldier (John Adams, billed as John Law in the film) to aid her in her quest.

This is often as visually striking as The Deeper You Dig, but The Hatred overall feels more remote and also not as fully developed as it might have been. Perhaps the omnipresent narration by Zelda Adams is itself a distancing factor, but there are other curious choices, as in John Adams' decidedly "un-Western" score.

The Hatred Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Hatred is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. Arrow's insert booklet contains the following pretty generic information on the transfers of both films in this set:

The Deeper You Dig and The Hatred are presented in their original 1.78:1 aspect ratio with 2.0 stereo sound. The High Definition masters were provided by Wonder Wheel Productions.

I haven't been able to dredge up any technical data on this production, but the fact that the Adams used Canon 5D and 6D cameras on The Deeper You Dig, and the fact that one of the supplements states that they also used Canon cameras on Rumblestrips, might reasonably suggest they did the same here. This is, like The Deeper You Dig, frequently a very sharp and well detailed looking presentation, especially in some of the landscapes. "Artier" framings can be intentionally soft looking. As with The Deeper You Dig, occasional outdoor material looks a little harsh and digital. As can be seen in the screenshots accompanying this review, the palette is pretty wintry, but there are occasional pops of color in things like bright blue skies (some graphic violence also offers suitably saturated blood reds).

The Hatred Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Hatred features an LPCM 2.0 track that has some huge spikes in amplitude a couple of times, but which provides a solid rendering for both voiceover, dialogue and the frankly kind of peculiar score. The outdoor material offers good opportunity for ambient environmental sounds. Optional English subtitles are available.

The Hatred Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Kid Kalifornia Music Videos

  Psycho Static Lover (1080p; 2:17)

  
  

  Fix (1080p; 2:39)

  
  

  The One (1080p; 2:24)

The Hatred Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Hatred certainly offers more proof that The Adams Family are rather bracing stylists, even if in this case the narrative isn't as compelling as in the case of The Deeper You Dig. Technical merits are generally solid for those considering a purchase.